Comparison
Currency display boards: LED signs vs digital TV boards
The classic LED currency board and the TV-based digital board both show your rates. They differ in how you update them, how they look, and what they cost to run. Here is how to choose.
A currency display board is the sign that lists the currencies you trade and your buy and sell rate for each. If you are opening a new branch or replacing an old sign, you will usually choose between two kinds: a dedicated LED currency board, or a digital board that runs on an ordinary TV. Both put your rates on the wall. They differ in almost everything else.
How LED currency boards work
An LED currency board is a purpose-built panel. Each currency has a fixed row: a printed or backlit flag and code, then a block of seven-segment LED digits for each rate. The digits are bright, readable from far away, and have a look many customers associate with currency exchange.
Rates are changed at the sign, with an infrared remote or a keypad, or on some models from a PC connected by cable or a local network. The layout is set when the board is made: the number of rows, the number of digits per rate and the currencies printed on the face.
How digital currency boards work
A digital board is software that draws a rate board on a normal TV or monitor. The rates, currencies and design live in a web admin. The TV opens the board as a web page and keeps a live connection, so when someone saves a rate, the screen redraws it within seconds.
Because the board is drawn by software, nothing about it is fixed. You can add a currency, change the order, switch to a portrait screen, add your logo, run a news line or show an ad between pages of rates. If you like the LED look, many systems can draw it too: Rate Display offers seven-segment LED, dot-matrix and split-flap price styles on any theme.
Side by side
| LED currency board | Digital TV board | |
|---|---|---|
| Updating rates | At each sign, by remote or keypad; some models from a PC | Once in a web admin, pushed to every screen live |
| Several branches | Each sign updated separately | All branches from one admin, with branch-level control |
| Rate feeds and margins | Rarely; usually typed | Automatic feeds plus margin rules |
| Adding a currency | Often needs a new panel or face | A switch in the admin |
| Languages | Fixed print on the face | Any text, including Arabic right to left |
| Brand, ads and news | Usually none | Logo, themes, image and video ads, news line |
| Hardware | A dedicated sign per layout | Any TV with a browser, or a stick or mini PC |
| Cost model | One-off purchase per sign, plus repairs | Subscription per branch, plus a TV you may already have |
| Readability | Very bright, good in sunlight | Good indoors; choose a bright screen for sunny windows |
When an LED board still makes sense
- Outdoor or shop-window signs in direct sun. LED digits are extremely bright. A standard TV can wash out behind glass at midday, although high-brightness commercial displays close the gap.
- A single counter with few currencies that rarely change. If you quote five currencies and change them once a day, a keypad is not a burden.
- No reliable internet. A digital board keeps showing its last rates if the connection drops, but it needs a connection to receive new ones.
When a digital board is the better choice
- More than one branch. Updating every sign by hand does not scale. With a digital board, a rate saved at head office appears on every branch screen at once.
- Rates that change during the day. If your treasury reprices often, or you want to follow a feed, typing figures into signs is slow and error-prone.
- Margins that differ by location. Digital systems apply a margin per currency, per side and per branch, and round the result consistently.
- Customers who read different languages. A digital board can show English and Arabic, or other scripts, side by side.
- You want the screen to sell. A TV can show your logo, promotions and a news line between pages of rates.
Comparing costs fairly
LED boards are usually a one-off purchase, priced by size, the number of rows and the number of digits. Add installation, and repairs when segments fail. A digital board needs a screen (many branches already have a TV) and a subscription. Rate Display's Professional plan is $19 per branch per month, billed annually, with a 7-day free trial for one branch.
Look beyond the sticker price to the cost of running each option for three to five years: staff time, errors, and what it costs to add a currency or open a new branch.
Switching from LED to digital
Step 1: List your currencies and columns
Write down every currency on your current sign, in order, with its decimal places, and the columns you show (for example Cash Buy and Cash Sell).
Step 2: Choose the screen
A 43 to 55 inch TV suits most counters. For a tall, narrow wall, mount it in portrait and pick a portrait template.
Step 3: Set up the board
Create your company, switch on your currencies, enter rates or connect a feed, and pick a design. Our setup tutorial covers each step.
Step 4: Run both for a day
Keep the old sign up while staff check that the new board matches the till, then retire it.