P4 vs P5 LED Display: Which Should You Actually Buy?
One millimetre of difference, a meaningful price gap, and a decision that comes down entirely to how far away people stand.
Buy P4 if viewers stand within about four metres. Buy P5 if they stand five metres or further. Beyond about eight metres the two are visually indistinguishable, and P5 gives you more screen area for the same money.
What the numbers mean
P4 has 4 mm between pixel centres, P5 has 5 mm. That sounds trivial, but pixel count scales with the square of the pitch: a P4 packs about 62,500 pixels per square metre against roughly 40,000 for P5. Around 56% more LEDs, driver ICs and assembly labour in the same area.
The honest test
Stand where your customer will stand. If that is a footpath four metres from a shop frontage, P4 is visibly sharper and worth it. If it is a forecourt where people are eight metres back, you will not be able to tell the two apart, and the P4 premium buys nothing you can see.
When P4 is clearly right
- Jewellery and premium retail frontages, where product detail is the sell and customers stand close
- Screens showing full video rather than text and stills
- Any display customers will photograph at close range
When P5 is clearly right
- Forecourts, wide frontages and set-back hoardings
- Text-led content — offers, rates, notices
- Any project where the same budget could buy a larger screen