The 2016 Macroblock Display International Seminar was successfully concluded on July 14. When it comes to this year's seminar, the theme "Behind the Scenes" is probably the topic that everyone is paying attention to and discussing. So why did this year's seminar choose such a theme? In addition, with the rise of small pitch, the importance of driver ICs has become more prominent, and the attention it has attracted is also increasing. How should driver ICs adjust to adapt to new roles? Today, the function of LED displays is still limited to playing commercial advertisements statically, monotonously, and repeatedly. How should we think about and position the future development of LED displays, especially small pitch? With these questions, the reporter of "LED Display World" exclusively interviewed Yang Lichang, chairman of Macroblock Technology Co., Ltd. at the 2016 Daegu International LED Display Expo in South Korea.

The true meaning of “before and after the scenes”

In front of the screen, the LED display presents a perfect display picture. Behind the scenes, the LED display manufacturers make efforts behind the scenes. Obviously, without the cooperation of these supporting equipment behind the scenes, it is unrealistic to achieve a perfect display picture on the LED display.

Regarding the theme of this conference, "Behind the Scenes", Yang Lichang said: "As LED displays move from outdoor to indoor, the audience's recognition rate of indoor screens has increased compared to outdoor large screens, and the requirements for display color and display effects have also become higher. To meet these higher requirements, we must rely on the corresponding coordination of the supporting equipment behind the scenes - lamp beads, driver ICs, video processors, control systems, etc."

"Secondly, the rise of small pitch leads to direct competition with traditional indoor splicing large screens such as LCD and DLP rear projection. However, at present, whether it is technology - dot pitch (LCD dot pitch can be P0.6) or cost, small pitch is at a disadvantage. Although small pitch has certain advantages in seamless splicing, high contrast, wide color gamut display, energy saving, etc., in the future, small pitch will continue to compete with LCD and DLP rear projection for the market share of indoor large screen splicing. Small pitch must be better, and all of these cannot be achieved without the assistance and cooperation of supporting equipment. Therefore, we set the theme of this conference as 'Before and Behind the Scenes' to discuss how to continue to improve the performance of these supporting equipment behind the LED display screen, and how these related equipment can cooperate with each other to achieve a more perfect display effect of indoor screens and small pitches."

High contrast, high grayscale and high refresh rate are the future directions of efforts

Small pitch is a hot topic in the current industry. Why is small pitch so popular in the industry and favored by consumers? Obviously, it is because the display effect of small pitch is better, more extreme and more perfect than that of traditional indoor splicing large screens, such as LCD. To achieve the display effect of small pitch "low brightness, high gray and high refresh", the driver IC undoubtedly plays the most critical role in it. 2017 Birmingham International LED Exhibition, UK.

In this regard, Yang Lichang told the reporter of LED Display World: "Compared with the lamp beads that account for 70% of the total cost of the entire LED display, the cost of the driver IC seems insignificant, but its role is crucial: high refresh rate, high contrast, high grayscale and other display effects must rely on the cooperation of the driver IC to achieve."

"In the early days when small pitch screens entered the market, the most talked about topic was how to solve the seven major problems of small pitch screens - ghosting, dark lines in the first row, low gray color cast, low gray unevenness, gradient dark lines, high contrast interference, and eliminating the cross phenomenon caused by LED open circuit. After the rapid advancement of technology in recent years, these problems have been perfectly solved with the technical cooperation and joint efforts of manufacturers such as driver ICs and control systems. As a driver IC manufacturer, our next task is to further improve the contrast, grayscale and refresh rate of the LED display, and at the same time not sacrifice its grayscale while improving the contrast. This is a challenge for us, and we need to work with manufacturers such as lamp beads and control systems to complete it together." Yang Lichang added.

LED displays need to add more interactive elements

Yang Lichang is very optimistic about the future development of small pitch. He believes: "For LED display companies, small pitch is a brand new battlefield and a brand new opportunity. Small pitch will directly impact LCD liquid crystal. The prospects are very good in the next two to three years. At present, the most urgent problem to be solved for small pitch is how to reduce costs, especially how to reduce the cost of lamp beads. Therefore, the manufacturing process of lamp beads must be greatly improved and upgraded. For driver IC, it will continue to develop in the direction of high integration and high integration in the future, and how to help customers reduce the overall cost of display screens is of greater significance. This is also a problem we need to think about and improve next. All of this can only be achieved by relying on technological breakthroughs and innovations, or even revolutionary technological breakthroughs. Otherwise, it will be difficult for small pitch to shake the position of LCD liquid crystal in the indoor large-screen splicing market."

"Of course, it is not enough to simply improve the display effect of LED displays, especially those with such excellent display effects due to their small pitch. We need to continue to explore how to diversify the functions and applications of displays and maximize their value, and human-screen interaction is an extremely important direction for enhancing the value of LED displays in the future. We should not position LED displays as just a carrier for static advertising. We should also think about how to achieve good interaction between the audience and the display, maximize the effectiveness of advertising, and maximize the output of advertising. This will also indirectly enhance the value of LED displays and broaden their application areas." Yang Lichang added.

At present, VR/AR has become a hot topic. Companies in the industry such as Unilumin, Leyard, and Lianjian are all entering the VR/AR field, which shows that everyone is very optimistic about this new application field. In this regard, Yang Lichang said: "If LED display screens can be well connected with emerging technologies such as VR/AR in the future, this will open up new application fields for LED display screens, which will bring unlimited possibilities to LED display screens. This will be a new opportunity for the future development of the industry, and it is also a good topic that many screen companies in the industry need to think about next.