Acrylic tint - your opinion

[UFO]

Hi all,

I know there are topics about this, but these are my options...

Sending from my phone, so no other info than which one would you go for?

Dark or light - going on a flat screen monitor.

ThanK's all...

[Nephasth]

Dark.

[EMDB]

I would say dark but put it in front of a monitor showing an actual emulated game to see the final result...

[UFO]

I would say dark but put it in front of a monitor showing an actual emulated game to see the final result...

Need to order it, that's the problem... Wouldn't need to ask if I had samples -- I've thought dark too, but wanted to see what everyone else says..

[taylormadelv]

Light. They changed the percentage on this greylight stuff a few years ago. It's darker now than it used to be and I think it's just a bit too dark now.

[BadMouth]

If using a shroud around the edges of the screen, I'd go with light or even clear for the sake of greater optical clarity.  (bezel art looks great under clear too)
I haven't messed with real arcade machines enough to know what % were tinted, but my old pacman machine was perfectly clear.

If just placing the monitor behind the bezel without doing anything else, go with the dark to hide the edges of the monitor.
I used dark on my cabinet because I have a rotating monitor and no shroud.
The hlsl effects in mame are a bit more convincing because it's harder to tell there is a flat screen behind the bezel.
If using a widescreen, it is not possible to adjust the brightness to hide the "black bars" on each side of the 4:3 image and still have the game bright enough though.

What I have is probably slightly lighter than the darker sheet in your pic.
The local glass place had it in stock and charged half of what I was expecting, so I went with it.
If there is a lot of ambient light in the room, you can make out the monitor edges.

[EMDB]

I would say dark but put it in front of a monitor showing an actual emulated game to see the final result...

Need to order it, that's the problem... Wouldn't need to ask if I had samples -- I've thought dark too, but wanted to see what everyone else says..

But your pictures show samples 

[Nephasth]

I would say dark but put it in front of a monitor showing an actual emulated game to see the final result...

Need to order it, that's the problem... Wouldn't need to ask if I had samples -- I've thought dark too, but wanted to see what everyone else says..

But your pictures show samples 

His pictures are screenshots from his phone. Lots of pics to choose from on the internet...

[jdbailey1206]

I had this same problem with my full size cab.  The company I was going to order my acrylic from actually had a group of 5 samples they sold for the range I thought I needed.  Glad I got my samples because even the lightest tint was too datk for what I needed.  I went with clear and had no problems. 

I would like to know what kind of monitor you have.  Because some flat monitors dont have the brightness to be covered up by a tinted acrylic/glass.

[RandyT]

Light travels in both directions through materials.  So as BadMouth stated, a lot of factors come into play.  Bezel or no bezel, bright room or darkened, LCD quality, etc. will have an effect on your choices.

Dark tint can hide the lack of a bezel, and can increase black levels on lower end LCD's where the blacks get kind of "washy" looking.  It will not increase the contrast ratio, but it can feel like it does.  You may also find that longer playing sessions are more comfortable on your eyes with darker tint.  With larger screens, it can also hide borders, making vertical games appear more natural, rather than looking to be pasted in the center of a horizontally oriented monitor.

I'm a "dark tint" guy, and have converted quite a few die-hards over the years since introducing the idea to this community so long ago.  But your monitor, the environment and your goals will dictate just how dark you can go.

[mnewt]

I ordered some samples from trent plastics (UK based) and tried them out. The samples were cheap enough and came in light or dark gray - either 3mm or 5mm. I thought the dark gray would be best, but with my hp lp1965 lcd monitor, I found their dark gray to be....well just too dark. The light gray was enough to make the colors pop a bit and darken the surrounding screen when playing vertical games. I strongly suggest you bite the bullet, pay for the samples, and see what works best for you and your monitor.

[DolansCadillac]

It's a tough call, I went with darker (graylite 14) originally and ended up hated it. It certainly makes the blacks perfect, and you won't need a bezel at all, but the tradeoff was how much it drained the intensity of the white levels. Most modern games look just dim, and that was on a bright CRT with the contrast cranked.

For older games with black backgrounds though, you can't beat it. That illusion it creates where it looks like it's floating on the glass never gets old.

[UFO]

Thanks for the advice chaps...

I ordered the dark today. There will be no artwork round the monitor as yet, but its something that I have taken into account - this might change at a later date and I will look into getting something clear.

I'll see how it goes - it sounds a little hit and miss, so we'll see!

Thanks again all...

[johntmanic]

Hi mate,

I've just signed up to this forum as I am in the same boat as what you were with regards to these 2 options of tinting (I'm in the UK also).

How did you get on with the dark tinted one?

Thanks a lot

John

[stigzler]

I ordered some samples from trent plastics (UK based)

Bonkers - that's in my home town. It's one road in and one road out here! I'm also needing a few plexi pieces for various bits - happy days!

[SavannahLion]

Light. They changed the percentage on this greylight stuff a few years ago. It's darker now than it used to be and I think it's just a bit too dark now.

Are you saying that 30% (random number) is darker now than the 30% ten years ago or are you saying that the standard stock is 40% now? I think TAPS has a selection of shades to choose from but I don't know their tint values.

[stigzler]

For anyone researching into this, I've just contacted Trent Plastics for the light transmission values (precent of light let through). These are:

Light Grey: 59%
Dark Grey: 14%

Now reading around - looks like people recommend between 20-35% for the light transmission. So looks like the light's too light and the dark's too dark!

God bless the UK. Currently looking round for plexi in the right range + will post if find.

UFO - how did it work out in the end?

[RandyT]

Now reading around - looks like people recommend between 20-35% for the light transmission. So looks like the light's too light and the dark's too dark!

I haven't tried this, but it might make for an interesting experiment.  If you use 1/8" material, you could try stacking two of the 59% panels.  This would give you roughly 59% of 59%, or 34.81%.  What is unknown to me is whether this will create any artifacting, such as optical interference patterns or ghosts.  Those things can be eliminated with an optically clear, water-thin adhesive, but DIY'ers don't have access to materials and equipment to do it well.

Might be worth a try, if you want something inbetween.

[yamatetsu]

For what it's worth, I went with a 5mm polycarbonate sheet in bronze color, 50% light transmission. Works for me. If you can't find anything other than light grey, perhaps you could try that and turn the monitor's brightness a bit down, that might work.

[RandyT]

For what it's worth, I went with a 5mm polycarbonate sheet in bronze color, 50% light transmission. Works for me. If you can't find anything other than light grey, perhaps you could try that and turn the monitor's brightness a bit down, that might work.

The bronze material will impart a color shift.  It's usually not the best solution due to this, but it's a matter of taste.  Also, turning down the monitor doesn't help if the goal is to help hide components behind the window.  Personally, I wouldn't use the 50% material, unless I had a nice bezel around the monitor face.

[yamatetsu]

Personally, I wouldn't use the 50% material, unless I had a nice bezel around the monitor face.

That's what I did. Plexi --> black bezel --> monitor. The bezel hides everything but the screen, the plexi hides most of the bezel.