The vocabulary behind the planner and the guides — short, practical, and consistent with the rules the calculator applies.
Distance in millimetres between the centres of two neighbouring pixels. It sets resolution for a given physical size (width in mm ÷ pitch = pixels) and, by rule of thumb, minimum viewing distance: about one metre per millimetre of pitch.
Pixels per square metre: (1000 ÷ pitch)². A 2.5 mm wall carries 160,000 px/m².
The individual module a wall is built from. Cabinet dimensions decide what wall sizes are actually buildable — walls come in whole-cabinet steps.
The controller card inside each cabinet that takes video data off the run and drives the LEDs. Spares travel with the wall — a common planning ratio is one spare per 25 panels.
The box that maps sources onto the wall and feeds the receiving cards. Sized by two datasheet numbers: total pixel capacity and per-port capacity (about 650,000 px per gigabit port at 60 Hz 8-bit).
A daisy-chain of cabinets fed from one processor port. Crews load ports to about 80% of rated capacity for headroom.
A wiring path that runs down one column and up the next. Standard for data; power snakes too but only hops one column to the right (seen from the rear), because power connectors are directional.
The cable from processor to wall, one per data run. Cut length = distance + wall height + about 5 m of service loop.
Feeding every run from both ends so a single cable or port failure drops nothing. Standard in broadcast and critical installs; halves each processor's usable ports.
The bar cabinets hang from on a flown wall, in one-, two- and three-panel widths that combine to span the wall. System-specific — one manufacturer's bars do not fit another's cabinets.
The manufacturer's maximum number of panels that may hang below one bumper — a property of the cabinet frame. Rental panels publish 12–22 typically; install panels often publish nothing because they were never meant to fly.
A hoist attachment above the wall. Planning rule: one per three metres of width, minimum two — verified by a competent rigger, always.
Weight carried by one rigging point: wall weight including bumpers ÷ points, × a dynamic factor (commonly 1.2) for hoist starts and stops.
The hardware between structure and bumper: wire rope slings, round slings, and the bow shackles joining them. A workable ratio is 2 steels, 2 spansets, 4 shackles per point.
Building the wall up from the floor on base frames instead of flying it — trades rigging points for floor structure, ballast, and (outdoors) wind engineering.
Loading a circuit or port below its rating for headroom. The working convention for LED wall power is 80% of breaker rating, sized on maximum draw.
Datasheets quote both. Maximum (full white, full brightness) sizes circuits; typical (~⅓ of max) answers generator and venue questions. Mixing them up is the classic planning mistake.
Portable power distribution — takes a large feed and breaks it into the 16 A or 20 A circuits the wall plugs into, spread across three phases.
Spreading circuits evenly across L1/L2/L3 so no phase carries a disproportionate load — and splitting panel counts evenly per circuit (12+12, never 18+6).
Brightness unit. Indoor walls run 600–1,500 nits; outdoor daylight walls 4,000–6,000+.
Colour precision per channel (8/10/12-bit). Deeper colour costs bandwidth: NovaStar's own datasheets halve port capacity at 10–12-bit.
How often the LEDs are redrawn (Hz). High refresh (3,840 Hz+) avoids flicker and banding on camera; higher output refresh also reduces processor port capacity proportionally.
The multiplexing ratio (e.g. 1/8, 1/16): how many LED rows share one driver. Higher scan saves cost but trades brightness and camera performance.
LED packaging. SMD = discrete surface-mounted packages; COB = chips bonded directly to the board under a common coating (robust, fine pitches); GOB = SMD with a protective glue layer.
Ingress protection (dust/water), e.g. IP65 front. Decides whether a panel is outdoor-capable — check both faces, they often differ.
The shimmering interference pattern when a camera sensor beats against the LED grid. Managed with distance, focus, and finer pitch — a reason camera shows spec tighter pitch than the eye needs.
Locking processor output timing to the camera system's reference so shutter and wall refresh don't beat against each other on broadcast shows.
A cabinet or frame that hinges to build curved walls in fixed angle steps (e.g. ±40°). Curved builds change bumper and case counts.
The wheeled transport frame panels stack on — the unit truck packs are counted in.
Renting shortfall gear from another company. A good plan surfaces sub-hire lines the moment the job exceeds owned stock — not at load-in.
Ticking gear back in after the show and comparing against what went out — where missing and unexpected items surface while the trail is warm.