If you attended InfoComm26, you no doubt noticed the number of companies on the floor that make Direct-View LED (dvLED) products.

From well-known brands to emerging market contenders, the breadth of cabinet-based, curved and custom dvLED offerings at pixel pitches from 5mm down to 0.7mm is downright daunting, to say the least.

It would be nearly impossible to do an exhaustive list, so that is not my intent here.

We could also talk about all the technical differences between SMD, GOB, COB and Flip Chip, but I’ll leave that for another time as well.

Today, I want to highlight three products that I saw on the floor that bring something special to the conversation in different ways, especially when it comes to image quality. In the spirit of spreading the love, one is a historic brand, one is a well-known player in custom and niche markets, and the other is a relative newcomer you may or may not know yet.

Sony Crystal LED

In 2012, Sony first brought their Crystal LED (CLED) prototype to CES, a 55″ version placed behind a velvet rope that sparked curiosity and wonder.

The official commercial launch of CLED came four years later in 2016, the velvet rope still in place at their InfoComm debut with a “No Photos” rule reminiscent of a Jordan 1 reveal.

A decade later, CLED is still the gold standard for high contrast, rich color and breath-taking visuals.

Sony has long been associated with innovation, high quality,and a passion for beautiful visuals. From Betamax to Blu-Ray to their work on the DCI initiative for cinema, Sony Pictures’ storied past and heritage continue to drive its pursuit of excellence.

Crystal LED is the ultimate expression of that pursuit.

With series optimized for high brightness, high contrast, virtual production, and now all-in-one boardroom versions like Unify, the product is more approachable than ever.

Nanolumens Engage Pro with Aurora

I’ve always had an appreciation for Nanolumens due to the company’s ability to tackle amazing custom projects. The first column wrapped in LED I ever saw was one of its products.

Their Engage Pro product is a great cabinet-based COB mini-LED product, but that is not the reason I included it here, as that is not what makes it unique.

Last year Nanolumens introduced its Aurora processing platform to give the company greater control of the color gamut and color accuracy. This allows Nanolumens to do Pantone color-matching in a way that is repeatable and maintainable. This may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but if you’re working with a big brand on a corporate lobby or experience center, being able to assure the accuracy of Coca-Cola red or Ford blue matters.

Aurora creates an end to end chain of processing that assures this level of quality and control. Coupled with fine pitch COB, the picture is not only accurate, it’s rich.

Aurora can also be coupled with other Nanolumens series like Nixel and Engage.

SBC Obsidian

The dark horse on this list is SBC Obsidian.

Obsidian is a 1500 nit, high contrast COB product that is able to meet 97.5% DCI-P3 and 86% Rec.2020 color space. That lands it in the premium performance arena at a comparatively less than premium price point.

It’s based on open architecture, and the version I saw was driven by Colorlight LED control and processing

I saw this version of the SBC product on the floor at InfoComm 2026 in the HD Distributing booth and it made me stand and stare. A full 3,840 x 2,160, 0.9mm canvas — fully calibrated.

In a sea of AI-generated content all over the floor, I think one of the things that really stood out was that the SBC Obsidian wall was displaying real-life 4K drone footage of amazing destinations created by Windows of the World (aptly abbreviated to WOW).

The richness of the display coupled with the unique, high-quality content was what sold me to be honest, and it’s ability to survive a round or two of “value engineering” doesn’t hurt.