‘Seamless’ Technology for Video Walls

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We take a look at Christie's new video wall technology.
 
Christie has announced the launch of their MicroTiles display technology that creates a virtually seamless digital canvas in almost any size or shape with sharp, clear images. The MicroTiles are modular digital display tiles that can be stacked and clustered like building blocks to create display walls of any shape or scale, using a new and advanced optical design that produces unparalleled levels of brightness, contrast and colour reproduction.
 
The Christie MicroTiles system is a step forward in large-format display technology, offering excellent colour and image reproduction and wide viewing angles. Unlike video walls, which are composed of LCD displays with a bezel, these displays have a near absence of seams, with only a 1mm gap between the tiles.
 
The patented LED- and DLP-based system is designed for long, reliable commercial use in public areas, with no lamps or other consumable parts to replace. The LED light engine, a key component of MicroTiles, is rated at 65,000 hours to half brightness usage, or nearly 7.5 years of continuous operation. This is equal or even better than LCDs provide. If servicing is required, it can be done from the front and the light engine, which is the most complicated component, can be replaced in 15 minutes. The actual screens are shatterproof acrylic, which improves the feasibility of installing these screens in public areas.
 
With a screen size of 16” (408mm) wide x 12” (306mm) high, the tiles also feature a shallow depth of only 10.2” (260mm) and require just 2” (50mm) of minimal clearance for rear ventilation.
 
One of the challenges of composing video walls is controlling and calibrating the monitors to display colours in a uniform fashion. Christie’s tiles are ‘self-aware’ which means that time-consuming and costly colour calibration needed to keep conventional video walls looking uniform is automatically completed by the sensors built into the MicroTiles. The tiles are aware of their neighbours and self-calibrate and adjust so that the tiles all display a uniform brightness, colour and contrast.
 
By methodically testing light sources, Christie’s R&D team took advantage of the Helmholtz Kohlrausch effect to produce more saturated colours and brighter, more vibrant visuals. Mike Perkins, Senior Product Developer, explained: “Humans respond much more strongly to very pure, very saturated colours than they do to dull, washed-out colours. We perceive the saturated colours as being brighter. Objectively, the Helmholtz Kohlrausch effect tries to quantify how much brighter the saturated colours appear.”
 
The displays generate 115% of the colour spectrum possible from NTSC video signals. This level of colour reproduction is important for leading brands that go to great lengths to maintain the integrity of their fonts, wordmarks, logos and colours. This large video wall solution looks good both across a store or shopping mall but also up close, where LED boards tend to fall down.
 
Although the engineering behind the display tiles is very sophisticated, walls of tiles are controlled by a simple unit that processes the signal from popular digital signage and media players. The output from a PC or media player runs into a small external control unit and that unit drives the Christie MicroTiles. The tiles stack and join like blocks with simple screws and connect with standard line and power cords. When particularly large displays require multiple control units, they communicate with each other without requiring intervention from a technical team.
 
The Christie-developed software tool enables architects, designers and system integrators to use photos of the targeted space, design-in the displays on a PC, and then generate simulations of what the solution will look like and what needs to be done to achieve this.
 
Known around the globe for high quality digital projection systems, Christie has had its new tiles in R&D for two years. “MicroTiles represent a distinct revolution in display technology, that allows users to create their own digital canvas or digital wallpaper,” said Bob Rushby, the co-inventor and Chief Technology Officer of Christie. “With MicroTiles, users can express their creativity and vision, and assemble the displays in ways that have previously been unattainable using current flat panel LCD, plasma or LED walls.”
 
“Assemble the tiles any way you like, take them apart and re-assemble them in a new configuration, and they ‘recognise’ each other every time and adjust the image automatically,” he added. “Our partners are discovering new ways of using digital display that would have been impossible or impractical before MicroTiles.”
 
Denys Lavigne, President of Canadian content creation house Arsenal Media, commented, “From the consumer’s perspective and the brand’s perspective, there are a few key issues that matter more and more, like the size and impact, the creativity in how it fits in with the space, and the quality of the image. One of the most important aspects of this technology is that not only will it allow us to produce a creative installation, with great colours, but it will allow us to do so while introducing a new visual texture.”