MAME Slider Controls in regard to screen geometry

[clutch]

If you use the slider controls to resize/reposition the screen, are you degrading the graphics?  Like if you were using an arcade monitor and used hardware to stretch the screen.

I tried to pick a resolution that best suits the game first, but most of the time the screens are a little off.  When using the slider controls, I noticed the graphics sometimes stretch and go a little weird.  Just curious because I want the most realistic arcade experience I can create.

[Gray_Area]

That feature is only for D3D mode....although, I can't think of a use for it.

[MacGyver]

Wouldn't stretching the graphics mis-align where the pixels show up in reference to the scanlines in a real monitor?  I mean, weren't the graphics designed to be split here and there by scanlines naturally? I know the scanlines in a monitor will make letters of certain sizes look the same (like L I T H E), but moving them up or down a pixel makes their differences more apparent.

[clutch]

Interesting.  Similar question:  Is a pixel a pixel no matter if the screen is horizontal or vertical?  Because MAME lets us cheat and display a vertical game on a horizontal monitor, are we seeing a different image than what would be displayed on the game's native monitor (not counting size)?

[Howard_Casto]

The slider controls are for fine tuning the display on a high resolution monitor.  For a standard res monitor you shouldn't be using hardware stretching anyway and thus it shouldn't be a issue. 

MAME abandoned arcade monitor resolutions and bit depths long ago.  With no stretching mame should, in theory display a pixel-perfect image.... but then again what kind of freak could tell unless the difference was very noticable?