Did you know you can get round TVs?

Juke boxes went from being record, to CD, to computer, and are now finally ‘digital juke boxes’. Televisions (and LED display technology) have done the same.

Now technology has advanced to enable a completely round television screen (in the shape of a ball)!

Similar to the old 45 juke boxes, the only digital displays were televisions. These were characterized as a fixed shape (rectangle), only so bright, and you only had limited options on controlling the content (plugging a PC into the back).

Things moved along and LED displays came out, but these were dot matrix (lots of dots placed on a flat screen). They could only show words and were mostly used as ‘car park full’ signs and for petrol station pricing.

Things moved along and around 2016, full matrix came out. with RGB (red, blue, green) colours that were contained in a single white square LED. This meant you could bunch them up closer (pixel pitch) and you could show video and pictures (yay).

The full matrix displays then started to split into outdoor/indoor categories. Outdoor was all about brightness and weather tightness and the indoor was all about fine pitch (resolution) and brightness.

Whereas a regular television has a brightness of about 500 nits (or 500 cd/m²), commercial displays used to be about 1,000 nits. They did not have the necessary ‘ping’ to operate in a brightly lit retail environment. These days the good ones run at 3,500 nits and they will ‘ping your pants off’ (if that’s your thing).

With the advent of fine pitch indoor displays, we also broke free of the standard 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio of a TV, allowing any ‘size’ you want (ie a long banner, a tall pillar or an entire video wall).

From about 2020, indoor started to be available in a ‘curved’ shape (to wrap about a column in a shopping centre). This was made possible using rubber PCBs (printed circuit boards) and magnets, instead of screws as a method of fixing.

Just like the evolution of the record juke box through vinyl, to CD and digital, LED displays have also developed, and so new names are needed to properly describe them. ‘Curved’ is no longer enough as you can buy them in the shape of ‘cylinders’ (flat top and bottom but round centre) and ‘sphere’ (a ball shape).

They’re still just video screens, but sure, you do need to alter the shape of your graphics a little to maximise the effect. Indoor retail digital is very much a growth opportunity right now for sign writers. End of isle, special shapes, and a platform you (or your client) can control at the click of a mouse.

Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity.