should I buy this monitor for my arcade build?

[shateredsoul]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

or is it too small

the build I was going to do is this one, and he used a 28" lcd but the price difference is substantially different (330 for 28")

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=92156.0

[The Habbler]

Well I own that screen and I also own a 28" I-Inc LCD that I use on my desktop PC. I love my $279 on sale 28" widescreen for games, but the contrast on that thing is so bad. If I watch any movies or media, shows like Lost or anything where there is a lot of dark the screen just stinks. I always end of pulling the window on to my smaller monitor and it is a great monitor.

I would of even put that same monitor in my arcade machine, but I had a width of 25" to work with and opted for the Samsung T260HD instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001281&cm_re=t260-_-24-001-281-_-Product

Currently sells for $329 which is more then I paid for my poor contrast 28", but it is so beautiful playing Street Fighter 4 in 1920x1200 on that thing.

What I am trying to say is the first monitor you linked in nice. Like really nice for the money, but it was too small for my 4 player cab. Maybe in a 2 man it wouldn't be as bad, but I don't know.

[shateredsoul]

Well the beauty of my situation is that i'm building my own cab.. I'm just wondering if 23" is too small, 25" might be a good  compromise though, but I'm mostly worried about vertical games (no, I won't make it a rotatable screen), how do vertical mame games look on your 23"?

[The Habbler]

No I have the 25.5" in my cabinet the 23" screen is on my desk. I am at work now, but when I get home I can take some pictures of 1942 for ya.


This is my cab. Still has the marquee that the original owner of the cab got from slikstik.


Here is the 25.5" behind clear plexi on my home made LCD Monitor shelf.




1942 start screen and Ms Pac Man. the Front End GameEx adds the bezel bars for me. I can change all that to match the games, but I just have not got that far yet on this project.

[The Habbler]

added pics for shateredsoul. Overall I would say vetical mame games are great. Even Double Dragon is a good size on this thing.

[Paul Olson]

A 25" arcade monitor mounted horizontally is 15.75" tall, which is about the same height as a 19" arcade monitor mounted vertically. I have a 24" LCD on my Desktop, and it is just a hair under 13" tall. So the one you have will be quite a bit smaller for vertical games than a 19" vertical arcade monitor. The widescreen LCDs really make it hard to get a comparable image cheaply. You would need a 32" 16x9 LCD to get the same 15.75" height.

It is up to you and your wallet how close you want to get to that.

Hope that helped a little.

Paul

[shateredsoul]

 Yeah that definitely helps. It's going to be a lot more expensive than I thought =(

[Blanka]

Try to grab a 1920x1200 screen instead of a FullHD one. They are significant larger vertically, and with good looking not more expensive.

[BadMouth]

I snagged this chart from somewhere here on byoac, but don't remember who to give credit to.  

It will give you an idea of how much shorter a screen smaller than 25" would be.
The 19" vertical CRT is shown in purple.

[Blanka]

but don't remember who to give credit to.  

Thank you 

[BadMouth]

Thanks!    It's very useful.

(now renaming the file so I remember who to credit)

[XtraSmiley]

Habbler,

Is that a standard Slikstik cab you have there?  I have one and I think I will be going LCD in the future.  If yours is, can you post the model number of your LCD and tell me how you mounted it in there?  Thanks.

[The Habbler]

yes its the standard 27" arcade monitor slikstik cab. When I received it the tube was beyond repair, so I took that out, and the cab came with a shelf that I can put inside at any level. I put that at an angle and mounted it to hold a 21" CRT monitor for about 6 months.


Last months I removed that shelf. Bought a few carriage bolts and made a few sections of 1x4. I have two long pieces on the left and right mounted to the cab through the old Arcade monitor brackets using the carriage bolts I got. Once I had that set I figured out where I wanted the monitor positioned and marked it off. We cut one more piece and mounted it horizontal on top of 2 block supports.


Once that was done I looked at how much extra wood I had poking out from the cab and my plexi was not laying flush so I marked it off and took the table saw to make it flush. Screwed the whole thing together. Sprayed it with flat black and mounted the whole thing up.


Monitor is a Samsung T260HD 1920x1200 Resolution. It comes with a small post that has to be attached to the bottom in order to sit on its base. I took the base off and we notched in a hole for the post on the back of the horizontal board. This makes the monitor sit nice and flat and the angle I wanted for 4 player games.




With the plexi off this is how it looks fully mounted.

and since the T260HD has a TV Tuner inside it also came with this bad boy.

[XtraSmiley]

Very nice, thank you.  The pics will help.  I'll not be able to work on my machine for about 14 months, but man, when I do get another chance, I'm REALLY going to finish it!

It's only been about 4 years now, so, uh, yeah!

[The Habbler]

Hopefully that gives people some inspiration.

[shateredsoul]

Nice! Very useful chart! 

As for the 1920 by 1200, I really don't see the price difference .. an asus 25.5" is $278 which is quite a bit more than 190 for the 23.6"


What would be a good price to pay for a 25.5" LCD?  Is it really over $100 dollars more for 2 mor inches? or is the Asus I posted just a really cheap price?

[shateredsoul]

Another nicely prices 23"

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/LG-W2361V-PF-23-inch-1080p-Full-HD-LCD-Monitor-Refurbished/4226812/product.html

I think I'm hoping to pay not too much above 200 for the 25", how likely is that?

[shateredsoul]

ok found one.. from the very reputable company I-inc... yeah 230 for a 25"

http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4938551&SRCCODE=LSCMPUSA&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=isIkAyUyNbM-lzxz_hccUX9jVinn.tLpgQ


i browsed bensbargains.net and found an old post for a 25" asus for 205, so maybe I just have to wait and be patient

[shateredsoul]

by the way.. I am selling an

hp w1858 18.5" lcd monitor http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/display/display//3/storefronts/FN773AA%2523ABA

retails for 180, i'm selling for $80.  It would work great if you used it as a vertical screen.  I want mine to be horizontal though so I'm trying to sell this one.  I bought it in January, no dead pixels, no packaging, but if you live in the area and are intersted it might be a good deal (I'm in Santa Cruz, CA).

[Blanka]

Why are you comparing a 23 inch with a 25.5 inch 16:10? There's 23/24 inch 16:10's too.
A 25.5 inch will give you 20% more heigth and 30% more surface.
Just going from 16:9 to 16:10 in the same diameter is roughly 10% extra height.

That HP will look ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- mount vertical. Forget aboot that.

And consider second hand. Monitors from 2008 are much better than this years crap, and people are so stupid to sell them for half and buy todays crap coz it has LEDS WOOHOO-puke!

[shateredsoul]

I actually found a 32" Vizio... 200 on craigslist... maybe an lcd tv will be a better way to go than a monitor.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Are you planning to play MAME on it?  Why widescreen then?  Just curious.

D

[shateredsoul]

Yes I am going to use MAME

I want Widescreen because I wanted to use an lcd screen for my build (it doesn't have to be lcd, just thin).  The biggest reason for having the widescreen right now is street fighter 4 and other pc games.  So my system will not only have mame, but I am concerned about the vertical games (that's the main reason why i started this thread). I'm  building my cab, and the whole point is to make it a slim build (so using an older tv is out of the question)

My neighbor suggested I just buy an older 4:3 flat screen for my build... but I hate how in older monitors it's harder to see the screen image from an angle.

[Blanka]

but I hate how in older monitors it's harder to see the screen image from an angle.

That is complete bullocks.
Today >95% of LCD's is TN (100% in computer stores not selling Apple), where in 2005 you could find a PVA or IPS screen among the regular crap in computer stores (70-80% TN panels). There are more ancient gems (Acer AL2616, Acer AL2623, Dell 2707, Samsung 275T, HP 2035, HP 2065, Samsung 214T, Samsung 213T) than decent new models!
Oh, and 16:10 is the best trade-off between much vertical space and SF-readiness. If you are in the USA, shut the FK up, grab your wallet and buy this one while it lasts:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824016084
You'll never be able to buy a screen that good the next 5 years.
Here in Europe ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- has landed on us already with the sudden disappearance of the Planar-twin: the LG W2600HP  
Strange, USAliens cannot get the LG, we cannot buy the Plannar

If you want the King of all Cosmos, then try to find a second hand (WHO is stupid to sell this?) or stock clearance Eizo SX2761W. That LCD will be the Best Gamer LCD Screen EVER Made Indefinitely. It can only be surpassed by OLED, FED, but not by any new LCD model! Serious quality LCD's are a thing from the past. We have to accept that. Early 2010 was a turning point in LCD history with the death of the W2600HP, the Hazro W26i, the Eizo SX2671W and the Dell 2709WP. It can only go down now!
I have little hope that the 10-gazillion-pixel-27inch-iMac-IPS-panel will ever get a 500 euro/700$ cousin in LG/Planar flavour. And it will have too many pixels for your vidcard. Cut your frame rate in half on that panel and forget 1:1 FullHD mapping. There is also little to expect from TV-land. Philips pretends it makes a IPS 24p/50p/60p FullHD IPS 26 inch TV, but that model is nothing but fantasy and website-filling.

[shateredsoul]

by older monitors I didn't meant the type that dell used to give away with the type of pc you would get at a school computer lab.. a few years ago.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated, but a bit much above my $$ range, so my wallet shall stay sealed.  It doesn't have to be the best, just nice and with nice blacks.  From what I could tell, a current lcd tv is more likely to be within my price range than current lcd monitors.  I searched for the Eizo monitor you suggested... over 1k! I think people realize how valuable they really are oh well.

[Todd H]

I use a 27" 16:10 Samsung and it works great. Vertical and horizontal games are plenty big enough with the appropriate black bars (I like to keep the aspect ratio the same as the original). Street Fighter IV and other PC games that can take advantage of the widescreen format look outstanding. To me it might not be the most authentic, but it gives me the best of all possible worlds.

[Blanka]

I use a 27" 16:10 Samsung and it works great.

That must be the 275T then. Holyguacemole! That was some serious bucks spent.

[The Habbler]

Samsung T260HD looks great. the contrast on it gives good blacks.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3984239&CatId=3774

Looks like its out of stock now, but I got this last month for $329 and it was worth every cent.

[Blanka]

The T260 is a case of bad input lag though. around 50ms

[shateredsoul]

ok how about this one... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889611009&cm_re=aspect_ratio_16%3a10-_-89-611-009-_-Product

it's 22" and 16:10 aspect ratio

couldn't find a 27"

[shateredsoul]

http://www.ecost.com/detail.aspx?edp=42136504&source=EWBBASE&cm_mmc=CSE-_-google-_-ewbbase-_-Electronics&CAWELAID=367061386

16:10 samsung 24" Samsung SyncMaster T240HD Monitor

yay or nay?

[The Habbler]

The T260 is a case of bad input lag though. around 50ms

Its true it is very slow when changing inputs or channels, but I only have it hooked up to a pc to On and Off is all it needs to do.

[shateredsoul]

I'm tempted to whip out the credit card and go for the larger monitor in the t260, but honestly... I'm on a budget so I'm probably going to go with the smaller 240. I'm just looking for a better deal, that one link I posted added tax +shipping +and the recicyling fee. If i can get free shipping and no tax that'll help or a lower price.  

I just need the plywood and paints and screws/nails after getting this.  So 200 + plywood + black paint + whatever small supplies I need, I'm trying to stay under or not too much over 400.  At least for now.. I'll get the sideart, marquee, and plexi to go over the monitor later.

Since my version is a 2player panel, the 24" one should be good

Thanks Guys!

[Blanka]

With input lag I mean you are 30 MS too late to jump for that Donkey Kong barrel  , not that it needs 30 SECONDS to find a source of input.
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=36&mo1=473&p1=4647&ma2=36&mo2=402&p2=3707&ph=1

[shateredsoul]

so.. there's 1000 ms in a second..

seriously? 30/1000 of a second! .03 seconds...  Don't get me wrong.  I'd buy a better monitor if I could, I'll be sure to leave a little room so that a 25" could fit if I decide to upgrade.  Even the Hannsg brand @ 25" had lag just as bad (the 28" was better but 300). It'll be fine I know it doesn't live up to your taste Blanka, but don't ya worry.. someday I'll upgrade. Some day far far away hopefully.

[Blanka]

30ms saved a lot of lives when they upgraded brake lights from incandescent (what a stupid word do English use for that) to LED.
And I expected you to go for the new DK record 

[shateredsoul]

Nope, not mee.. I just saw king of kong.  I saw what happened to that guy when he tried to break the record.  It was also pretty sad when the guy was playing and his kid was crying in the background, "stop playing donkey kong daddy!" when he wanted his dad's attention.

[The Habbler]

With input lag I mean you are 30 MS too late to jump for that Donkey Kong barrel  , not that it needs 30 SECONDS to find a source of input.
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=36&mo1=473&p1=4647&ma2=36&mo2=402&p2=3707&ph=1

I could believe that with DK or older games, although I would rather blame my 8-way happ then my screens 30ms input lag. I play more of the beat'em ups and other early 90s titles on my mame. I can get off last second shots in NBA Jam. I can beat the first 5 levels of Contra without losing a single life, and I can play Do Don Pachi and beat the first 2 levels without dying.

If It doesn't effect my game on Contra on Do Don Pachi then I really can't consider 30ms a factor. At least on my cabinet it isn't 

[Blanka]

No it's not a problem. Our brain is good enough to do pre-emptive movement of hands.
Just wanted to make clear that the speed people expect with TN panels is not so normal any more with all the image enhancing techniques needed to compensate for the bad graphic nature of TN.

[mlalena]

$225 + free ship  -  ViewSonic VT2645 26-inch 720p WS LCD HDTV
http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/32470/viewsonic-vt2645-26-inch-720p-ws-lcd-hdtv