I just got my first ColorDMD. I tried to put it in my LOTR but had a little issue so I threw it in my Xmen. I tried all the settings and I found the "Scan" option with contrast at 9 and backlight at 6 looks best for me because I like a bright picture. I was wondering what "sweet spot" other people have found with their ColorDMD's. Please post your preferred settings for ColorDMD, I will try them all! I will start, my preferred setting is:
Mode: Scan
Contrast: 9
Backlight: 6
I bounce around on the modes. DotsXL is a really good setting for most games. I like Scan for TSPP. The beauty is how easy the modes are to change. Congrats on your first. It won't be your last! 
Quoted from DylanFan71:I bounce around on the modes. DotsXL is a really good setting for most games. I like Scan for TSPP. The beauty is how easy the modes are to change. Congrats on your first. It won't be your last!
Agreed. DotsXL satisfies most of my needs. Definitely on LOTR. Although all settings are a personal preference, the contrast and backlighting would also be a decision effected by the lighting in the room.
I have found DotsXL looks best on the 90's Williams games. Sometimes Title looks good also. On MM it gives a brick work affect.
On AC/DC I like the blended look that I think I have 8-Bit rather than HiRes, I forget.
All look better than Orange Dots. Now that you have is you'll be hooked.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:What was the issue you were having in LOTR?
Well, I followed all the steps perfectly and when I was done the ColorDMD was showing the images on screen and it was running perfect on Sigma. Then I downloaded the LOTR 3.3 rom from the colorDMD website and installed it and all of a sudden no picture at all? I called Randy at ColorDMD, who was EXTREMLY helpful btw, and we went through a bunch of things but To make a long story short my display controller board got fried. He thinks what might have happened was I didn't tie back the High voltage cable that went to the old DMD to power it. The high voltage cable must have touched the back of the display controller board because it appears the Xilinx chip on the display board is fried. I have been dipping my hands in board work recently but this thing has like 40 tiny little pins to solder so I can't do that, that's just crazy. Here is a pic of the Xilinx chip with a big chip/hole in it, I still don't know what caused it. But needless to say I can't install it in my LOTR until I get a new display controller board.
Damn, QuarterGrabber. Sorry to hear of your troubles.
I would think sending your DMD controller board would be cheaper than buying another.
I think it that one sells between $80-$120.
Quoted from QuarterGrabber:I just got my first ColorDMD. I tried to put it in my LOTR but had a little issue so I threw it in my Xmen. I tried all the settings and I found the "Scan" option with contrast at 9 and backlight at 6 looks best for me because I like a bright picture. I was wondering what "sweet spot" other people have found with their ColorDMD's. Please post your preferred settings for ColorDMD, I will try them all! I will start, my preferred setting is:
Mode: Scan
Contrast: 9
Backlight: 6
I tried putting the contrast up at first, too - but I realized it actually "takes away colors" ...subtle shading will blend and you'll lose detail. I noticed this on AC/DC ...it makes the crowds look bad and makes Angus a solid color during the Match sequence. So - my recommendation is to leave contrast level stock.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:Damn, QuarterGrabber. Sorry to hear of your troubles.
I would think sending your DMD controller board would be cheaper than buying another.
I think it that one sells between $80-$120.
I wish I could buy a replacement for $120. Rottendog repo boards sell for that but they won't work with a ColorDMD so I have to get an exact OEM Stern boars whichs sells for $225 plus duties and shipping 
but I am getting a replacement Stern board from Rob at lockwhenlit. So all *should* be good 
Quoted from Rarehero:I tried putting the contrast up at first, too - but I realized it actually "takes away colors" ...subtle shading will blend and you'll lose detail. I noticed this on AC/DC ...it makes the crowds look bad and makes Angus a solid color during the Match sequence. So - my recommendation is to leave contrast level stock.
Really, damn. I really like the scan mode but it adds all those black lines so it dims down the brightness a lot. I will have to set the contrast back to 5 and see if I notice a quality difference. Thanks for the heads up.
Quoted from QuarterGrabber:Really, damn. I really like the scan mode but it adds all those black lines so it dims down the brightness a lot. I will have to set the contrast back to 5 and see if I notice a quality difference. Thanks for the heads up.
Scan mode is good for Twilight Zone in Black and White. Going for the old TV look.
Quoted from Rarehero:... on AC/DC ...it makes the crowds look bad ...
No, it is an AD/DC crowd. They really do look bad 
Quoted from Crash:Why would Rottendog's board not work with ColorDMD? Does it handle high voltage or something?
I don't know the science behind it but Randy from ColorDMD explained it to me over the phone. He said NOT to get a rottendog board because it WILL NOT work with a ColorDMD. Something about the rottendog boards were made from the sega/DE boards, they will work in a Whitestar system that has a regular plasma DMD in it but ColorDMD won't work with it because Sega/DE used 25 lines of the available 33 lines of code or something and the Stern boards used all 33 lines of the code. ColorDMD coded on the Stern boards using all 33 lines so when you put a rottenndog in there that only uses 25 of the lines, when ColorDMD coded a frame on line 33 it won't show up correctly on the rottenndog board. Something like that anyway, you will need to ask Randy for the correct answer.
Quoted from Crash:Why would Rottendog's board not work with ColorDMD? Does it handle high voltage or something?
DE/Sega controller boards have a minor difference in data signalling compared to later Stern boards. Rottendog's signal timing matches the earlier DE/Sega boards while the color ROMs for Stern Whitestar games expect the Stern timing.
The difference is not normally visible, but alters the tags computed by the ColorDMD such that they deviate from expected values. As a result frames are not recognized, and are displayed with the default color.
The same problem results if you use an original DE/Sega DMD controller in a Stern Whitestar game.
There is no compatibility problem when the Rottendog board is used in a DE/Sega game.
Quoted from QuarterGrabber:I wish I could buy a replacement for $120
I bought a couple of them off of Ebay. One was right at $100 for shipping and the other at $120. Though, I had to watch for them. They do not come up often. Both boards work.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:I bought a couple of them off of Ebay. One was right at $100 for shipping and the other at $120. Though, I had to watch for them. They do not come up often. Both boards work.
I looked on ebay, they did have one but one of the older ones, not one that would work with LOTR and I want to play it as soon as possible.
The one you show in your picture is the exact Stern board I purchased two of from Ebay.
Not to say there will be one pop up next week or a month.
Look into having your board repaired. I can't imagine it would be $60-$80 to have it repaired.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:The one you show in your picture is the exact Stern board I purchased two of from Ebay.
Not to say there will be one pop up next week or a month.
Look into having your board repaired. I can't imagine it would be $60-$80 to have it repaired.
I'm basically getting it repaired for $100 by Rob Anthony which isn't bad at all IMO.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:I hope you'll be back up in no time.
Me too man, I love LOtR! My favourite game by far. Although now that the ColorDMD is in Xmen I kinda don't want to take it out 
Quoted from QuarterGrabber:Me too man, I love LOtR! My favourite game by far. Although now that the ColorDMD is in Xmen I kinda don't want to take it out
How soon you think it will be before you buy another ColorDMD for LOTR?
I just had my 5th ColorDMD delivered today.
JD, Williams IJ, Stern IJ, STTNG, and guessing next one to go in WH20 for now.
I plan on getting a lot more! One for every game. However with the exchange rate the way it is I will have to wait until the Canadian dollar bounces back. This one costed me $700 CAD to my door 
Quoted from QuarterGrabber:I plan on getting a lot more! One for every game. However with the exchange rate the way it is I will have to wait until the Canadian dollar bounces back. This one costed me $700 CAD to my door
All I can say is...DAMN.
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