The challenges of the last year may have slowed some progress in the expansion of dynamic digital signage (DDS), but it has, at the same time, opened up some new opportunities for DDS technologies—especially as they become less expensive and higher quality.

When I first started covering DDS several years ago, the dominant screen technology was LCD—liquid crystal display—the kind of technology you find in computer monitors and in modern TV screens. Recently, we have been seeing a shift to LED—light-emitting diodes—and it is poised to become the dominant technology for digital signage. The primary reason for this should be familiar to anyone from the print world: higher-resolution screens, measured in what is called “pixel pitch.” “There's still a lot of refinement and development in the LED space and it seems like there’s an ever-going thirst for finer pixel pitch,” said Paul England, Director of Channel Solutions of SNA Displays, a provider of LED displays.

Quick explainer: an LED display uses an array of three small bulbs (red, green, and blue) grouped into a “cluster,” which is analogous to a pixel in the print world. The spacing between clusters is called the “pixel pitch” and is measured in millimeters. The finer (or smaller) the pitch, the higher the resolution and the sharper the images being displayed.