Option 2 of this project is that I create my own hardware controller and throw away the Tuya hardware.  This would be the move if reverse-engineering the MCU on the board to accept my firmware would exceed my skill level or time allowance for this project.

Instead, I could diagnose what type of pixels the curtain uses!  This could still lead to a good, money-saving result for me, because it would be incredibly useful to have a waterproof matrix of this size, already created and ready to go for projects.  Super low-res screens have a time and place, and with the right diffusers I could really save time and money if I wanted to build large-scale low-res walls.

Diagnostic questions for figuring out what the chipset is of the pixels:

- What is the voltage of the pixels?

- Look at the signal being sent by the controller under a scope.  What does it look like?

- What do the most common chipset signals look like?  Can I use an ESP32 to send out pixel data in different formats until I find the one that works?

Types of pixels commonly available in the market:

ws2811

ws2812b

ws2813 - adds a backup data line in case the primary data line of the ws28xx series fails.  4pin.

    makes ws2813 best choice if they cannot be accessed for repair (ie put into epoxy)

ws2815

    all that plus no significant color change with voltage drop.  4pin signal, 1 being a backup data channel.

SK6812

SK9822 - needs clock signal, 4pin input

    high voltage drop in strip

APA102 - needs clock signal, 4pin input

good source on pixel types

The main difference between pixel types is chip timing.  That is the rate at which the LEDs expect new data.