Guide · Events · Outdoor LED
Renting an outdoor LED screen? Seven things to settle first
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Indoors, the venue gives you power, shade and a roof. Outdoors, you bring them. Seven questions, each from an outdoor stage we built and ran in Los Angeles.
In this guide
An outdoor LED screen is more than an indoor wall moved outside. It needs an outdoor panel bright enough for daylight, with the screen and its connections built for rain; power sized to the whole stage, LED, sound and lighting together, from the site or a generator; ballast to hold it down; time to build the day before and test after dark; a plan for the night it stays on site; and show control with a backup, in the shade. PixelPro Productions has built outdoor stages in Los Angeles for a game’s third-anniversary fan event in the Little Tokyo plaza (a 4.5 × 2.5 m P3.9 wall), beside the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown (5 × 3 m), outside the Los Angeles Convention Center at Anime Expo 2025 (6 × 3.5 m) and, in heavy rain, at the Asian American Expo 2023 at Fairplex in Pomona (5 × 2.5 m).
Have a project in mind? Send us the details, or call.
Seven questions, in order
The first four are settled before the quote; the last three on site.
- Is the wall an outdoor panel? An indoor wall is not built for sun and weather. Most outdoor rental walls today are P3.9, at 4,000 to 6,000 nits, sealed to IP65 at the front and IP54 at the rear. Ours are P3.9 at 3,840 Hz, bright enough for daylight: at Little Tokyo the wall ran through the afternoon in full sun.
- What if it rains? Ask whether the screen and its connections are waterproof, not just the panels. Ours are built for rain, screen and connections both: at the Asian American Expo 2023 in Pomona it rained hard on the first day, and our 5 × 2.5 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 wall stood in the open and kept playing.
- Where does the power come from, and is it big enough? Size it to the whole stage, LED, sound and lighting together, with room to spare. An outdoor wall draws up to about 800 W per square meter at full brightness, so a 5 × 3 m wall can need up to 12 kW on its own. At the Golden Dragon Parade the client’s first generator, a portable unit, kept tripping, and every trip took the wall, the sound and the lights down; we asked for a 45 kVA towable diesel generator in its place, and the problem went away. At Little Tokyo the venue supplied a generator and distribution; we brought our own 200 A three-phase 208 V distribution in case it was needed. At Anime Expo the booth ran on a 60 A three-phase 208 V supply ordered from the venue, through our distribution.
- What holds it down? A ground-stacked outdoor wall stands in the open, so it is weighted. At Little Tokyo and at Anime Expo each wall stood on six 50 kg weights.
- Can you build the day before? Often the site is only free, or only quiet, the day before. At Little Tokyo we loaded in the afternoon before and had the wall lit for a test after dark by 7:30 pm; in Chinatown the street closed for the parade, so the stage, the wall and the lighting went up the day before.
- Who looks after it overnight? At Little Tokyo and in Chinatown the equipment stayed on site overnight, in the open, ready to switch on in the morning. Agree with the organizer who is responsible for the site and the equipment that night.
- Where does show control go, and is there a backup? Outdoors the control desk needs shade and power too. At Little Tokyo it sat under a tree beside the stage: Hirender S3 playback, main and backup, through a PixelHue 4K switcher, with one audio and one video engineer running the show.
Little Tokyo, April 2026: a fan event in the plaza
For a game’s third-anniversary fan event in the Little Tokyo plaza, downtown Los Angeles, we built a 4.5 × 2.5 m outdoor P3.9 wall on the stage, eight 10-inch line-array speakers with subwoofers, wireless microphones, battery-powered wireless lighting and show control.
We loaded in on the afternoon of April 18, tested after dark, left everything in the plaza overnight, ran the event on the 19th and struck that evening.
Chinatown, February 2024: a generator that kept tripping
Beside the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade we ran a 5 × 3 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 outdoor wall, sound and lighting on a stage in an open parking lot, built the day before and left there overnight.
Power was the client’s. Their first generator was too small for the stage and kept tripping; we asked for a 45 kVA towable diesel generator, the client brought it in, and the show ran on it.
Anime Expo 2025: a booth outside the hall
One of the booths we supplied at Anime Expo 2025 stood outdoors, outside the Los Angeles Convention Center: a 6 × 3.5 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 wall on six 50 kg weights, with six 200 W fill lights, on a 60 A three-phase supply from the venue.
Pomona, January 2023: playing through the rain
At the Asian American Expo 2023 at Fairplex in Pomona, January 14 and 15, our 5 × 2.5 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 outdoor wall stood in the open beside the tents.
It rained hard on the first day. Our outdoor walls are built for it, the screen and the connections both waterproof, and the wall kept playing while visitors walked past under umbrellas.
One checklist: when to decide, and who does it
- Before the quote: Site power or a generator, sized for the whole stage (Golden Dragon Parade case)
- Before the quote: An outdoor wall, bright enough for daylight, its screen and connections waterproof (LED screen rental)
- Load-in: Ballast; a build the day before and a test after dark (Anime Expo case)
- Overnight: Who is responsible for the site and the equipment (Golden Dragon Parade case)
- Show day: Control in the shade, main and backup playback, engineers on site (Event AV production)
Where we can help
PixelPro Productions rents its outdoor walls with the crew who build and run them: the wall, the sound, the lighting and the show control, with the power planned for the site.
Send us the site, the date and how power will be supplied. We will size the wall, the sound and the power together.
Questions about outdoor LED screens
Can an LED screen be used outdoors in daylight?
Yes, with an outdoor panel. Most outdoor rental walls today are P3.9 at 4,000 to 6,000 nits, sealed to IP65 at the front and IP54 at the rear. At a fan event in the Little Tokyo plaza in April 2026, PixelPro Productions’ outdoor P3.9 wall played through the afternoon in full sun.
Can an outdoor LED screen run in the rain?
One built for it can. PixelPro Productions’ outdoor walls are waterproof, the screen and the connections. At the Asian American Expo 2023 at Fairplex in Pomona, our 5 × 2.5 m Gloshine Legend 3.9 wall stood in the open and kept playing through a day of heavy rain.
What size generator does an outdoor LED screen need?
One sized to the whole stage, LED, sound and lighting together, with room to spare. An outdoor LED wall draws up to about 800 W per square meter at full brightness: up to 12 kW for a 5 × 3 m wall. At the 2024 Golden Dragon Parade the client’s portable generator kept tripping; the 45 kVA towable diesel generator we asked for solved it.
Is an outdoor LED screen priced like an indoor one?
No. Outdoor walls are quoted to the job, with the power and ballast planned for the site. Indoors, an 11.5 × 6.6 ft wall is $3,490 all-in with PixelPro Productions.
