The numbers you will meet
| Name | Pixels | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Full HD, 1080p | 1920 by 1080 | The default for almost every signage screen, landscape |
| Full HD portrait | 1080 by 1920 | The same panel rotated, common in windows and narrow spaces |
| 4K, UHD | 3840 by 2160 | Large panels people stand close to, and menu boards with fine type |
| 4K portrait | 2160 by 3840 | Tall panels in high traffic entrances |
| Video wall, 2 by 2 | 3840 by 2160 across four panels | Treated as one canvas by the player |
| Stretched bar panel | 1920 by 540 and similar | Shelf edges and above door strips |
1080p or 4K, decided honestly
Resolution stops mattering at distance. A viewer three metres from a 55 inch panel cannot tell 1080p from 4K, because the eye cannot resolve the difference at that size and that range. Closer than about a metre and a half, or on a panel above 65 inches, the difference becomes visible, especially on small type and on fine lines.
Practical rule: 1080p for anything people walk past, 4K for anything people stand in front of and read, such as a menu board above a counter or a price list at a service desk.
4K also costs more in three places: the panel, the player that can decode it, and the bandwidth to download the media. A 4K video file is four times the size, which matters at a site with a weak connection.
Design at the panel resolution, not above it
Make the artwork at exactly the resolution of the screen it will run on. Artwork larger than the screen is downscaled, which softens edges and type. Artwork smaller is upscaled, which is worse. Where a network mixes 1080p and 4K, export two versions of the items that carry small type, and one version at 1080p for everything else.
- Keep type above 30 pixels tall on a 1080p screen for anything read at a distance
- Keep 5 percent clear on every edge, because some TVs still overscan
- Use flat colour and clean type rather than gradients, which band on cheap panels
- Export video at the panel's frame rate, usually 30 or 60, so motion is not judder
- Prefer H.264 for compatibility, and H.265 only where you know the device decodes it
Portrait is a decision, not a rotation
A landscape design rotated 90 degrees is always wrong. Portrait has its own composition: the message stacks, the image is tall, the ticker crosses the bottom rather than the side. Decide portrait before the artwork is made, and set the orientation on the screen in the panel, so the player renders for 9:16 rather than letterboxing a landscape file.
Also check the panel is rated for portrait mounting. Consumer TVs are not always, and heat behaves differently on a rotated panel.
Video walls and odd ratios
A 2 by 2 wall of 1080p panels is one 4K canvas, so design one 3840 by 2160 image and let the player split it. Bezels eat a few pixels at each seam, so keep type and faces away from the joins.
Stretched bar panels look extreme on paper and read well in practice, because they force one short message. Treat them as their own format with their own artwork, never as a cropped landscape design.
What the player does with a mismatch
A good player scales to fit and letterboxes rather than distorting, and it reports the resolution it actually rendered at. That report matters more than it sounds: a TV firmware update can change the output resolution overnight, and a screen quietly running at 1280 by 720 looks soft for months before anybody says anything.
In Displayer the reported resolution is part of the screen health record, and a change from what you set raises an alert. That is one of the cases proof of play catches that a status dot cannot.
A short checklist before a rollout
- Write down the resolution and orientation of every screen before artwork is made
- Standardise on as few formats as you can live with, ideally two
- Build templates at those formats and reuse them, rather than exporting per screen
- Test one real item on one real screen, from the distance people will actually stand
- Check the reported resolution in the panel after the first day, and after any firmware update