Determining Costs

Product Overview

One of the most important considerations in purchasing video wall technology is the Total Cost of Ownership of the system, which it is too often miscalculated. Typically, lamp costs are disclosed during the purchase of a video wall, however the lifetime of critical components and labor to keep the system in working condition is often overlooked.

Defining the Source of Costs in a Video Wall

Video wall technology has two forms of general maintenance: consumables and calibration. Once a display wall is initially implemented, certain components start to wear, such as lamps, filters (if applicable), colorwheels, cooling fans, power supplies, etc. As these components wear, the system must be calibrated to ensure that the display remains clear and crisp.

Typical components that wear in a video wall powered by DLP® technology

• Lamps
• Filters
• Color Wheels
• Cooling Fans
• Power Supplies

Calibration

Calibration is necessary for two reasons: the wearing of components and/or the exchange of failed components.

A lamp starts to lose its brightness intensity from the moment it is turned on. Typically a lamp's brightness will decrease by 50% at the end of its lifetime. However, not all lamps age at the same rate causing the appearance of mismatched color and brightness adjustment in a display wall.

Once a lamp fails it is necessary to replace it with a new one. Each lamp has its own unique color characteristics, which can also cause a disparity in the color and brightness adjustment of the video wall. Since each lamp is unique it is necessary to recalibrate the cube with the new lamp to match the existing brightness and color temperature of the rest of the video wall.

Failed Components

Not all video walls have equal reliability. For manufacturers, the costs to build a video wall are the difference between reasonable production costs and providing performance and quality to the end user. Be sure to research the selection of components as well as the labor and processes put into place for assembly and management of production.

What to Look for in a Video Wall Display to Minimize Maintenance

There are certain aspects of video wall design that will minimize the cost of ownership.

Consumables

The most important consumable for a video wall is lamps. Lamps are a recurring cost that cannot be avoided, so it is important to consider the lifetime of the lamp. A typical projection cube should receive between 6,000 and 10,000 hours of lamp operation. Any less and the cost to operate the system can become substantial.

When evaluating lamp life it is important to consider screen brightness. With a very dim display you can achieve long lamp lifetimes. However a dim display may not suit most applications. Also evaluate how many lamps will be necessary to achieve a specific brightness with the quoted lifetime. If more than one lamp is required to achieve a desired brightness, then lamp costs will be multiplied by the amount of lamps required.

Automated Calibration

When investing in a state-of-the-art display wall, the individual projection cubes should match to improve usability and workflow. That's why calibration is so important to keep the system working flawlessly. There are two ways to calibrate a system: manually or through the system itself.

The most ideal video wall equipment will offer an automatic calibration feature that adjusts the brightness and color temperature of the cubes appropriately. Pay special attention to this process. Some automatic calibration systems require significant technician interaction. Although the system reduces the amount of manual labor required, it may still require multiple service calls.

A quality calibration system should be incorporated within the display wall and should continuously analyze the display values. If the system utilizes preset minimum and maximum settings then it may not effectively adjust the system when components move out of those ranges. Additionally, avoid external calibration equipment unless you wish to have a technician come onsite to assist.

Reliability

Every manufacturer claims that their product is reliable, but this truly depends on their selection of components and the quality control measures taken. To gauge a video wall's reliability consider a few things.

First, request Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) calculations. This MTBF value is a calculation that estimates when a component will fail. A display wall should last at least 5 years, so a MTBF should be around 40,000 to 45,000 hours.

Secondly, request the actual warranty burden. This will indicate the actual costs by the manufacturer to support their product in the field. The warranty burden is typically calculated as a percentage of sales for the year. A company that in fact manages quality should have these numbers readily available.

Finally, and most importantly, are installation references. Contact previous customers to discuss their experience with the particular product you purchasing. Be sure to inquire about the following: how many units failed completely out of the box? Have any failures occurred after the installation? What is the lifetime experience with the lamps?

The lower the reliability of the product, the higher the potential costs become in replacement components, service parts installation, and recalibration of the displays.