I'm the only ones here that thinks LCDs are garbage. Like most garbage they don't cost much and the don't survive rough handling.

There are some very nice pixelated LED displays. You create all the characters so hebrew or arabic can both be used and even some animated effects. They survive wider temperature, impact, vibration extremes than LCDs. Certain ruggedness requirements prohibit the use of LCDs.

They are just ridiculously expensive. Four small characters will run about $20 US and be the size of a 7400 DIP logic gate. They can be stacked for larger content. If you drive a new Cadallac, you'll probably see some of the LED displays in use in the dash. I know they are on my El Dorado.

They are incredibly fun to work with but its not generally a good business choice as clients don't expect those displays to cost that much. That means unless you are in certain markets, you'll be eating up your tolerable customer assumed margins.

I use these chips in some mobile radio products. I love them. I wish they were about half the price though.

aka J