We are used to screens: screens at home, screens in the street, screens on transport. And all these screens have the traditional rectangular format with 3:4 ratio. Wide-screen cinemas and later wide-screen digital TVs gradually prepare us for a new format of the 21st century: screens with aspect ratio 16:9. This however does not change the basic principle. The absolute majority of all screens in the world are rectangular in shape. But there are no rules without exceptions.
What can be invented in the sphere of LED screens and LCD displays that would be drastically innovative? It seems that almost nothing can be done. Unless you make them round in shape. Starting with 2007, round LCD displays appeared in product lines of major Japanese and Korean manufacturers. Toshiba spearheaded the trend, but Samsung, LG and others followed in close pursuit. At first screens were small and appeared as a marketing novelty on cell phones. |  |
| Round LCD display by Toshiba | Round LCD display on a Samsung cell phone |
Round LCD displays are manufactured with the help of the so called active LCD matrix technology on the basis of low-temperature, polysilica thin-film transistors (p-Si TFT). Once the round shape has become technologically possible, all other shapes of LCD displays could be achieved easily, too: triangular, oval etc.).
We should not forget though that everything new is a well-forgotten past. The first TV kinescopes were round in shape. But since on the periphery the image was non-linear and greatly distorted, it was decided to conceal the outer edges with a rectangular mask. The standard equipment is tuned to manufacture “rectangular” LCD displays. To cut off a piece of the necessary shape from the ready-made display is impossible. If you needed a display of unusual shape (e.g. round or triangular or oval) you just had to cover the standard rectangular display with a mask of proper shape.
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| Round LED screen at the Moscow Film Festival in 2013 | 360° LED screen on top of BT Tower in London |
However such primitive solution could not exist long in a fairly competitive market. From 2008, LED screen manufacturers started making modules with tapered sides. It became possible to “drape” modules around the façade of a building or a column during fairs and exhibitions.
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| The recently upgraded LED video cube in the Madison Square Garden manufactured by Daktronics | 360° LED screen by DynaScan with 2 mm pixel pitch |
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| LED media façade on Nasdaq stock exchange | NanoLumens 360° LED screen with pixel pitch 4 mm to WinStar World Casino |
As the LED technology developed and matured, so did the engineering fixtures to make unusual screen structures. It became possible to make huge 360° outdoor LED screens with excellent view from all sides. The convex screens were not difficult to build from the engineering point of view, but they presented a challenge for software developers who had to find ways to adjust the image to maintain proportions. But huge hotel chains and casinos are happy to complicate life for engineers as long as they find a new way to attract attention of the public.
So far rectangular LED screens are in the lead in quantity all around the world. But round, convex and curved LED screens are becoming more and more attractive to advertisers since they enlarge the viewing angle, attract attention by their unconventional shapes, better merge with architectural landscape etc.
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