lcd viewing angle for cocktail (tv vs. monitor)

[Fonkybeachbum]

hello,
first off thanks to all of you people for the tremendous amount of knowledge available on this forum.  truly badass. 

i'm pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but i figured i'd ask before pulling the trigger on a monitor.   I have my first cp draft assembled and working with the computer i'm using in my cab.  i'm building a cocktail cab and am concerned about viewing angle.  i am going to with a flat planel display of 24"-27".  originally, i was going to look for a plasma, as they have the best viewing angles, but i'm not finding any small ones on ebay, so now i will go with lcd. 

SHOULD I GO WITH LCD TV OR LCD PC MONITOR FOR MY COCKTAIL CABINET?

any opinions or thoughts would be much appreciated

[2084]

Most PC monitor LCDs are optimized to view from the sizes and do OK from above.  With many that I have had when you try to view it from the bottom (i.e. looking up at it when it is in its intended position) the brightness of the image really falls off quickly.  Thus for a cocktail where the display is mounted horizontally the player on the bottom edge might not be able to see very well.  For a vertical orientation it might be better but then watching from the side could be an issue.  Some are better than others in this regard so I would look at them closely before you buy.

[GORF000]

IPS monitor have the same view angle. 178° horizontal and vertical.

[mgb]

Personally I'd try and stick with CRT but if you go with LCD, stick with an ips display for best viewing angles.
I wouldn't go with plasma. I thought you weren't supposed to have a plasma display on its back.

[BadMouth]

The LCD in my cab is horrible.
2 player vertical games are barely playable because the monitor appears so much darker when viewed from the bottom edge.  (which is the right side when the monitor is rotated vertically).

I don't believe LED monitors suffer from the same issue, but I've never owned one.

Definitely check the viewing angles before you build.

[ChanceKJ]

LED TVs are still LCD. They just use LEDs for the backlight instead of CCFL. You can find both LED and CCFL LCD TVs with IPS or TFT displays.

Personally I'd try and stick with CRT but if you go with LCD, stick with an ips display for best viewing angles.
I wouldn't go with plasma. I thought you weren't supposed to have a plasma display on its back.

You're not. Something about the weight of the glass panels and the cell structure of the gas chambers.  You'd be hard pressed to find plasma under 40". Not many were made smaller then that.

I agree with an IPS panel. Better viewing angles.

Stick with the CRT if you want an authentic look but don't mind the weight. Go LCD with a scan line generator for a modern approach.

Now, all I need to do if find myself a 27" Dual View LCD with a parallex system so I can build my cocktail.

[Felsir]

I have a LED TV in my cocktail and the viewing angle is excellent. The viewing angle for my Samsung 32"LED tv is close to 170 degrees. This is the TV in action in my coffeetable, where the viewing angle is lower than most traditional cocktail cabinets: