(Topic ID: 78984)

Mini LCD Screens to Play Video for Mods?

By Sparky

10 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 23 posts
  • 10 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by ecurtz
  • Topic is favorited by 7 Pinsiders

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    #1 10 years ago

    Looking at the TZ tv mod that just plays still images, I thought it would be cool to have mods that actually play video. I think it would be cool to have an actual episode of TZ playing, or an episode of STTNG playing for that game, music videos playing for ACDC or Metallica, etc.

    Are there any mini LCD screens around 2" that play video instead of still images? My old ipod Classic had a 2" screen, stored all the video files, had rechargeable battery power, and I used to watch saved movies and tv shows on it.

    I currently use an old Android phone with about 300 80's music videos on it to mirror on a 15" flat screen over the bar by connecting a mini hdmi to regular hdmi on the 15". Even going from an Android phone as the player outside the game to a smaller screen inside the game as the monitor could work.

    Modding the old ipod to use the screen, but run the control buttons outside the game with longer ribbon cable?

    Just trying to brainstorm. What's out there?

    #2 10 years ago

    I saw a detailed youtube video on how to take the ipod apart. Now if I can figure out how to extend the ribbon cable from the screen back to the ipod, I could put the ipod in the coinbox and control it from there.

    That's where I'm stuck. I'm not sure if there is ribbon cable by the foot that I can splice, or some other way to make a 6' connection. I seem to remember a Ben Heck show where he was modding something, and he took old ribbon cable, stripped the individual strands, and made the connection that way. I'll have to see if I can find that.

    If someone has an easier way, or knows of another screen that can connect to a player in a different way, please let me know.

    #3 10 years ago

    http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/1/4/4D_Intelligent_Display_Modules/uLCD_144_G2/

    I actually have three myself that I'm looking to sell for $20 each. They are new and have never been opened.

    #4 10 years ago

    See, this is exactly what I was looking for!

    #5 10 years ago

    That's the screen I used in the TRON arcade mod (well, almost all of them are using the OLED version, rather than the LCD, but same basic hardware.) It has a built-in uSD card reader you can play video from, although their tools for formatting it are terrible.

    #6 10 years ago
    Quoted from ecurtz:

    That's the screen I used in the TRON arcade mod (well, almost all of them are using the OLED version, rather than the LCD, but same basic hardware.) It has a built-in uSD card reader you can play video from, although their tools for formatting it are terrible.

    How do I connect a player to it? Can I use an old Android phone with mini hdmi output? An iPod? Rasberry Pi?

    #7 10 years ago

    It has a built-in microController that you program using their custom language. Not good for your sanity, but just playing a video from the card is pretty simple - then you just hook it to 5v and it does everything itself.

    #8 10 years ago
    Quoted from ecurtz:

    It has a built-in microController that you program using their custom language. Not good for your sanity, but just playing a video from the card is pretty simple - then you just hook it to 5v and it does everything itself.

    Will these OLED's play multiple avi files, one after another? If I loaded X amount of avi files of full TZ episodes for X hours of continuous play of different episodes, the OS could do that? (or whatever video file formats are best)

    I was thinking an RPi with XBMC could be programed to autoplay the files on startup and play continuous episodes loaded on the micro sdhc card on the RPi. In other words, it wouldn't be a short clip repeating. It could be multiple full episodes for whatever game you want: the full movie of CFTBL, STTNG episodes, Metallica music videos, ACDC music videos, the Tron movies, IM movies, etc.

    If the OLED's you're talking about can do that, that would be great!

    This is what I was looking at for the RPi:

    http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/5/35/Raspberry_Pi_Display_Modules/uLCD_24_PTU_PI/

    #9 10 years ago

    The tron arcade mods I did, the screen had the memory etc, in it so it was one piece. Made it nice. THey have a new oled version of the screen though. Very cool to do mods with.

    -1
    #10 10 years ago
    Quoted from Sparky:

    Will these OLED's play multiple avi files, one after another? If I loaded X amount of avi files of full TZ episodes for X hours of continuous play of different episodes, the OS could do that? (or whatever video file formats are best)
    I was thinking an RPi with XBMC could be programed to autoplay the files on startup and play continuous episodes loaded on the micro sdhc card on the RPi. In other words, it wouldn't be a short clip repeating. It could be multiple full episodes for whatever game you want: the full movie of CFTBL, STTNG episodes, Metallica music videos, ACDC music videos, the Tron movies, IM movies, etc.
    If the OLED's you're talking about can do that, that would be great!
    This is what I was looking at for the RPi:
    http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/5/35/Raspberry_Pi_Display_Modules/uLCD_24_PTU_PI/

    Yeah, it should be pretty easy to set up to do continuous playback. You need to reformat all the video using their tool, but it wasn't a huge deal to do. It would definitely be simpler to do the standalone screen than the RaspberryPi version just so you can avoid having to deal with communication and startup issues, but I'm not sure how large the standalone ones go.

    #11 10 years ago

    My response to Sparky's PM about video if anyone else is interested in these screens:

    Here's the sample code for playing the video. the only tricky bit is having the "media address" (which is basically just an offset on the SD card) you set that when you convert the video using their crappy tool.

    If you wanted to do it right I think you would put a data file with the list of addresses at the beginning of the card and read that then go through and play them in order. They may even have sample code that does that.

    while(media_Init()==0); // wait if no SD card detected
    media_SetAdd(0x0001, 0x3C00); // point to the 10-gear clip
    media_Video(10,10);
    gfx_Clipping(ON); // turn off clipping to see the difference
    media_Video(-12,50); // show video off-screen to the left
    media_Video(50,-12); // show video off-screen at the top
    repeat forever

    That code is from the library reference here: http://www.4dsystems.com.au/downloads/Semiconductors/GOLDELOX/Docs/GOLDELOX-4DGL-Internal-Functions-REV6.2.pdf

    Assuming you have a Windows machine the coding environment is free, but you need one of their cables which go for $35 or so (you can build your own, but it's not worth the pain.)

    #12 10 years ago
    Quoted from ecurtz:

    Yeah, it should be pretty easy to set up to do continuous playback. You need to reformat all the video using their tool, but it wasn't a huge deal to do. It would definitely be simpler to do the standalone screen than the RaspberryPi version just so you can avoid having to deal with communication and startup issues, but I'm not sure how large the standalone ones go.

    I just sent you a pm asking the same question, but you answered it here (Edit: while writing this, I got your reply with the sample code and cable info. Thanks!)

    The ULCD44 mentioned by pinballsmith above says "•On-board micro-SD memory card adaptor for storing of icons, images, animations, etc. Supports 64MB to 2GGB micro-SD as well as micro-SDHC memory cards starting from 4GB and above. A SPI compatible micro-SD card is required."

    4GB and above would make me assume 8GB or 16GB would work and be more than enough storage space. Is "SPI compatible" something different than most micro-SD or micro-SDHC?

    #13 10 years ago

    Based on a quick Google search it sounds like SPI compatibility is one of those things that is theoretically optional but in practice it's all of them.

    On the other hand 2GB is a ton of video once it gets compressed down for the 128x128 screen.

    #14 10 years ago
    Quoted from ecurtz:

    Based on a quick Google search it sounds like SPI compatibility is one of those things that is theoretically optional but in practice it's all of them.
    On the other hand 2GB is a ton of video once it gets compressed down for the 128x128 screen.

    So you don't think reformatting avi, MPEG4, etc. would be a problem for the "crappy tool"?

    #15 10 years ago

    TV set playing metallica videos... that sounds incredible, though you'd never get it to align with what song is playing so maybe not?

    I would love a space shuttle mod, just show clips of the shuttle launching

    #16 10 years ago
    Quoted from Sparky:

    So you don't think reformatting avi, MPEG4, etc. would be a problem for the "crappy tool"?

    No, it should work fine, you MIGHT have to convert them all to avi or something to get a format it accepts. It just has bad documentation and horrible UI, but it does work (or the version from a couple years ago did, anyway.)

    #17 10 years ago

    Along the lines of the subject line, anyway, anyone ever find a screen suitable in size to replace the instruction card(s) on an apron? I can't seem to find anything reasonable.

    --Donnie

    #18 10 years ago

    Mark, looks like some good info. here for your idea. Let me know if you need any parts that I might have. I have lots of ribbon cables, odd ball parts and connectors that you're welcome to at my shop. This looks like a great project if you can get it figured out.

    Mike

    #19 10 years ago
    Quoted from ecurtz:

    Here's the sample code for playing the video. the only tricky bit is having the "media address" (which is basically just an offset on the SD card) you set that when you convert the video using their crappy tool.

    I have been thinking about the same thing for a while now. I found these on Amazon and thought it would be good to replace the dancing band on my AC/DC Prem - but have no idea of how to "trigger" the video. Any ideas of how to trigger playback when the coil/flasher powers on? I like the idea of the small screen for certain titles, but would like to see if I could do a larger screen with concert footage for AC/DC

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005I7UQ4K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006FNCWSY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

    #21 10 years ago
    Quoted from LITZ:

    » YouTube video

    I saw that, as well as a few others for the doll house hobby. I think the guy in the video below is using an MP4 player, and he changes "channels" to other files!

    #22 10 years ago
    Quoted from toyotaboy:

    TV set playing Metallica videos... that sounds incredible, though you'd never get it to align with what song is playing so maybe not?
    I would love a Space Shuttle mod, just show clips of the shuttle launching
    » YouTube video

    I'd like that too. Sure wish someone would make a plug-n-play OLED mod for different games. I'd buy a few that's for sure.

    RCT would be another good one with POV vid on dif. coasters.

    #23 10 years ago
    Quoted from djb_rh:

    Along the lines of the subject line, anyway, anyone ever find a screen suitable in size to replace the instruction card(s) on an apron? I can't seem to find anything reasonable.
    --Donnie

    These are close, but no built-in controller means a more complicated setup.

    http://www.adafruit.com/products/1680#Technical_Details

    If you're ok with composite video input there are a ton of 5" LCDs on eBay.

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