Fitment isn't just an issue for games like CV and SC, the LCD blocks my backbox mod on my Metallica, too. Very much looking forward to an LED solution for a few games!

Can't wait.

--Donnie

Agreed.

I think the patent issue has already been played out. Anyone who does a competing PRODUCT in the US that violates the patent, will be notified they risk legal issue. pin2dmd violates the patent when used to colorize, and as such is licensed for non-commercial use only and can't be sold as a product in the US. Other solutions do exist to colorize in the US, but don't appear to violate the patent so they will go on.

None of us has to like that they have the market cornered on the main way to colorize, but they have that right legally under the current US system. Don't like that? Work to change the system, don't yell at one of MANY people operating legally within it. Or dig around and create a solution that doesn't violate their patent. It can be done.

--Donnie

Agreed.

Their customer service, in the rare event you need it, is also top notch. I actually bought an early model from a guy second-hand who had never used it. And then *I* forgot I had it because I had only bought it because it was a killer deal and at the time I didn't have a title that needed it. Then I forgot about the world of pinball for a couple years (other than playing games, I wasn't on the forums or doing any mods). When I found it, MANY years passed since it was new, and ColorDMD had been selling units for YEARS that didn't need you to email for a license key.

Even so, I emailed on a Saturday for a license key, figuring at best I'd have one on Monday. A couple hours later I had a license key. Downloaded the ROM I needed and installed it and was in business.

When you consider how much time and energy has to go into colorizing every frame of a title along with the development of the logic to make these work like they do, the price is reasonable, IMHO. Especially when compared to what it would cost to just replace your display with a monochrome one.

I'm pretty sure the LED version will be nearly the same price as the LCD one. I'm fine with that. I'll be buying a few. And I have and will likely use some of the more DIY solutions, too. But for titles already colorized by ColorDMD the price is worth it to me. The DIY solutions even at the absolute rock bottom are going to cost you $150ish in parts alone, and that's if you're waiting on your LED panels from China (3ish weeks), and then you have to figure out how to mash it all up. And then you're sitting down for a long time to actually colorize, or you're leveraging the work of someone who already did it for you and was nice enough to give all that work away for free. I'm not sure what titles are out there now or if ANY of them are complete, but if so, it's only a handful.

--Donnie

There is an LED board mod you can buy that fits with a ColorDMD LCD, FWIW. Works great. I'd probably buy one of those before I'd sell my LCD in favor of a full ColorDMD LED version. And since I already have one, I'll definitely leave it like it is.

But yeah, the ColorDMD solution of just removing the light board and then letting the LCD drive those light holes isn't a very good one. I do applaud them for going to the length they did to make that work as well as it did, though.

--Donnie

And he'll sell enough volume that he can likely make that happen. It's unlikely any of the DIY solutions would have been able to do this kind of thing. Just the nature of how things work. And there's a good chance that the tech that solves this WILL filter out into the supply chain for the DIY person, too. Everyone wins.

--Donnie

Thanks for this perspective.

I'd also add that I have 8 games that are colorized thanks to ColorDMD and many have been for a while. Had we had to wait on DIY solutions, well, I doubt I've have even one right now and it would have been a LONG time before all 8 were done.

I'm happy with my purchase, even though it'll probably end up costing me a few more bucks to "upgrade" the couple machines that I would prefer the LED solution in. I don't think I'll want it in every case, but I have a couple where the LCD blocks a small portion of my backbox mod and it bugs me.

--Donnie

Note the small shadow along the bottom edge. That's with a full animated backbox mod behind it. I have a cheaper non-animated LED light board in my Ironman that does the same thing.

The fluorescent tube is up high seems to cast at a different enough angle that it doesn't do that, but when you replace it with a panel that has LEDs down low, you get the shadow. It's minor, I admit, but for some reason it bugs me. I've thought of some ways to work around it, but I really think the best way is putting an LED display board in there.

--Donnie

IMG_7322_(resized).JPG

$52 panel from China, $59 for "UncleSash" pin2dmd board, $9 FAST frame, $15 for a power supply, some misc shipping and other stuff. You can sub Eli's board for $50ish, IIRC.

So sure, under $150, but over $125, anyway. And you're still doing some amount of custom wiring to power things. With pin2dmd you also need a 2GB SD card. Also note that the panel shipped from China option is seeming to have a pretty high failure rate. So far they've been good about replacing them for free, but at 3 weeks shipping each, that can be painful.

I'm sure you can DIY your own board and save a few bucks more, and probably skip the FAST board (but for that price, dang, I don't know why you would).

Then what do you have? Something you can easily pick ONE different color for your game. What games are *completely* and fully colorized already and available for download for free for any of these solutions? I'm not saying there aren't any, but I'm pretty sure the list of titles is short. And that's a place the community certainly isn't organized yet...it's really neat that with PinSound (which is admittedly ONE platform) they have a nice repo of contributed reorchestrations. Do we have that for any of the colorization efforts?

--Donnie

"Spouting off"? I asked a question. Seems like the next step that the community needs is to know there are colorized games and which ones they are. And from there how to get that stuff working on their game...ideally without having to dig through a mound of forum threads.

--Donnie

So the question is then...is it still BETTER than a monochrome DMD? And if so, how much? As in, is it still $400 better such that you'd replace a good DMD with an LED one anyway? Or is it "just" $200 better such that if you had to replace your now-bad DMD anyway that you'd at least then be willing to spend $400 instead of $200? Or is it sort of "meh, maybe I like the monochrome just as well?"

I'm doubting it's the latter, but just looking for where it is on the relative scale.

(And my numbers are assuming a $400 price point, which I think is probably close but may not be exact.)

--Donnie

They aren't for sale yet. Sounds like they aren't far off, though. Pricing not yet announced, but won't be far off the LCD.

--Donnie

Main reason I want the LED product is because a couple of my animated backbox mods are blocked by the LCD being so tall. It's just the bottom half inch of the back glass, but it's noticeable and it bugs me.

I got the Sigma one and put it in my TronLE on blue just to see how it looked. I like it, but I like some things about the LCD version better, too. If I were buying for a game I didn't have, I'd *probably* buy LED just because the fit in the backbox is better. But the only LCD's I'll replace are the ones that interfere with the backbox (Metallica, IronMan, and Tron for me...TZ, TAF, MM, CC will all stay LCD).

--Donnie