Samsung featured unique installs of their micro and direct view LED solutions installed at its customers’ locations in New York City this month at a press and industry analyst event.
In between quick bouts of chilly weather, we visited four locations across the Midtown and downtown Manhattan areas including stops at Fisher Brothers, Ogilvy, MoMA and Times Square. Samsung is pushing its LED solutions after an announcement in October that the sales and marketing teams of Prismview, a fully-owned Samsung company, would be integrated fully into Samsung’s display business.
Fisher Brothers
Fisher Brothers, a real estate development firm based in Manhattan, tells the story of “wow” in the company’s real estate work, which includes close to 1.5 million square feet in New York. Its 24-seat executive conference room, which towers 50 floors above street-level in Midtown, doesn’t fall short: it includes Samsung’s 10.5-foot microLED solution The Wall Pro (IW008J). We discussed return on investment because, as we know, The Wall certainly isn’t an inexpensive solution. For Fisher Brothers, it is more than a financial return on investment — they see the installation as an expression of greatness. “We went with Samsung because it is the best of the best. We operate in a first-class manner and that is why we partnered with Samsung,” shared Kenneth Fisher, a partner at Fisher Brothers.
A small, emerging trend in the signage space is that of using direct-view LED (dvLED) in the conference room. A significant concern that comes with is the viewing angle and distance. Both Samsung and Fisher Brothers emphasized that The Wall, as a solution, considers both viewing angle and distance so that it performs better. After some slight control difficulties as Samsung sent their own, produced content to each of the tour stops, we were able to see a spreadsheet on the display. It looked great.
Technical details:
- Pitch: .84mm
- Brightness: 500 nits
- Model: IW008J
- Length: 10.6’
- Height: 6’
- Diagonal: 146”
- Resolution: 3,840×2,160
- Configuration: 4×4
Ogilvy
Ogilvy, a well-known advertising agency with its headquarters in Hell’s Kitchen, incorporates Samsung signage in its theater and event space. Two dvLED, SMD displays each with a 1.2-millimeter pixel pitch flank the back of the stage. Installed as a replacement to projection, Ogilvy installed dvLED because of its flexibility. The agency cited not being able to use the majority of its stage, which already has unique sightline issues because of two huge columns, because of the restrictions associated with front-throw projection.
“Our content wasn’t looking great — and that is important as we want to wow our clients with their work and ours. You walk into a room and LED causes your jaw to drop,” said Lynn Roer, director for event management and experiential design, Ogilvy.
Technical details:
- Pitch: 1.2mm
- Brightness: 600 nits
- Model: IF012J
- Length: 13.2’
- Height: 7.4’
- Diagonal: 182”
- Resolution: 3,200×1,800
- Configuration: 5×5
MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art, a name and mission that speaks for itself, utilizes two Samsung LED displays in two separate exhibits.
The first, a 1.5-millimeter IF015H display, is installed in the lobby above the main entrance to the museum. It is a part of a mixed-media exhibit called “Echo,” a “sensible and sentient automation that perceives and reflects.” Data is pulled in real-time from the lobby space and content is curated live on the display to mirror the energy of the physical space.
Technical details:
- Pitch: 1.5 mm
- Brightness: 800 nits
- Model: IF015H
- Length: 15.7’
- Height: 8.8′
- Diagonal: 217”
- Resolution: 3,200×1,800
- Configuration: 10×5
The second, a 1.5-millimeter IF015H dvLED display installed to face the sidewalk, and passersby outside, features the true-white and true-black power of a Samsung LED display. The exhibit itself is simplistic, featuring looping, black-and-white, content, of a power button icon being put together.
Technical details:
- Pitch: 1.5 mm
- Brightness: 800 nits
- Model: IF015H
- Length: 14.2’
- Height: 7.1’
- Diagonal: 190”
- Resolution: 2,880×1440
- Configuration: 9×4
Times Square
The final stop on the tour was the one location I typically avoid like the plague: Times Square. The display, produced by Prismview is a staggering 11,000 square feet and is installed at One Times Square.
Technical details:
- Upper:
- Pitch: 16 mm
- Length: 35.5’
- Height: 50.3’
- Resolution: 656×928
- Lower:
- Pitch: 16 mm
- Length: 52’
- Height: 51’
- Resolution: 960×944
Here is a video of the install from Samsung:
The biggest takeaway from my time in New York is that LED is not just an eye-opening experience in Times Square anymore — it is now providing that same wow factor in boardrooms, event spaces and in museums.
The wow factor, paired with the efficiency benefits of LED over projection or video wall technologies, is simply why the future of display is LED.
Here is more information about Samsung’s Display Solutions and Prismview.