I'd be interested also. It's the viewing angle that kills it for me as if I hunch down a foot or less then it's jet black and just right. I was thinking of trying to angle back the screen in the frame but the setup isn't optimal for that. Simply swapping out the screen with something with a confirmed wider viewing angle would ideal.

I adjusted the settings quite a bit. Made it from unacceptable to very acceptable. Nothing washed out really at all about how it looks now, from side angles too.

It works fine for what I expect in a pinball machine.

Was t too expensive so I’m not sure if it’s a remarkably different standard than the original. But it’s definitely noticeable.

The cheaper ips variants like e-ips that only have 6 bit color are still better than TN and not really that much more expensive. Probably just an issue of sourcing. Part numbers or model numbers will help me narrow down what you actually got in your LG panel. Were there markings on the spooky one you took out that would help me figure out what it is?

Yup.

Interesting. I assume the settings are on the LCD itself? Are they labeled and fairly easy to fiddle with?

There's a board next to the controller on the back of the LCD you can use to adjust brightness/contrast. Also, if gamma is off on yours, turn it on.

Gamma was off. Turning Gamma on and turning down the contrast made a big difference! Thanks...

Also never noticed the Spooky backglass is old school...not a plastic translite. Sweet.

@vireland’s fan and the LCD screen are some of the best mods you can make to this game, and it’s funny because the nature of these mods means you don’t know how much of an improvement they are unless you experience in person.

Sister in law got me this for Christmas.

742A87C8-608B-46BC-BBB1-5BE92B3345BA (resized).jpeg

My TWD had a bolt break off in a post , so I was fixing it and I noticed that the post sleeve was very thin, thinner even than the ones flanking that oh-so-tight turnaround shot on R&M.

So you can probably guess what experiment followed this discovery, and I gotta say it seems to make that shot much more makeable. At one point, it seemed almost flowy, even! Maybe it was largely confirmation bias, but those sleeves are staying!

Really? Nice. Always assumed it was a translite.

Yes, happened to me once so far. For a minute I thought the ball trough must have fallen off. lol.

I'm curious...did you compare your new LCD screen with a dialed-in stock LCD? (or just give up on it). Even though the audio took some fiddling to dial-in, I'm really happy with the results. Ditto for the LCD after fiddling with the gamma/contrast settings.

I'm all for mods when necessary, but avoid them when not. For example, the stock speakers and amp that ship with most Stern games are just awful. I've added PinWoofer systems and the results are amazing. Don't see the need to add PinWoofer to R&M.

The screen upgrade is totally worth the money. It's same parts I ordered to upgrade TNA and there usba lot of details in that owner thread.

Also earlier on in this thread there is more details and parts. Numbers I think ....

This Is what I ordered....

Monitor - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007N9P02Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_A7k8Fb9S5T22Y

Controller
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCN2BRV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_58k8Fb3R11ZES

Yes that was the first thing I did, I adjusted the contrast, brightness and gamma settings before ordering. It looked better, but still decided to bite the bullet and get the new LCD... it’s night and day, even against the tweaked stock LCD. Would do it all over again.

SOLD, thanks --If any of you guys want a new LCD (believe it's an LG, but will check) and a controller, PM me and I'll make you a deal. I bought them, but didn't feel like I needed to swap it out in the end.

Hey Guys, anyone know which connections to check for light flickering issues? On restart everything seems to work but after it sits for a few minutes or in play I will start getting some light colors changing randomly, lights going all white for sections, digital numbers being messed up on the scoop and drain etc. Gameplay and sounds seems entirely unaffected so im hoping its just a loose connection somewhere.

I haven't noticed any wear around my flipper buttons (yet) but rather than mylar I decided to give this mod a try. And anyone who already has some wear in the flipper area, this would mod would cover it up! https://www.hookedonpinball.com/store/p161/Rick_and_Morty_pinball_mod.html

I recall a post a while back about a random second ball being served up. I am getting this from time to time.

It seems to be when I am shaking the machine. I'm wondering if one of the switches in the ball trough could cause it if it was being opened or closed by the vibration? Or should I be looking for the ball eject coil being grounded somehow ? Draining the first "legitimate" ball doesn't trigger the end of ball sequence.

Generally when it happens I am pleased to get another life

And in other news, I adjusted my flippers closer to the alignment holes (but not all the way) and it definitely improved the ability to make the left ramp, while still allowing a backhand to the right ramp (slightly harder than it was with the flippers as shipped).

This happens to me due to a flakey opto switch (left bottom ship opto just behind the Morty dropdown target). It fires randomly and makes the game think a ball is locked. Go into the switch test and shake things up a bit. See if any switch fires then check all the wiring to that switch. In my case, the flakey opto will fire (i.e. lose connection or detect a break in the opto beam) even when I'm not near the machine. Spooky are sending me a new switch.

Replacement LG: LP156WF1-TLB2
Stock Spooky: B156XW02 V2

Did a bit of digging around, and the monitors are similar except for a few important features. Clearly the LG is a better overall monitor and it really shows.

But most importantly (in my limited knowledge) is the vertical viewing angle (ie up/down). The total vertical tolerance on the replacement LG is 80 degrees and on the stock Spooky is 50 degrees. Even more importantly, the up angle (viewing from up - like on a pinball machine) is 40deg for LG and 15deg for Spooky - 25 degrees (of 90) difference.

LG Viewing angle specs (left/right/up/down): 50/50/40/40
Spooky viewing angle specs (left/right/up/down): 45/45/15/35

So the vertical/up down tolerance on Spooky is very low and likely a poor choice for a pinball machine. It’s is ok for a laptop screen where you can change the angle to suit.

Other significant differences are the overall resolution (1366*768 WXGA Spooky vs 1920*1080 Full HD on LG), Brightness (200 cd/m2 Spooky vs 300 cd/m2 LG), and Response Time (6ms Spooky vs 8ms LG - though I think the response time may be the same, just different measures?).

I’m not sure you can get better monitors in stock that are basically plug and play like the LG one is.

https://m.panelook.com/modelcompare.php?ids=12286,698

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.

Interesting that the replacement is still a TN.

I was also surprised that it was only a 720p panel. They're like $20 on Alibaba, even in low quantities.

Spooky is also apparently using BOE NT156WHM-N50 panels. That are a little better than the B156XW02 V2 you had, but still pretty crap. It would explain why some people are "good enough with adjustments" and others aren't satisfied. They probably have completely different TN panels.

It’s a very noticeable difference but by no means essential. More like invisiglass vs normal glass. But it is a cheap upgrade.

And mostly about the vertical viewing angle IMO - so shorter players may not notice as much as taller ones.

Ok, found the original suggestion for this LG panel in the TNA thread.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/total-nuclear-annihilation-cluball-welcome/page/51#post-4389862

Came from the Colour DMD guys - you’d think if anyone knows the difference it would be them.

Both my countdown clocks are fritzing, is there a fix for this? thanks for all the help!

Maybe when we get a R&M around here, I'll give an IPS or PVA panel a shot and see if it can be improved further.

Try reseating the ribbon cables on them.

No doubt it’s likely. Finding the correct size and fitting hardware in stock to make it plug and play is another issue. I’d be happy to buy one and test it if I knew where to look.

Being that I'm not 100% sure and would likely have to try a few panels (and some of the factories lie about the panels they have, saying they're not TN when they are), no sense in wasting your money. I'll just do it once I have access to a R&M.

But if you want to set off on your own and not wait, just check out Alibaba listings for 1366x768 15.6" ips or pva panels. The connector is clearly important, so I think you want a LVDS 40 pin connector if you go that route. Unfortunately I'm not sure if you get an 8 bit panel if it will connect up since the TN panels are 6 bit. Likewise, if you get a 2 channel LVDS 40 pin connector, I'm not sure if it will work since the TN is a single channel connector. This is all part of the process of elimination.

All that said, this sharp panel seems promising if the 6/8 bit is ok:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/SHARP-15-6-inch-LQ156T3LW02-with_1600125250385.html

Although their overly-broad estimate of the price for 1 of "$30-$100" is a little concerning...

Found panel and controller on eBay from the same guy I bought the controller off for the lg. Looks to be the same controller.

You can use the same controller in the pin - just be careful removing the hot glue.

Does he know about the 6bit stock vs 8bit color on the new panel still being compatible?

His unit comes complete with the controller with HDMI input (actually same controller as the stock Spooky). I’m assuming it should just be a matter of swapping?

Had some extra buttons. I think it looks better this way.

20210103_100221 (resized).jpg

Had the game freeze last night when get schwifty timer ended exact same time as ball drained. Got the “we like what you got” then the game froze. Just reporting it in case epthegeek hadn’t seen this one. Running the 12/8 build.

Owners should not feel the need to upgrade the screen of an $8000+ pinball machine. I’m glad the replacement looks better but Spooky just needs to step up the component quality overall.

Owners don’t need to. Much like owners don’t need to upgrade to PDI glass.

I agree with this. The screen doesn't bother me like things breaking or not put together properly.

Understood. But the quality of the display should be at least on par with the competition. A Stern Pro shouldn’t have a better display.

Do we know for sure that a Stern pro does? And if you go down that road, everyone should have JJP screens because they are the best quality out there at the moment.

I would *think* so, but the only thing that gives me pause is the 6 bit color on the stock vs 8 bit on the replacement, but that may just be something handled on the display once it has the data. I don't know enough about the communication protocol to answer concretely.

I’ve played a lot of Stern LCD games. The black levels and the viewing angles are superior. Last night a small group was playing R&M back and forth from Stern LCD. One comment from a friend viewing R&M off center, “Whats up with those black levels? Looks really bad.”

Now he is a bit of a AV nerd, but still. I’m sure the stock display is “good enough” for most. My point is that they should buy higher quality components in general. Why so much hot glue? Are all of the connectors super cheap?

I think Spooky does a LOT of things right and love Charlie and crew. I just think there are areas they can improve to take it to the next level.

Nah. Stern is the best comparison because they are roughly the same size.

Maybe Spooky just needs to draw the line somewhere? The display looks great to me even though it is a step behind the Stern display in terms of viewing angles and contrast. Spooky makes up for it in other areas.

-best quality playfields/clearcoat in the business
-real backglasses on all games (no translites)
-custom powdercoat on all models
-full RGB leds for GI and inserts. -most Stern LE's don't have this.
-far superior backbox and cab speakers to Stern.
-free topper!

Its incredible that Spooky is still able to offer this much value while creating limited edition "boutique" games vs. something mass produced.

I agree with you. That’s why I said Spooky is doing a LOT right. Spooky would also agree they can make improvements. Otherwise they wouldn’t have opened the feedback thread.

I think is is *good enough* for most people. Maybe they could have a premium tier with an ips/pva 1920x1080 screen (are their graphics already in the code at 720p, or is it 1080p and scaled down?) and less janky 3D printed playfield items (.20 nozzles or something so they don't look so rough). They really do give alot of pin for the money, and I think for the people that aren't crazy like me or a few others, it's enough.