A new era is about to begin for my MAME cab

[Paul Olson]

My MAME cab is a 4-player Konami cabinet with a 25" monitor. I came to a realization this week that really surprised me. I am tired of fighting the arcade monitor in this cab. I have had 3 or 4 different computers in there, and each one has been a pain to get setup. There are always games that need tweaking...just a lot of work. I have been playing with a new MAME build on my laptop, and I finally had to admit it. It looks pretty damn good, and it is really easy. Sure, it looks a little blocky on the really old games, but I own most of the classics that I really care about. Games from the mid 80s on look great on it, and even vectors look pretty good. So, I don't think it is worth the fight anymore.

I ordered a 32" LCD TV yesterday, and it will be here tomorrow. When it is mounted horizontally, it will be be the same game size as the 25" in the cab now (with a little extra on the sides, of course). Vertical games that used a 19" monitor will still be the same height (I don't care for those on a bigger monitor). Then, when mounted vertically, I will have a nice setup for the shmups, which I have wanted for a while now.

Since the only real modification I have made to the cab is the modular cp, I think I am just going to take that and build a new cab for it. the Konami cab will head out to the garage and serve as a jamma cab. I have wanted one of those for a while too.

I honestly never thought this day would come, but I think I am going to like this change. Now maybe I can put some time into new panels for the cp instead of endlessly fighting the monitor config.

[VanillaGorilla]

You wont regret it. I replaced my CRT in my Taito cab with a 28" LCD and I love it. The weight reduction alone is worth it. Not to mention I'm not afraid of getting electrocuted every time I open up the back of my cab anymore...

[Savannan]

How wide are your insides?  I measured mine and its exactly 27" .... was thinking about buying a 32" but not too sure if it would fit even if I de-case the LCD and installed it.  I priced out 30" montiors and they are ungodly expensive.

Anyone fit a 32" in a 27" opening? 

[Paul Olson]

With the plastic, it is 31", I don't think I am going to decase it to find out what it is without it though. I read that the VESA mount is usually in the case on 32" and smaller. I will be doing a custom cab for it. Actually, I am going to mount it on the wall for a while and find out exactly where I want everything, then I will build a cab to suit that.

[lilshawn]

How wide are your insides?  I measured mine and its exactly 27" .... was thinking about buying a 32" but not too sure if it would fit even if I de-case the LCD and installed it.  I priced out 30" montiors and they are ungodly expensive.

Anyone fit a 32" in a 27" opening? 

ugh.....don't ask.

i measured out a golden tee cabinet (mid production style black/white cab) and the opening was exactly 27 inches.

bought a 27" widescreen lcd... was 26.5 inches wide.

pulled out the monitor glass.....oops... the part i measured (between the white panels where the glass goes) was 27 inches, but the inside of the actual cabinet (black panels) was 25.5 inches

ya... so i got out the router today and carved out a little over 3/4" inch on either side to squeak it in.


ADVICE:

measure 10 times first. - then get a monitor where no cutting will be involved.

[pinballwizard79]

Dood I totally agree.

Monitor drama makes this hobby suck, point blank.

Just 1080p self powered safe plug & play goodness.

 

[drventure]

Welcome to the "Not Quite as authentic but pretty dang nice anyway, and a heck of a lot easier to deal with" darkside!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

How wide are your insides?  I measured mine and its exactly 27" .... was thinking about buying a 32" but not too sure if it would fit even if I de-case the LCD and installed it.  I priced out 30" montiors and they are ungodly expensive.

Anyone fit a 32" in a 27" opening? 

if you have 27", a 28" lcd will fit (you need 26-26.5"). A 32 will not. You can pick up an I-INC 1920x1200 lcd for $250.

[OverRide]

I am still using problematic arcade monitors in my cab's. And one old CRT PC monitor in my cocktail. But recently I picked up a nice 32" LCD TV for use with my PC and I have to admit that all emulators look amazing on it. I like having a light scanline filter to help with the extra blockyness. The contrast, when adjusted properly, looks mint. As my monitors die I will be putting in LCD's for sure. (A year ago my opinion would have been completely different).

[Savannan]

Anyone know where to putchase a 30" lcd tv or montor for cheap?

[lilshawn]

Anyone know where to putchase a 30" lcd tv or montor for cheap?

i looked forever to try and locate a 30"

there is no market for mid size displays any more. so they jump from 25 and under to 32 and up.

they see it as "why produce a mid size screen when everyone can afford a 32 or 42 inch now" those that can't afford 32/42 buy cheap small screens... 22/25 inch
 

[lilshawn]

well a crowbar and some butter got this one in finally...

[amendonz]

quick question, why do you have your speed test result in your sig?

[severdhed]

nothing wrong with an LCD monitor, i know alot of people complain about them, but i have never been disappointed with them.  i have a 19" LCD in my vertical classics cabinet, and if the 27" crt tv in my showcase cabinet ever goes, it will be replaced with an 32" LCD tv.

[ragnar]

RANT:

I hate the movie industry.  Widescreens are good for one thing.  Movies.  For everything else they make no sense.  At work we jokingly call them short screens.  I'm a software geek and quite frankly, code is tall, not wide.  So are word documents.  Most web pages benefit from more vertical space, not horizontal space.

So, the TV/movie industry did one hell of a job killing off 4:3 monitors and it totally sucks.  4:3 monitors serve a HUGE utility to those that do task that require a tall screen as opposed to a short screen.  I think if someone made 4:3 monitors, they would take 10% of the LCD market.

[lilshawn]

quick question, why do you have your speed test result in your sig?

continuity. all of my forums do.

why, is it faster than yours? 

[amendonz]

oh ok?

yeh a lot faster, but i'm sure there's people on here who could show that up 

[TOK]

RANT:

I hate the movie industry.  Widescreens are good for one thing.  Movies.  For everything else they make no sense.  At work we jokingly call them short screens.  I'm a software geek and quite frankly, code is tall, not wide.  So are word documents.  Most web pages benefit from more vertical space, not horizontal space.

So, the TV/movie industry did one hell of a job killing off 4:3 monitors and it totally sucks.  4:3 monitors serve a HUGE utility to those that do task that require a tall screen as opposed to a short screen.  I think if someone made 4:3 monitors, they would take 10% of the LCD market.

Why don't you just flip your monitor vertically? Sorry if I'm missing something obvious.

[Savannan]

well a crowbar and some butter got this one in finally...

I take it this is a 27" opening...how large of LCD in it?  make/brand?

thanks.

[lilshawn]

[I take it this is a 27" opening...how large of LCD in it?  make/brand?

thanks.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=109453.msg1160121#msg1160121

sorry i errored in my OP, the cab was 26 not 27

i measured 26, that's how wide the glass was... when i opened up the machine and removed the monitor it ended up being 24.5 because of the way the cabinet was built.

like i says measure measure measure, then measure again.

the monitor is a viewsonic VA2702W. price was $299 where i got it from. the monitor itself  was 25.5 inches, so to make it fit i had to router out a bunch of material from either side of the cabinet to make it fit.

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/va2702w.htm

[Paul Olson]

Well, I feel kinda dumb right now. I ordered the TV and a video card that supports HDMI...but I forgot to order an HDMI cable! 

I hooked it up to my laptop with a vga cable, and it looks pretty good at the lower resolution (1360xsomething, I think). I am going to bring home an HDMI cable from work tonight to test it out. It is really nice being able to see full score on some of the vert games. I never had that quite right on the arcade monitor.

tonight I will install the video card and test it out. It will be weird not having that cab in the office anymore. I am going to test everything on a table for a while so I can figure out the best height for everything. It will be a couple of months until it is warm enough to do much in the garage, so I am just going to take my time and make sure it all feels right.

[VanillaGorilla]

RANT:
 Widescreens are good for one thing.  Movies.  For everything else they make no sense. 

Then why did you use one in your cabinet ?

[pinballwizard79]

Ragnar you do know how to rotate your monitor for that tall code right?

[Paul Olson]

I just remembered the one thing I really missed using an arcade monitor; the artwork! It really looks nice. I am now wondering about the size of the TV though. Have any of you tried a 37"? Since it will be really close to the control panel, I don't want to get too crazy on the size, but the artwork does shrink the size of the game down, and sometimes quite a bit. I went with the 32" because it is about the same vertical height of a vertically mounted 19" monitor. I definitely want DK, Pacman, and the other vert classics to be about the same size as the original. They look huge on this TV though without the artwork. With the artwork, the games look a little small. I am thinking that a 37" TV might be a good compromise. The cost difference is minimal, I just need to try to decide within Amazon's return period.

Has anyone tried one that size in a non showcase setup?

[fallacy]

I tried it on CRT and LCD’s – and it looks kind of bad to me. Cheaper LCD have that deal when you look at them from any kind of angle thy darken up quit a bit…

I made a second cab for my Jtag xbox360, I put a new 24 Asus HD monitor in it. The 360 HD games look slick the old school xbox live games they did not modify look like crap.

[VanillaGorilla]

I just remembered the one thing I really missed using an arcade monitor; the artwork! It really looks nice. I am now wondering about the size of the TV though. Have any of you tried a 37"? Since it will be really close to the control panel, I don't want to get too crazy on the size, but the artwork does shrink the size of the game down, and sometimes quite a bit. I went with the 32" because it is about the same vertical height of a vertically mounted 19" monitor. I definitely want DK, Pacman, and the other vert classics to be about the same size as the original. They look huge on this TV though without the artwork. With the artwork, the games look a little small. I am thinking that a 37" TV might be a good compromise. The cost difference is minimal, I just need to try to decide within Amazon's return period.

Has anyone tried one that size in a non showcase setup?

This is a great chart I saved from this site a while back, its why I bought the monitor that I did. A 28" 1920x1200 LCD is only 20mm (~3/4") shorter that a 19" vertical tube. If you consider most crt's had an area of unused display of about a half an inch around the borders, its almost a perfect match. I need to throw a tape measurer across my dig dug or scramble CRT, and then re-measure the same games on my MAME LCD, just to be sure what the diff's are. I did all of this calculating before I chose the display, but have never verified whether or not my calculations bore out in the end. In any case, it sure FEELS like the verts are original size, and thats pretty much enough for me. 

[Paul Olson]

This is a great chart I saved from this site a while back, its why I bought the monitor that I did. A 28" 1920x1200 LCD is only 20mm (~3/4") shorter that a 19" vertical tube. If you consider most crt's had an area of unused display of about a half an inch around the borders, its almost a perfect match. I need to throw a tape measurer across my dig dug or scramble CRT, and then re-measure the same games on my MAME LCD, just to be sure what the diff's are. I did all of this calculating before I chose the display, but have never verified whether or not my calculations bore out in the end. In any case, it sure FEELS like the verts are original size, and thats pretty much enough for me. 

I usually use a site like  to figure out the dimensions: http://www.nicetaco.com/tv.aspx#calculator

The 32" is really close to a 19" vertical crt. Now I want to try to get close to that vertical size with the artwork turned on. I was trying to see if anyone had tried using a 37" or larger TV for an upright cab. The artwork really looks nice, but it does take up a lot of screen real estate. I have a 42" in the living room, so I am going to bring the panel out there this weekend and test it out. I am kinda hoping that 42" is the perfect size. That way I can use that TV in the cab and exchange the 32" for a 60" in the living room. Unfortunately, I think it may be a little big.