When choosing a digital display, it’s crucial to consider the overall context of the display’s intended use, including location and environment, the target audience, and the types of content that will be conveyed. In suitable settings, larger displays enable organizations to communicate more efficiently and effectively with employees, clients, customers, and other audiences by providing an enhanced viewing experience that smaller screens cannot match. In these situations, bigger is indeed better.

The top three advantages of larger displays are:

1. More eye-catching

By virtue of their size, larger displays excel at grabbing and holding viewers’ attention. They present information in a clear, highly visible way, and in many cases, they become the center of attention in a space. Larger screens make it easier for viewers to read or view content from a greater distance.

2. Bigger creative canvas

Larger screens also provide a bigger canvas for creating dynamic content, which both expands the types of content that can be presented and makes it easier to design and present complex content.

3. Greater impact

In corporate environments, larger displays provide a dynamic impact in lobbies, impressing clients and other visitors. For presentations in boardrooms and conference rooms, bigger displays offer larger images and text size, giving a presenter confidence that no one in their audience is missing vital details and information. In collaboration spaces, larger displays enhance the ability of employees to share information and insights, boosting ideation and productivity.

The same bigger-is-better dynamic holds true in other settings where information needs to be shared in a clear and highly visible way. In retail stores and event spaces, larger displays excel at providing wayfaring, delivering marketing messages, and offering video and entertainment content. They help businesses connect with customers and maximize the brand experience. In educational settings, larger displays are ideal for auditoriums and large lecture halls, ensuring that even those sitting in the last row can clearly see the information presented on the screen. In classrooms, larger displays are essential for subject matter that require close attention to fine details, such as science, engineering and architecture.

Considerations

When assessing the purchase of a larger display, keep an eye out for these features to ensure that you get high-end quality, reliability and long-term satisfaction:

1. A panel with adequate brightness — 350 cd/m² or higher — to ensure a better viewing experience

2. 4K Ultra HD native resolution to provide crystal clear imagery and effective messaging

3. Landscape and portrait orientation to have installation flexibility to meet your needs

4. A sleek, commercial-grade display to ensure longevity and pleasing aesthetics

5. Robust, up-to-date connectivity options to guarantee compatibility with other devices

6. A 24-hour on/off timer to maintain power schedules

7. A multi-year, commercial warranty to protect your investment and give you peace of mind

Technology advances have improved the quality of larger displays while also lowering their costs, making them more affordable than ever. With long lifespans, larger displays offer lower total cost of ownership, increasing the ROI for organizations of any size.

When It’s Time to Go Big

Larger displays enhance meetings, collaborations, marketing outreach, and entertainment with eye-catching, high-quality visuals that provide the ultimate viewing experience. They can become the centerpiece of any appropriate space, from boardrooms and classrooms to stores and convention centers.

When considering the purchase of digital displays, it’s vital to find the right partner who can provide trustworthy guidance, high-quality products, and ongoing service to ensure that you get the most out of your investment. Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America and Sharp NEC Display Solutions of America offer larger displays built to last, and we pride ourselves on partnering with clients to deliver customized solutions that match their needs. For more information on larger displays and how we can help you make the right display choices for your organization, contact your local Sharp representative today.

After deciding to adopt digital signage to boost your business, at some point you’ll need to decide on which kind of screen is right for you: consumer or commercial digital signage displays.

The answer isn’t always going to be totally obvious, but in most cases, we recommend opting for a commercial digital signage display—especially if your digital signage is going to require long usage hours in bright environments. Sure, commercial displays aren’t always a requirement and they’ll cost more upfront, but they come with many benefits that justify a larger investment off the bat.

Choosing a consumer TV instead could run the risk of shelling out thousands of dollars in repairs or even having to buy full-on replacement screens if any die out completely.

The Differences Between Commercial Digital Signage Displays and Consumer TVs

Put simply, consumer TV displays are built for typical use in homes. Therefore, organizations that choose consumer TVs often have home-like settings: controlled lighting, temperature, and dust levels, and do not require long work hours for their hardware. On the other hand, commercial digital signage displays are specifically designed for use in different types of business environments. Most digital signage displays you see in professional settings are of the commercial variety.

But the difference between consumer and commercial displays goes much deeper than that. Here are four key areas of difference that might make you want to choose commercial digital signage displays instead of consumer ones.

1. Design

Aesthetics

The first major difference you'll notice between commercial digital signage displays and consumer TVs is the design. From an outlook standpoint, commercial displays are designed to blend in with their environment—think clean, industrial, minimalist designs. Consumer displays typically have more aesthetic flair and come with a TV stand.

Durability

The designs are also different when you factor in durability. Consumer screens aren't built for the wear and tear of prolonged, non-stop use and are easily damaged if dropped or hit by an object. Commercial displays, however, are specifically designed to operate around the clock and are built with encasings that protect from impacts, dust, heat, and other harsh conditions. If you need an outdoor digital signage display, a commercial display is pretty much your only option.

Brightness

While both home TVs and commercial displays offer brightness levels ranging from 200 cd/m2 (nits) to 2,000+ nits to cater to different lighting conditions, it is important to consider brightness in conjunction with other factors. Commercial displays possess additional features, including sophisticated cooling systems, coupled with higher-grade power supplies, more durable components, and extended warranties, which contribute to their overall performance and extended lifespan. Therefore, when comparing two models with high brightness levels, such as around 2,000 nits, it is crucial to first consider the specific environment in which the TV will operate. This ensures that it will effectively serve you for a long time.

Content

To wrap up design comparisons, it's important to note that consumer screens, at their core, are built to display cable TV, movies, and video games. Alternatively, commercial displays are designed to broadcast and stream all types of content—including web pages, dashboards, social media feeds, online videos, motion graphics, slides, promotional content, and more. That's in addition to everything a consumer display can do.