Round 1 - 10/10 Closed - Building....
Round 2 - 10/10 Closed - (2w away)
Round 3 - 10/10 Closed - (1m away)
Round 4 - 10/10 Closed - (2-3m away)
Round 5 - Maybe - PM me
-------------------------------
A few months ago Lucky posted on VPUniverse outlining the development of a new Pin2DMD EVO board. The new board uses a much denser 1.875 dotpitch display, meaning that it could display twice the resolution of a traditional DMD, much like the bigger displays used by premium CGC games. The new firmware has two upscaling algorithms, so that existing resolution colour files can be used.
Joerg (Lucky) posted an example image from LOTR to show this scaling in action, and the results are pretty impressive.
Mileage across colour files will vary, with the 64 colour files (the newest sort) likely looking the best. Changes have been made to the editor to incorporate the larger size which enables individual scenes and/or images to be replaced with HD content. Hopefully some of the talented colourists will start to release updates for the existing colour files to support this soon (maybe you!).
Due to the chip shortage, production of these boards has been minimal, mainly due to the now almost impossible to find STM32H743 processor. I’ve been keeping an eye on my fabricators inventory (like, a bit obsessively if I’m honest) and a few weeks ago 10 were made available, so I jumped on them, and started production.
Screens are on magnets so that line you see in the middle is correctable just by shifting them around a bit. Two of these have been reserved for @PickHolder and one is for me, so that means I have 7 spare boards for those that want to try their hand at the bleeding edge of Pin2DMD tech.
That’s the trick isn’t it? They don’t fit inside an existing speaker panel, your old speaker panel acrylic (the pretty graphics) won’t fit, and your speakers won’t fit (well, one of them will). Lucky describes making a new panel out of laser cut acrylic, which I’m sure is doable using the venerable @Colywobbles as a guide, however I wanted something that was a bit more akin to the original game - including the existing panel graphics.
So.. you guessed it... I built it.
* CNC routed 9mm ply panel
* 2 x 3” 20W speakers
* Hex speaker grills
* (And best of all) 2mm acrylic speaker panel with modified graphics to support the larger format
Here’s my mockup prototype (hand routed). The final ones will be CNC routed, have black speaker grilles, and brighter graphics on the acrylics from a different supplier.
The acrylic panels are all based on original artwork, that was scanned in at high resolution and then modified by hand, by me. (Disclaimer - Even though I have 20 years experience using photoshop, I’m a hobbyist - these are not vector based redraws akin to the amazing work of @Mikonos and the like. Having said that, they are 300dpi and indiscernible from the originals, resolution wise).
CFTBL, T2, HS2 and TAF are ready to go, with scans of IJ, WH20, JD, BSD, TOM, TZ, FT and STTNG being sent to me in the next week or so. If you have one that I don’t, send it to me and I’ll work on it.
Out of these games, this is the status of the colour files:
All the hardware (H channel, speaker latches) will be included to make them plug and play essentially. Power to the boards is 12V and you need to sort that out, as per original Pin2DMD.
@swinks was even nice enough to design me some speaker light brackets, which can house some LED strips driven by your favourite speaker light solution.
The HD Pin2DMD in action
Here’s some footage of the @slippifishi creech colour files run through the 2x upscaler. Pretty sure the creech colours are 16 per scene only, so bear that in mind when watching. Some scenes better than others, but still surprisingly good overall. As I said earlier, mileage will vary and will depend on a lot on the original colourations. Maybe with a bit of gently nudging/support/assistance our lovely (and hard working) colourists will get busy upgrading for this new format ;-)
I did my best to record the visuals but there is still some shutter speed flicker, so sorry about that. Amazingly, I was able to get to multiball twice and hit various other modes, which I don't often do. Failed dismally at "move your car" though, that would have been nice to see. From this side angle you can still see that centre line too so need to correct that.
That’s it I think. If you’d like to get in on the action, you have the choice of either the Pin2DMD board itself, or included with the panel. Prices are
* HD Pin2DMD 256x64 (PCB, 2 x LED panels, SD card, activation) £260
* Speaker panel (CNC routed ply, 2 x 20W 3” speakers, 2 x speaker grill, h channel, latches, acrylic with your choice of game) + £100
* Swinks Speaker light brackets + £10
Bear in mind I only have 7 available, and no idea when more stock of the processor will become available, so when they're gone, they're gone.
The Pin2DMDs are ready to go and can be sent out immediately. If you want a panel also, I need to gauge demand and make my orders, so be prepared for a 3-4w wait on that.
Round 2 - 10/10 Closed - (2w away)
Round 3 - 10/10 Closed - (1m away)
Round 4 - 10/10 Closed - (2-3m away)
Round 5 - Maybe - PM me
-------------------------------
A few months ago Lucky posted on VPUniverse outlining the development of a new Pin2DMD EVO board. The new board uses a much denser 1.875 dotpitch display, meaning that it could display twice the resolution of a traditional DMD, much like the bigger displays used by premium CGC games. The new firmware has two upscaling algorithms, so that existing resolution colour files can be used.
Joerg (Lucky) posted an example image from LOTR to show this scaling in action, and the results are pretty impressive.
Mileage across colour files will vary, with the 64 colour files (the newest sort) likely looking the best. Changes have been made to the editor to incorporate the larger size which enables individual scenes and/or images to be replaced with HD content. Hopefully some of the talented colourists will start to release updates for the existing colour files to support this soon (maybe you!).
Due to the chip shortage, production of these boards has been minimal, mainly due to the now almost impossible to find STM32H743 processor. I’ve been keeping an eye on my fabricators inventory (like, a bit obsessively if I’m honest) and a few weeks ago 10 were made available, so I jumped on them, and started production.
Introducing the HD Pin2DMD
Screens are on magnets so that line you see in the middle is correctable just by shifting them around a bit. Two of these have been reserved for @PickHolder and one is for me, so that means I have 7 spare boards for those that want to try their hand at the bleeding edge of Pin2DMD tech.
How the hell do I install it
That’s the trick isn’t it? They don’t fit inside an existing speaker panel, your old speaker panel acrylic (the pretty graphics) won’t fit, and your speakers won’t fit (well, one of them will). Lucky describes making a new panel out of laser cut acrylic, which I’m sure is doable using the venerable @Colywobbles as a guide, however I wanted something that was a bit more akin to the original game - including the existing panel graphics.
So.. you guessed it... I built it.
* CNC routed 9mm ply panel
* 2 x 3” 20W speakers
* Hex speaker grills
* (And best of all) 2mm acrylic speaker panel with modified graphics to support the larger format
Here’s my mockup prototype (hand routed). The final ones will be CNC routed, have black speaker grilles, and brighter graphics on the acrylics from a different supplier.
The acrylic panels are all based on original artwork, that was scanned in at high resolution and then modified by hand, by me. (Disclaimer - Even though I have 20 years experience using photoshop, I’m a hobbyist - these are not vector based redraws akin to the amazing work of @Mikonos and the like. Having said that, they are 300dpi and indiscernible from the originals, resolution wise).
CFTBL, T2, HS2 and TAF are ready to go, with scans of IJ, WH20, JD, BSD, TOM, TZ, FT and STTNG being sent to me in the next week or so. If you have one that I don’t, send it to me and I’ll work on it.
Out of these games, this is the status of the colour files:
All the hardware (H channel, speaker latches) will be included to make them plug and play essentially. Power to the boards is 12V and you need to sort that out, as per original Pin2DMD.
@swinks was even nice enough to design me some speaker light brackets, which can house some LED strips driven by your favourite speaker light solution.
The HD Pin2DMD in action
Here’s some footage of the @slippifishi creech colour files run through the 2x upscaler. Pretty sure the creech colours are 16 per scene only, so bear that in mind when watching. Some scenes better than others, but still surprisingly good overall. As I said earlier, mileage will vary and will depend on a lot on the original colourations. Maybe with a bit of gently nudging/support/assistance our lovely (and hard working) colourists will get busy upgrading for this new format ;-)
I did my best to record the visuals but there is still some shutter speed flicker, so sorry about that. Amazingly, I was able to get to multiball twice and hit various other modes, which I don't often do. Failed dismally at "move your car" though, that would have been nice to see. From this side angle you can still see that centre line too so need to correct that.
That’s it I think. If you’d like to get in on the action, you have the choice of either the Pin2DMD board itself, or included with the panel. Prices are
* HD Pin2DMD 256x64 (PCB, 2 x LED panels, SD card, activation) £260
* Speaker panel (CNC routed ply, 2 x 20W 3” speakers, 2 x speaker grill, h channel, latches, acrylic with your choice of game) + £100
* Swinks Speaker light brackets + £10
Bear in mind I only have 7 available, and no idea when more stock of the processor will become available, so when they're gone, they're gone.
The Pin2DMDs are ready to go and can be sent out immediately. If you want a panel also, I need to gauge demand and make my orders, so be prepared for a 3-4w wait on that.
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