color dmd

That looks really awesome. The immediate problem I see is that each game is going to require considerable programming effort. I'm sure they'll do the most popular games first. Still pretty awesome though.

I think the biggest part of their cost will be the programming. I definitely want one of these for each of my pins!
 
good lord....how much is something like THAT gonna cost??? i'd imagine somewhere just north of a boatload....perhaps as much as a metric eff-ton.
 
I put my money on this thing running an FPGA with software that grabs the input, analyzes it and outputs the respective animations from software stored on it.

Would be the easiest and cheapest way to do it, there's already software available that will let you look at each frame of animation on a pin's ROM(s). All it would take for a compare would be the first frame so long as it was unique.
 
I put my money on this thing running an FPGA with software that grabs the input, analyzes it and outputs the respective animations from software stored on it.

Would be the easiest and cheapest way to do it, there's already software available that will let you look at each frame of animation on a pin's ROM(s). All it would take for a compare would be the first frame so long as it was unique.

That's definitely how it works (probably :p). The hardware part is not that hard to design. Still takes a shit ton of programming :)
 
Why on earth would you do it like that? Isn't a simple TFT with a converter much cheaper? Or.. maybe it is just that... yes.. that is what i think. Probably inspired by the way visual pinball cabinet builders use a cheap TFT for their DMD screens. Why use only 1 colour...
 
Why on earth would you do it like that? Isn't a simple TFT with a converter much cheaper? Or.. maybe it is just that... yes.. that is what i think. Probably inspired by the way visual pinball cabinet builders use a cheap TFT for their DMD screens. Why use only 1 colour...

RGB LED looks more authentic and lends itself better to the design. Of course, that's just my opinion :)

EDIT: Also, TFT is not bright enough.
 
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RGB LED looks more authentic and lends itself better to the design. Of course, that's just my opinion :)

EDIT: Also, TFT is not bright enough.

DMD's might be a little brighter with modern leds... but i see not a big difference between older pinballmachines and my visual pinball cabinet.

Anyhow i think coloured DMD's do not look THAT great. It makes the whole thing look more computerized ...
 
good lord....how much is something like THAT gonna cost??? i'd imagine somewhere just north of a boatload....perhaps as much as a metric eff-ton.

Well, based upon this:

"As to questions of cost if this were to be converted to a product, there are a few remaining unknowns that prevent an accurate estimate. However, it's reasonable to expect that this could be achieved in a range below the price of today's restoration playfields. If successful, the support of a wider number of games should help to reduce cost over time."

I think a guess of $500 as made earlier is probably on target.

Assuming it is - if there's considerable effort required to provide software for any given game, I'd assume you'd only see it for "high value" pins where the $500 cost is in-line with the overall value of the pinball - MM, AF, AFM, TZ, etc...

What would be quite cool is if (assuming this ever became a "real" product) they released a dev. kit to the masses that could be used to create your own software - then you could go download any version you wanted, for any game as it became available. This would allow somebody with a "lesser" pin to still have the option to use one of these..

The ability to easily move one of these from game-to-game by just changing the software would be a very nice feature...
 
Well, based upon this:

"As to questions of cost if this were to be converted to a product, there are a few remaining unknowns that prevent an accurate estimate. However, it's reasonable to expect that this could be achieved in a range below the price of today's restoration playfields. If successful, the support of a wider number of games should help to reduce cost over time."

I think a guess of $500 as made earlier is probably on target.

Assuming it is - if there's considerable effort required to provide software for any given game, I'd assume you'd only see it for "high value" pins where the $500 cost is in-line with the overall value of the pinball - MM, AF, AFM, TZ, etc...

What would be quite cool is if (assuming this ever became a "real" product) they released a dev. kit to the masses that could be used to create your own software - then you could go download any version you wanted, for any game as it became available. This would allow somebody with a "lesser" pin to still have the option to use one of these..

The ability to easily move one of these from game-to-game by just changing the software would be a very nice feature...


yeah...i saw that $500 guesstimate earlier. that would price out a lot of pins.....and you're right: you'd have to weigh that $500 against the overall value of the pin (if you had ANY thoughts of ever selling it).

but i could see people putting that thing in a pin they were planning to keep that might not be A-class.....for instance, my DE-star wars. or my TRON. :)
 
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