The LED Screen Experts
Forty years after the introduction of the Jumbotron, the technologies behind large-scale LED displays continue to revolutionize the way entertainment, information and advertising is presented and viewed.
A major driving force behind the design, manufacture and installation of LED exhibits and signage is digiLED. Headquartered just outside London , the company’s innovative technologies are at the heart of its LED display applications that include live events, advertising and fixed installations.
Originally established as displayLED in 2003, the company launched the digiLED brand in 2007.Following the brand’s success, the company officially rebranded as digiLED in 2017. Today, it operates Pixel Depot showrooms at its UK headquarters and in Las Vegas, offering visitors the chance to experience its products firsthand and even test their own content.
When it comes to LED technology and large screens, the digiLED team is among the most experienced and innovative in the industry.
EXPERIENCED TEAM
Company founder and CEO Graham Burgess has been on the mega-screen map since the mid-1980s when he worked with Sony and was involved with the then cutting-edge Jumbotron.
Another key member of the digiLED team is Tom Mudd, Head of Technical, who when talking about big screen history acknowledges the four decades Burgess has spent in the business.
“His heritage goes back to the days when the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson and Genesis all had to share one Jumbotron because it was so big and so expensive that even artists at that level had to share equipment,” he says.
For his part, Mudd has been developing LED technologies since he was a graduate student in the 1990s. In fact, he joined displayLED/digiLED predecessor Invision Microsystems Ltd. around the time the company became the first in the world to develop a true video screen using red, green and blue LEDs.
PRODUCTS AND APPLICATIONS
Over the past 25 years, digiLED technologies have been used in dozens of spectaculars , some small, but mostly large, ranging from boardroom 4K screens to mega-sized in stadiums and at race tracks.
“We love doing jobs all over and we have a wide-customer base, but there’s no denying that when an American job comes in, the size and the scope of the project is just so much bigger,” notes Mudd.
The custom-developed screens allow for commercial advertising, arena and stadium scoreboards/information displays, casinos, art installations, entertainment complexes, production studios and sets, and even some of the largest car racing venues in the United States.
Most of the design and development happens at digiLED headquarters in the U.K, but its products are manufactured in China (with some made in Japan and Korea) at several factories that the company knows and trusts.
One key differentiator that digiLED is proud of is its boots on the ground QC team that enforce stringent production processes, and own R&D, FAT, through to delivery.
“The recipe book for making an LED screen has been tried and tested for the past 25 years,” says Mudd.
“Pixels are getting closer and closer and closer, so that the number of pixels in a square meter has increased from the hundreds to the thousands to the tens of thousands. That’s been really pushing the boundaries of electronics assembly.”
NOTEWORTHY PROJECTS
While digiLED screens come in all shapes and sizes, Mudd says it’s the large-scale projects that capture the most attention.
“When I tell people we do big screens, they immediately think of the screens you might find in your local sports bar,” says Mudd. “And then I have to say ‘no, no, no, no’. Our screens are really big screens as in big, big, big.”
And there’s not many bigger than the 23,000 sq.-ft. Big Hoss TV screen, which when installed in 2014 was the largest HD screen in the world, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
The recent upgrade, a partnership undertaken by GoVision and digiLED, was praised for the project's eco-credentials, in no small part gleaned from the Carbon savings embedded in the re-use of the existing 80 ton steel structure. This was made possible with a digiLED designed, back-compatible LED screen, avoiding the demolition of the original steel. Since its completion in 2023, the new Big Hoss has a display area of half a football field and stands 11 storeys tall. It boasts more than 8.2-million pixels, brightness levels of 10,000 nits and a refresh rate of up to 7,680Hz.
Other selected major undertakings involving digiLED:
- Outfitted The O2 in London, one of the world’s busiest entertainment facilities, with a 12.5-million pixel digiTHIN HD 3.9mm LED screen that is 226-metres long - the first ever digiLED ZEUS® screen.
- Helped design and erect Colossus, the world’s largest outdoor center-hung screen, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
- Rock legend Bruce Springsteen has used digiLED screens on tour for the past 18 years.
- Refit and maintenance of the famous curved LED screen in London’s Piccadilly Circus.
- Built and installed screens for 3 top-tier brands at high profile sites in Times Square in New York City.
- Supplied large screens for major sports venues, including Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Glasgow’s Hampden Park and many more USA NBA venues and arenas
- Provided full stadium upgrade to LED displays at Tropicana Field in Tampa, Florida.
digiLED ZEUS
One of the big screen industry’s recent game changers came in 2022 when the company introduced digiLED ZEUS (Zero Energy Use System). The patented, green technology is used to turn off the power, something never before recommended for large screens.
“The historic “just leave it on” mind-set was always based on the premise that a screen showing black was effectively “in standby” and not burning much power,” recalls Mudd, adding that they decided to fact check this and measure how much energy was used on black standby mode.
“What we found, shocked us” says Mudd “Even big name screen suppliers from the far East, when we measured their black screen power were burning 15,16,17% of max power on black … 17% !!! and all to display ‘nothing’.”
“When you activate the zero energy state after fitting ZEUS into your LED panels, the standby power of the screen is reduced from a few kilowatts down to zero. So spread over all the days in a year when a screen might be in standby mode, ZEUS can generate huge savings in both power and Carbon. ”
In fact, Mudd says ZEUS can generate enough power savings to pay for the screen after six or seven years.
Every night, their latest screen installed at TheO2, London saves enough power with ZEUS to charge/drive a Tesla 300 miles.
“A years’ worth of that and you’ve almost driven halfway to the Moon” says Mudd.
Initially offered as an add-on for digiLED premium products, customers now frequently request that the award-winning, proprietary technology be included in the package.
WORKING WITH PROTOCASE
ZEUS consists of nodes inside each panel and a ‘head end’ control unit that is the brains of the system with app and cloud interface for remote administration.
The ‘head end’ is manufactured by Protocase. But prior to ZEUS, Protocase was already on the radar of digiLED and, in particular, Mudd.
“I’ve known about Protocase for years and years – I think what first caught my attention was Protocase Designer,” says Mudd. “I remember noting that it was very capable and had free software. I like that.”
Mudd and the team eventually used the software to design an extruded case for the ‘head end’ control unit. He says the exact design is often changed to suit customer demands.