Performance Reference

LED Performance Benchmarks

The LED industry hides true performance behind three surface specs — brightness, pixel pitch, and refresh rate. The numbers that actually decide on-camera quality and 5-year service life are driver IC, scan ratio, grayscale bit depth, diode bin, PCB stack-up and wafer thickness. This page is the open reference.

Surface spec

Refresh rate

"3,840 Hz"

What hides behind it

Scan ratio

1/16 vs 1/32 vs 1/64

And driving it

Driver IC + bit depth

MBI5153 / MBI5252 / ICN2153

Section 1 of 4

Driver IC catalogue

Every driver IC commonly shipped in commercial LED cabinets, with bit depth, maximum scan, PWM type and Aurora's notes on real-world use. If a supplier won't name the IC family on their datasheet, that is the answer to your question.

IC	Manufacturer	Bit depth	Max scan	PWM	Aurora's note
MBI5153	Macroblock	16-bit	1/32	Common-cathode capable	The broadcast workhorse — what to look for in any "3,840 Hz" claim. Standard for V-SPEC class cabinets.
MBI5252	Macroblock	16-bit	1/64	PWM+	Cleaner low-grayscale than 5153 — used in COB fine-pitch (LUX class). First-row colour stays neutral at 1% brightness.
MBI5353	Macroblock	14-bit + dithering	1/64	Common-cathode	Energy-saving variant. ~12-bit visual fidelity in practice; suitable for outdoor billboard, not broadcast.
ICN2153	Chipone	16-bit	1/32	Standard	Cost-down alternative to MBI5153. Acceptable for non-camera applications; verify low-grayscale colour shift before committing to broadcast.
ICN2266	Chipone	14-bit	1/16	Standard	Frequently mis-sold as "broadcast grade" — the 1/16 scan limit is the giveaway. Aurora rejects this IC for any camera-facing application.
SUM2030	Sumacro	16-bit	1/32	Standard	Common in Chinese-domestic OEM cabinets. Aurora benchmarks every batch against MBI5153 reference data.
FM6353	Fine Made	14-bit	1/32	Energy saving	Outdoor-billboard staple. Power efficient but not specified for camera work or fine-pitch indoor.

Section 2 of 4

LED diode catalogue

The diode brands most commonly shipped in commercial LED globally, with manufacturer-published bin grade and L70 ranges. Manufacturer L70 figures are stated under their own published test conditions; real-world life depends on drive current, ambient temperature and cabinet thermal design. Aurora policy: A-bin or A+ only. B-bin is rejected at factory acceptance regardless of price.

Brand	Origin	Common SKUs	Bin grade	L70	Wafer	Aurora's note
Nationstar	CN — Foshan	NS3535, NS2727, NS1010	A / A+	100,000 hrs	9 mil (std)	Aurora's primary diode for V-SPEC outdoor and LUX fine-pitch.
Kinglight	CN	KG3535, KG2727	A / A+	100,000 hrs	8–9 mil	Tight bin-grade control. Used on selected V-SPEC SKUs for parity with Nationstar.
Cree (Wolfspeed)	US	CR3535 (legacy)	A+	100,000 hrs	10 mil	Premium specification on request — typically reserved for tendered broadcast and high-end retail builds.
Epistar	TW	ES3535	A / A+	100,000 hrs	9 mil	Common Taiwan-die alternative; equivalent on-spec to Nationstar in our internal LED Analyser tests.
Refond	CN	RF3535	A / B	80,000–100,000 hrs	7–9 mil	Aurora policy: A-bin only. B-bin is rejected at FAT regardless of price.
San'an	CN	SA1515 (COB die)	A	100,000 hrs	varies (flip-chip)	Common COB chip-on-board die. Aurora pairs only with controlled-impedance 6-layer PCBs.

Section 3 of 4

PCB stack-up reference

PCB stack-up is a primary determinant of whether a cabinet still works reliably past year five. Lower-spec 4-layer 1 oz construction can pass factory test then warp or crack via barrels under repeated thermal cycling. 6-layer 2 oz construction with controlled impedance gives the data pairs the headroom they need to hold receiving-card integrity over a longer service life.

Premium

Aurora LUX

Layers: 6-layer
Copper: 2 oz outer, 1 oz inner
Surface finish: ENIG (gold)
Impedance control: Controlled on data pairs

Required for COB and fine-pitch ≤ P1.5. Resists warp, holds receiving-card data integrity past 5 years.

Professional

Aurora V-SPEC

Layers: 4-layer
Copper: 2 oz outer
Surface finish: ENIG
Impedance control: Controlled

Standard for outdoor and indoor SMD. The 2 oz copper is what stops thermal cycling cracking the via barrels.

Budget

Industry typical / Aurora GSR

Layers: 4-layer
Copper: 1 oz
Surface finish: HASL or OSP
Impedance control: Uncontrolled

Acceptable for short-term and price-led projects. Aurora discloses this transparently on the GSR datasheet — many competitor "professional" cabinets ship at this grade without disclosing it on the datasheet.

Receiving-card matrix

Card	Max load	Frame buffer	Aurora use
Novastar A8s Plus	2.6M px	14-bit	Workhorse for V-SPEC outdoor — common AU-stocked spare.
Novastar A10s Plus	6.5M px	16-bit	High-density rooms and centre-hung scoreboards.
Novastar MRV560	512k px	14-bit	Legacy support for installed base.
Colorlight i9	4.6M px	16-bit	Used on selected LUX SKUs for HDR pipelines.
Linsn RV908	655k px	16-bit	Reserved for retrofit projects matching existing Linsn senders.

Section 4 of 4

What's in our cabinets

Aurora's own range-by-range spec stack mapped to the same parameter columns we use to evaluate every competitor cabinet. No hidden chip families. No unstated bin grades.

LUX

Fine-pitch indoor / broadcast

Driver IC: MBI5252 (16-bit, 1/64)
Diode: Nationstar / Kinglight A+
PCB: 6-layer, 2 oz, ENIG, controlled impedance
Package: COB / SMD 1010

V-SPEC

Standard professional indoor + outdoor

Driver IC: MBI5153 (16-bit, 1/32)
Diode: Nationstar A
PCB: 4-layer, 2 oz, ENIG, controlled impedance
Package: SMD 2727 / 3535

GSR

Budget / price-led outdoor

Driver IC: ICN2153 (16-bit, 1/32)
Diode: Refond A
PCB: 4-layer, 1 oz, HASL
Package: SMD 3535

Specifications verified at factory acceptance using Aurora's in-house MLED LED Analyser — automated testing for brightness uniformity, contrast, gamma, PQ, colour gamut and refresh fidelity. Full pass/fail protocol documented at /about/factory-testing-protocol.

Performance FAQ

Common questions about real LED specs

What is LED scan rate and why does it matter?

Scan rate (e.g. 1/8, 1/16, 1/32) is the ratio of LED rows lit at one moment to the total rows in the module. A 1/32 scan cabinet can refresh and dim each row more often than a 1/16 cabinet, which is why a 1,920 Hz / 1/32 cabinet usually looks cleaner on broadcast camera than a 3,840 Hz / 1/16 cabinet despite the lower headline number.

Is a higher refresh rate (Hz) always better for cameras?

No. Refresh rate, scan ratio and grayscale bit depth interact. Above ~1,920 Hz the visible improvement on a 1/32-scan, 16-bit driver is marginal. Push refresh on a 1/16-scan or 14-bit driver and you gain rolling-banding artefacts faster than you remove them.

What is the difference between MBI5153 and MBI5252?

Both are 16-bit Macroblock driver ICs. MBI5153 supports up to 1/32 scan and is the broadcast-class workhorse. MBI5252 supports 1/64 scan and is what you want for COB fine-pitch where low-grayscale colour fidelity at 0–5% brightness matters most.

Are Nationstar diodes good?

Yes, when bin-graded A or A+. Aurora benchmarks every diode batch on our LED Analyser against the manufacturer datasheet for brightness uniformity, wavelength binning and forward voltage. We reject any cabinet quoted with B-bin or unstated bin grade.

Why does PCB copper weight matter?

2 oz copper resists the thermal cycling that, over 3–5 years, can crack via barrels and create intermittent receiving-card data errors. 1 oz cabinets are physically lighter and cheaper but are a common contributor to "random dead lines" service calls in year three to five.

What's the difference between COB, SMD and MIP packaging?

SMD (surface-mount device) is three discrete RGB chips per package — the industry standard since 2010. COB (chip-on-board) flips the bare die directly onto the PCB and resin-encapsulates the whole module — better black levels, tougher physically, used for fine-pitch ≤ P1.5. MIP (mass-in-package) is a hybrid where chips are pre-binned into a mini-package then SMT-mounted — bridges the cost gap between SMD and COB.

How do I read an LED cabinet datasheet honestly?

Look past the front-page nits and pitch. The numbers that decide service-life and on-camera quality are: driver IC family (named, not "high-refresh chip"), scan ratio (1/16 vs 1/32 vs 1/64), grayscale bit depth at hardware level (not after dithering), diode brand and bin grade, PCB layer count and copper weight, and warranty parts vs on-site coverage. If a datasheet hides any of these, ask.

Does Aurora publish this for our cabinets?

Yes. The "What's in our cabinets" table on this page maps every Aurora range (LUX / V-SPEC / GSR) to the same six parameter columns we evaluate competitors on. Specifications are also documented in the per-range datasheets and verified by the in-house LED Analyser MLED test system before factory acceptance.