Electronic Resolution + Pitch

The resolution quality is an important factor of any video board and electronic LED displays that shows graphics. How can you determine what is good resolution and what is not? The first step is to understand what is resolution for a electronic LED display. A simple definition of resolution is the degree of sharpness and clarity of a displayed image. In electronic LED signs, resolution is based on two primary factors, the matrix area and pitch.

  • The matrix area, also know as the pixel matrix, corresponds to the number pixels that makes up the display area. In our industry, we express the matrix area in the number of pixels vertically by number of pixels horizontally, such as 16x64.
  • The pitch is defined as the distance between two pixels. The distance is measured from the center of one pixel to the center of the next pixel.

Pitch of LED display.
16mm / 0.62 inch pitch
(Drawn to scale)

LED sign with large pitch results in lower resolution.
16mm pitch results in a 5x7 matrix area
(Drawn to 2:5 scale)

Electronic display with small pitch results in higher resolution.
10mm pitch results in a 8x11 matrix area
(Drawn to 2:5 scale)

Interesting enough, pitch can also influence the pixel matrix for a given surface area. For example, a 16mm pitch will give you a 5x7 matrix area, while a 10mm pitch will give you a 8x11 matrix area for the same physical area. Pitch relates to the distance between the pixels. A small pitch has less distance (empty space) between pixels than a big pitch. The matrix area determines how many pixels there are. The bigger the better.  Therefore, the smaller the pitch and larger the matrix area, the greater the resolution, as shown above. You should see the word "HI" in the center and right image above. However, the image on the right has a better resolution, because the pitch is smaller and the matrix area is larger.

In summary and as reference:

  • Smaller the pitch, higher the resolution.
  • Larger the matrix area, higher the resolution.
  • Full matrix message centers that displays graphics should have at least 16 pixels in height. We recommend 32 pixels in height.
  • Resolution for video boards (i.e. VideoMax) should maintain an aspect ratio of 3H:4W or 6H:9W with at least 96 pixels in height.
ISA, International Sign Association