AC/DC (LE)
Stern, 2012
AC/DC (Premium)
Stern, 2012
AC/DC (Pro)
Stern, 2012
Addams Family, The
Bally, 1992
Attack from Mars
Bally, 1995
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Bally, 1992
Doctor Who
Bally, 1992
Fish Tales
Williams, 1992Quoted from Aurich:You might have your machine set to not show extensions, so it was hiding the .rom, and you were technically renaming it to colordmd.rom.rom
It's much less confusing to hide those pesky file extensions, right? 
Gotta love Windows sometimes.
Quoted from philwojo:You can download the older version from the site, just change the numbers at the end of the below link to what ever version you want:
http://www.colordmd.com/download.php?rom=FT_3_1
Thanks for the tip! I downloaded and re-installed v2.1 firmware for Fish Tales and now the video mode is again lag free.
If I'm really alone in having the lag issue with v3.1 firmware, I guess the problem in either that particular display or in the related circuitry of the machine itself.
Quoted from Suicyco:Thanks for the tip! I downloaded and re-installed v2.1 firmware for Fish Tales and now the video mode is again lag free.
If I'm really alone in having the lag issue with v3.1 firmware, I guess the problem in either that particular display or in the related circuitry of the machine itself.
Try loading the v3.1 again.
Quoted from Suicyco:If I'm really alone in having the lag issue with v3.1 firmware, I guess the problem in either that particular display or in the related circuitry of the machine itself.
Can you try swapping in a different WPC DMD controller board to see if there's any change in behavior?
Quoted from TomGWI:Anyone getting this on their DrWho?
» YouTube video
Sent an email and never got a response on this.
Quoted from TomGWI:Anyone getting this on their DrWho?
» YouTube video
Quoted from TomGWI:Sent an email and never got a response on this.
Tom, what specifically are you seeing that looks off? I don't have a Dr. Who, so I'm just guessing, but is it the yellow color right in the center bleeding in from behind the blue? 
I've noticed a similar effect on the "Grand Champion" Score on LOTR. Red is bleeding in behind the letters "G" and "R", effectively joining the two letters. I reported it as a bug via email, but haven't received a response yet.
Sorry for the slow responses.
I just responded to Tom's email. The bright text on DW should light up yellow. We need to investigate why it's not detecting it's in attract mode on his game.
The LOTR issue for Grand Champion is different and will be updated. It was colored without realizing that the high score intials could extend behind the text. The empty space between the letters is covered by a red rectangle that isn't visible until the initial falls into that space.
Quoted from Dmod:Sorry for the slow responses.
I just responded to Tom's email. The bright text on DW should light up yellow. We need to investigate why it's not detecting it's in attract mode on his game.
The LOTR issue for Grand Champion is different and will be updated. It was colored without realizing that the high score intials could extend behind the text. The empty space between the letters is covered by a red rectangle that isn't visible until the initial falls into that space.
Thank you, Randy. 
Quoted from Razorbak86:Tom, what specifically are you seeing that looks off? I don't have a Dr. Who, so I'm just guessing, but is it the yellow color right in the center bleeding in from behind the blue?
I've noticed a similar effect on the "Grand Champion" Score on LOTR. Red is bleeding in behind the letters "G" and "R", effectively joining the two letters. I reported it as a bug via email, but haven't received a response yet.
At the very end of a game when the high scores show up the screen is blue.
Quoted from TomGWI:At the very end of a game when the high scores show up the screen is blue.
» YouTube video
I'll take a new video tonight when it starts and stops.
Quoted from Dmod:Sorry for the slow responses.
I just responded to Tom's email. The bright text on DW should light up yellow. We need to investigate why it's not detecting it's in attract mode on his game.
The LOTR issue for Grand Champion is different and will be updated. It was colored without realizing that the high score intials could extend behind the text. The empty space between the letters is covered by a red rectangle that isn't visible until the initial falls into that space.
No worries Randy. Thanks for responding to my email.
Tom.
Quoted from Aurich:I dunno about in color, but I've seen games like Spider-Man upscaled in Sigma mode. It's not a complete mess, it might even help some, but there's just only so much you can do with such a low rez video clip.
Just as a reminder, this is the actual size of the DMD screen in pure pixels:
ironman-actual-rez.gif
It's just super tiny. That's why doing dots is such an art form, and as a general rule ripped movie clips look like crap. You need to hand craft the dots so that each one counts, the general noise of a movie clip just doesn't translate well.
As Rarehero points out, on Tron they at least adjusted the contrast and black levels to frame most of the images clearly against a black background, so that does help.
There's a limit to what ColorDMD, or anyone else, can do with this stuff. They're squeezing a lot of blood from the stone already.
At that point, wouldn't almost be easier to just create new animation for the frames in question that mimic what was in the original video?
Quoted from DarkWizard:At that point, wouldn't almost be easier to just create new animation for the frames in question that mimic what was in the original video?
That would involve altering the game code, which ColorDMD does not do.
Quoted from Gov:That would involve altering the game code, which ColorDMD does not do.
Yes, as is often the case...Why have a better product when you can have a crappier legal one.
Copyright to the rescue. Not that hand drawing new art for all the movie sequences wouldn't be hard work, but still...
Quoted from DarkWizard:Yes, as is often the case...Why have a better product when you can have a crappier legal one.
Copyright to the rescue. Not that hand drawing new art for all the movie sequences wouldn't be hard work, but still...
Well, what I was implying is that is not the way ColorDMD works, even if they wanted to do that.
Quoted from gac:Any developments on the flicker on WH2O?
I've been reworking a lot of the rendering engine for SAM. The improvements include features to prevent buffer overwrites and eliminate flicker issues. The changes will be folded back into a WPC engine update and we can see if the issues are gone. Due to the number of things I've been juggling, it's taking a little more time than I thought but I am continuing to work on a fix.
In the meantime, if you need help reverting back to an older version, just let me know.
Quoted from TomGWI:At the very end of a game when the high scores show up the screen is blue.
» YouTube video
I thought the display might be funky so I swapped out the one in my fish tales and put it in my Dr. who but I am getting the same problem. Anyone have any idea why it might be happening?
It is probably a frame recognition bug with the engine/database. If it has been reported I am sure it is being looked at. Something in the software upgrade may have caused the bug. I know Randy has been working non-stop fixing bugs.
Quoted from Gov:It is probably a frame recognition bug with the engine/database. If it has been reported I am sure it is being looked at. Something in the software upgrade may have caused the bug. I know Randy has been working non-stop fixing bugs.
It sounds like no one else has reported the bug so I am trying to figure out if it is something on mine end I need to look into.
Quoted from Dmod:Tom, Did you reply to Mark's question about which game ROM version you're running in DW?
Yes. I am running L-2
Quoted from Dmod:I've been reworking a lot of the rendering engine for SAM. The improvements include features to prevent buffer overwrites and eliminate flicker issues. The changes will be folded back into a WPC engine update and we can see if the issues are gone. Due to the number of things I've been juggling, it's taking a little more time than I thought but I am continuing to work on a fix.
In the meantime, if you need help reverting back to an older version, just let me know.
Nah... I'll keep 3.0. I think I can live with the flicker until it's fixed. I wonder what the poor people are doing today? 
Quoted from simplykind:Is the flicker an occurrence in all games at the moment? I am also getting flicker in JD.
I hadn't experienced any flickering issue with JD.
Can you try and reload the firmware? Start with erasing your colordmd.rom file off of your USB drive and copy it from the internet again.
I'm mostly seeing it in attract mode, which is really the only time I get to pay attention to it. Definitely some glitching going on. I'll try and reload a new copy of the rom tonight
Quoted from Dmod:Can you try swapping in a different WPC DMD controller board to see if there's any change in behavior?
I finally managed to try it. No difference with either another DMD controller or another ColorDMD display: major lag in FT video mode with firmware 3.1 and no lag with firmware 2.1.
Quoted from simplykind:I'm mostly seeing it in attract mode, which is really the only time I get to pay attention to it. Definitely some glitching going on. I'll try and reload a new copy of the rom tonight
Any improvement reloading the firmware?
Quoted from PinballManiac40:Any improvement reloading the firmware?
Nadda. Getting the same artifacting on the scrolling background in attract mode
I can't say enough about Randy and Chris at colordmd. I personally received a pm from Randy and a separate email containing the new 3.1 rom for Whitewater to download and test in my machine as I had experienced flicker during certain display modes with version 3.0. As I expected, the new rom has corrected the issue and my WH2O is good to go! Thanks again for all you bring to the hobby and for your dedication to customer service.
Quoted from gac:I can't say enough about Randy and Chris at colordmd.
I <3 them, too. The first time I saw a ColorDMD in Attack from Mars, I assumed it was some crazy one-of-a-kind rig that I was fortunate to see once in a lifetime. The fact that they've made such an awesome product is one thing. The fact that they've made it available to the masses and I'm fortunate enough to own FOUR is even better!
All multicolor ROMs have been updated to include the new extra-large dot style (DOTXL) and an update to fix the flicker issue on WPC games.
The updates also include:
(1) A bug fix for RS to prevent the coloring engine from getting trapped in a sprite processing loop.
(2) Coloring updates for TSPP.
(3) A bug fix for LOTR to correct the appearance of high-score screens with wide initials.
An update for the single-color ROM (SIGMA 3.0) will be posted this week. It includes the extended backlight/contrast controls, new rendering modes (DOTXL, TILE, and 8-BIT), and some improvements when using an external RGB controller. The SIGMA ROM update is available now for beta-testing. PM me for a link if you'd like to test it.
Welp, time to download an update! Thanks Randy, I know I was a pain in your ass about DOTXL but I'm stoked to see it across all titles. 
Quoted from Gov:I am really liking the DOTXL setting for most games.
So am I. I have basically went full circle from preferring dots, to liking SCAN, to TILE on some games, now I'm back to DOTXL on all of my colored games. We'll see how things shake out once I try the Sigma ROM.
Quoted from Dmod:...It includes the extended backlight/contrast controls, new rendering modes (DOTXL, TILE, and 8-BIT)...
Can you describe TILE and 8-BIT? Are these exclusive to single-color mode for now?
Quoted from PinHacks:Can you describe TILE and 8-BIT? Are these exclusive to single-color mode for now?
Tile is squares, instead of dots, but with black space around each 'pixel' -- 8 bit is full fill squares with no space in between. All the colored releases support all these options now.
Quoted from PinHacks:Can you describe TILE and 8-BIT? Are these exclusive to single-color mode for now?
If you go to my Monopoly video I posted, at 19:40 in the video, I go through the different modes of the Color DMD.
Quoted from PinballManiac40:I'll be showing off the Sigma display v3.0 in my Twister at TPF this coming weekend.
From your video, Twister looks pretty sharp in HighRes!
Quoted from epthegeek:From your video, Twister looks pretty sharp in HighRes!
It does look sharp. I hope the game makes it through the TPF without any issues.
Can somebody explain the difference between Hi-Res and Scan? 
Just kidding.
I think I'm in the minority, but I'm still digging Hi-Res the best for White Water. I keep going back to check out other modes, but if you look at it from the perspective of trying to easily see what's going on with the animations, Hi-Res is the clearest. And, at least with White Water, the upscaling doesn't seem to cause issues with "connecting dots" that shouldn't be connected.
Quoted from Dmod:All multicolor ROMs have been updated to include the new extra-large dot style (DOTXL) and an update to fix the flicker issue on WPC games.
The updates also include:
(1) A bug fix for RS to prevent the coloring engine from getting trapped in a sprite processing loop.
(2) Coloring updates for TSPP.
(3) A bug fix for LOTR to correct the appearance of high-score screens with wide initials.
An update for the single-color ROM (SIGMA 3.0) will be posted this week. It includes the extended backlight/contrast controls, new rendering modes (DOTXL, TILE, and 8-BIT), and some improvements when using an external RGB controller. The SIGMA ROM update is available now for beta-testing. PM me for a link if you'd like to test it.
http://www.colordmd.com/support_firmware.html
Thanks for all the updates and support, Randy! You're a true asset to this hobby!
I updated almost all of my games with the new code, and I loves me some DotsXL! Everyone with Simpsons - be sure to update! Lots of subtle color fixes, but the best one is that when you collect SIMPSONS letters, they start red and turn yellow as you collect them. Before they were all yellow with a subtle flash, so it was harder to tell which letter you just collected.
Quoted from hank35:Forgive me if this has been asked before, but is Metallica available? In the works?
Thanks
In the works.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/colordmd-unveils-new-hd-color-upscaling/page/16 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Helsinki
San Clemente, CA