Are you wondering what are DLP Discovery products?

The latest DLP Discovery 4000 product platform is now released.   The specs of this kit can be found here:

http://dlp.com/regional/dlp_discovery/discovery4000.aspx

There is now a video posted describing the DLP Discovery 4000 kit.  You can watch the video at the following link:  https://community.ti.com/media/p/7377.aspx

Explorer Sftware for the Discovery 4000 kit is now available to owners of the kit.  This GUI will allow users to:

1. Load binary bitmaps from standard image files to the DMD.
2. Build operational scripts for displaying patterns and images.
3. Wait for external trigger.
4. Insert variable delays into a Script.
5. Add Loop control to a Script.  
6. Control individual Block functions  - Load, Clear, Reset.
7. Three Run Modes - Run Continuously, Run Once, Run Stepwise.
8. Control three output pins to interact with hardware.
9. Misc Control - North/South flip, Invert data (0↔1)

And many other features.

ENJOY 

Hi there,

I'm looking for any documentation at all on the Discovery 5000 (Pico). I just received a few of them, and a particular project I'd like to build which will involve using the MAP430 connector, but I can't find any documentation at all, and the kits did not come with any. Where should I look?

Thank you,

- ej

Eric,

Welcome!  Thank you for your interest in the Discovery 5000 (Pico).  We are currently in the process of getting documentation out for the Pico. 

A General Programming guide should be available next week on the dlpdiscovery.com website under the Pico Projector Kit section.   More information on the Beagle Board and using it is available on beagleboard.org.

We expect more detailed documents for the Pico to be published on the dlpdiscovery.com website over the next several months (end of first quarter).

Again, welcome to the TI E2E community and in particular, welcome to DLP Disovery. 

Thank you very much! I looks forward to being an excellent guinea pig.

One starting question... what type of connector is used for the MSP430 port (under the rubber cover) and where can they be bought? My application will involve some MSP430 work.  :]

...and one more small thing, in case it's useful... on one of my projectors, the green LED is failing intermittently, casting an un-masculine pink light on my project. Just thought I'd mention it in case the data's useful as you near full-on production.

Thanks again, and I have to say I'm very impressed with the engineering of the Pico display.

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Do you mean the connector on the Pico Development kit?  Currently, the interface is not yet defined (Functionally).  We will need to check into the connector type.

The pico kit can be returned to fix the Green LED problem.  We are interested to understand the problem better.  Can you tell if there a specific conditions that lead to the Green LED becoming intermittment?

As a follow-up, we may enable the connector (functionality) to the MSP430 in the future.  However, the connector/cable that is provided in the Pico Kit will enable you to connect Video and IIC between the Beagle board and the Pico kit.  This is the intended use model for the initial kits.

Hi JRT,

Thanks for that info. I look forward to the enabling of that functionality; I think it will enable some fun and exciting projects.

For now, I'll stick to the IIC/Video usage. With that in mind, one of my current projects involves trying to drive several Pico Kits from a single microcontroller, where each displays a separate (low complexity, low update rate) image.

Are there docs on the IIC control capabilities of the Pico? I'd like to find out if I can either:

• Write to the Pico framebuffer (even slowly) via IIC commands. Yep, I know that's not normal. Or...
• Cause the Pico to ignore the Video input and "hold" its current image (as it does when the HDMI is disconnected), or...
• Is there another way you can think of?

Thank you again for your help. I'm assuming that new, inovative applications for a large number of DMD chips is a good thing.  :]

Cheers

"Are there docs on the IIC control capabilities of the Pico? I'd like to find out if I can either:

We will release the Pico Kit Programmers guide (IIC capabilities) within the next couple of days on the DMDDiscovery.com.

• Write to the Pico framebuffer (even slowly) via IIC commands. Yep, I know that's not normal. Or...
• Cause the Pico to ignore the Video input and "hold" its current image (as it does when the HDMI is disconnected), or...
• Is there another way you can think of?"

The Pico Kit does not have this type of capability via IIC or another technique that I am aware of.  The pico will primarily display whatever image is being drive at the video input port.  Therefore, I believe it is up to the video Driver to provide this type of control.  The Beagle board does have the capability to store and replay a video clip or set of images on an SD card.  This is probably the quickest way to achieve such a solution.  I think you can control the images being sent to the Pico a "slow" and controlled manner.  However, this is beyond my area of knowledge.  It may be good to visit the www.beagleboard.org website and see if something like this has already been accomplished. 

Hi Eric,

After seeing a demo, and taking apart my Pico I'll try to answer your question.

The Video input used a HDMI connector due to size.  The video is DVI format and the I2C is used for a handful of configuration commands. 

The MSP430 is not in the video path, therefore you can not use the MSP430 to create or source Video to the DMD. but it may be able to hold the currect image, depends if there are any control signals between the msp430 and DLP chipset.  My best guess is that the MSP430 primary function is to control the LEDs and nothing else.

You will need a video source for each Pico. I believe that would require a DVI transmitter for each, similar to the TFP410 on the Beagle board. 

I will update post if I figure out more.

Eric

Hi there,

Thank you for all of this info; it's very helpful.

I look forward to the IIC documentation on dlpdiscovery.com. I'd like to find out if it's possible to use IIC to adjust the LED brightness, and to power on the unit. If it is, I'm sure it'll be in the docs.

Again, thanks for your help!

- ej

Yes it is possible to control the LED brightness.

Hi there,

I've read all of the new docs (1505 datasheet, etc), and have spent a great deal of time with a few Picos on a specific project, I have a recommendation.

Suggestion:

In future Pico eval kits, it would be fantastic to expose the 1505's CPU I/F to the developer.

Currently, it's very difficult to use the kit to design devices with the Pico integrated (vs. external add-on),

In fact, if I could buy a Pico kit without any of the DVI equipment (SI 1161, connector, etc.) which just had the CPU I/F pins brought to a connector, all of my Pico troubles would vanish. Currently, as far as I can tell, the CPU I/F is actually hardwired "off".

Note: Maybe I'm wrong, and it's actually possible to use it?     (Smiles optimistically)

Reasons this would be a good idea:

1. It would allow any microcontroller to use the Pico easily, opening up developers to a very wide variety of options.
2. The Pico is meant to be integrated into devices. The CPU I/F allows low-cost integration, without the necessity of converting to-and-then-from DVI.
3. No DVI hardware -> lower cost devkit (though I'd pay extra).
4. Fewer chips -> lower cost devices which use multiple projectors at once -> TI can sell many Picos.
5. It would remove the limitations currently caused by having it be a DVI device...
   ...but with a non-standard connector and cable,
   ...and without correct caps reporting, so very few DVI signal generators are able to use it.

I bought 7 Picos to try and build something very fun and very surprising. The DVI interface has been the most troublesome part of my project. The docs show a few ways I can almost bypass it, but not quite.  :|

Just a suggestion from a developer who's spent a lot of time on this. :]

- ej

Are you wanting to drive from video or stills?

If the former, a DVI transmitter like the TI TFP410 is a pretty simple solution for parallel RGB to DVI, however I totally agree that a more accesible bus & control interface would make it a LOT more interesting. For example I'd like to be able to connect the TFT interface of the LPC2478 ARM directly.

I think it was a big mistake trying to cram the pico kit into the smallest possible size, as it means you can;t easily seperate the DVI board as it also has power and LED control on it. If it were a little longer, all the power, DLP and LED stuff could have been on one PCB, with just the DVI rx on another,  interchangeable PCB (using via a readily obtainable type of connector), to allow other interfaces to be added easily. 

Another little detail is that for installations, it can be a problem to have to use the 'on' button to turn on after applying power - I don't really understand why it needs a button at all, but it would be good to have a way of bypassing it ( e.g. make the on/off state nonvolatile)

video/stills: Either would work; I don't need to update the whole frame very frequently.The partial-frame update feature in the CPU I/F would be perfect. I'm probably going to have to do something like TFP410, but I've been trying to avoid implementing a convert-to-DVI just to unconvert it right away, back to the same format it started in. It'd be great to skip all that and just wire it into the 1505.

on-button: Funny you should mention that... I'm eyeing that little switch, preparing to make a mod, because I've got 7 Picos in a single unit. My current solution is a sharp poker which slides in the gaps to switch on each unit, but I don't think I'll ship it that way.  :]

Of course if TI were to publish the MSP430 code, it would at least make the power issue easier to work around.... Although it probably wouldn't be too hard  to re-create the  functionalityfrom scratch

Eric,

Thank you for the suggestions.  Points well taken. 

Unfortunately, the DVI circuitry is not cleanly separated from the other circuity (power input & LED Driver), making difficult to access the CPU I/F directly.  The only thing that we could think of would be to add a lot of blue wires to the very small board-to-board connector, but that method seems really difficult with probably unreliable results. 

The reason for combining of different circuits is to minimize the size.  To make it more modular in the future, then we would most likely need to grow the volume of the kit, which may be acceptable for many applications.

In future kits, we will consider your inputs, and try to find a good balance of modular access points.

JRT

I don't understand why making it the smallest possible size was that important for a devkit type device - putting the LED drivers etc. on the main board would have added maybe 8mm to the overall length, but made it a whole lot more useful.

Hi JRT,

Thanks for your info and feedback. If the Pico kit ever comes in a "just headers to the 1505 pins" format, please consider me willing to test it very well.  :]

In the meantime, without the ability to integrate the projectors into my device, I've come up with a workaround, which I'll mention here, in case it's useful to others:

I'm emulating my device on a WinXP laptop, and have bought a handful of these spiffy stackable USB->DVI boxes:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=100-U2-UV12-A1-PB-R&cpc=SCH

At $24 each, they're a lot less expensive (and a lot less trouble) than a stack of Beagles. Once you set them to 640x480x59Hz, they seem to work perfectly.

Cheers,
- ej

THanks for the udpate.  That is a handy workaround.

JRT

We just purchased a D4000 kit. Where can I download the explorer software?

Thanks

Dong

Dong,

This is available through a TI extranet.  Please request access via the VAR that you purchased the kit.

JRT