Could LED Screens Replace Projectors

Bespoke LED displays could be coming to a cinema near you, now that cinema screens could be replaced with LED screens.

The first commercial cinema installed a giant projector-less screen made up of LED panels a year ago, and now more and more cinemas are getting in on the act. This means that cinema screens of the future could be made up of one giant LED screen.

A total of 30 screens are expected in to be installed in cinemas across Europe by the end of 2018. Most of the existing large LED cinema screens are currently in Asia.

“LED screens could potentially redefine our conception of the theatrical experience,” says Guillaume Branders, senior industry relations manager at European cinema operators federation the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC).

Industry giant Samsung has sat up and taken notice of the change, noting that it is disruptive to the market and describing the current large LED screens as a ‘trial’ of the new technology.

They are aiming to get 20,000 installations in place by 2020, which represents 10 per cent of the global cinema market, which would be a massive undertaking.

They have a number of models which they are pushing three main models and don’t yet have a super large screen option for big screen cinemas.

These include: 2.7m-wide by 5m-high model with a 2K HD resolution for post-production (DCI certification is expected shortly),

5.6m-by-10.3m DCI-certified version with 4K resolution,

7.3m-by-13.4m screen due by the end of this year.