(Topic ID: 71027)

DMD Extender Update...

By DoctorPinball

10 years ago


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#1 10 years ago

Hi

It's been a while since I started a thread on Pinside. I've got to a good point in the development of the DMD Extender and thought I'd let people know what's happening.

As a reminder, the DMD Extender allows you to connect an HDMI/DVI/Composite screen or projector to a DMD pinball machine and mirror the dots on the connected screen. You have full control over the colour of the dot shades that apply across all frames, addition of bespoke background images (still and animated), there are a couple of dot effects that can be used, and the types of application include...
Big screen dots for tournaments.
Adding a small screen into the playfield or apron area.
Replacing the plasma screen with a laptop LCD panel.

Machine Support
We now support all of the following machines:
Bally / Williams
Data East / Sega
Sega 192 X 64
Stern / Sega White Star
Stern SAM

Application Notes
The website, http://www.drpinball.co.uk, now includes an Application Notes section under Documentation. At the moment there are 2 documents describing how to replace plasma screens with LCD panels for Sega 192X64 and Bally/Williams.
Coming soon will be another Application Note concerning the replacement of screens in Stern SAM systems.

Future Direction
The DMD Extender has always appealed to do-it-yourself types who don't mind a bit of effort to get good results at a reasonable price. The Application Notes have been created to support this group of people, although the Extender itself is very easy to install and includes a Windows application to make setup extremely simple.

The Extender lends itself well to be used for building replacement screen systems. I have considered pursuing a product along this line but have decided not to embark on this.
I would, however, be very pleased to support anybody who feels inclined to put together a product for sale in the USA. I can't imagine shipping LCD panels from the UK to the States without a lot of breakages occurring - perhaps an enterprise or an individual in the USA could manage a product like this with a small amount of design and effort.
Certainly the appeal is strong for a product to support the Sega large screen formats.
I'm happy to supply the Extender boards and software, and make any changes requested by people e.g. supporting other pinball manufacturers (Capcom, Gottlieb, P-ROC), adding an upscaling feature etc, etc.

As always, the Facebook page has loads of pictures, videos and links, please drop by:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Pinball/516962141672693

Cheers

David.

1 week later
#3 10 years ago

I just uploaded an Application Note for replacing Stern SAM system screens with an LCD panel - have a look at the document...
http://www.drpinball.co.uk/docs/ApplicationNote3.pdf

...and a quick video of it in action with a white palette - sorry about the video quality...

The total price is less than £160 GBP, or $260.

#7 10 years ago
Quoted from Crash:

Considering the Pi uses a micro USB port and the program is already there, a better option would be to support connectivity over USB for adjusting. I probably had to remove the SD card at least 10 times to get everything dialed in. A couple of times the Pi didn't boot, and reseating the SD card solved it. So these boards may have weak SD slots as well.

I considered adding an on-screen component under the control of a USB keyboard. However, the code running on the Pi for the Extender isn't sitting on top of Linux, it's an operating system in its own right. Adding the keyboard is prone to many difficulties - only certain keyboards will be compatible. I agree that the initial set up can take a few attempts to get it right, but once it's sorted you won't need to touch the config again, unless you want to change the colours, which is a fairly simple task.

#9 10 years ago
Quoted from luvthatapex2:

This looks like a cool kit, but you still need 4-5 other items from other vendors like the screen, dvi converter,raspberry pi, cables and board. It would be much better if the kit had everything you need for an install. I understand thats difficult and you'd have to stock these things, but shipping individual components will really add up for us USA customers and we won't be able to install it without all of the pieces. Plus the cost is variable where you get the additional items. $260 US is the base cost without the 5 items mentioned which would add another $150 US.
You've made great progress!

Thanks!

I think the cost will be pretty close to $260 in the States for all of the necessary components. I'm sure you can source screens, controllers and Pis at similar prices to the UK. As for a product, I agree this would be great - I've offered any help or assistance to anyone who fancies taking this on in the States. I have someone interested in the UK but there seems little point in shipping components over the Atlantic when they can be just as easily found in the US.

#10 10 years ago
Quoted from Crash:

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was talking about interacting with a PC and pushing updates live, updating the SD card's config files in real time when you save in the program.

Oh, sorry! I'll have a think about it, but there are still the same issues with driving a USB port on the Pi...

#14 10 years ago
Quoted from northvibe:

does it work with DE 64x16 dmd?

I don't think there is a 64 X 16 screen?? It works with DE 128 X 32 but not with the DE 128 X 16 as this is a bespoke board and screen.

#26 10 years ago
Quoted from PC-Pin-NC:

David, thanks for your work on this solution! I have been following it for several months now.
Have you completed what is necessary to put a personal DMD in the apron of a newer Stern machine yet? If so, have you developed the needed documentation for this and/or has anyone done this in their Stern machine yet who can give some additional advice?

My friend who owns an AC/DC wants to put a screen into the apron. There isn't a lot of space between apron and glass so sitting a screen on top of the apron isn't going to be an option.

I suggested to him that he buys another apron and we can cut a hole on it to mount a screen underneath. It may even be possible to mount the screen in the middle section, rather than in the instruction card areas.

I don't know when this will be done. If you're practical minded then you should have a go yourself. I've tried the mini screens in the Stern and they seem fine to run straight from the pinball 12V feed.

#27 10 years ago
Quoted from softwaretroll:

Hmmmm.....might sound stupid, but I was recording in a dark room. I'll pay more attention when I work on/record it more.

The pictures look fantastic! I found that setting the screen resolution to Medium gave a better dot effect. I put a screen in a friend's Spiderman and it looked so much better than the original LED screen which had very uneven dot segments.
Another friend wants me to put one in his Tron so that he can have a blue dot screen in there instead of the orange dot which looks really out of character on that machine.

#31 10 years ago
Quoted from magnoliarichj:

what does he want to display on the screen?

Using a DMD Extender he can display the DMD on a small screen, plus add custom static or animated graphics on the unused portion of the screen...

#33 10 years ago
Quoted from magnoliarichj:

is that a 4.3 screen with a bezel?

Using 16:9 4.3" car reversing camera screens, I created a bespoke bezel with magnetic mounts to attach to the apron. It worked well for a few machines, but not all aprons are suited to the installation. Have a look on eBay for the screens as they're pretty cheap and you can use the Extender to drive one on the apron or as part of the playfield...

#38 10 years ago

Great work - a very sympathetic scheme.

I also noticed a DOHO in the first image!

#39 10 years ago

I was thinking that maybe an import/export feature for the config tool would allow people to share the settings - what do you think? It would only apply to a few of the settings e.g. DMD Effect, Resolution and Dot Colours, everything else is specific to each person's installation.

#46 10 years ago
Quoted from softwaretroll:

Can you give some more details on this because aren't these settings just in a text file? I've never tried it but couldn't I send the text file to some one, and it would be read by the config tool?
Thanks

The problem is that the text file, pinball.txt, also contains your product key. If someone copies your file completely then their system will stop working. If you just ignore entries 9001-9004 then, yes, you can copy the file, but the recipient has to copy their 9001-9004 onto the new file - this is asking for issues to arise! An import/export file would just save and load the specific items between people's configurations.

#47 10 years ago
Quoted from Crash:

To see how we mounted the one in Addams Family:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diy-addams-family-poor-mans-color-dmd/page/2#post-1234507
What other WPC games does your friend have besides BSD? You have quite the knack for colorizing!

I have written three documents on how to mount LCD screens into Sega 192X64, Bally/Williams and Stern systems...
http://www.drpinball.co.uk/documentation_applicationnotes.htm

#48 10 years ago
Quoted from softwaretroll:

I never noticed the DOHO before. I wonder what that is.

DOHO is an easter egg put into the grpahics just like the cows, see this link...
http://www.maddes.net/pinball/doho_solved_200401.htm

2 months later
#59 10 years ago
Quoted from Crash:

Also does the new version of your firmware allow you to vertically flip the image? Say if I wanted to flip the screen to get a better viewing angle.

It's possible to flip the screen by putting the following entry in config.txt...
display_rotate=2

Other options for this file can be found here...
http://www.elinux.org/RPi_config.txt

#60 10 years ago

On another note, I've now completed support for P-ROC and Gottlieb - let me know if you're interested...

Next up for support will hopefully be Dotmation slot screens

1 month later
#72 9 years ago
Quoted from goldpins:

Just curious.....The third tab of the DMD config tool is for displaying a background image or a series of background images. For using the DMDExtender as a replacement of a DMD, does the background image have any practical purpose? Haven't played with it yet and haven't seen any discussions about background images. Thoughts?
Thank You.

The uses are certainly limited when using as a replacement display... but you could add a very small border design to the top and bottom of the display that would be seen in the screen window. Also, for the larger Sega screens where the LCD panel sits much higher up, it would be possible to include white or colour flashing sections that would be seen through the translite.

#73 9 years ago
Quoted from Schwaggs:

David,
Any plans on incorporating the circuitry to directly interface with common laptop panels to make a cleaner installation? I know this isn't the primary purpose of your board so totally understand if you don't have plans to do so...

I started looking into this a few months ago and quickly realised that it was going to be a lot more expensive than the current solution. I agree that it would be nice to put everything on a single board and make this a fully inclusive solution, but then I have to keep reminding myself why I started the project... taking the Raspberry Pi and interfacing it to a pinball machine and seeing what the results could be like. Maybe it appeals to some people because it isn't a complete solution - there's still a bit of work to be done to get the results each person wants.

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