1.Why two quotations cannot be compared on square-metre price
The square-metre price is tempting because it reduces an industrial product made up of dozens of parameters to a single number. In practice, though, two walls with the same description on paper — say “P3.9 outdoor LED video wall, 12 m²” — can differ in price by a factor of two or three, and both quotations can be telling the truth. The description fixes only the pixel pitch and the size of the surface; it says nothing about what sits behind the pixel.
It helps to picture the sheer quantity of components involved. At a P3.91 pitch there are roughly 256 pixels to a metre, so a square metre contains about 65,000 pixels. Every pixel means one red, one green and one blue semiconductor, so close to 200,000 LED chips are at work per square metre, driven by several hundred driver ICs and fed from several power supplies. At that scale, even a few per cent of quality difference per chip produces a visible, measurable difference that can be put in money terms.
Price differences typically come from four sources. The first is component choice: chip, driver IC, power supply, receiving card, controller, cabinet frame. The second is manufacturing depth — an in-house die-cast aluminium cabinet with factory calibration, or a contract-manufactured, uncalibrated panel. The third is the scope of supply: what the price covers beyond physically delivering the wall. The fourth is service: the nature of the warranty, response times, spare parts stock and maintenance.
The square-metre price also implies that cost rises linearly with size. It does not: the controller, the control cabinet, the wiring, transport and a large share of the on-site work are fixed or stepped costs. The square-metre price of a 6 m² wall is therefore almost always higher than that of a 30 m² wall, even where the technology is completely identical.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
If the quotation consists essentially of a single line — “LED video wall, P3.9, 12 m², X plus VAT” — then it is not a quotation, it is a price indication. You cannot make a decision on a document like that, and in a dispute you cannot rely on it either, because there is nothing in it for the supplier to have breached.
2.What a quotation must contain
The table below sets out the minimum that has to appear in a LED video wall quotation you can take seriously. If one of the rows is missing, ask in writing for it to be supplied — the answer (or the absence of one) is itself information about the supplier.
What a quotation must contain
| Data point | The form it should take | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Wall size and resolution | Exact mm and pixels (e.g. 3840 × 2160 mm, 960 × 540 px) | This shows whether the aspect ratio of your content fits, and whether the controller has enough capacity |
| Pixel pitch | Exact value (P2.5 / P3.91 / P4.81 / P10) | The minimum comfortable viewing distance is roughly as many metres as the pitch is in millimetres |
| Cabinet size and quantity | e.g. 500 × 1000 mm, 24 units, die-cast aluminium | This determines the spacing of the support structure, the shipping volume and how serviceable the wall is |
| LED chip manufacturer and packaging | Manufacturer + package size (e.g. Nationstar SMD1921, Kinglight SMD2020) | The chip is 30–40% of the price of the wall; the package size sets the limits on brightness and thermal load |
| Driver IC type | Specific part number (e.g. Chipone ICN2153, Macroblock MBI5153) | This decides how dark tones are handled, whether ghosting appears, and whether a high refresh rate is possible |
| Power supply manufacturer and type | Manufacturer, rated power, quantity (e.g. MEAN WELL 200 W, 5 V) | The most common source of individual failures; sustained load should stay below 80% |
| Receiving card type | e.g. NovaStar A5s Plus / A8s, Colorlight 5A-75B | It determines which controller and software can be used, and whether calibration data is stored |
| Controller type | e.g. NovaStar VX400 / MCTRL4K, with the inputs listed | The brain of the system; the load capacity (how many pixels it drives) is a physical limit |
| Brightness and measurement condition | cd/m² (nits), and whether it is a measured value before or after calibration | Calibration typically takes 10–20% off the raw brightness — that is often the whole difference |
| Refresh rate | In Hz, for the configuration as delivered (1,920 / 3,840 / 7,680 Hz) | In front of a camera, anything below 3,840 Hz produces horizontal banding on the recording |
| Scan rate | e.g. 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 scan | With the same chip, a lower scan division gives higher brightness and better contrast |
| Ingress protection, front and rear | Separate values (e.g. IP65 front / IP54 rear) | In a continental climate, IP54 at the rear is only sufficient in an enclosed structure that is protected from behind |
| Weight | kg/m² and kg per cabinet | The structural design, the fixings and the lifting plan all start from this |
| Average and maximum power consumption | Both in W/m², and what the average refers to | The supply and the protective devices are sized from the maximum; running costs are calculated from the average |
| Lifespan and degradation | Operating hours (e.g. 100,000 h) AND the committed brightness drop over 3–5 years | Operating hours on their own are a marketing number; the committed percentage drop is the real promise |
PRACTICAL TIP
Ask for the manufacturer's data sheet for the module and the cabinet as a PDF, with the part number on it. An existing data sheet can be checked; a verbal claim cannot. If the supplier sends only their own unbranded table, ask who made the module and what its part number is.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
“Grade A LED” or “A+ chip” is not a standardised or verifiable expression — there is no official classification behind it. The same goes for “factory quality” and “premium module”. Only the manufacturer's name and the part number mean anything.
4.Where the money goes missing — and what it looks like in practice
A markedly cheaper quotation is not necessarily a bad quotation. What is bad is not knowing where the savings were made. The table below lists the most common cost-reduction points and how each decision shows up on a working wall. Use this list to know what to look at when you visit a reference site or a demonstration.
Cost-reduction points and their visible consequences
| Where the saving is made | What it means technically | What you can see in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Lower refresh rate | 1,920 Hz or below, instead of 3,840 Hz | Horizontal bands run across the image when filmed on a phone or a camera; unusable for live broadcast or television recording; flickers to a sensitive eye |
| Coarser scan division | E.g. 1/32 scan instead of 1/16, with fewer driver ICs | Lower actual brightness, blacks tending towards grey, flicker or banding when viewed from the side |
| Weaker or mixed LED chips | Unknown manufacturer, wide binning tolerance, mixed production batches | After 6–12 months the surface is patchy, with shades differing from module to module; a chessboard effect on a plain single-colour background |
| Undersized power supply | A low-efficiency unit run continuously at 85–95% load | In summer heat, sections of the wall shut down or flicker — typically in the top rows; early power supply failures |
| Stripped or refurbished modules | Used panels relabelled, of mixed origin | Different manufacturing dates on the backs of the modules, non-consecutive serial numbers, differing seals and mask colours |
| Cloned controller or receiving card | Non-genuine NovaStar or Colorlight hardware | The manufacturer's software does not recognise it, or it becomes unusable after a firmware update; no calibration file; it cannot be swapped for a genuine part at service time |
| No factory calibration | No pixel-level or module-level colour and brightness correction | The boundaries of the modules stand out sharply on a white, light blue or light grey background; the wall looks “tiled” |
| Thinner cabinet frame | Pressed steel or thin-walled aluminium instead of a die-cast frame | The plane of the wall is wavy, with visible gaps or steps between cabinets; shadow lines in raking light, and a water ingress point in rain |
| Missing CE documentation | No EU declaration of conformity for the specific product, and no EMC or safety testing | Invisible on screen, but the operator carries the liability; it can interfere with radio and wireless systems, and creates insurance and regulatory risk |
PRACTICAL TIP
Ask for a reference site where the same module type has been running for at least two years. Look at it on a fully white and on a dark grey background, straight on and from the side, and film it on your phone — a missing refresh rate shows up on the recording immediately.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
Colour patchiness generally does not appear at handover but in the first or second year of operation, when chips with a wider bin spread lose brightness at different rates. Looking at a new wall is therefore not enough: always ask for an installation that is two or three years old as a reference.
5.Warranty and service — what “three-year warranty” actually means
The warranty period on its own is the least informative figure in a quotation. A three-year return-to-base warranty, where removing the faulty module, hiring the access platform and paying for shipping all fall to the client, is worth less in practice than a two-year on-site warranty with a guaranteed response time. The difference always lies in the detail of the contract, not in the number of years.
What has to be clarified behind the warranty
- A breakdown by component: the warranty period on the module, the power supply, the receiving card, the controller and the cabinet often differ — power supplies frequently carry only 1–2 years, even though they are the most common failure.
- On-site or return-to-base repair. With the latter, the cost of removal, access equipment, packing and shipping is the client's, and the wall is incomplete in the meantime.
- Response time and repair deadline as two separate figures (for example, acknowledgement within 24 hours, repair within 5 working days), ideally backed by liquidated damages.
- Spare parts availability: how many years the supplier will hold the same module and power supply in stock, and at what price.
- How end-of-life is handled: what replaces the series if the manufacturer discontinues it. A later production run will generally not match on colour, which is why the spare stock has to come from the same batch.
- Exclusions: lightning strike, mains surge, water ingress, burn-in from prolonged static content, failure to clean or change filters. These are almost always outside the warranty.
- Who actually gives the warranty: the locally established contracting installer, or the overseas manufacturer directly. In the latter case, enforcing the warranty becomes the client's job in practice.
- Whether an annual maintenance contract is mandatory, and whether failing to take one voids the warranty.
Dead pixel handling deserves particular attention. A significant share of contracts requires intervention only once the proportion of dead pixels exceeds a threshold. That threshold looks small at first glance, but on a large surface it means a great many points: at 65,000 pixels per m², even 0.01% is close to 200 dead pixels on a 30 m² wall. Ask for the threshold to be stated not only for the whole surface but for a single module or cabinet as well — that way a completely failed module cannot be treated as “within tolerance” relative to the wall as a whole.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
If the contracting party is not established in your own country, enforcing the warranty can turn into a cross-border legal dispute. On a capital investment of this size, that is reason enough on its own to choose the local contracting partner even where the quotation is more expensive.
6.Payment milestones and sharing the risk
The size of the deposit is the single best risk indicator in a quotation. For a LED video wall, a deposit of 30–50% is an industry norm, because the cabinets are made to a bespoke size and the components are bought in foreign currency; that is not suspicious. What is suspicious: a 70–100% deposit, a single lump sum paid up front with no milestones, and a supplier who refuses to accept a retention or a performance bond.
Recommended payment milestones
- 11. On signature — 30–40%Cover for the materials order. Condition: a signed, detailed technical schedule (with every row of the table above), and sight of the manufacturer's order confirmation.
- 22. Before release from the factory — 20–30%Payable against the ageing test report, the packing list and the handover of serial numbers. On a larger project, a factory acceptance test (FAT) can be built in here as well, by video or with someone present.
- 33. On delivery to site — 10–20%Condition: complete, undamaged receipt with a written record, an itemised check of quantities and part numbers, and delivery of the spare module stock from the same production batch.
- 44. After commissioning and trial operation — 10–20%Condition: at least 72 hours of continuous fault-free trial operation, calibration completed, measured evidence of brightness and refresh rate, training delivered and documentation handed over in your own language.
- 55. Retention — 5–10%Due 30–90 days after handover, or replaced by a bank guarantee or a parent company guarantee. This covers the early failures that appear in the first few weeks after commissioning.
PRACTICAL TIP
Set out the conditions for sign-off in writing, in measurable form. “Satisfactory operation” has no legal meaning; “72 hours of continuous operation with no failed module, at a measured 3,840 Hz refresh rate and 5,000 cd/m² brightness after calibration” can be enforced.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
Set down who carries the exchange rate and customs risk. Almost without exception, LED video wall components are bought in foreign currency, and many contracts contain an exchange rate adjustment clause that the client only finds out about on the final invoice.
7.Worked example: the five-year cost of two equally priced quotations
The following example sets two quotations against each other whose purchase price is identical on paper. The reference is an outdoor wall of roughly 30 m², running 14 hours a day, over a five-year horizon. Quotation “A” works with named components, factory calibration and an on-site warranty; quotation “B” offers the same pixel pitch and the same surface, but with an unnamed chip, a tightly sized power supply, no calibration and a return-to-base warranty. Every figure is a relative unit, where the purchase price = 100.
Five-year total cost of ownership (TCO) — order-of-magnitude example, purchase price = 100 units
| Cost element | Quotation “A” | Quotation “B” | What causes the difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | 100 | 100 | Identical on paper — this is the starting point for the decision |
| Energy, 5 years | 18 | 26 | The higher average consumption of “B”: weaker chip efficiency, so it has to be driven harder for the same brightness; no automatic brightness tracking |
| Maintenance, 5 years | 6 | 10 | More frequent cleaning and inspection, more fan and filter changes, more call-outs |
| Failures and repairs | 3 | 14 | Power supply and module replacements; with a return-to-base warranty, removal, access equipment and shipping fall to the client |
| Spares and replacement parts | 3 | 6 | Discontinued series, price premium, and a larger spare stock needed because of colour mismatch |
| Control system, software, licences | 2 | 5 | Replacing the cloned controller, buying a separate media player and content management system |
| Total over 5 years | 132 | 161 | Roughly a 22% difference at an identical starting price |
| Downtime (not quantified) | low | significant | On an advertising surface, the lost revenue often exceeds the cost of the repair |
Two ratios in the example are worth attention. The first: on an outdoor wall running 12–16 hours a day, five years of energy costs amount to something in the order of 15–30% of the purchase price. That ratio is strongly influenced by whether automatic brightness control is fitted — control that follows the ambient light can save 30–50% of total energy consumption, because the wall does not run at daytime brightness at night. The second: the spread on failure-related costs is the widest of all the items. This is where a poor component choice makes a difference not of 10–20% but of several times over.
WATCH OUT FOR THIS
The figures above are order-of-magnitude, illustrative examples; they are not a quotation and not a market average. The proportions on your own project may differ — the point of the table is the framework for thinking, not the specific values. What is worth taking from it: set up the same six rows for your own quotations, and ask the suppliers to help you fill them in.
8.A question list for the supplier
It is worth sending the questions below to every bidder by email, numbered, and asking for written answers. This is not distrust: a well-prepared supplier welcomes it, because these questions take moments to answer and the answers let them stand out from the field. Anyone who dodges, delays or replies in generalities has given you important information — well before contract signature.
20 questions to ask in writing
- What is the exact part number of the module, and which factory makes the LED chip? What is the package size?
- Which driver IC is on the module, and what refresh rate do you guarantee in the configuration as delivered?
- What is the scan rate, and how many driver ICs are there per module?
- Whose power supply goes in, at what rated power, and what sustained load percentage is it designed for?
- Which receiving card and which controller go in, and are they genuine manufacturer products? Please give the part numbers.
- Is the stated brightness a measured value after calibration, and at what white point colour temperature (K) does it apply?
- What are the average and maximum consumption of the wall in W/m², and what content does the average refer to?
- What is the weight of the cabinet and of the whole wall in kg/m², and does a structural loading data sheet come with it?
- What ingress protection rating applies at the front and at the rear, to which standard, and which test house measured it?
- Do I receive a factory calibration file, and what happens to it if a module is replaced? Who can load it back?
- What exactly does the price include: support structure, lifting, electrical work, data cabling, control cabinet, commissioning, training — yes or no, line by line?
- Who carries out the electrical work, and who is responsible for the supply, the sub-meter and the surge protection?
- What percentage of spare modules and how many spare power supplies are included, and are they from the same production batch?
- Is the warranty on-site or return-to-base? What are the guaranteed response and repair times, and are they backed by liquidated damages?
- For how many years is spare parts supply assured, and what happens if the manufacturer discontinues the series?
- What brightness degradation do you commit to at 3 and 5 years, expressed as a percentage of the initial value?
- What dead pixel ratio has to be reached before a repair obligation arises — separately for the whole wall and for a single module?
- Please provide the EU declaration of conformity for the specific product, together with the relevant EMC and safety test reports.
- What are the payment milestones, is there a retention or a performance bond, and who is the contracting party: a locally established company or the overseas manufacturer?
- Please give me two references at least two years old, with the same module type, that I can visit, along with a contact person.
PRACTICAL TIP
Send the same twenty questions to every bidder, unchanged. That way the answers can be laid side by side, and the quotations finally become genuinely comparable — on their content rather than on their price.
A good decision is not about picking the cheapest or the most expensive quotation, but about understanding exactly why they differ. On a short-lived campaign wall running for a few months, the cheaper technology is entirely rational; on a façade surface planned for ten years, the same decision puts the return on the investment at risk. If you get written answers to the questions above, the decision stops being a matter of luck. Further guides on installation, operation and technical parameters are also available in the ledfalszaki.hu knowledge base.
Quotation review list — point by point
This section is printable: take it with you to the site, or send it on to the installer.
Technical content
- The exact wall size in millimetres and the resolution in pixels are stated
- The pixel pitch, the cabinet size and the number of cabinets are stated
- The LED chip manufacturer and the package size are named (e.g. SMD1921, SMD2020)
- The driver IC and the type, manufacturer and rated power of the power supply are named
- The exact type of the receiving card and the controller is named (not just the brand)
- Brightness is given as a measured value after calibration, refresh in Hz, scan rate written out
- Weight in kg/m², average AND maximum consumption in W/m², ingress protection stated separately front and rear
Scope of supply — what is in, what is out
- Support structure and fixings: whose job, in what material, who designs it
- Structural design or engineer's report: is it included, and in whose name is it issued
- Lifting (crane, cherry picker, scaffolding) and site logistics: whose cost
- Electrical supply, dedicated circuit, sub-meter and surge protection listed item by item
- Data cabling, control cabinet, cooling or forced ventilation included
- Commissioning, calibration, training and documentation in your own language included in the price
Warranty and service
- The warranty period is written out separately by component (module, power supply, card, controller, cabinet)
- It states unambiguously whether repair is on-site or return-to-base
- Response time and repair deadline given as numbers, ideally with liquidated damages
- Spare parts availability fixed in years, including how discontinuation is handled
- There is a commitment on brightness degradation at 3 and 5 years, as a percentage
- The dead pixel threshold is given for the whole wall AND for a single module
- The warranty is given by the local contracting party, not directly by the overseas manufacturer
Money and legal
- The deposit is at most 40–50%, and it is tied to milestones
- There is a retention or a performance bond (typically 5–10%)
- The condition for sign-off is set out in writing, in measurable form (e.g. 72 hours of fault-free trial operation)
- Who carries the exchange rate and customs risk is set down
- Liquidated damages for delay appear in the contract in both directions
- The validity date of the offer and the period the price holds for are shown
Documents to ask for
- EU declaration of conformity for the specific product (not the manufacturer's general statement)
- Module and cabinet data sheets as PDFs, with part number and article number
- The manufacturer's data sheet for the power supply and the controller
- The factory ageing test report for the batch delivered
- Structural loading data (point and area loads, wind loading area)
- Two local references at least two years old, with contact details and a named contact
