The NEP Group (including European businesses Faber Audiovisuals and Creative Technology) has acquired 3,000m² (32,292ft²) of Black Quartz outdoor LED panels from ROE Visual, making it the largest operator of the product.
This volume will create a large rental base, enabling NEP’s global live events businesses to provide multiple large and perfectly matched screens across various event sites.
“This is a major strategic investment for our group and significantly expands our potential to deliver major LED projects on a global stage,” said Graham Andrews, president of NEP’s Live Event division. “While the investment is specifically to support a contracted project, this substantial boost to our worldwide inventory reinforces our position as the world’s leading provider of high-end LED facilities to major outdoor entertainment and sporting events.”
NEP’s Faber Audiovisuals division, based in the Netherlands, took the technical lead on this particular investment. “We worked closely with the team at ROE Visual to refine the design of this exciting new product,” said Cees Jan Faber, CEO of Faber Audiovisuals. “Not only do ROE Visual provide the highest quality LED panels, but they also listen to our specific requirements and suggestions optimising the mechanical and operational design to meet our demanding requirements.”
Publicly launched at ISE 2020, the screens were planned to feature in events and festivals throughout Europe in 2020, but COVID-19 delayed that. However, with confirmed contracts with both Faber Audiovisuals and CT UK and citing “strong interest” from other AV rental businesses, ROE Visual pushed ahead with production.
“Building outdoor LED screens can be challenging,” said Roelof Bouwman, general manager for ROE Visual Europe. “There are many extra factors to consider compared to an indoor LED screen, and we needed to make sure that we ticked all the boxes in the design. So, when ROE Visual set out to develop a new outdoor LED screen, we engaged fully with the NEP Group. For the panel and frame’s final development, feedback from their experienced LED technicians was combined with our expertise.”
The Black Quartz LED panels are fitted with an integrated wind-load-resistant bracing system and have a brightness of 5,000 nits. ROE Visual says brightness is essential in outdoor situations so visuals can be displayed even in bright sunlight. The company adds visual performance is supported by Common Cathode technology and Black LED use. The product is also designed to offer reduced panel temperature and efficient heat dissipation for stable and brilliant LED performance.
The panels make use of HELIOS LED processing, the result of close cooperation between ROE Visual and Megapixel VR. The platform offers 8K processing and HDR options and is designed to offer dynamic colour gamut re-targeting capabilities. HELIOS is exclusively available for ROE Visual LED screens, and LED panels no longer need to be recalibrated to enable this function.
“The testing phase was crucial,” continued Bouwman. “Since not only the LEDs needed to be of excellent quality, we also have to take the structural integrity into account. Being able to provide full static calculations with the product is a must-have for professional use. You don’t want to risk audience safety”.
Once mounted, the LED panels can be used up to windspeeds of 20m/sec. The LED modules, power box and receiving card are all mounted directly on the rigid frame, creating a fully integrated solution. The frames are fitted with pixel pitches ranging from 3.9-4.6mm (0.15-0.18in) and have integrated edge protection.
