Glossary

Sunlight readable displays

Brightness gets a display noticed in a specification. Four other decisions determine whether it is still readable at two in the afternoon in July.

The instinct is to solve sunlight with nits alone. Buy the brightest panel, point it at the street, done. It works for about a season.

Brightness is the first decision and the easiest: 2500 nit behind glass on a shaded frontage, 4000 to 5000 nit facing the sun. Panel structure is the second — an M+ blackening-free panel keeps its blacks behind heated glass where a conventional panel greys out. The polarizer is the third: a circular polarizer keeps the image visible to people in polarized sunglasses, which outdoors is a very large fraction of your audience.

Thermal design is the fourth and the one that gets skipped. A bright panel behind glass generates heat and also receives it. Without a temperature sensor driving a fan, the panel throttles its own brightness exactly when you need it most. Mounting is the fifth: angle and depth relative to the glass change reflection more than a thousand nits do.

A display behind shop glass staying readable with daylight falling on it
Street-facing, in daylight — the case the whole specification is written for.
 Reference

In numbers

Brightness2500 – 5000 nitSet by orientation and shading, not by screen size.
Panel structureM+, blackening freeKeeps blacks behind heated glass.
PolarizerCircular (QWP)Readable through polarized sunglasses.
ThermalTemperature sensor + fanPrevents throttling at peak demand.
Ambient responseLight sensorOutput follows the day instead of sitting at maximum.
MountingAngle and depthAgreed per project; changes reflection more than brightness does.

Common questions

No. Coatings reduce reflection; they do not add emitted light. They help a bright panel and cannot rescue a dim one.
Specifying brightness from a catalogue without saying which direction the window faces.
Usually not. A shaded street-facing window is typically fine at 2500 to 3000 nit, which is a meaningful saving in power and heat.

Read next

Window displays

Displays mounted behind the glass wall, facing the street.

M+ panel technology

Blackening free, circular polarizer, and 50% more white brightness.

Specifying a display right now?

We would rather answer a question before the order than after it.

Request a quote

Tell us where the display goes and how much light it has to fight. That is the part that decides the panel.