The scaler is a very useful interpreter for the world of mixed signals a display needs to cope with
This device acts like an interpreter-- it takes many kinds of incoming images or video, and translates it into the exact type of signal that your processor needs to display it on the screen.
When managing the content you will want to play on your video display, you’ll typically get TV-shaped content. But your videoboard will most likely not be TV-shaped.
You will need to modify, squeeze, crop, push or pull that footage into the proper shape before sending it on to the screen.
Additionally, the color settings, resolution, frame rate, data rate, and a bunch of other technical details will greatly affect how that content will look on your display. It’s critical to have a device that can take a common input like HD video and process it perfectly for your screen.
A scaler does exactly this job-- it takes many flavors of video and cleans it all up to fit into your screen and its processor.
So do you really need a scaler?
If-- and it’s a fairly big if... If you can generate a consistently perfect video image, all of the time, no matter what signal you're bringing in to your display's processor, then no... you don't technically have to have a scaler.
However, if you are wanting to feed multiple different sources into the display, or let other vendors feed your display (TV partners, event rentals, special events, concerts, movie nights, etc) then you will definitely want a good scaler.
The options on which scaler to buy are infinite-- make/model, and desired features of a scaler and the total pixel area of output it controls will greatly affect the price. You'll want to know all of your likely inputs before you decide. Or, just call us at 360-340-9885 and we'll talk you through it.