What is Digital Signage?
How Commercial Displays Differ from Standard TVs.
Oct 21, 2025
When people talk about “digital signage,” they’re usually referring to commercial-grade displays — not the TV you buy at your local homestore. The difference matters.
Types of Commercial Digital Displays…
• Indoor commercial displays are engineered for 12–24 hour runtime, often with cooling and burn-in protection. Perfect for retail, offices, conference rooms.
• High-brightness window displays are built to fight sun glare. These commonly start at 2,000 nits and can reach 4,000+ nits for direct sunlight readability.
• Outdoor weatherproof displays (IP-rated) are enclosed, sealed against heat, dust, rain, and vandalism. Think drive-thrus, gas stations, transit shelters.
• Video walls / tiled LED panels allow virtually seamless large-format displays. Fine-pitch LED panels (e.g. 1.2 mm pixel pitch) are for indoor close-viewing; coarser pitches (e.g. 4 mm+) for outdoor viewing from distance.
• Interactive / touchscreen kiosks combine ruggedized displays with touch sensors and sometimes payment, printing, or AI features.
Brightness — what “nits” actually are…
A nit is simply one candela per square meter — a measurement of visible brightness.
• Typical home TVs: ~250–400 nits
• Indoor commercial signage: 500–700 nits
• Bright retail displays: 1,000–1,500 nits
• Sunlight-viewable outdoor signage: 2,000–4,000+ nits
Why not just use a consumer TV?
Consumer TVs aren’t rated for all-day runtimes, portrait mounting, outdoor heat, direct sun, public tampering, or commercial CMS software. They void warranty in most business installs and are usually not bright enough to cut through ambient light.
Commercial displays are purpose-built tools — not living-room gadgets.