Hi Crossroads,
Have you tried the Maxim chips from Tayda ? that price is very good, I see Mouser are quoting $13 and our cheapest price here is about $10.
If I can get them cheap enough I might try playing with multiplexing.
I always used DC latched drivers on my scoreboards to try and keep the RF reception as clean as possible - everything else is perfect - line of sight across a field with nothing near the receiver, antenna high, and I hide the screened SM power supply away from the receiver.
But now with my new superblinding LEDs, ( theres a photo of a display facing straight into the sun at www.scorebauds.co.za ) I have to dim the display for overcast or evening matches or the players would be blinded !
So I am dimming the TPIC chips using the notG pins connected to a pwm output of the micro, so I might as well try multiplexing anyway for the alpha team names....
And whats that strip board you are using in the photo you posted? I havnt seen that here .