12 replies to this topic

[Tesla]

I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for a little separate DMD LCD monitor for my new AtGames Legends Pinball?

 

I was thinking a thin-bezel (preferably black) thin-depth 16:9 monitor would not look half-bad (foam tape) stuck between the speakers, and maybe I could eventually de-case it and stick it behind the plexiglass. The absolute max-space for it is 8x5.5 inches (not including any little cables that might stick-out from the sides).

 

Something from Amazon would be easy for me to order. I've seen some with just HDMI-In and USB/power on the side which would work fine I think. I was thinking NO touch-screen (so it might actually end-up using a preferred matte lcd-panel). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand it DOES-NOT need to have HDCP-support. Inexpensive is welcome as with the recent purchase of ALP, VIBS-Board, Nvidia GTX-1660 video card (for old Dell-PC), and misc cables and parts ... I'm reaching my budgeted limit for this project. I'm not too much on no-name Chinese stuff, but I don't think I have much choice in the regard.

 

In The Pinball Arcade (with Arcooda Cabinet Mode on Steam running mostly Williams/Bally tables) I have a bit of control on DMD display on Monitor-3, but I just want to run it as 4:1 aspect to simulate a real DMD. AFAIK, you do that by setting the Windows-10 background to Black, and then set your initial coordinates. I think it then displays horizontally across the whole DMD (but as only a 4:1 image, protecting the true aspect ratio).

 

 

[strells]

It's an old video but it's what I did:

 

https://youtu.be/S-F28yiokN0

[Tesla]

It's an old video but it's what I did:

 

https://youtu.be/S-F28yiokN0

 

Wow, thanks. Yes, this is exactly what I want to do. I think your install looks fine (perfectly acceptable). Not real old but sounds like you did it before VIBS-Board was available?

 

Yeah, I suppose the cleaner you want it to look, you have to come to grips with actually doing some cutting/drilling on the cabinet. 

 

Right. i think I saw some of these similar panels on Amazon for Raspberry-Pi and similar projects. Some don't even have cases. No HDCP-support, but doesn't sound like we don't need it. 

 

So, whatever LCD we use, FarSight's The Pinball Arcade with stretch the DMD-graphics vertically to fit it ? Should I go ahead and use 16:9 aspect instead of something closer to 4:1 ?

 

I'm not sure, but another benefit might be that since I like to run my main backglass images near their proper 4:3 aspect ratio, I can maybe now get rid of the black side-bars and let the lower part of the image (graphics of speakers and DMD) extend down off the screen. I hadn't even thought of that originally ... so main backglass image will end-up being larger also (but still in proper proportions). 

 

So, did you get your VIBS board installed? How about hiding or moving the upper HDMI and USB ports?

[Tesla]

I found an 20-year old (4:3 TN-Panel) 15-inch VGA monitor in the shed that still works.

 

I think I will temporarily hook that up (with a DisplayPort to VGA adapter) and answer some of my own questions about how resolutions work (and how much control I ultimately have on DMD display size on any given 3rd monitor). 

 

I need to start thinking like a modder. Seems that finally having my own actual cabinet to play-with hasn't quite sunk-in yet.

[Tesla]

If any other cabinet newbies (like me) are following this thread, I found some good info here:

 

http://www.mjrnet.or...p?sid=dmdDevice

[strells]

I'm not Cooltoy.  I'm saying I followed his video.

 

Yes, I got a VIBS.  Required for a 3-screen setup.

 

For a 3-screen setup, you turn off the grill part of the backglass by right-clicking a running backglass and adjust the options.  You can then have Freezy's DMD by itself on the third screen or many backglasses these days include a "full DMD" underlay for the third screen.  You set the location of the full DMD using the screenres.txt file or a custom .res file for a particular table.

 

TPA doesn't support any of this.  I'm talking about VPX FYI.

Edited by strells, 24 January 2023 - 08:02 PM.

[Tesla]

1. I'm not Cooltoy.

 

2. I'm saying I followed his video.

 

3. Yes, I got a VIBS.  Required for a 3-screen setup.

 

4. For a 3-screen setup, you turn off the grill part of the backglass by right-clicking a running backglass and adjust the options.  You can then have Freezy's DMD by itself on the third screen or many backglasses these days include a "full DMD" underlay for the third screen.  You set the location of the full DMD using the screenres.txt file or a custom .res file for a particular table.

 

5. TPA doesn't support any of this.  I'm talking about VPX FYI.

 

1. Sorry.

 

2. Cool. Yeah, that particular LCD one isn't available any more ... but it definitely confirmed my idea was do-able. Good to hear it was acceptable to you also.

 

3. Nice. I think it's cool they went back and made this for us.

 

4. Good tips, thanks.

 

5. Gotcha. Yeah, TPA/Arcooda is bare-minimum on cabinet-config. Actually, I've never had the 3rd monitor connected yet, but it supposedly works.

 

Do you happen to run TPA or Zaccaria from Steam any-more ?

Edited by Tesla, 24 January 2023 - 08:55 PM.

[Tesla]

I found an 20-year old (4:3 TN-Panel) 15-inch VGA monitor in the shed that still works.

 

I think I will temporarily hook that up (with a DisplayPort to VGA adapter) and answer some of my own questions about how resolutions work (and how much control I ultimately have on DMD display size on any given 3rd monitor). 

 

I need to start thinking like a modder. Seems that finally having my own actual cabinet to play-with hasn't quite sunk-in yet.

 

So, that was a bit of a disaster.

 

I'm pretty sure that old little VGA monitor works on older systems, but connected to this Dell XPS-8300/Nvidia GTX-1660 via a Display-Port Adapter ... all sorts of bad things happened. 

 

- It decided it was monitor #1 now, but refused to display anything.

- It only allowed the ALP's main-playfield monitor to work.

- It said ALP's backglass monitor was now "Disconnected" and not allowed to Detect or Extend.

 

Fairly bad first experience to connecting 3 monitors to a Windows-10 computer. Funny, I was saving it to use as a backglass monitor for a custom-build (the one I don't have to try to build any more now that I got the ALP)..

 

Note to self "Don't be surprised if connecting a low-end 20-year old VGA monitor to a newer computer ... doesn't work as expected".

 

Really only posting this as a warning to others.

Edited by Tesla, 25 January 2023 - 05:24 AM.

[Tesla]

hook that up (with a DisplayPort to VGA adapter) and answer some of my own questions about how resolutions work (and how much control I ultimately have on DMD display size on any given 3rd monitor). 

 

 

 

Attempt 2 worked fine.

 

I connected my old 22-inch 16:10 Dell UltraSharp (via that same StarTech DisplayPort-to-VGA-Adapter) to the GTX-1660. It works fine as a 3rd monitor.

 

I went ahead and arranged them in Windows-10 ... 1, 2,3 (in order) toward the right. That seems more logical and more like the examples I have seen. Now that I fully understand the Coordinate system, it was easy to reprogram The Pinball Arcade/Arcooda Cabinet configurator to 3-Screens.

 

It all looks great in the tables I tried. 

 

I'm not sure if a different backglass image is being used (or if the lower part with the speakers is just pushed-down beyond view) but the images appear to be proper aspect ratio and are taking-up the whole 1920x1080 backglass screen. It looks perfect with little effort.

 

The orange-mono-color DMD was perfectly on screen-3. First, full-screen. Then, (with a little math) I was able to easily squish it down to something more acceptable (to me anyway) like full width but more like a 3:1 ratio ... in the middle (vertically).

 

Very cool. In all these years, I've never actually seen TPA run 3-screens. I have a 8-inch Raspberry-Pi screen on it's way from Amazon. Now that I've seen this big-one work, I'm not expecting any problems installing it.

Edited by Tesla, 25 January 2023 - 05:52 AM.

[Tesla]

I bought this 8-inch Portable Monitor.

It's got an 1280x800 matte IPS-Panel (so colors and viewing-angles are good). The black-metal bezel is thin and the whole little monitor is only about a 1/2-inch thick.

 

I attached it to the plexiglass between the speakers with four 1/2-inch squares of black Command Medium Picture Hanging Strips (like heavy-duty Velcro).

 

This pic is FarSight's The Pinball Arcade running Star Trek: TNG running on my ALP . To make the DMD a little closer to it's true aspect-ratio (and pixels a bit less rectangular) I squished the DMD by about 30% in the TPA/Arcooda Cabinet settings.

 

Thanks for the help all. What do you think?

 

Edited by Tesla, 01 February 2023 - 11:03 PM.

[Tesla]

With forum admin's help, I was able to post my first pic to forum (see above) using "VPF Image Host".

 

If that button doesn't work for you either, the direct link to that page is: VPF Image Host (open in a new Tab or Browser Window)

Edited by Tesla, 01 February 2023 - 10:11 PM.

[mrwakuhn]

I bought this 8-inch Portable Monitor.

Do these portable monitors turn on automatically when power is applied, or do you have to press the power button?

[Tesla]

 

I bought this 8-inch Portable Monitor.

Do these portable monitors turn on automatically when power is applied, or do you have to press the power button?

 

 

Mine turns on/off automatically. I never have to press any buttons on it.

Edited by Tesla, 23 April 2023 - 09:37 PM.