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Colour DMD or Pin2DMD in TZ

Andy B

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1 10 Years
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Oct 6, 2014
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Location
Hull. England.
Thinking of taking the plunge on a colour DMD for my TZ. Pin2DMDs are more than £100 cheaper than the Colour DMDs. I also had a Pin2DMD in my virtual machine and a colour DMD in my Elvis and think I preferred the look of the Pin2DMD so am probably going with that one.

Anyone have any particular thoughts as to which is best in TZ? Are Pin2DMD colourization files available for TZ?

Thanks

Andy
 
The TZ at Pinball Republic has a XL pin2dmd and the colourisation looked good.
Must be decent if someone wanted to make it XL!
 
I can’t seem to find any reviews of TZ colourisations. Google searches keep directing me to discussions about the alpha and beta developments.
 
You can use the same colourisations on visual pinball which will give you a good idea.
 
I got rid of my VP set up and I ain’t going down that route again it was a RRPITA to get even the basics set up 😊
 
I got rid of my VP set up and I ain’t going down that route again it was a RRPITA to get even the basics set up 😊
Surely if its just for the purposes of seeing how it looks you can just install it on a PC, take a butchers and remove it again.
From what I recall its not as simple as "just run the installer", but its not that fiddly - especially for just one table?
 
I just downloaded vpx and open table files manually. Works good for just trying stuff out on pc.
I don't know if something else was required to make the altcolor files work though.
Never used that installer for all the front end stuff myself.
 
Which version of the ColorDMD did you have previously?

Seems like if you want the traditional DMD look with minimal setup the LED version of colour dmd might be the best bet.
 
Which version of the ColorDMD did you have previously?

Seems like if you want the traditional DMD look with minimal setup the LED version of colour dmd might be the best bet.
Honestly can't remember - had it quite a few years - probably bought from Pinball Palace but, like I say Pin2DMD is significantly cheaper so would prefer that option.
 
Surely if its just for the purposes of seeing how it looks you can just install it on a PC, take a butchers and remove it again.
From what I recall its not as simple as "just run the installer", but its not that fiddly - especially for just one table
Surely if its just for the purposes of seeing how it looks you can just install it on a PC, take a butchers and remove it again.
From what I recall its not as simple as "just run the installer", but its not that fiddly - especially for just one table?
Anything VP related is tortuous! Also, not sure that the colourization files for the VP version are the same as real pin version and they're deffo gonna look different on my PC to running on a Pin2DMD board. Plus you have to pay the creator for the colourization files so don't really want to fork out for the files and the board and then find I don't like them. Really wondering if there's anyone on the forum that knows a 100% working set of colourization files out there so they can send me a link to buy.
 
The colourisation files are free for VP and are identical except the hardware there displayed on. I assumed you just wanted to see what kind of colour choices the creator had gone with.

I'd just get pin2dmd. I use it on all my pins except one because it came with colordmd.

The only negative is having to tap into a power source which can be fiddly as hell unless you have a free header on the power driver board and can make your own power cables.
 
The colourisation files are free for VP and are identical except the hardware there displayed on. I assumed you just wanted to see what kind of colour choices the creator had gone with.

I'd just get pin2dmd. I use it on all my pins except one because it came with colordmd.

The only negative is having to tap into a power source which can be fiddly as hell unless you have a free header on the power driver board and can make your own power cables.
Cheers. I think I’ll just do that - Pinball Center sell them with a power supply.
 
In my opinion the Pin2DMD are terrible. pinpoints of light and not natural to look at. You get what you pay for...
pin2dmd and colordmd (LED) use identical LED panels mate.

I would say if you have the money - get a colordmd. Pin2dmd dont have colouration files for all games. Plus you have to pay UP TO £25 for them. You also have to pay 10 euro to register the pin2dmd as well (unless the person building them have a deal on this!).

If you buy a colordmd you can swap it into different machines easier.

I use/used pin2dmd's a lot - but they are not plug and play. They are great on virtual pins (but now I use stretched LCD screens).

I quite like some of the upscale functions on the colordmd LCD panels. Depends on the game.

Saying that I really liked pin2dmd on Family guy and Stern Star Trek.
 
I had an XL pin2dmd screen next to an led colordmd and the led’s looked better in the XL pin2, everyone that saw the difference agreed.
Animations are normally better on colordmd’s though.
Just too add, I used to like the lcd version but have been converted to the led version of colordmd😂
 
Ive got pin2dmd in my Addams and colourdmd in my roadshow - and I think i prefer how roadshow looks.
I recall at the time I got colourdmd there wasnt a roadshow colourization anyway. There was one in the works but not readily available.
 
Prefer colourdmd but I’d be tempted to try one of those XL screens in an older game.
 
After all the positive feedback, decided I’m going to go with the ColorDMD LCD.
My Star Trek came with a Pin2DMD, I wasn’t sure the colourisation was right but, that aside, although it looked much better than the standard Stern LED display I found it quite bright and ‘glarey’ - and yes I know there‘s a brightness control! :cool:

I’ve now put in a ColorDMD LCD and it‘s like chalk and cheese, it looks great and so much better than the Pin2DMD in my opinion, it really suits the game well.

I’m not sure I’d spend the money to replace a good plasma display on an older game though - but anyway it’s each to their own, and that’s my tuppence worth! :)
 
Pin2dmd definitely relies on a good colourisation.
I find that some look miles better than colordmd.
Obviously varies depending on creators
 
LCD DMD no complaints. I have a few LED DMD’s too and they too look good on certain games. High res setting in Metallica is lovely. DOTs look good on STTNG. LED looks good on TWD and Tron..
 
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