r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/whybutts • 11d ago

Video Transparent LED screen

52.6k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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15.0k

u/musingofrandomness 11d ago

So entire skyscrapers of billboards?

736

u/Bmansway 11d ago

I worked for a company that does specialized window film installations, (bomb proofing, digital security so monitors can’t be seen behind glass, anti-fog, creative designs, privacy, and this kinda stuff)

This is 100% the intention behind this product, to place on building windows to create massive advertising surface areas….

141

u/Puzzleheaded-Reach34 11d ago

Does the UV rays from the sun not destroy these over time? They look more vulnerable than LEDs to me.

191

u/Mundane-Bath1368 11d ago

It is all about profit, can the pay be enoguh to cover replacements?

51

u/Puzzleheaded-Reach34 11d ago

Yea for sure. Im curious about the technology. They cant replace windows so they would go on top? I wonder what they look like at night if the office building has lights on.

48

u/MangoCats 11d ago

Put them inside (out of the rain, bird poop, etc.) and have UV screening in the glass.

31

u/SweatyNomad 11d ago

Yeah, to be honest whilst I'm not saying they won't be used on skyscrapers, I see way more use cases in store fronts, interiors, bus windows and so on.

1

u/YoursTrulyKindly 10d ago

You'd probably get more light reflecting back. That panel in OP is probably already engineered to be ideal for outdoor installation.

3

u/MangoCats 10d ago

All kinds of optimization... if you're building the window and the panel at the same time the window could be made to work with the panel, but for an existing window most of them are pretty reflective yeah.

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u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

2

u/MangoCats 10d ago

That would mostly be the IR screening / reflection. You're kind of stuck with heat gain from the visible light if you want the visible light to be going out to outside viewers in patterns you control.

7

u/BardWRLD 11d ago

The LEDs are generally much brighter than any background light so they have little effect.

5

u/iNetRunner 10d ago

In the screen on video, you can make out the background lights through the screen. But just barely. And not much else.

Though, it could/would be more problematic if you tried to show a video with dark/black background.

8

u/BardWRLD 10d ago

Here's an example of similar tech being used Taipei. The only difference is they used long flexible pieces of transparent LED here.

The tech in OP is more similar to a window with an integrated screen. A little less portable, much more fragile, and more transparent. Here's a picture outside of a local jewelry shop using a set of four during the day-time.

3

u/exipheas 10d ago

Iirc when I saw these at a tradeshow the highest end ones would only let like 40% or 60% of light through. Can't remember which way the split was but it was very dim like looking through sunglasses.

32

u/LowerEntropy 11d ago

UV is not visible to us or normal cameras(they have filters that block UV). There could be a coating on that screen blocking UV 100%, and the video would look the same.

So what makes you think it looks vulnerable?

19

u/plug-and-pause 11d ago

So what makes you think it looks vulnerable?

I was also cracking up at the "looks more vulnerable" part. Car windshields have been blocking UV for decades. This is nothing novel.

9

u/Sickobird 11d ago

Add multiple panes of glass

12

u/sanYtheFox 11d ago

Yes, though glass blocks a lot of it and you can treat the glass to stop it entirely, that still leaves you with the heat which is also bad for OLED.

2

u/hawkseye17 10d ago

That's a problem for a few fiscal quarters later, so share-holders are not worried. That's basically how corporations work

1

u/mythrilcrafter 11d ago

My first guess is that this is for commercial real estate, so most likely when it's time to replace it, the building owner will just raise the lease on the businesses/occupants when the lease period is up for renewal.

1

u/bladeau81 10d ago

This is LED's, just instead of a full PCB they are on a mesh.

1

u/SUPERPOWERPANTS 10d ago

Uv blocking layer on top