you don't want to put a progressive scan CRT TV in arcade cabinet
To be clear, I meant you don't want a CRT TV that's
marketed as "progressive scan," meaning one capable of 480p or higher. As stated above, traditional CRT TV's are of capable of 15kHz "low-res" progressive, which is what you want.
I worded this poorly. MonMotha, you seemed to know exactly what I meant, but just wanted to clarify for anyone else reading. Post edited.
There were also some PC video cards from the mid-2000s with YPbPr component outputs on them. They were generally "fully capable" outputs - they were just as configurable as the RGB (VGA) outputs, but they output in YPbPr.
If anyone can find one, go for it. Just make sure it's listed as compatible with Soft15kHz:
http://community.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?7925-Getestete-GrafikkartenVery handy if you can find one as it avoids the need for an extra converter.
Agreed. In my case, I also use my transcoder with custom cabling to get RGB quality from my Genesis, PC Engine, Super Nintendo, Saturn, and Dreamcast. I use it with a scan converter for 240p output from PS3 (Third Strike Online), Wii (Mega Man 9), and Gamecube (Game Boy Player). I also use it with an NTSC decoder (composite to RGB) for NES.
I need the transcoder anyway. If you're not dealing with consoles in your cab, a component graphics card may be both the simplest and best solution, but I would recommend reconsidering using consoles in addition to MAME.
There's tons of great console ports of games that aren't yet full speed or even working at all in MAME. Also, there are tons of console exclusive games that are better suited for a cabinet than a controller. Finally, there are some MAME games with very high input lag that are better played on a console port.
Most televisions are very cost sensitive, and it turns out that it was cheaper during that era to do digital scaling than to do multisync deflection.
Makes perfect sense.
This was especially true of some of the late 1080i widescreen CRTs.
Yeah, and I should say that these TV's generally upscale to
at least 480p.
I can't give you any models I know are multisyncs, but they're out there.
Does anyone know any model numbers of multisync CRT TV's capable of displaying real 15kHz. I've tried very hard to find some, but no luck. I've personally tested many sets, but they've all had the upscaling problem.
I will say that a 480p capable CRT TV gives the best picture you can get from a Dreamcast. 720p games (like SFIV and Blazblue) are also very nice on a capable CRT TV, and of course no lag.
It's tough to tell from a picture, and everybody has different taste in how they adjust the monitor
I know. There's really no substitute for us actually meeting in person to compare, but it's the best I could on a forum.
If the system's not scaling, then, for progressive video, the only real difference to concern yourself with is dot pitch of the CRT, and those are all over the map. The arcade monitors that support SVGA/XGA tend to have finer dot pitch
Of course. I definitely don't want anything capable of over 31kHz, as the dot pitch would have to be too high. I'm looking for something like the TV I have pictured.
Even among 15kHz TV's there's a wide variety of different dot pitches available. It's pretty much correlated to how long ago it was made, and then varies slightly from there among manufacturers.
The difference in dot pitch in 15kHz TV's presents a tradeoff.
The one pictured is relatively new. It's from about the last line of 15kHz CRT TV's that Sony made, so it has a flat tube and a digital chassis. It has a relatively fine dot pitch, so it produces a fairly sharp image (for TV's, nothing like a computer monitor) and pretty distinct scan lines, which I prefer. However, since it's relatively sharp, motion feathering is quite apparent with 480i sources.
On the other hand, the fuzzier image produced by an older TV with a coarser dot pitch (like one with a curved tube and only composite inputs) may have no apparent scan lines, but the fuzziness will also hide motion feathering.
Technically a curved tube is more accurate to the arcade, and some people will prefer a fuzzier picture with less or no scanlines. I don't know why anyone would prefer motion feathering, so older TV's may actually be better depending on your preferences.
Also, wouldn't a shadow mask be more accurate the arcade than the aperture grille of my Trinitron? You have to look very closely to see this difference though; everything's a tradeoff.
All of my arcade monitors appear to have a dot pitch comparable to a typical CRT television from the 90s...
I could say that all of my monitors look "good" at low res progressive e.g. from a Neo-Geo MVS. The ones that are capable of it look downright beautiful at 480p/VGA assuming the graphics its displaying are reasonably designed for that, but even the old 25k/mid-res stuff looks very smooth.
What tri-sync (15/24/31) monitors are you using/referring to?
What do you think of the currently available monitors from Wei-Ya and Makvision? They're the only new tri-sync's available right now, correct?
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Since we're reviving this thread, my other question was if anyone makes custom chassis's that would allow me to use the tube from this TV for 15/24/31kHz? I've heard about this, but can't find any details or references.