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NovaStar Adaptive Thermal Compensation: Stable Colour as Your Screen Heats Up
Hampus Niskala |27/10, 2026
An LED screen that looks perfectly calibrated when you switch it on can look different an hour later. As the cabinets warm up, the LEDs' colour temperature shifts, and because heat is never spread evenly across a wall, some areas drift more than others. NovaStar's Adaptive Thermal Compensation corrects this in real time. Here's how it works and what you need.
The problem: colour drifts as the screen heats up
LEDs change their output with temperature, and red, green and blue don't change by the same amount. The result is a colour shift as the screen goes from cold to operating temperature. On top of that, cabinets heat unevenly: the top of a wall often runs warmer than the bottom. You end up with visible patches, even on a screen that was calibrated cold.
This is especially noticeable on transparent screens, grille screens and rental screens, which are often switched on just before a show and change temperature fast.
How Adaptive Thermal Compensation works
The system applies a correction coefficient that matches the screen's temperature at that moment, keeping colour and brightness close to the calibrated state. There are three ways to set it up:
- With temperature sensors: a sensor in each cabinet reports its temperature in real time, and each cabinet gets its own correction. This handles uneven heating best.
- Without sensors: engineers record the screen going from cold to hot with measuring equipment. Each degree gets its own coefficient, which the receiving card applies.
- Dynamic (predictive): camera, temperature and light measurements are combined with how the screen is used, and an algorithm predicts the thermal change and applies the matching correction.
Fast to calibrate
You don't have to measure every cabinet. A block of 3 × 3 cabinets (9 in total) is calibrated, and the resulting coefficients are loaded into all cabinets from the same production batch. According to NovaStar, this takes under 90 minutes.
Results
| Measure | With Adaptive Thermal Compensation |
|---|---|
| Colour temperature shift (cold to hot) | under 100 K |
| Colour coordinate shift | under 0.01 |
| Brightness loss | under 5% |
The end user can turn the feature on or off, and the correction runs automatically during operation.
What you need
- Controller: any NovaStar COEX controller, such as the MX40 Pro, MX30 or CX40 Pro.
- Receiving cards: A10s Pro (1G), or the 5G cards CA50E and XA50 Pro.
- Calibration equipment: NovaStar's calibration camera and a colorimeter, plus a temperature probe. This is usually done by the LED manufacturer or a calibration service, and the result is delivered as part of the cabinet's NCP file.
Is it right for your screen?
If your screen runs for long periods, is used for camera work, or has a design that heats unevenly, Adaptive Thermal Compensation is worth asking your LED manufacturer about. The control system side is simple: a COEX controller and supported receiving cards, both of which we stock.
Pixel Pitchers ships NovaStar from Sweden: order in-stock items by 14:00 CET for same-day UPS Express, with delivery in 1–2 days across the EU and no import duties.