By Daniel Wheeler, DSCE Senior Hospitality Account Manager LG Business Solutions
Houses of worship have long embraced technology to help deliver their messages to congregants, from audio amplification systems and projectors to overflow room TVs and, more recently, even online options for remote worship. It’s clear that display technologies can add freshness, increase engagement and enable heightened creativity for religious leaders of all faiths, but to be most effective and ensure ongoing value, systems must hit the sweet spot of cost, functionality, ease of use and longevity.
As more organizations consider investments in technology to communicate their message, enhance services, grow their congregations or create connected secondary spaces, their arts directors or facility managers can ensure success by evaluating how new display products and capabilities can deliver greater value and enable new possibilities for engagement.
Creating Clarity with DVLED Displays
In terms of quality, flexibility, longevity and product options, modern buyers need look no further than the latest DVLED (direct-view light-emitting diode) displays. These digital displays deliver amazing image clarity, stunning color, unparalleled contrast ratios and only your imagination limits the screen size and configuration of the display.
At the start of the process, buyers should ask themselves a few questions. Where do I need a display? Indoor or even outdoor in full weather and sunlight? Do I simply need a traditional large 16:9 display in 2K, 4K or 8K resolution, or do I want to create a completely immersive experience wrapping the sanctuary walls with curved and flat display surfaces and even covering the chancel floors and ceiling?
DVLED display technology allows you to select anything from a traditional large flat screen to the most creative displays you can imagine. It’s undoubtably the most versatile display medium available.
There are vast and significant benefits of DVLED, from corner-to-corner color and brightness accuracy to split-screen capabilities. It’s also modular to ease maintenance and if something were to happen to the display, such as the surface getting damaged, it would likely still be able to operate with only a small defect until your support person simply removes the damaged modules and replaces them with one of the many spare boards that are provided with every DVLED system. The life expectancy of the DVLED diodes is unmatched, with most rated at 100,000 hours to half brightness.
Choosing the right DVLED display typically isn’t complicated. Many of the largest manufacturers offer bundled solutions so all you need to know is: How big a display are you looking for and what is your budget? Using this information, you can then decide what resolution display you can afford, from full HD (2K) to Ultra HD (4K) and beyond (8K). The buyer will have choices of bundled DVLED display sizes from 81 inches (measured diagonally) in a standard 16:9 aspect ratio up to 589-inches diagonal in a 32:9 aspect ratio.
From there you will also need information such as if the display will be installed inside or outside, mounted on a wall, suspended from the ceiling or mounted with a floor or rolling stand.
System Integrators can often point the end-user to additional DVLED technologies that can make congregations’ display experience even more impactful, such as, choosing between pixel types of the most common SMD pixels with 3,000-8,000:1 contrast ratio or COB MicroLED pixels that are so small, they are only about the width of a human hair, attached to very black surface boards, delivering up to 100,000:1 contrast ratio. Contrast ratios like this make DVLED images appear almost life like.
Projecting Your Vision
For organizations with smaller budgets or congregations, or those trying to minimize the physical presence of technology in worship spaces, new laser-based projectors offer powerful display capabilities with the added bonus of adjustable screen size. While the two-piece solution of a projector and a screen is often permanently installed, operators can create multi-site functionality by using mobile screens or installing multiple fixed screens in different rooms so the projector can be moved.
Since the size and brightness of a projected image is based on the distance between the projector and screen, the right projector can be used to fill a large hall with a large screen one day, and the next day enable a small space to host the biggest screen surface it can accommodate.
Depending on room size, buyers may consider specialized projectors such as short-throw or ultra-short-throw models that can be located within a few feet of the projection screen and still deliver incredible quality and up to 4K resolution. With an industry standard expected lifespan of 20,000 hours, laser projectors that are used for four hours every day can last more than 13 years with minimal change in picture quality.
The Right Operating System Ensures Success
No matter what display technology is chosen, operators should carefully take account of their operating system to ensure robust capabilities, reliability, future compatibility and manufacturer support. If an organization’s display network grows to cover more rooms, or even multiple locations, it’s vital that the displays work with the same content devices and do not introduce complications for daily setup. Some operating systems even offer advanced options for multi-display control, remote accessibility or special features such as the aforementioned split-screen capabilities.
If the manufacturer offers an operating system that enables interoperability of different display technologies on the same network, system designers and installers can greatly reduce complexity and may even be able to direct content from a single source to unlimited numbers of screens. Many solutions used to include a permanent content device or delivery system, which the latest displays have made redundant by offering wireless streaming from laptops or mobile devices, or even scheduled programming through simple web-based apps.
Leading display manufacturers may offer both DVLED screens and laser projectors, along with high-quality LCD displays that can be useful for messaging needs in spaces such as the narthex, cry rooms, the vestibule, overflow rooms or any other place people might congregate that doesn’t require a large display. With the latest models offering a variety of options from 4K and higher resolutions to OLED technology with ultra-deep blacks, there is an LCD model perfect for everything from showing movies at Sunday school to broadcasting services to providing information on upcoming sermons and events.
For organizations using a unified software solution, it’s critical to install commercial LCD models because it’s likely the consumer versions will not have the same software ecosystem or capabilities. This means that even if an organization with a number of displays decides to add just one TV to one room, it should be ordered through the same professionals as their DVLED displays to ensure it is compatible and can be used as intended.
Decisions, Decisions
With so many site-specific variables and a huge catalog of brands and displays to choose from, worship arts directors, site managers and tech staff may benefit from direct conversations with manufacturers to discuss optimal solutions for each need. This process can provide valuable insight into a company’s customer support system before a decision is made.
One of the key items to ask about is how hardware and software will continue to be supported over the long term, including integrations with audio and video systems or introduction of new capabilities such as voice control. Since these are often major purchases, it’s fair to consider these decisions as the start of a relationship that may last a decade or more, pointing to the importance of working with people you trust and brands that you know will still exist and be able to provide support for years to come. For more information go to https://www.lg.com/us/business.
Daniel Wheeler, DSCE is a Senior Hospitality Account Manager at LG Business Solutions USA, the leading provider of hospitality TVs in the United States and innovator in DVLED displays and other digital signage technologies for the hospitality industry. Wheeler provides direction and understanding of the LG product line to key customers looking to implement the latest technology, with a focus on DVLED products for the indoor and outdoor market.