Panasonic's 200-ft LED Video Screen Reviewed at Charlotte!

While Panasonic debuted its 200-foot wide LED display at a special event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, we anted a closer look. In fact, letting the enormous screen get broken in by Dale Earnhardt, Jr with an iRacing simulation simply didn't do it justice. We wanted to see it for ourselves. When the opportunity arose to see it live at the NASCAR All-Star Race just 7 days later, I jumped at the chance to behold it in all its glory. During the Friday night NASCAR Education Lottery 200 truck event (which featured a race around the track with Fords, Chevy's and Toyota Tundras galore) the screen was only used with a moving background and an 80-foot (or so) image taking up residence in an inset position. The moving background was actually of the screen under construction - a simulation of it, in any case. But on Saturday evening, the screen opened up completely for the All-Star Race (and the 20-lap Sprint Showdown which preceded it). While the Sprint All-Star Race was incredibly boring, the presence of a 200-foot video display most certainly was NOT.

On Friday night we actually wondered when they would release the full power of this operational 200 foot wide video screen by Panasonic. Turns out they didn't NASCAR was saving it up for Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race. That "small" image you see here? That's actually still 80 feet wide! We did notice a ton of moire on the pre-race, but by the time the All-Star race started all symptoms were gone. We don't know if they switched cameras or what, but the scrren looked very professional and clear.

As you can see, the screen, even on the other end of the race track at Charlotte Motor Speedway is absolutely stunning. While the camera's shutter couldn't capture both the foreground track and the LED screen, the picture was pristine and perfectly beautiful in all of its HD glory.

This is what the screen looked like closer-up, though any imperfections are the result of the camera's LCD panel forming a mismatch with the LED screen's individual pixels.

I can't say it strongly enough - this is one of the most impressive large screens I've ever seen. It's enormous size made it truly visible in a big way from every seat on the money side of the track. It made the race more exciting... even the uneventful All-Star Race that saw little more than a brake failure on Brad Keselowski's car.

To check out how the screen was made and our coverage of the debut of the screen with Dale Earnhardt, Jr - please read our other article: Check Out the World's Largest HD Video Display at Charlotte Motor Speedway!