Large-format LED displays are commonly known as LED spectaculars, with major markets like New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo showcasing some of the best examples. These digital display systems take on many forms, but they all have at least one thing in common: they’re big! And many times, they’re designed to be eye-catching. This video display technology is usually meant to go on top of buildings or be mounted to a building’s façade.
LED display systems larger than 8,000 square feet fall into the category of LED mega-spectacular. These are the digital behemoths that take video display technology to the next level. In addition to being enormous, LED mega-spectaculars are among the most complex and most recognized video platforms in the digital display industry.
Having manufactured some of the world’s largest and highest-resolution LED spectaculars and mega-spectaculars, SNA Displays has demonstrated its capacity and experience to successfully manage these massive-scale projects.
Times Square, perhaps the most well-known concentration of large-format video screens, abounds with examples of SNA Displays’ LED technology, but here are a few of our favorites from across the U.S.
Rooftop Billboard at The Reef
The LED video display mounted at the top of The Reef’s 12-story building in downtown Los Angeles became the largest ever digital out-of-home (DOOH) display when it went online, and is one of the most massive construction projects SNA Displays has been a part of. What really stands out is its sheer size – it’s a canvas of more than 41,000 square feet! To provide some perspective, the combined length of The Reef’s LED display is about 750 feet, more than two football fields stacked end to end. At 56 feet tall and extending beyond the roofline of The Reef, the digital display is now a can’t-miss piece of the Los Angeles skyline.
Over 230,000 pounds of steelwork went into the support structure behind the sign, including custom corner cabinets to give the structure seamless wrap-around corners. Likewise, SNA Displays made mammoth catwalk sections that span over 20 feet from vertical to vertical and integrated ladders throughout the structure to allow for ease of service.
“The Reef is a project that I am almost as proud of viewing from behind the display as in the front,” said Jason Helton, executive vice president of SNA Displays. “The structure is massive and you don’t fully appreciate it until you’re standing there looking at it on the roof.”
AT&T Discovery District Media Wall
The Media Wall at AT&T Discovery District is a 104-foot-tall LED screen that wraps around a high-rise in downtown Dallas at a 5’4″ radius, a very tight curve for a structure of its size. By engineering a sharp radius instead of a 90-degree corner as the original design concept called for, our SNAPros® offered a design solution that provides a seamless platform so that its flawless creative smoothly wraps around the AT&T headquarters building. Our technology was critical to this feature and helped influence the design aesthetic, giving this LED mega-spectacular its distinctive look.
The 8,700-square-foot Media Wall is The District’s focal point and features a resolution sufficient for two 4K displays stacked on top of each other with room for more. With a pixel pitch of 6.67 mm, it’s still one of the largest exterior LED displays in the United States for its pitch class, years after installation. The screen has a resolution of 4,752 pixels high by 3,840 pixels wide, giving it a total of 18.2 million pixels. The Media Wall has helped turn the AT&T Discovery District into a major Dallas community gathering hotspot and has earned several accolades, including two Digital Signage Experience awards.
The Times Square Twins
A pair of LED mega-spectaculars at 20 Times Square and TSX Broadway dominate the Crossroads of the World. Their size, clarity, and curves (perfect for 3D/anamorphic content) make them impossible to miss and often the subject of viral marketing campaigns.
20 Times Square
20 Times Square is a massive hospitality and retail development that includes a 17,000-square-foot LED video display that curves around the high-rise’s building façade. At 91′ high and 186′ wide, the screen towers over Duffy Square and the famous red steps near the TKTS booth. When the LED spectacular went online in 2017, it was the highest-resolution display in the history of Times Square. In fact, it may have influenced some buyers interested in large-format digital to choose 8 mm rather than the once-cutting-edge 10 mm pixel pitch.
One of the reasons the display’s design team chose 8 mm LED display technology was for the resolution instead of the usual focus on viewing distance. Specifically, the display was designed to allow for full 4K in the center while keeping tenant signage around the perimeter. With 8K Ultra-HD processing, the screen was built to accommodate the next generation of video and broadcast media content.
In terms of total surface area, it’s not the largest video screen, but because of its position in the Times Square bowtie, onlookers can’t miss it. Additionally, the smooth curve of the display adds a unique flair to the content as it rolls across the display.
The project also includes the EDITION hotel blade sign, which extends approximately 100 feet high and consists of nearly two million pixels, bringing the project’s total pixel count to 26.7 million. This display is set at a 73-degree angle with custom cabinets and panels to minimize the seam at the corner.
TSX Broadway
From bottom to top, the display network at TSX Broadway is a multi-screen integration that includes multiple EMPIRE™ Exterior video assets: an LED marquee at the entrance to the famous Palace Theater, the TSX Stage marquee, the stage doors themselves, the main screen, an LED spectacular midway up the façade, and an LED “crown” extending above the roof of the skyscraper.
TSX Broadway is a game-changing development at 1568 Broadway with a design that mirrors the massive screen at 20 Times Square but with one crucial difference: it has a 4,000-square-foot built-in stage equipped with giant LED doors that open for live performances. The TSX Stage is cantilevered and suspended 30 feet over 7th Avenue and the 86,000-pound LED doors swing open on hydraulic hinges in as little as 15 seconds. This one-of-a-kind feature allows entertainers to perform from “within” the video wall – and there have been quite a few international superstars on the stage since it first opened in early 2023.
TSX Broadway’s main screen wraps 18,000 square feet of digital canvas around the skyscraper at the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and 47th Street. At nine stories tall, the mammoth display employs an 8 mm pixel pitch at a resolution of 3,480 x 7,440 pixels.
In total, the system processes 27.8 million pixels.
Moxy & AC Hotel Downtown LOs Angeles
The Moxy has made waves via viral videos of 3D content. It also won the 2023 Digital Signage Award for Best Digital Out of Home (DOOH) Media and the 2023 Digital Signage Experience Award (DIZZIE) for DOOH.
Installed as the largest continuous LED video wall on the West Coast, The Moxy is on the façade of the Moxy and AC Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, which is located across from the LA Convention Center, L.A. LIVE, and Crypto.com Arena.
The LED mega-spectacular is 15,000 square feet and features a resolution of 1,890 x 11,480 pixels. The approximately 50-foot-tall screen extends along S Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles for about the length of a football field before wrapping around the corner of a multilevel parking structure at W Pico. This design provides extended viewing and long read times for nearby pedestrian and auto traffic.
SNA Displays engineered custom LED cabinets to accommodate a seamless turn of 82.5 degrees. The digital display employs 8.0 mm pixel pitch technology, tighter than other large-format exterior LED installations in Los Angeles, giving the video screen almost 22 million pixels.
“With the sheer size and complexity, this has been an incredible project,” said Rasool Sayed, a Los Angeles-based senior project manager for SNA Displays. “These massive, new-development projects have become a specialty for us—coordinating multiple partners and trades, engineering and fabricating custom technology to meet strict guidelines, and performing extremely intricate planning. The Moxy and AC mega-spectacular is another great installation for SNA Displays and our partners.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Computer technology giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) added a suite of direct-view LED displays to its global headquarters just north of Houston. The digital signage network provides immersive experiences, artistic and inspirational pieces, and branded content, all built with LED display technology from SNA Displays. But perhaps the most impactful display is the campus’ outdoor LED spectacular, a 3,500-square-foot video screen that might be the largest corporate display in the U.S.
The 12 mm EMPIRE™ Exterior video screen measures approximately 39 feet tall and 90 feet wide (1,000 x 2,280 pixels) and processes 2.3 million pixels. The digital display, used for campus-wide messaging, is mounted on the side of a six-floor parking structure and overlooks an HPE courtyard.
Of course there are many other examples of LED spectaculars and mega-spectaculars in our portfolio, some in major visitor attractions, others on the Las Vegas Strip. When it comes to building big, SNA Displays consistently demonstrates that we have the technology and, more importantly, the people to make it happen.
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