If you are planning a festival or concert these days, one of the items that should be on top of your equipment list is an LED screen. You want to make sure every member of the audience sees the performers, which is a great way to increase engagement. 

The good news? There are more of these screens in the market today, which has made them more affordable for event organizers to hire or buy. 

The bad? With so many options to choose from, LED screen hire or purchase sometimes becomes difficult – you don’t know where to start your search, what kind of system is good for your kind of event, what additional equipment will be required to get the display up and running, and so forth. 

In this post, we tell you everything you need to know about LED screen rental, to help you land the most suitable system for your event. So let’s get busy!

What Is An LED Screen?

If you are a first-time event planner, you will want to know what this technology means before looking for an LED screen rental near you. So let’s shed some light on it. 

In the simplest terms, an LED display is typically a flat panel display that utilizes a light source called light-emitting diodes (LED) to create an image. Compared to its LCD cousin, it is the brightest shining, the most efficient, and the fastest-growing screen technology. 

What About An LED Wall?

Multiple LED display panels can be put together to form one large, continuous image, commonly referred to as a video wall, jumbotron, or just LED screens. Setting up a jumbotron requires special hardware and software to make sure that the panels work harmoniously together. Due to these impressive customization abilities, video walls allow displays of almost any shape or size.

Which One Is Right For You?

LED display keeps your audience entertained, informed, and engaged. It is also a great way to generate revenue through sponsor ads. Whether to go for a single display unit or a wall of screens will depend on the size of your audience and the setting. 

If you are planning an outdoor event that will have a large gathering of, say, 100 people or more like a music concert, sporting event, festival, fundraiser, political event, watch party, or a movie at the park, for instance, you will be better off with a jumbotron. For a more intimate setting with fewer crowds, a standard LED screen might be a more budget-friendly option.

Factors To Consider When Doing Your LED Screen Hire

On the surface, LED screen hire may seem like just walking into your local screen rental shop and paying for the flashiest display, but in the real sense, there is much more to it. There are several things that will affect the pricing of an LED screen hire, which you need to keep in mind if you hope to find the right display for your budget. Read on!

1. Display Size

The larger the display, the deeper you will have to dig in your wallet. Video walls will mostly be larger than 12 ft. by 7 ft., so if you’re looking for a smaller display, a TV may be more viable. 

2. Indoor Or Outdoor

Because LED screens shine extremely bright and are visible even under direct sunlight, they are the best displays to use outdoors. LED displays meant for outdoor use are also designed to withstand elements like dust, wind, and heavy rain. 

When it comes to indoor events, on the other hand, the kind of display you go for will depend on how you plan to use it. Sometimes, even a projection screen will work. But there are LED screens designed for an indoor setting and are very popular for sporting events, trade shows, fundraisers, etc. These are also cheaper than their outdoor counterparts, so if your event doesn’t really need to be outside, renting an indoor LED would make more financial sense. 

Important Tip: Most indoor LEDs are not designed to endure the harsh elements present outdoors. If by any chance you are going to use an indoor LED screen outside, make sure it is sheltered from the elements, especially the rain. Depending on the size of your audience, you can even have a giant waterproof tent erected for them outside and have the screen set up at one corner of the tent.

3. Screen Structure

The structure supporting your screen is just as essential as the screen itself. Screen structures fall under two major categories – mobile and modular. A mobile display is permanently built onto a movable vehicle like a trailer or track. 

Modular units are built on site. They come in tiles of LED and are constructed using aluminum trussing. These structures are more popular in indoor events, and because they are built on site, they provide more customization options.   

If you love location flexibility, mobile structures are what you need. You will find that they are cheaper to rent and easier to set up. You can also adjust the screen height to the level that works for your audience. The only downside is that you will need enough space to navigate and set up the screen.

4. Labor

Setting up LED screens involves installing the required hardware and software physically. And just like any piece of work, the more intense the installation labor is, the more you will pay for it. 

In the end, the number of screens you need installed and the complexity of the process will affect your quote. See how many screens you can afford with your budget, based on your preferred display size. 

Also, complex setups will take a longer timeframe to get done, which may also affect the pricing. If you are running out of time, the cost of labor will likely go up because you may need to bring in extra manpower to speed up the installation. 

FAQs

Q: How Much Does It Cost To Rent A Jumbotron?

A: Different LED screen rental services will have different price ranges for their jumbotrons, but it will cost you roughly between $4,000 and $15,000 a day to rent a jumbotron. However, things like the size of the display, pixel pitch, resolution, and distance from the vendor will always affect the price of your quote. 

Q: What Does Pixel Pitch Mean?

A: Pixel pitch is the distance between two adjacent pixels. It is measured in millimeters, and the higher the pitch, the lower the quality of the image, and vice versa. Pixels determine how far a person needs to be from the screen to view a clear image. The standard pixel range in the LED video board is between 1 and 20mm.