With the launch of the Sharp BIG PAD PN-70TH5, our first 4K Interactive Display, we take a look at what you need to consider about resolution when you’re choosing an interactive display for business and education.
Once confined to the training room, the interactive display is now a popular tool for more and more parts of the office. Because they are so useful for sharing ideas and information they are becoming essential technology for the board room, the conference room and common meeting areas. Over the last 18 – 24 months, the number of interactive displays on offer has exploded, with different sizes including Huddle sizes, features and resolutions now available. While choice is good it can also be confusing. Here we take a look specifically at resolution and discuss when you might need to upgrade to 4K.
Typically, when it comes to understanding what constitutes the ‘best possible resolution' by today's standards, most people agree that 1080p, Full HD or 2K, more than meets the needs of the average office. And for the most part that's true. However, there are some industries and professional applications where more resolution is very beneficial, which is why we launched a 4K BIG PAD for those customers who need it.
Understanding resolutions
To understand how resolution can have an impact on screen quality, we need to define what resolution means.
Resolution is measured by taking the number of pixels in the horizontal axis, the number of pixels in the vertical axis, and multiplying them together to get your pixel count. So, in the case of 1080p resolution, the equation would be 1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600. This means that the average Full HD display has a resolution of 2,073,600 pixels.
If you compare this to a 4K screen, where the horizontal axis and vertical axis comprise 3840 × 2160 pixels to create a resolution of 8,294,400 pixels, you’ll see that the four-fold increase means greater clarity and depth can be added to a panel of the same size.
Looking purely at the numbers, you can see there's a big difference between the Full HD and 4K, but does it make that much difference? To some industries and applications, it’s a clear yes. Let's look at some of those industries and how a higher resolution can be a benefit.
Design
For anyone working in the creative industry, in particular design, photography, or video, pixel count, well, counts, and that's because more pixels mean you can see more detail.
Those big ads you see in either print form or digital screens besides motorways, on train platforms, at airports, even shop windows are all created and designed on a screen. What you see is the result of a designer's hard work.
When designing glossy, highly detailed images, it obviously pays to have a screen that can show you as much detail as possible so that whoever is viewing the final image can experience it at its best.
Technical
It’s not only the creative industries that benefit from higher resolutions. People working in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM industries) who are handling big data, detailed spreadsheets and calculations, will find it easier to display and view this information on a display with greater resolution. In the meeting room, if you’re crunching big data, or analysing data in depth, then greater clarity will make things easier to read, review, even at a distance, and make the relevant changes.
Medical
The science and medical industries are always one or two, if not more, steps ahead when it comes to technology; they are responsible for saving and improving lives, after all. By using 4K technology, instead of 2K technology, they're able to see and plan in greater detail and with pinpoint accuracy.
True 4K Reading & Writing
We argue that if you need to view content in 4K then you also need to be able to write in 4K. By which we mean offer the touch tools that make it easy to work with detailed content, like a very precise pen, and features like palm rejection. We design based on the complete user experience and this remains the priority at any resolution.
The 70-inch display of the Sharp BIG PAD PN-70TH5 boasts superb image quality built using a UV2A LCD for high contrast and visual clarity. However, it is not only the resolution that will impress. The panel features projected capacitive (P-CAP) touch technology, which makes it an incredibly fast, responsive and sensitive display. It offers 30-point multi-touch functionality, so multiple users can work together to design, create, or brainstorm at the same time.
To increase the touch experience and offer a greater visual performance, a transparent gel is applied between the LCD panel and the touch glass sensor in a process that is called Optical Bonding. This Optical Bonding minimizes parallax effect, which means you'll be able to see the screen content perfectly from any position.
However, it is the Pen-on-Paper experience that the 4K BIG PAD PN-70TH5 comes with that delivers a true premium user experience. Because writing on the 4K BIG PAD PN-70TH5 feels just as natural, intuitive, and as responsive as writing on paper with a pen, you're left with no distractions and can get on with creating, collaborating, and sharing your work.
As the new flagship range for Sharp, the PN-70TH5 is ideal for environments requiring seamless operation and best group collaboration, such as boardrooms, scientific medical centres, and design studios.
If you'd like to find out more about our 4K BIG PAD PN-70TH5, or another BIG PAD, please Get In Touch.
