LED screens are everywhere in our daily lives—from display screens to broadcast screens and more. But do you know how the size of an LED screen is calculated? In this instalment, let’s take a look at how LED screen sizes are calculated.
- Calculating LED Display Modules
- Calculating Indoor LED Display Screen Size
- Calculating Outdoor LED Display Screen Size
- Calculating LED Display Viewing Distance
LED Display Module Types and Size Calculations
Common LED Module Types and Sizes
LED display screens are generally assembled from multiple LED panel units, commonly referred to as LED modules. Common models and dimensions are as follows (there may be slight variations between different brands):
- 320×160 mm
- 256×128 mm
- 250×250 mm
How Is LED Module Size Calculated?
Let us take P10 and P16 as examples.
Dimensions of a single P16 module:
For the P16 model, a standard module typically has 16 dots in length and 8 dots in width, whilst the dot pitch for P16 is 16 mm. Therefore, the calculation is as follows:
- Length = 16 dots × 1.6 cm = 25.6 cm
- Width = 8 dots × 1.6 cm = 12.8 cm
Therefore, the dimensions of a single P16 module are usually: 256 × 128 mm
Dimensions of a single P10 module:
For the P10 model, a standard module typically has 32 dots in length and 16 dots in width, whilst the dot pitch for P10 is 10 mm. The calculation is as follows:
- Length = 32 dots × 1.0 cm = 32 cm
- Width = 16 dots × 1.0 cm = 16 cm
In practice, common module dimensions can usually be found directly in the product specification table, so there is no need to recalculate them each time. The calculation formula is primarily intended to help us understand the relationship between module dimensions and pixel pitch.
How to Calculate LED Display Size
Walking down the street, we often see rectangular LED displays on the fronts of banks and shops showing advertising text; we usually refer to these simply as shopfront LED screens, LED strip displays or scrolling LED displays. So what are the specifications for shopfront LED displays? How do you determine the screen size? In fact, it is much the same as for indoor displays.
A shop has commissioned a custom P10 monochrome LED display (320 × 160mm) to create a scrolling text display measuring 3.5 metres by 0.8 metres. How do you calculate the actual dimensions of the shopfront LED display?
1. First, calculate how many module panels are required for the length and width (divide the total screen length by the length of a single module panel, rounding to the nearest whole number)
- Length: 3.5 m ÷ 0.32 = 10.9375 ≈ 11
- Width: 0.8 ÷ 0.16 = 5
2. Actual length and height dimensions (multiply the number of module panels required by the dimensions of a single module panel)
- Length: 11 × 0.32 = 3.52 m
- Width: 5 × 0.16 = 0.80 m
3. Actual LED screen area: 3.52 × 0.80 = 2.816 m²
4. It should be noted that:
LED display screens for shop fronts also have frame dimensions. As there are many different specifications for frame profiles, the commonly used frame width is increased by 3.5 cm (per side). There are also options where the width is increased by 4.5 cm (per side).
Assuming we are using a frame of 3.5 cm per side here, the length and width of the shop front LED display screen are as follows:
- Total screen length: 3.52 m + 0.035 × 2 = 3.59 m
- Total screen width: 0.80 + 0.035 × 2 = 0.87 m
- Total area of the unit including the frame = 3.59 × 0.87 = 3.1233 m²
How to Calculate LED Display Viewing Distance
- Minimum viewing distance: The viewing distance for an LED display ≈ pixel pitch (mm) × 1
- Optimal viewing distance: The optimal viewing distance for an LED display ≈ pixel pitch (mm) × 3
- Maximum viewing distance: The maximum viewing distance for an LED display ≈ screen height (metres) × 30 (times)
This viewing distance is provided for reference only. The actual viewing distance must also take brightness into account, and in practical projects, the distance should be adjusted according to on-site conditions.
