Multi-Monitor Tips and Tricks

Video Walls in the Conference Room Setting

Video walls used in conference room setting

The title of this article might give the impression that this is about a huge projector in a corporate business room, just like the old days. But instead we’re going to talk about an emerging trend in conference rooms, a trend that you’ve likely noticed, video walls and how they are used for various purposes in the corporate setting. There are several other names which are used to represent the word video wall, such as, data wall, and media wall etc. a video wall therefore is simply a large display which displays an images or video in a presentation format. Unlike other displays, these are typically not one complete display devices as they are comprised of several other displays arranged together in such a way that they can work together as one giant screen, or as multiple smaller screens. The image is scaled into each of these screens according to their respective resolutions by using a special video-processing device.
There is no restriction to the particular size of the display device, as it could vary from as small as a 4 inch direct view LCD screen or even be as huge as a 120 inches front, or possibly even a rear projection device. The size of this display device depends on the overall size of the video wall, which is to be made. In the case of LED based display walls they are made up of 0.5 mm bezel discrete LEDs in order to denote each pixel on the screen. A common question is asked about display walls regarding the wisdom behind creating large logical displays according to the technique described above. The reason for this is because it provides the ability to have a brighter, bigger screen, at a greater resolution without compromising on inherent redundancy, when compared to other types of image display devices.
When planning to buy a video wall for any purpose more attention should be given to its display, as quality of the display is directly proportional to its viewing ability. As mentioned earlier, of the various kinds of devices that could be used for display walls, including, CRT, narrow mullion LCDs, general LCDs etc. Basically the particular display device that is used determines the image quality of the video wall. There are three devices that comprise the display of a video wall, and the two main technologies, which play a major role in the design of a video wall, comprise of the direct view plasma or LCD screen and the rear projection cube. With the advent of newer technologies entering the market everyday, even the cost of LCD display units have decreased in price drastically, however it is quite difficult to make a LCD display wall mainly due to the fact that it is incredibly difficult to align the monitors in such a way that they form a matrix with the multiple displays as LCD displays have a considerably huge border.  The border around the screen of a LCD display is known as the bezel, and while tiling each of these screens together these bezels creates a gap in between the entire image. The term used to describe these gaps is either mullions or transoms. As a result it becomes very inconvenient for the viewer to get a clear view of the image or video depicted on the video wall. The reason for which residential LCD TV sets do not require any maintenance at all is because they have only one screen and less life expectancy. This is yet another disadvantage for the use of LCDs in video walls because when they have a poor life expectancy it would also require regular replacement of displays as well, and when replacing them the entire array must be organized with respect to the other screens so that the picture quality is maintained.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article about the types of display devices available, the rear projection video wall offers the benefit of greater life expectancy as well as easy serviceability with respect to the typical LCD or plasma display units. The reason why these are better is because light that passes via the LCD is initially projected from the back, and it is then filtered to its respective color (i.e white light, black light etc). It is because of this process that viewing an image is more precise as compared to a flat screen as they do not have a large impact in the formation of the image from the human eye.
Accordingly, you should note when creating a video wall for any given situation, that in addition to factors such as budget, the display type and organization requirement should be given due attention as well. It is because of this that its very important to ensure that professional guidance is obtained prior to the design of your particular video wall to insure a clear image every time. Failing to do so can result in using either wrong configuration of display panels or using wrong display panels itself for the creation of the video wall.
LED displays are becoming more commonly used for this purpose.  They tend to encompass all of the positives (bright, clear picture) without the negatives that you might encounter using an LCD.  The best part is that LEDs tend to have smaller bezels, are lightweight and out last projection screens, projectors, LCDs and plasmas.    This means you get all of the benefits without the negatives.