Thought: LED Is All Just The Same?

Written: Peter Moses

It isn’t, nor is the technology that drives it. 

Receiver Cards, Sender Cards, Power supplies and the ever topical transport methods and protocols… here’s how I grew after a 3 day masterclass with the team from Nova Star.

Since I joined CommBox (going on a near record two years of full time employment for me) I have learnt so much. Looking at the industry I have grown up in (debateable) through different coloured lenses, no longer obsessing over dispersion patterns, watts and DSPs …. I have now come to realise, our industry is truly one of a kind! It doesn’t matter if you are more an audio person (like me) or a video, control or IT person, those of us who dwell here in AV, are obsessive. 

So always one to foster a laugh, Nicholas Hall has spent the last year and a bit opening up a number of opportunities for me to learn more about the tech that floats my boat, LED, both internally at CommBox and through the industry, while wondering, what the heck is this going actually learning?

Therefore, I was beyond chuffed when one of my dearest friends reached out about a Novastar session, 3 days of intense training (and testing!) Like any good sales person, I signed up immediately and then found the most suitable colleague I could, to do the course with me and to help with any further questions I may have....enter CommBox superstar Sajid Akbar.

What we learnt over the next 3 days was nothing short of amazing, where audio folk like I obsess over DC rails, smoothing caps and all different types of transistors (MOSFET, JFET and the like) - these “video”LED people obsess over send cards, receiver cards, ghosting, greyscale modes, shift clocks, row blanking and more. 

On their own, each element is similar to that of a tradiitonal component in an audio circuit, useful, but not the complete picture, together, however, they make the LED wall sing, and in many ways, can turn an average display into something amazing. 

It’s all in understanding how they work together….

I’ve often heard, a speaker is a speaker - well no its not, but the new bee in my bonnet is, well LED is LED. It’s not, and if you are going to use the argument that it is “all the same”, let me tell you…. The components inside making it sing - and how they are configured post install and during the life of the LED - make all the difference!

I don’t know much, but you’re welcome to what I do know, reach out… I’ll talk your ear off.