China has done it again! With 40,000 LED modules and over 8K resolution, the 10,552 square-meter screen is the largest in the world.
The Olympics remains the greatest sporting event in the world and it is only fair that it is presented on the world’s largest screen. The screen was unveiled at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics that runs from 4th February to 20th February 2022.
It was made by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle (CALT), China’s largest developer and producer of carrier connection – I don’t see the connection, either. CALT reiterated that the screen has a better resolution than 8K and it holds the record of the largest LED screen ever made.
One thing for sure is that the screen cannot fit inside our homes. Its design is suited for big arenas like the Beijing National Stadium where the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics was held.
The making of the screen
While building such a gigantic screen is a huge feat for the company, it is not just one LED screen. It is a collection of interconnected screens.
Tech companies choose LED displays over OLED because of obvious reasons. LED screens are more reliable and cost-effective than OLED. For screens that need massive configurations, OLED is not a good choice because of scalability issues. Moreover, LED screens are brighter than OLED – a crucial factor when lighting up an entire arena.
How bright can an LED screen get? Well, the screen used at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony has a brightness of between 4,000 and 10,000 nits. This is very bright since the brightest consumer televisions reach between 2000 and 3000 nits.
Even so, each piece is approximately one-to-two feet across, ergo there are tens of thousands used to create this screen – a magnificent work of engineering worthy of a gold medal.
What is the biggest TV you can buy?
Ruling out the LED screen at the Winter Olympics, are there other alternatives for a tech-head cinephile? Surprisingly, very few.
One option that is quite outstanding is the new Samsung MicroLED TV that hit the market at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) of 2022, The TV comes in three sizes, that is, 89, 101, and 114 inches. The Samsung MicroLED TV should easily fill a wall of your living room at $80,000 (around £59,500 or AU$113,500 or KES9,092,000).
Another option is the extra-large OLED TV series from LG that debuted in 2021 in 83-inch sizes with plans to produce 97-inch sizes and LED-LCD TVs that reach up to 85 inches.
We all want a TV of that size but the prices are a little bit too high for most of us. Luckily we have several 75-inch TVs to choose from. You can get these with less than two grand with some dropping below one grand on special shopping days like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day.
In a nutshell, China’s Winter Olympics screen is out of reach for most of us but a 75-inch screen is likely obtainable.
Sports fans, where are you? Would you like to see this gigantic screen in your favorite stadium? Leave a comment below.