Northcoast Custom Arcades New LED Pixel Marquee

[Mameroom]

Northcoast Custom Arcades is proud to announce the latest in our product line.  Our new LED Pixel Marquee!  Supports animation.  Will display the currently selected game (if artwork exists) and you can even customize or make your own images.

[Mike A]

Why is there an ad in site news? An ad that was already posted elsewhere.

[PL1]

Why is there an ad in site news? An ad that was already posted elsewhere.

Vendors want to introduce a new product on the front page? New software release? Something happening in the game industry? Feel free to post it here.

Scott

[Mike A]

Okay. I guess posting in two places makes sense to someone.

[pbj]

$?

[PL1]

Here are some relevant details from their website.

Supports 128x32 resolution
*Dimensions: 27"x7.4375"

$349.99

Scott

[Howard_Casto]

$349?!?

I've built entire cabinets for less than that.  27" is also an odd size considering most real cabs are around 2 feet wide. 

[Mameroom]

We are working with our supplier to get costs down.  Once we determine the demand, we can buy components in bulk to decrease the price.  As far as the size, we felt the best place to start was with our own brand of cabinets.  We will also be coming out with different sizes to accommodate different cabinets.

[Rockstead]

We are working with our supplier to get costs down.  Once we determine the demand, we can buy components in bulk to decrease the price.  As far as the size, we felt the best place to start was with our own brand of cabinets.  We will also be coming out with different sizes to accommodate different cabinets.

What about an encasing for stand alone? I want to mount it above my wall mounted TV which is used for a pedestal.

[Mameroom]

What about an encasing for stand alone? I want to mount it above my wall mounted TV which is used for a pedestal.

That is actually one of the products we will be introducing.  We can make a low profile box from textured ABS that would make a great wall hanging.  If this is something you would like to move forward with, we would design and manufacture the box at no additional charge with marquee purchase.

[Rockstead]

What about an encasing for stand alone? I want to mount it above my wall mounted TV which is used for a pedestal.

That is actually one of the products we will be introducing.  We can make a low profile box from textured ABS that would make a great wall hanging.  If this is something you would like to move forward with, we would design and manufacture the box at no additional charge with marquee purchase.

I’m very interested but I’m kind of hesitant to be an early adopter, I want to see how much wider you will make these.

My screen will be in the area of 55”-60”,  and I don’t know how well the current size Marquee will look mounted above it when it’s that much smaller, maybe it will work.

[Howard_Casto]

I think they are cool, just not sure how useable they are going to be unless you've made marquee images for most of the games in mame.  I know that with led arrays the low resolution is a necessity, but it means that marquee images simply can't be scaled down and look ok... they've really got to be optimized for that small size.  Logos with transparent backgrounds would probably scale better. 

I'd like to see a company get one of those lcd monitor cutters and offer displays cut at a fee.  That'd probably take care of the different sized marquee issue. 

[pbj]

$350 gets you a 50"+ 4k TV these days....

[pbj]

$350 gets you a 50"+ 4k TV these days....

[Rockstead]

I think they are cool, just not sure how useable they are going to be unless you've made marquee images for most of the games in mame.  I know that with led arrays the low resolution is a necessity, but it means that marquee images simply can't be scaled down and look ok... they've really got to be optimized for that small size.  Logos with transparent backgrounds would probably scale better. 

I'd like to see a company get one of those lcd monitor cutters and offer displays cut at a fee.  That'd probably take care of the different sized marquee issue.

Mame already has an option to display Marquee on a 2nd screen, you think current Marquee’s would have to be re-worked to use with this?

[Rockstead]

$350 gets you a 50"+ 4k TV these days....

True but it doesn’t have that Marquee feel using such a large screen, and these smaller screens are not common enough to be sold at standard sized screen pricing, but yeah I would like it cheaper too.

This was a similar offering, it’s an ultra wide thin LCD used in advertising, $360USD from alibaba.

https://m.alibaba.com/product/60817861994/Indoor-Android-System-21-5-Inch.html?s=p&spm=a2706.7843299.1998817009.1.777e3c3bdXeI5z

It’s in the same price range, not sure which one would be better, maybe The NorthCoast custom one because it feels more Arcady.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Here are some relevant details from their website.

Supports 128x32 resolution
*Dimensions: 27"x7.4375"

$349.99

Scott

$350 gets you a 50"+ 4k TV these days....

True but it doesn’t have that Marquee feel using such a large screen, and these smaller screens are not common enough to be sold at standard sized screen pricing, but yeah I would like it cheaper too.

This was a similar offering, it’s an ultra wide thin LCD used in advertising, $360USD from alibaba.

https://m.alibaba.com/product/60817861994/Indoor-Android-System-21-5-Inch.html?s=p&spm=a2706.7843299.1998817009.1.777e3c3bdXeI5z

It’s in the same price range, not sure which one would be better, maybe The NorthCoast custom one because it feels more Arcady.

Looking at similarly dimensioned RGB LED panels, you could chain two of these together https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14718 and approximate the display area, at 20"x5" with the same resolution of 128x32.

Looking at this project using a 32x32 panel, I'm a little surprised just how reasonable a random image looks scaled to that size.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/live-spotify-album-art-display

[Gilrock]

If you look at this Thingiverse item I posted you can see one of the panels I built.  This posting provides the brackets that held the panels together and I created a battery holder and a mount for the BeagleBone Black that runs it with an Octoscroller daughter card.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2524502

[Rockstead]

Here are some relevant details from their website.

Supports 128x32 resolution
*Dimensions: 27"x7.4375"

$349.99

Scott

$350 gets you a 50"+ 4k TV these days....

True but it doesn’t have that Marquee feel using such a large screen, and these smaller screens are not common enough to be sold at standard sized screen pricing, but yeah I would like it cheaper too.

This was a similar offering, it’s an ultra wide thin LCD used in advertising, $360USD from alibaba.

https://m.alibaba.com/product/60817861994/Indoor-Android-System-21-5-Inch.html?s=p&spm=a2706.7843299.1998817009.1.777e3c3bdXeI5z

It’s in the same price range, not sure which one would be better, maybe The NorthCoast custom one because it feels more Arcady.

Looking at similarly dimensioned RGB LED panels, you could chain two of these together https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14718 and approximate the display area, at 20"x5" with the same resolution of 128x32.

Looking at this project using a 32x32 panel, I'm a little surprised just how reasonable a random image looks scaled to that size.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/live-spotify-album-art-display

I’m seeing 128x64 versions on eBay 10x5 for $60 range, and even packages of 2 10x5  (64x32) on amazon for under $70.

If I’m not mistaken, this is identical to the NorthCoast customs offering as it’s not encased in anything, probably two panels daisy chained.

To use this with Mame, how would I convert this to HDMI for secondary screen display of marquee?

[Gilrock]

It's like 2 of these side by side:
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/64x32pixel-P5mm-Indoor-2121-SMD-3in1-full-color-LED-Display-Screen-unit-panel-module-size-320mm/701799_32864834943.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.4.44f35999jUnCKy

[Howard_Casto]

You wouldn't convert it to hdmi because that is silly.... the resolution is too low to be useful for anything other than a sign.  You hook it to an Arduino and pump it images via the serial port.  Don't get me wrong, someone clever could probably do it, even with the same Arduino, but it's hardly worth the effort. 

[Gilrock]

Actually I already have software that could be used to do this but I'm probably not going to run panels like this on my arcade cab.  Just look at one of the songs I had on my house this past Christmas.  Above the garage is a P10 panel matrix, to the right of the driveway is a smaller P10 matrix that shows viewers which FM station I'm broadcasting on, and then at the edge of my driveway is a small P5 matrix that advertises free candy canes.

[Mike A]

At first I thought it was one of the control panels people here are building. Then I put the video full screen and realized it was a house.

That is an impressive display. I am sure it takes an impressive amount of work every year.

[Gilrock]

Well I realized I linked the wrong song.  That was 2 years ago and the candy cane sign was P10 back then.  This video is a little closer up view.  Didn't want to post again but sorry there was no button to edit the other post.

[Titchgamer]

If I could get these at custom sizes at a reasonable price I would be all over them but at 350? No way could I drop that mullah for a marquee.

Its cool and I want one but not that bad heh

[Rockstead]

If I could get these at custom sizes at a reasonable price I would be all over them but at 350? No way could I drop that mullah for a marquee.

Its cool and I want one but not that bad heh

Agreed, and for $600 you can buy an actual LCD Marquee from Alibaba.

What about the links above and purchasing the LCD Matrix panels directly  from various sellers for a fraction of the price, seems to be identical.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

What about the links above and purchasing the LCD Matrix panels directly  from various sellers for a fraction of the price, seems to be identical.

Hardware might be identical, but there's no software with those. Going from images on a computer to displaying on your raw hardware is not a trivial matter. The biggest draw for this marquee is that it's being positioned as a plug and play upgrade, rather than a hardware/software diy.

[Rockstead]

What about the links above and purchasing the LCD Matrix panels directly  from various sellers for a fraction of the price, seems to be identical.

Hardware might be identical, but there's no software with those. Going from images on a computer to displaying on your raw hardware is not a trivial matter. The biggest draw for this marquee is that it's being positioned as a plug and play upgrade, rather than a hardware/software diy.

HyperMarquee is an add-on for Hyperspin and is used to display Marquees on a secondary screen.

I’m just not sure if it works in this case where the secondary screen is serial.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Nope, that's just for a secondary monitor in Windows, and with raw panels you're nowhere near that yet. You'd be looking to integrate something like this DVI->LED system:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1453
And by that point, you should have just purchased the actual marquee.

[Howard_Casto]

You act like software is the stumbling block here.... it really isn't.  Arduinos can be setup as a serial device via one of the templates and mamehooker can send serial commands as well as do a series of commands via a script.  All that's needed is a piece of middleware to size down images to the appropriate resolution, read each pixel color and write a script to change each pixel.   Sounds a lot more complicated then it is. 

As I mentioned earlier, the real stumbling block is the lack of content.  Some marquees scale well as-is and some don't. 

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

You act like software is the stumbling block here.... it really isn't.  Arduinos can be setup as a serial device via one of the templates and mamehooker can send serial commands as well as do a series of commands via a script.  All that's needed is a piece of middleware to size down images to the appropriate resolution, read each pixel color and write a script to change each pixel.   Sounds a lot more complicated then it is. 

As I mentioned earlier, the real stumbling block is the lack of content.  Some marquees scale well as-is and some don't. 

I always forget about mamehooker because I've never had an opportunity to do something with it. Issuing serial commands to an arduino sounded trickier in my head before that. Sending a raw RGB array over serial doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way.

[Pasqualz]

What about using a micro projector in the cabinet aimed at a piece of semi-transparent material on the marquee? It just looks like another monitor to your Computer.

[Nephasth]

What about using a micro projector in the cabinet aimed at a piece of semi-transparent material on the marquee? It just looks like another monitor to your Computer.

Griff-richer did it with leotards... Just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130727.msg1342040.html#msg1342040

[patrickfx1]

Definitely worth a look and maybe a buy!

[tommyinajar]

https://ledpixelart.com/pixelcade/