Consumer LCD Display vs. Commercial LCD Display

We have seen an immense improvement in domestic and commercial LCD-LED technology in the modern era. From HD to Ultra HD, and 4K to 8K displays, there is now an extensive range of displays available in the market. When looking for flat-screen television displays, you will have a couple of choices. You can either opt for a commercial LCD display or a consumer LCD display. Both types of displays offer astonishing picture quality and great features. However, their engineering differs in various ways.

Commercial screens or displays are designed in a way that they can work perfectly with a computer. These displays are engineered keeping in mind the long operation hours. In contrast, consumer displays are intended for video and television and they are suitable for shorter watch times.

Introduction

Commercial displays, including LCD and plasma, come with a multi-year warranty. They are expensive than consumer displays and come with top-notch image retention and burn-in features. A commercial LCD display normally includes protection measures for display control in the public environment, such as locking of IR remote and front panel. This feature is usually not available in consumer displays. These displays come with VESA compliant mounting connections since they must support standard mounting devices in the industry.

Since commercial displays have to withstand extended operating hours, they require special kinds of features to deal with heat. Therefore, commercial displays have thermal characteristics to appropriately dissipate heat in both landscape and portrait modes. Moreover, a few commercial plasma screens also come with extra fans that help in dissipating heat. Commercial displays or screens are compatible with AV standards and PCs.

Most commercial displays offer complete grayscale with exceptional liner black-white rectilinear color tracking. Therefore, they will show all 255 luminance (brightness) levels. It is perfectly suitable for PC applications diversity. Most commercial LCD display models support all resolutions of PC, including various refresh rates and wide formats apart from video/TV resolutions.

Various commercial displays are available with RS232 external connector/control, video loop-through, and PC connector capabilities about different video source or single PC configurations. You can also find BNC industrial locking connectors in some models of commercial displays. Because commercial displays work for longer hours, so they are more durable than consumer displays. However, it doesn’t mean that consumer displays are of low quality.

Consumer LCD Display

If you use a consumer display commercially, the warranty of the display will revert to ninety days only. Therefore, you can take your commercially used consumer display to the service center within the first ninety days only. Consumer displays do not come with features like image retention and burn-in technology. Instead, they include standard features only. Unlike a commercial LCD display, consumer displays come without control locking. It is because there is no need for public display security as you need in a commercial display.

All consumer displays are not VESA compliant, unlike commercial displays. Therefore, you may require special extra mounting brackets for your consumer display. Sometimes, buying a third-party mounting can be questionable for its compatibility. Therefore, it is important to make sure you get an appropriate mounting for your consumer display that doesn’t come with it. Typically, you do not get portrait modes with a consumer-grade LCD or LED.

Since consumer displays are suitable for short time watching, you must not keep them on for the entire day. Doing so may result in premature failure of the display since consumer displays are not as good as commercial displays in terms of heat dissipation. A consumer display has a typical design to support video/TV, but they also support PCs. Consumer displays have skewed grayscale for the more bright light that produces vivid colors linked with video/TV motion.

Most consumer displays have a specific design for video/TV formats with limited resolutions for PC. Only a few consumer display models feature external display connector/control, dual display configurations, and video loop-through capability. Another thing that differentiates a consumer and commercial LCD display is that consumer displays don’t come with BNC connectors.

Things to Consider While Buying a commercial Display or TV

When buying a commercial display or TV, ‘screen burn’ must be your first and the most important consideration. A digital screen most likely displays the same content (images/videos) 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If it happens on a consumer display, the screen would quickly experience the effect of screen burn. Screen burn is the screen pixels discoloration that makes the screen display ghost images. Therefore, you must make sure that the commercial screen you buy has an anti-burn feature. Only this feature can avoid issues like screen burns.

It is also important to invest in a highly robust commercial display since they will be working round-the-clock. The housing of a commercial display is always more robust than a consumer display. The reason behind the stronger housing of commercial displays is that they are usually installed in high-traffic or public areas. Most commercial display models come with metal housings. On the other hand, consumer displays usually have plastic housings that are not very robust. Therefore, you must ensure that the commercial LCD display you buy has extremely robust housing and overall build quality.

Lastly, you should also pay attention to the weight of the display. Commercial displays are heavier than consumer TV screens. Since you will most likely mount your commercial display somewhere, make sure that the screen weight is appropriate and suitable for that place. Keeping in mind all these things when buying your new commercial display should help you choose the most ideal display.

Final Words

Several things make a commercial LCD display different from a consumer display. Commercial displays are always more robust and come with security features that a consumer display lacks. Your home TV is an example of a consumer display. On the other hand, a digital billboard on a highway or a marketing display in the local market is a perfect example of a commercial display. You can search online for the most reliable commercial displays available on the market. Read customer reviews that should help you recognize a high-quality commercial display for your application.

Our experts can help you choose the most suitable commercial displays for your specific application. Contact us now for more details.