Outdoor Screens – Brightness Matters

Outdoor screens are becoming a familiar sight along high streets and city center thoroughfares. Outdoor digital signage has the ability to reach a far larger audience than indoor screens. Outdoor digital signage also has the ability to have a wider reach, attracting the attention of both passersby and people travelling along the roads in vehicles and public transport.

One of the most important factors, therefore, for an outdoor screen is getting it noticed and while size is important, brightness too is an essential factor.

Because of the increased distance outdoor screens are viewed from, brightness is essential to ensure the screen is readable from a distance. Furthermore, outdoor s screens have to cope with high brightness levels caused by the sun, which can be a real problem, especially in the summer.

Bright sunlight can easily overpower a standard screen’s brightness making the screen look washed out and unreadable; the brighter the sunlight, the more severe this problem becomes.

TV screens have their brightness measured in units known as nits. A standard TV used around the home typically has a nit value of around 500 nits; however, for outdoor use at least 1200 nits is require to cope with the effects of the sun.

If a screen is not bright enough, sunlight can make the content completely unreadable making the digital signage display a waste of money during the day.

Another problem caused by the sun is sun damage. Continuous sunlight shining down on a screen can lead to hotspots developing, which if not cooled, can lead to permanent marking of the screen face.

To prevent this problem the screen face should continuously be cooled during times of bright sunlight, otherwise the screen face could be left permanently damaged.