What the price of an LED screen depends on

The question “how much does a square metre of screen cost” comes up in the very first conversation. It cannot be answered with a single figure — and not because anyone is hiding anything. A screen is not sold by the square metre: it is a structure of modules, cabinets, power supplies, cards, a processor, a frame and cable, which still has to be lifted onto a wall and switched on. Two quotes with the same “per m²” figure can differ by half again in the final total — simply because one includes the frame and installation and the other does not.

Below is what a quote is actually made of, and what to look at when you compare offers.

At KazLedPro indoor screens start from 260,000 ₸ per m² and outdoor screens from 300,000 ₸ per m². On the Kazakhstan market a square metre of LED screen costs roughly between 180,000 and 1,500,000 ₸: the lower end is a coarse pitch for outdoor use, the upper end a fine-pitch screen for a studio or meeting room. This is a market reference, not our price list: the exact figure is calculated from your dimensions and scope of work.

Pixel pitch is the main multiplier

Pitch sets how many LEDs there are per square metre, and the number of LEDs grows with the square. Our catalogue shows it straight away:

• P1.53 — 422,500 dots per m²;
• P2 — 250,000;
• P2.5 — 160,000;
• P3 — 105,625;
• P4 — 62,500;
• P6.67 — 22,500;
• P8 — 15,625.

Between P8 and P1.53 the density differs twenty-seven times over. The number of dies, drivers and board traces — and the labour of assembling those boards — differs by roughly the same factor. That is why a fine pitch is not “a bit” more expensive but several times more, and stepping down to the neighbouring pitch is almost never free.

Hence the first rule of saving money: the pitch is chosen by the distance to the nearest viewer, not “with headroom for the future”. More on that in the article How to choose the pixel pitch.

Area and resolution

Area multiplies everything: modules, power supplies, cards, frame, cable, installation time. But it is not only the area that grows.

Area and pitch determine the resolution, and the resolution determines the number of receiving cards and ports on the video processor. A 6 × 3 m screen at P2.5 carries four times more pixels than a P5 of the same size and will need noticeably more cards and network lines. The electronics are not “small change at the bottom of the quote”: at a fine pitch they take a solid share of it.

The second point is modularity. A screen is assembled from modules and cabinets of fixed size: 320 × 160, 250 × 250, 256 × 256 mm, cabinets of 640 × 640 or 500 × 1000 mm. An opening of 5.8 × 2.9 m has to be rounded to a multiple of those, and the quote covers the area that physically assembles, not the one you wanted.

Indoor or outdoor build

These are different products, not “the same thing with weatherproofing”.

• Brightness. Indoor models give 350–550 cd/m² in the module series and up to 1,000 cd/m² in the 500 × 1000 mm cabinets. Outdoor ones give 5,500–7,800 cd/m². More brightness means more current, a more powerful LED and more expensive power supplies.
• Sealing. Outdoor models are IP68 front and back, with an operating range from −40 to +50 °C. The potting, the gaskets, the cast housing — all of that costs money.
• Structure. An outdoor 960 × 960 mm cabinet weighs 25 kg; an indoor 640 × 640 one about 16 kg. The difference passes into the frame and the lifting equipment.

Putting an outdoor screen indoors “to be safe” is an overspend, and an indoor one cannot go outside at all: without a sealed housing water will get in.

Cabinet or module

The same model often exists in two versions.

• A module screen — modules on a frame. Cheaper in hardware and fitted more precisely to the opening, but it takes more work on site: setting the plane, running power and signal to every module.
• A cabinet screen — the modules are already assembled into a cast aluminium cabinet with power supplies and a receiving card inside. More expensive as a product, but it goes up faster, the seams are truer and servicing is simpler. For facades, high mounts and anything installed by crane or lift, this is usually the only sensible option.

Money saved on the cabinet is sometimes eaten by the installation — and the other way round.

Steelwork and installation height

The frame in a quote is not a line added for form’s sake. A screen weighs 30–60 kg per square metre and catches the wind like a billboard: its dead weight, wind and snow loading are calculated, and the fixing is chosen for the specific wall.

The price of the frame depends on:

• the type of structure — a wall frame, a roof frame with counterweights, a free-standing pylon, a ceiling suspension;
• the base material: brick, concrete, glass, ventilated facade;
• height and access — a lift, a crane or rope access technicians;
• service access: if the screen sits flush to the wall, the structure is designed for front servicing.

On some solutions the frame comes out light and barely affects the quote: mesh screens hang on an aluminium sub-structure with no heavy frame, and the cabinet weighs 7.5 kg per square metre. On a facade screen at height it is the opposite — there the structure can cost as much as part of the equipment, and that is normal.

Video processor, receiving cards, cabling

This is what people most often forget when comparing offers.

• Receiving cards are fitted according to pixel count: the higher the resolution, the more of them. On cabinet models the card is usually already inside the cabinet; on module ones it is counted separately.
• The video processor is selected by port count and total resolution. A screen in two parts, or a screen for filming, or a screen with several sources — that is already a different class of processor.
• Cabling: twisted pair to every card, power lines, connectors, trunking along the wall.

If a quote has no processor, no cards and no cable, it is not cheaper — it is incomplete.

Electrics

A screen draws a fair amount: indoor models 800 W/m² peak and 320 W/m² average, outdoor ones 650/220 W/m², a large media facade up to 1,200/480 W/m². A typical outdoor screen is planned with a 25 A power line for roughly every 10 m² of area.

The power and low-voltage supply is usually run by the customer’s electrician — but he does it to our technical specification, which is issued before installation. If the electrics are remembered on the day the crew arrives, installation turns from one day into a week, and that is money too. The order of work is set out on the Installation page.

Delivery, installation, commissioning

The work includes unloading, hanging with plane control, cabling, connecting the processor, calibrating brightness and colour, a test clip, checking every module and training the staff. Plus the paperwork: the handover certificate, a data sheet with the serial numbers of cabinets and cards, the wiring diagram, the configuration files.

The cost of installation is driven not by area as such but by conditions: height, access, weather, working at night in a shopping centre, the need to get approvals from the operating company.

Warranty and service

A warranty of 2–5 years depending on the model means an obligation to keep a stock of modules, power supplies and cards and to come out on call. For sites where the screen runs every day, a service contract is added: scheduled inspections, cleaning of outdoor screens, remote monitoring. For a network of screens it is sensible to budget for spares — 2–3 % of the number of modules on site.

A cheap offer with no service behind it stops being cheap the day the first module goes dark.

Three typical mistakes

Taking a pitch “with headroom”. The most expensive mistake of all, because it is multiplied across the whole area. A P2 in an assembly hall where the front row sits five metres away will show exactly what a P3 does.

Forgetting the frame and the electrics. The screen is priced, and then it separately turns out that a structure, a power supply and low-voltage cabling are needed. The site total grows after the budget has already been approved.

Comparing offers with different contents. One is a screen, frame, processor, installation and warranty. The other is modules and power supplies in the supplier’s warehouse. Their “per m²” figures are not comparable. Before comparing, break both offers down into the same lines: equipment, electronics, frame, cabling, delivery, installation, commissioning, warranty.

How to price your own screen

The spread in the final total is set not by “supplier greed” but by everything listed above — and almost all of it can be worked out in advance, before anyone visits the site. If you need a screen for a day or two, for an event, look at rental rather than purchase: there installation, an operator and logistics are already in the rate. If the screen is for a school assembly hall, start with the solutions for schools page, where the typical scenario and the pitches chosen for it are set out.

Send us the dimensions of the opening, a photo of the installation site and the task — what you will be showing and from what distance people will watch. We will price the quote in our calculator in two or three options with the full contents: equipment, frame, electronics, installation and warranty as separate lines, so it is clear what you are paying for and where you can save without losing quality.