31khz monitor

[jmcginley]

I just bought a 31khz monitor and I'm trying to decide if I made a mistake.

I saw this thread from April 2014.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=138724.0

Is this still the case? Calamity mentions there are 2 options for using 31khz monitor and having it look authentic (software scanlines or hardware scanlines).

So ultimately, should I try to resell this thing and look for a 15khz monitor if I'm trying to have accurate resolutions/refresh rates?

[cools]

Super resolutions with fake scanlines on a 31KHz monitor work brilliantly. Being able to run the OS/frontend in a decent resolution is a significant advantage too.

The fake scanlines - 50-100% black is your choice. I wouldn't risk trying to drive an arcade monitor at 120Hz.

I am still absolutely satisfied with this setup.

[jmcginley]

Super resolutions with fake scanlines on a 31KHz monitor work brilliantly. Being able to run the OS/frontend in a decent resolution is a significant advantage too.

The fake scanlines - 50-100% black is your choice. I wouldn't risk trying to drive an arcade monitor at 120Hz.

I am still absolutely satisfied with this setup.

Do you have any issues with vertical games?

[cools]

No?

If you're playing vertical games on a horizontal monitor it's going to look terrible for most of them regardless, except the few that integer scale properly with 480/512 lines

[jmcginley]

No?

If you're playing vertical games on a horizontal monitor it's going to look terrible for most of them regardless, except the few that integer scale properly with 480/512 lines

Ok, I was just curious because in that thread, Calamity said something about vertical games not looking right. You're right though, vertical games on a horizontal monitor aren't going to look all that great anyway.

This makes me feel better about owning a 31khz monitor. Have you seen gameplay on a 15khz? Would you say the difference is minimal and not worth worrying about?

My situation is, I've got a WG D9200 (27" tri-sync monitor) that has some issues. I've also got a Sanwa 29E31S (29" 31khz monitor) that does not have any issues. I didn't know if I should maybe resell the Sanwa and use the money to fix the WG.

[cools]

I am pretty familiar with 15KHz monitors

On a 31KHz monitor using fake scanlines will get you a result that is for all intents and purposes identical to running 15KHz on it. It's arguably better than a true 15KHz for emulation as you have the ability to run interlaced games in progressive resolutions (without scanlines), and a chunk of vertical games rotated onto it without fractional scaling. Plus the aforementioned OS/frontend niceness.

Given the choice between a 15K and 31K arcade monitor for an emulation only setup, I would pick the latter every time.

Not sure what Calamity is referring to there. I know if you want to run vertical games on a horizontal monitor with horizontal scanlines (which looks great for something like Raiden that scales to 512p, even if it is blasphemous) you need to use a rotated scanline file. Vertical games not rotated with normal scanlines have been fine forever.

[jmcginley]

Sweet! That makes me feel better about the purchase. This will strictly be an emulation only setup, so it sounds like it's going to work out.

I guess I'll start the process of connecting my PC to this monitor. This particular chassis does not have a VGA port, so I'm guessing I'll need to figure out the pinouts for the molex that's on the chassis and solder them to the corresponding pinouts on a VGA cable?

Second question, the service manual says this monitor's resolution is 676 dots by 625 lines. I'm an idiot when it comes to this... what does that means I'll need to put the resolution at on my PC? Will I need to make any other adjustments on the PC before connecting to the monitor (I don't want to damage anything by giving it a signal it can't accept).

Last question Since I have a 31khz monitor, I'll need to run all MAME games at high res, right? Does this mean I'll need a beefier PC than I would if I had a 15khz monitor running games at standard res?

Thanks for your help, cools!

[cools]

Can't answer about the pinout. Sounds sane though.

If it's a 31KHz monitor, run it at 640x480 while setting everything up. Set up super resolutions with CRT_Emudriver (depends on the monitor, but it's likely you'll only need a single mode 2560x480), run GroovyMAME with effect scanlines and cleanstretch 2

Won't require any additional hardware over running in low resolution, any of the cards CRT_Emudriver supports will be fine.

[jmcginley]

Can't answer about the pinout. Sounds sane though.

If it's a 31KHz monitor, run it at 640x480 while setting everything up. Set up super resolutions with CRT_Emudriver (depends on the monitor, but it's likely you'll only need a single mode 2560x480), run GroovyMAME with effect scanlines and cleanstretch 2

Won't require any additional hardware over running in low resolution, any of the cards CRT_Emudriver supports will be fine.

Awesome, setting up the software sounds easy enough (thanks for that run through of the steps to take). I'll just figure out the best way to get this monitor hooked up to my PC and I'll be set.

Thanks for all your help!