BEFORE YOU PAY
How to inspect an LED supplier.
A powered LED screen looks impressive in a photograph no matter how it was built. That is the problem. Almost everything that determines whether a wall still looks right in three years, module origin, calibration, cabling, fabrication tolerance, structure, surge protection, is invisible by the time you are standing in front of it.
These are the eight questions we would ask if we were buying. They work on us as well as on anyone else. If a supplier cannot answer them plainly, that is your answer.
Already have a quote in hand? Send it over, we will tell you what it is missing, free.
Send us your quote- 01
Ask where the modules actually come from
Ask: “Which manufacturer made these modules, and can you show me the documentation?”
LED modules are the single largest cost in a screen and the easiest place to substitute. A traceable module has a named manufacturer, a datasheet and a bin grade. Unbranded modules bought on price have none of that, which means no consistency between batches, so when one fails in two years, the replacement will not match the wall.
Warning sign: Vague answers, no datasheet, or a well-known brand shown in the proposal but not named in the quotation.
- 02
Ask about colour calibration
Ask: “Is the wall calibrated after installation, and do you hand over the calibration file?”
Every LED module leaves the factory slightly different in colour and brightness. Calibration measures each one and corrects it so the wall reads as a single surface. Skipping it is invisible in a photograph and obvious in person, the wall looks patchy, and it gets worse as the panels age at different rates.
Warning sign: "Calibration is not needed" or no mention of it at all. It is not optional on a wall built from many modules.
- 03
Look at the back, not the front
Ask: “Can I see photographs of the back of a screen you have already installed?”
The front of a powered screen looks impressive regardless of build quality. The back tells you everything: whether cabling is bundled and labelled or hanging loose, whether power and data runs are separated, whether connectors are strain-relieved. Bad cable management is the most reliable predictor of early failure, because it is where heat, vibration and moisture do their damage.
Warning sign: No photographs of the back of any previous job.
- 04
Check the seams between modules
Ask: “How flat is the finished surface, and how is the cabinet aligned?”
A well-fabricated wall has no visible line between modules at normal viewing distance. Visible seams mean the cabinets are not co-planar, usually because the frame was fabricated to a loose tolerance, or the panels are not being pulled flat. Once the structure is up, this cannot be corrected without dismantling it.
Warning sign: Defined lines between panels in their own reference photos.
- 05
Ask what the structure is made of
Ask: “What is the mounting structure, what is it rated for, and who fabricated it?”
An outdoor screen is a sail. Wind load, not weight, is what brings a screen down, and a structure sized by eye rather than calculation is the most dangerous corner that gets cut in this industry. It is also invisible once the screen is mounted.
Warning sign: No structural drawing, no wind-load figure, or a structure fabricated to whatever material was cheapest that week.
- 06
Ask about power and protection
Ask: “What surge protection and earthing does this installation include?”
In Pakistan the most common cause of failure is not the screen, it is the supply. Unstable voltage and surges kill power supplies and receiving cards. Proper earthing and surge protection cost very little relative to the screen and prevent the most expensive class of failure.
Warning sign: Power treated as the client's problem, or no mention of protection in the scope.
- 07
Ask who services it, and where the spares are
Ask: “Who comes when it fails, how fast, and do you hold spares for this system?”
A screen is a system that has to keep running. If your supplier imported one container of panels and holds no spares, a failed module in year two means either an unmatched replacement or a dead section. Ask whether spares are stocked for your specific system, not in general.
Warning sign: No spares held, or service handled by "whoever is available".
- 08
Ask for the warranty in writing, before you pay
Ask: “What exactly is covered, for how long, and what voids it?”
A verbal warranty is not a warranty. Written terms tell you what the supplier actually believes about their own build quality, a supplier confident in their modules will put a period in writing.
Warning sign: Warranty discussed but never documented, or terms that appear only after payment.
Run this list on us.
We publish our warranty terms, we hold spares for the systems we install, and we will show you the back of a wall we built. Ask us all eight.
WHERE WE WORK
Not sure which pixel pitch your space needs? Read the room walks through ten pitches from P0.9 to P10 and what each one is built for. Read the FAQ. Renting for an event? See rental. Or read what we cover after the install.