How to Remove Flickering Lines on Your LED Screen

Sep 30

2 min read

Have you ever pointed a camera at the stage screen and watched it start flickering or fill with rolling black lines?

It’s usually not a broken camera, and it’s usually not a bad LED wall. Most of the time, the camera shutter is fighting the screen’s refresh rate.

Here’s how to fix it.

1. Start with the 180-degree rule

Lock your shutter speed at roughly double your frame rate.

That keeps motion looking natural and keeps the camera in a better range for LED walls.

If the stage looks too dark or too bright, leave the shutter alone. Adjust ISO, aperture, or the lighting instead.

Changing shutter speed to “fix exposure” is one of the fastest ways to put flicker back on the screen.

If you follow the 180-degree rule and still see rolling bands, the camera is clashing with the screen’s refresh rate.

Try this next:

Set the camera’s anti-flicker or flicker reduction to 60Hz in the U.S.
Nudge the shutter a few points up or down (for example, 1/60 to 1/50 or 1/100) until the lines disappear.
If your camera has a variable or fine shutter setting, use that instead of jumping in big increments.
See if the LED Screen Flicker goes away.

If the flicker is only on camera, it’s almost always a camera setting. If people in the room can see it with their eyes, look at the wall:

Make sure the processor refresh rate is set high (3840Hz is common on NovaStar systems).
Confirm the camera and wall are on a clean power source.
Check signal cables, sending card connections, and that the content resolution matches the wall.

Reach out to our Experts for help. We have a team that is dedicated to helping.