What are the Benefits of smoked plexi

[Mrephunk]

I am wondering what the benefits of smoked or tinted plexi are for an arcade cab monitor.I am at the point in my build where I need to purchase the plexi that will go over my monitor and have seen it used alot here but am wondering why? I am using an LCD monitor and have made a custom bezel art for it.My plan was to put the bezel art behind the plexi so can I even use smoked plexi?

[Nephasth]

If you want smoked plexi and bezel art, sandwich the art between clear plexi and smoked plexi. thefearsomefearful posted a good comparison pic in his last build thread, smoked plexi makes the image look better IMO.

[Mrephunk]

I can see what you mean about it looking better but what if the games I plan on playing are new like the new street fighter or mortal kombat

[Mrephunk]

Also is 1/8" plexi thickness good enough or should I really get the 1/4"?

[Vulgar Soul]

Also is 1/8" plexi thickness good enough or should I really get the 1/4"?

1/4" is a bit overkill. Most cabinets used 1/8" plastic.

I'd also love to see some examples of tinted plexi cabinets!

[Nephasth]

There's The Armoircade. Smoked plexi looks good on it too.

[opt2not]

Smoked plexi gives you better contrast between lights and darks.  
Blacks look darker, lines look clearer (without that monitor fuzzy blur from the lit phosphors), and colours tend to "bleed" less.
It is also great for hiding your monitor shroud, and gives the image a floating feeling.

This is great for 2D sprite games, but if you're playing 3D games like the Street Fighter 4, then smoked plexi won't help much there.

[D_Harris]

Also is 1/8" plexi thickness good enough or should I really get the 1/4"?

1/4" is a bit overkill. Most cabinets used 1/8" plastic.

Which cabinets are those? I thought 1/4" thick was standard. It would seem that anything less than that would flex too much.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

[Vulgar Soul]

Also is 1/8" plexi thickness good enough or should I really get the 1/4"?

1/4" is a bit overkill. Most cabinets used 1/8" plastic.

Which cabinets are those? I thought 1/4" thick was standard. It would seem that anything less than that would flex too much.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

With exception of Cocktails, I don't think I ever saw a cab with thick, window-like glass. Always thought most cabs had jus a thin 1/8" glass cut to size of the monitor area so it cant bend or flex. I could be wrong.

And shout outs to Shaolin!  

[JODY]

It also hides minor screen burn in.  You have a new system and not an issue; however, it is not uncommon for someone to remove a monitor from a tinted cab to find screen burn they never knew existed.

[Donkbaca]

I have it on my cab, it hides the bezel really well, makes the whole thing look more sleek and polished

[mgb]

I agree that the smoked plexi makes the picture pop nicely with good contrast. It also makes it easier to look at, reducing glare. I just installed solar gray 1/8" plexi from Tap Plastics and I love the way it looks.its like tinted windows on a car.
Every game I have worked on seems to have 1/8" thick plexi. Sometimes I think the actual glass ones may be 3/16".  I say go with 1/8" because its cheaper and more readily available.

I definitely agree on the hiding screen burn mention. I have had monitors with minor screen burn and I didn't even realize until I removed the tinted glass.

[Mrephunk]

has anyone used this http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=515&PHPSESSID=201110272252002053991728
It says it is glare free, would that be any good to use? And if I do go with smoked plexi I would need to sandwich a piece of clear on top over my bezel art, would the two doubled up affect the image?

[Savannan]

I never had smoked plexi glass but I have 1/4" greylite 31 glass on my mame cabinet and I'l never go back to standard glass again with my arcade machines.

[Jack Burton]

Every cab I've owned has come with 1/4" glass.  Not plexiglass.  

That's

Mortal Kombat
Super Chase
Ms. Pac Man
Super Pac man
Rampage

I had a little Sony PVM monitor that had a smoked glass covering over the screen like this:



The image on it was amazing.  Black backgrounds in games were a deep solid true black compared to a duller grey without the tint.  It also helped the colors quite a bit. 

I did play more modern games on it too.  My favorite game of all time is Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and I have seen that game running on every setup you can imagine.  The best I have ever seen it was on that little pvm through the smoked glass.

[Mrephunk]

If I do double up the plexi for the bezel art will the double up affect the image? Or would it be better to adhere the art to the outside of the plexi and not sandwich it?

[opt2not]

If I do double up the plexi for the bezel art will the double up affect the image?

No.

Or would it be better to adhere the art to the outside of the plexi and not sandwich it?

Don't put it outside the plexi.  Sandwich it between the clear and the smoked. This is kinda obvious, no?

[Mrephunk]

I mean if I didn't buy the clear and only the smoked. My bezel art has an adhesive backing

[Mrephunk]

I know most of my questions have been answered but I have 1 more. I am going to be playing newer 3d games like the new MK and SF but there are also a whole slew of old school games to play on xbox live arcade. So my question is would the smoked plexi hinder my newer 3d gaming? If it doesn't I would get it in order to improve my Old School games

[RandyT]

I know most of my questions have been answered but I have 1 more. I am going to be playing newer 3d games like the new MK and SF but there are also a whole slew of old school games to play on xbox live arcade. So my question is would the smoked plexi hinder my newer 3d gaming? If it doesn't I would get it in order to improve my Old School games

It probably depends on the type of game.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that it would "hinder" anything, but you may wish to increase the gamma on 3D games where this is an option.  Otherwise, you may lose some of the darker details in the 3D imagery.  Most will crank up the output of the monitor a bit to compensate anyway, so you will likely just end up with enhanced contrast for those titles as well.