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Écrans LED créatifs et personnalisés A per-square-metre price for an affichage LED d'extérieur is meaningless without the spec behind it — two suppliers can quote the same size and differ by a factor of five, and both be right. This guide breaks down the seven variables that actually move the number, so you can compare quotes on equal terms instead of chasing the lowest headline figure.
- A per-square-metre price without a spec is a number, not a quote. Seven variables — pitch, cabinet, brightness, IP, common cathode, control system, certification — move it by 5×.
- Pixel pitch is the single largest cost driver: halving the pitch roughly quadruples the LED count per square metre.
- The quoted hardware price is only part of the total — processing, structure, installation and spare parts often add 30–50% on top.
- Cheap quotes usually cut cost in the parts you cannot see on the datasheet: power supplies, connectors, and thermal design.
Why Two “Same-Size” Quotes Can Differ by Five Times
Ask ten suppliers for the price of a 50-square-metre outdoor LED display and you will get answers spanning a wide range — and none of them will be wrong. The reason is that “outdoor LED display” is not one product. It is a family of products whose cost is dominated by a handful of engineering choices that the headline “per square metre” number hides.
A P4 premium facade screen with IP65 front-and-rear, a 6,500-nit common-cathode drive and a Brompton control system is a different machine from a P10 budget panel with IP65 front-only and a generic receiving card. Both are “outdoor LED displays.” Both are quoted per square metre. Comparing them on price alone is comparing two different products.
Before you compare two prices, make sure you are comparing two specifications. The variables below are the real cost drivers — get them identical, and the price difference becomes meaningful.
The Seven Variables That Set an Outdoor LED Price
These are the seven line items that determine what a square metre of outdoor LED actually costs. When a quote looks surprisingly cheap, one of these has almost always been quietly downgraded.
| Variable | How It Moves Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 · Pixel pitch | The largest driver. Finer pitch = more LEDs, more receiving cards, more processing. Halving pitch roughly quadruples LED count. |
| 2 · Cabinet design | Material (aluminium vs steel), casting quality, and the 1m vs 960mm format. Premium cabinets machine flatter and seal better. |
| 3 · Brightness class | Higher nits means higher-grade LEDs and larger power supplies. A 6,500-nit direct-sun panel costs more than a 3,500-nit canopy panel. |
| 4 · IP rating (front + rear) | Rear-only IP40 is far cheaper to make than IP65 on both faces. This is the most common place cheap quotes cut. |
| 5 · Common cathode | An optional drive technology that cuts power and heat. Costs more upfront, pays back in energy and lifespan in hot climates. |
| 6 · Control system | Novastar, Colorlight, Linsn or Brompton — receiving cards and processors differ in price and capability. Generic cards cut cost and consistency. |
| 7 · Certification | CE, EMC, and RoHS carry real test and compliance cost (Square 1000/960 also CB). Uncertified or self-declared panels are cheaper because they skipped it. No DOIT VISION series carries product-level FCC, UL, or ETL. |
For each supplier, pin down these seven items to the exact SKU. Only then is the per-square-metre price comparable. A quote that lists “outdoor LED, 50sqm” with no pitch, no IP face rating, and no control system is not a quote — it is an opening number designed to be revised upward later.
Hardware Is Not the Total Cost of Ownership
The per-square-metre cabinet price is only part of what you will actually spend. Four items routinely add 30–50% on top of the hardware, and a supplier who quotes only the cabinets is leaving them out of the picture on purpose.
Receiving cards and the video processor scale with pixel count, not just screen size. Finer pitch means more processing budget.
Steel framework, foundations and mounting are local costs that vary by site and load. We supply the drawings; a local engineer builds the frame.
Crew, lifts, and commissioning. US orders ship through a distribution partner that includes on-site installation.
DOOH operators should hold 2–3% of screen area in spare modules to cover field replacements between reorder cycles.
The useful comparison metric is therefore total cost of ownership over the screen’s life — hardware plus processing, structure, installation, energy and spares — not the cabinet price per square metre. A panel that costs 10% more upfront but draws 30% less power and lasts five years longer is the cheaper screen.
Where Cheap Quotes Cut Cost — and You Can’t See It
Every manufacturer can hit a lower price. The question is what they give up to get there. In outdoor LED, the cuts are concentrated in exactly the components you cannot verify from a photo or a spec sheet:
- Alimentations. A branded Mean Well or Delta supply costs more than a generic equivalent and lasts years longer. It is the single most failure-prone component in a hot outdoor cabinet.
- Connecteurs. Gold-plated, IP67-sealed connectors cost more than unplated generic ones — and survive years of weather instead of corroding in the first season.
- Conception thermique. Proper heat-sinking and ventilation cost money. A sealed box with no thermal path is cheaper to make and fails faster in direct sun.
- Tri des LED. Tightly binned LEDs cost more and keep colours uniform across a wall. Loose binning shows as visible colour patchiness on a large screen.
The cheapest quote is not the one that saves you money — it is the one that moves the cost into the future, as field failures and replacement panels. Ask what power supply, connector and LED bin are inside, and the price difference usually explains itself.
A Five-Point Checklist for Comparing Quotes Fairly
Send every supplier the same specification request, and the price difference becomes genuinely informative. Here is the checklist to hand them:
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Exact pixel pitch and screen size?P10 50sqm and P4 50sqm are different products. Fix both numbers before comparing.
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Brightness class and IP rating on both faces?Require the nits and the front AND rear IP rating in writing.
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Control system and receiving cards?Novastar, Colorlight, Linsn or Brompton — name the brand and model.
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Power supply and connector brands?These two components determine lifespan. Ask for the exact brand.
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Certifications and compliance documents?CE, EMC, RoHS (CB on Square 1000/960) — ask for the certificates, not the claim. No product-level FCC, UL, or ETL.
For more on reading the underlying numbers in any LED quote, see our guide to the seven hidden numbers on a quote.
Send a Spec, Get a Real Number
A per-square-metre price is only useful once the spec is fixed. That is why we quote from your brief, not from a catalogue price list. Send us four things and an engineer returns a line-itemed preliminary price with every one of the seven variables stated:
- Screen size (width × height in metres)
- Closest viewing distance (sets the pitch)
- Facing direction and city (sets the brightness)
- Any certification or control-system requirement
We publish our spec assumptions with every quote — pitch, brightness, IP faces, control system and certification — so you can compare it against any other supplier line by line. That transparency is the only way a per-square-metre number means anything.
Before you brief, read how pas de pixel et cathode commune flow into the final number, or start from the centre d'affichage LED extérieur.
Send your size, viewing distance, facing and city. An engineer returns a line-itemed quote with every spec variable stated — no hidden cuts.
