Liam Winter, product director at Absen Europe, tells us about the company’s new Acclaim LED display range and the accompanying ‘Swap your old LCD with Acclaim LED’ campaign.
Who are you primarily targeting with this promotion?
This campaign is targeted at professional AV system integrators and their end-users to help raise awareness of the benefits of Absen’s new direct-view LED technologies and stimulate the move from out-dated LCD technologies.
What are the biggest advantages of LED over LCD?
There are a number of advantages for LED vs LCD, as the technology itself allows for a completely bezel-free display and therefore eliminates the distracting dark lines associated with LCD videowall technology.
The Absen Acclaim series holds a number of further key advantages in visual display performance, as it features higher colour uniformity, higher brightness, higher contrast and delivers a higher visual impact and user experience.
The benefits of the Absen Acclaim series extend beyond the visual by delivering flexible configuration, low power consumption, low heat dissipation, easy maintenance and a long operational life span.
Absen Acclaim series is a powerful combination of the benefits from both the old LCD world and new LED world
What are the advantages of LED specifically for the systems integrator?
Absen Acclaim gives system integrators new and exciting ways to better meet the visual display needs of their customers and commercial needs of their business.
With a carefully considered range of pixel pitches, system integrators are able to tailor their display solution to the visual needs of each specific customer. They can easily find the right balance between viewing distances, resolutions, screen sizes and budgets to offer customers the best balance of price and performance.
Absen Acclaim offers system integrators familiarity with LCD videowall displays; the LED panel is 27.5in diagonal and 16:9 aspect ratio, equivalent to one quarter the size of a traditional LCD 55in videowall panel. Like LCD videowall, the Acclaim series is a modular solution and can be built into any screen size and shape, it supports HD and UHD video resolutions, offers easy to use mounting systems that support VESA standards for quick installation, and even plug and play HDMI connection options for convenient video playback.
Operationally the Acclaim series features a high precision mechanical design to control inter-panel alignment while helping to make installation quick and easy, as well as deliver great results. The panel has been designed for easy access to all core electronics components from the front of the display, supporting space saving front installation and super-fast maintenance.
Absen Acclaim has been optimised to make it easier than ever for system integrators to onboard the product across their entire business, allowing them to have immediate commercial success and most importantly deliver a fantastic result for their important customers.
What is market-making or market-leading about the Acclaim LED range?
Absen Acclaim series is the world’s first narrow pixel pitch direct-view LED display product to support both the VESA mount standard and direct-HDMI plug and play connectivity, making it easier than ever to use LED display technology. Absen Acclaim series is a powerful combination of the benefits from both the old LCD world and new LED world.
Why is the time right to make the switch to LED now?
It is becoming increasingly difficult to catch people’s attention with an LCD screen. They have been around for many years and even with highly qualitative content, messages don’t really get noticed anymore. LED provides brighter, more eye catching and dynamic images, making it a fantastic proposition for brands and venue operators.
Absen Acclaim LED provides significant long-term performance benefits over LCD, critically it delivers significantly higher visual uniformity over time and the ability to maintain the product for its entire lifespan at component level, down to a single pixel. Absen Acclaim LED offers higher visual impact and an enhanced visual experience from day one, it is able to hold attention and deliver information more effectively than LCD in the majority of display applications today.
What are the sectors that you believe will see the most benefit from the Acclaim LED range? And are you targeting any applications/sectors that have not traditionally been known for LED usage?
Absen Acclaim is perfectly suited to a wide range of applications, including corporate, retail and out of home advertising. We feel that the familiarity with LCD and ease of use will be of particular benefit to professional system integrators who operate in these markets supplying LCD solutions and have yet to make the switch to LED.
For those customers already familiar with LED display, the Acclaim series offers them all of the professional features and display performance they would expect from a global leading LED display manufacturer while also benefitting from user-friendly solutions.
A number of leading AV industry consultancies are already forecasting for LED market share to supersede LCD market share as early as 2020
Has LED display resolution improved enough to compete with LCD on picture quality?
Specified correctly, LED display solutions have been competing with LCD displays as a superior video display technology for many years. The Acclaim series offer ultra-narrow pixel pitches starting as low as 1.2mm, enabling customers to achieve HD resolutions in screens as small as 110in diagonal, with ultra-short viewing distances and wide viewing angles.
But picture quality is not all down to resolution.
If we stop for a minute and consider the current buzz around HDR technology in both the consumer and professional display industries we can quickly understand why LED is such a compelling display technology compared to LCD. HDR, or high dynamic range, is independent of resolution, focuses on the darkest and brightest elements of a video image and is easily visible at average viewing distances. Absen Acclaim LED is capable of reproducing images at higher brightness, greater contrast ratio and a wider colour gamut than LCD videowall displays. Absen Acclaim delivers higher contrast, revealing precise, detailed shadows and stunning highlights with more clarity than ever.
How far down the road do you see the crossover point where demand for LED outstrips LCD?
The shift from LCD to LED is already well on the way, with LED market share growing again significantly in 2017. A number of leading AV industry consultancies are already forecasting for LED market share to supersede LCD market share as early as 2020.
Absen LED displays are trusted by leading brands in over 120 countries and 30,000 locations around the world. With a growing base of eight global subsidiaries providing expert service and support to customers in their local markets, Absen are perfectly placed to take care of customers as they make the switch to LED.
