Just how audio transparent are LED screens.

[Jay Wyatt]

Nice reference photos. I would expect those wider columns are not just part of the structure... but are actually data, processing, and power columns too (if they have any kinship to how traditional event panels are designed).

Which brand was this example? The perf design looks very similar to Jame's original photo. It was just hard to get a sense of scale in his photo.

Correct, presumably data and power delivery reside within the columns.

The brand was "Tricorne Premium LED" and was under exhibit in GDCs room at CineEurope. Tricorne has a few listings on the DCI compliant database.

[Leo Enticknap]

Both of the two cinema LED systems I've been involved in installing used center speakers above and below the frame, combined with psychoacoustic trickery in the B-chain processing. The LED panels themselves were about as acoustically transparent as the door to a padded cell in a lunatic asylum.

The industry response to cinema LED thus far seems to be "Wow ... amazing picture ... pity about the sound." IMHO, the psychoacoustic trickery has improved significantly over the last few years, but it's still a workaround rather than a solution. If this Cinity LED panel has cracked the problem of an acoustically transparent direct view surface, then one of the two major obstacles that are preventing cinema LEDs from becoming a mass market replacement for traditional projectors and screens may have been cleared. The other is cost.

[Ryan Gallagher]

then one of the two major obstacles that are preventing cinema LEDs from becoming a mass market replacement for traditional projectors and screens may have been cleared. The other is cost.

Mixed use venues outside of the largest ones probably can't even consider such installs, even if it were affordable.

While we do hang big LED walls on a temporary basis with tours... assuming new cinema walls would even support being suspended and flown in and out, smaller venues probably can't afford the flyhouse space for the supporting truss that would be required. We already have one truss for our cinema sound rig that kills a bunch of fly space. A second downstage to support a cinema LED display would probably be a bridge too far in terms of fly house space sharing with it's other roles.

Our frame and screen and masking only use two two linesets that are about 6in apart. Audio uses about 24in for the truss and cabinets. All in that premium downstage real-estate.

A smart person would probably build in capacity on the motors to support a tail-down pipe or truss below the cinema gear, which when flown out would double as wild electric or general use pipe. But moving those motors in and out constantly to utilize them in other roles is probably also a bit risky for the cinema install, especially if it was an LED wall.

Edit: Amusingly, a non-transmissive LED wall with compromise speaker placements would probably actually FREE UP flyhouse space relative to white we have now. But you gotta accept the compromises for Audio.

[Leo Enticknap]

I can't remember the details of how the Samsung system fits together (I was last involved in installing one in 2019), but the LG Miraclass consists of individual LED "modules," six of which form a "cabinet." Modules within a cabinet can be swapped out individually if one sprouts a bad pixel, but the cabinet is the unit that attaches to the frame, 48 of which form the videowall.

Each cabinet mates to the one next to it using a spring-loaded fastener. After initial assembly, one of the most time consuming parts of the installation process is to adjust the tension on these fasteners, such that the cabinets are aligned so that the edges are invisible to the audience when content is playing. Like audio tuning done right, there is no shortcut: it needs 2-3 people taking their time and getting it right to achieve an acceptable result.

Before any cabinets are attached to the frame, the frame itself is leveled using a laser level and inclinometer, secured to the floor with bolts, and secured to the wall behind it at the top with a seismic brace. This, I suspect, would be the gotcha in trying to mount one in a fly tower. The alignment of the cabinets would likely be disrupted during the raising and lowering process, and if it were hanging (not secured to the floor) when in the deployed position, there would be all sorts of stresses and strains present that the frame wasn't designed to handle.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I can't remember the details of how the Samsung system fits together (I was last involved in installing one in 2019), but the LG Miraclass consists of individual LED "modules," six of which form a "cabinet." Modules within a cabinet can be swapped out individually if one sprouts a bad pixel, but the cabinet is the unit that attaches to the frame, 48 of which form the videowall.

Each cabinet mates to the one next to it using a spring-loaded fastener. After initial assembly, one of the most time consuming parts of the installation process is to adjust the tension on these fasteners, such that the cabinets are aligned so that the edges are invisible to the audience when content is playing. Like audio tuning done right, there is no shortcut: it needs 2-3 people taking their time and getting it right to achieve an acceptable result.

Before any cabinets are attached to the frame, the frame itself is leveled using a laser level and inclinometer, secured to the floor with bolts, and secured to the wall behind it at the top with a seismic brace. This, I suspect, would be the gotcha in trying to mount one in a fly tower. The alignment of the cabinets would likely be disrupted during the raising and lowering process, and if it were hanging (not secured to the floor) when in the deployed position, there would be all sorts of stresses and strains present that the frame wasn't designed to handle.

Yeah, temporary systems use header bars with adjustments to insure a level top support separate from the truss they are suspended from. Similar "could" be done for a cinema wall I expect with some design efforts... but the gotchya is probably tolerances for alignment and durability of that alignment when the truss is moving. Lower density general purpose displays are fairly forgiving at the cabinet edges, you still have to align them and deal with modules that aren't seaming nicely for some reason, but it doesn't take all day... load in and out type schedule.

That and the content displayed on them isn't going to be as scrutinized as a film. Anything with large fields of similar colors tends to show all the alignment flaws... and your viewing angle may exaggerate some seams. It can be made to be "perfect", but generally no one has time for that, and the module edges tend to get a little abused in transport and handling, not enough spares to fix everything except stuck pixels or dead modules.

Edit: I also forgot to consider houses that still want to support 35/70mm like ours... maintain two flown screen systems and the space they require? Forgetaboutit.