Hardware needed to interface an ATI card with an arcade monitor?

[Paradroid]

After having been on a wonderful adventure running GroovyMAME on SCART televisions I've finally decided to look into pairing a universal arcade monitor chassis with one of my Phillips CRTs. I've been in touch with Jomac and it looks like he can setup me up with a chassis suitable for the Phillips A66EAK tube I would like to use.

I'm looking for some advice from people running true arcade monitors with GroovyMAME as to what additional hardware I'll need. Am I right in thinking that all I'll need between my ATI X300 video card and the monitor chassis is a videoamp such as this?

As long as the chassis footprint is permitting, I plan to replace the guts of a Loewe television and, from the outside, my arcade setup will look like a regular television. So, this is not a full blown cabinet project. My controller will be connected via USB. I am right to think I don't really have a need for a JPAC with a setup like this? Just the videoamp?

Any advice would would be much appreciated!

[Calamity]

Yes, the video amplifier is all you should need. That's the same circuit inside the JPAC according to Ultimarc's site. The JPAC only makes sense if you need to interface with a JAMMA connection. I use JPACs and the video amplifier works great.

Sounds like another interesting project! Keep us informed. 

[Paradroid]

Thanks Calamity. As I thought.

Here's what Joey from Jomac said about the chassis:

The chassis to suit is $240 + $20 postage , it's a commercial grade chassis , dual resolution 15/25K , free voltage from 90~265v auto detecting.
It comes with extended controls , yoke and input connectors , I also have no problem guiding your through set up over the phone .

Sounds pretty exciting! Dual res will be fun after being stuck with just the 15k modes. The main reason I'm giving this a shot is that after my "analog awakening" I can't foresee that many analog SCART TVs still in good condition turning up in the future. The Grundig chassis that I've settled on at the moment is working great but I just can't see it going the distance (the flyback looks like a museum relic and a replacement part from Europe would be over $150).

Either way, we'll see how this universal chassis goes with GroovyMAME.

[Calamity]

Sounds good! If it's compatible with the Loewe tube it should look great. It shouldn't be too hard to figure up those monitor specs, and 25 KHz games, like the ones from Sega, look awesome at their native resolution.

I recently purchased a brand new Hantarex Polostar 25" (analog). It's not so easy to find a new CRT arcade monitor in Europe these days. The picture quality, brightness and contrast of a new monitor is fantastic. The focus is nearly perfect right to the borders. However, I was dissapointed with geometry. I expected geometry to be equal or better than what I got with my old Hantarex MTC 9110, but this was not the case. There's always some amount of distortion in the picture you can't fully get rid of. Not too bad and nearly undetectable when playing games, but it's definitely there. I don't know how to explain it, it's like if these newer chasis intended to flatten the natural curvature of the picture. After seeing some pictures of other multisync monitor brands I *think* that similar issues are there too. Hopefully these universal chassis don't have these problems, otherwise you'll notice it for sure, having got used to the nice dumb nature of older analog chasis.

[Paradroid]

Very interesting. Thanks for the insight.

Some of these Phillips tubes I've been using have amazingly good convergence. Plus, since they're so cheap (I'm actually picking up a free Loewe tomorrow morning... not the first time I've done that either!) I feel like I can afford to keep swapping them around until I get the PERFECT picture. Other people have said that a high-end TV tube combined with a universal chassis is about as good as it gets. We'll find out if they're right (I hope so!)

You know, it's also fascinating to see how the tube and chassis interact. The Grundig CUC 4635 chassis I hooked up to a newer Phillips tube produces a picture that is very sharp with, as you said of your Hantarex, focus that is very good right to the edges. The funny thing is that the chassis didn't look anywhere near as good with the older tube it originally had. I was pretty surprised with how good the quality is with a newer tube, to say the least. Plus, as you say, these dinosaur type chassis don't have the niggling deformities that newer tech sometimes shows.

Anyway, if this universal chassis route works out well, I reckon that's gotta be a great way to go: first, find an excellent tube for cheap or free and, second, buy a high quality analog chassis to compliment it. WG monitors and others cost the Earth here and it seems newer monitors (like yours) aren't like they used to be. Maybe this experiment of mine will provide the ultimate solution...

[Calamity]

I'm eager to hear about your results.

BTW, you probably already know this blog: http://obsoletetellyemuseum.blogspot.com/
I just haven't seen it posted anywhere.

[Paradroid]

OH YES! That site is pure SCART TV porn!

Oh, how I'd love to attack that guy's collection armed with a laptop and GroovyMAME and see what could be achieved. Technology wise, I'm sure there would be some winners amongst all those retro TVs. More than that though, even my girlfriend can appreciate how beautiful some of those old units are.

Pretty amazing blog. Makes my collection look like the work of an amateur.

[Calamity]

I bookmarked the site right after reading this statement:

"This is the opportunity on the WEB to see, one more time, what real technology WAS !"

 

[apfelanni]

philips a66/a59eak071x01 tubes are working fine with hantarex polostar or valvo 93 10/11 chassis . a buddy combined a brand new valvo chassis with a not so old tv tube . its as good it can be , but in comparison with a tv chassis that isnt producing artifical picture enhancement ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- u wont notice any difference . the biggest downside of modern digital tv chassis isnt the lack of vert size adjusting but sometimes the more synthetic looking picture . usually i pick the one that best fits the purpose , no matter if its all analog or digital .  there are always pros n cons . i have a few valvo/philips combos working inside my arcades and maybe 5-10 chassis + 10 complete universals for replacement parts , so using it for a diy cab sometimes is an option. but if it comes to emulation with everything nonjamma wired i dont see the need for taking the more complex and less reliable 20 year old arcade stuff . pic shows how a selfmade pcb teststation ,tv tube + arcade guts look like .

[Paradroid]

That's one funky looking test rig! I like!

[maiki]

"I've finally decided to look into pairing a universal arcade monitor chassis with one of my Phillips CRTs"

The only thing that makes sence to me regarding SCART TVs.

[Paradroid]

The only thing that makes sence to me regarding SCART TVs.

Fair enough. But for some people being able to play their favorite arcade games on a CRT screen at native resolution and refresh rate for minimal or zero cost is pretty appealing. Sure, having an REAL arcade monitor is usually preferable but finding and affording one of them is a lot trickier for some.

SCART TVs may have their idiosyncrasies but, aside from higher res games, if you find the right model then the image quality and compatibility can be excellent.

Besides, there's no way I would have built the confidence to mess around with a real arcade chassis without first experimenting with SCART TVs for a while. Now I know the things I'm looking for and the basic theoretical and practical concepts involved.