This isn't true. The later Stern models are low voltage, so you have to find a supply for that(5V), but the data I/O is the same. I use a Stern DMD to display raw data from a WPC game right now, and I've seen a few machines converted to the newer displays when the high voltage power supply is toasted. This, for example, is a Stern monochrome DMD being fed data from a Scared Stiff ROM(the timing on my emulator code is off in this video, hence the extra bright bottom row).

Yes, you can look at the Vishay datasheets for the various DMD models. On the data side, it is the exact same pinout and data transfer protocol. There are some pinside threads on it, too. For example: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-red-5v-led-dmd-in-a-williams

You just need to come up with a clean 5V source for it that won't stress the rest of the machine. You can always run a wall wart on the service outlet if you are overloading the native 5v.
Here is one of the aforementioned datasheets: https://www.vishay.com/docs/37083/lee128g0.pdf