Is 4:3 the best way to go?

[RandyT]

Re: future of 4:3 displays

CRT is dead and buried, but keep an eye on LG and other OLED display manufacturers. They'll probably start pumping out commercial 4:3 units for video walls soon enough. They'll be pricey, but contrast and black levels should be CRT-like.

In commercial markets, viewing angle, contrast and black levels are the biggest drivers of OLED.  But for our purposes, these are only part of the equation.  OLEDs may be CRT-like in contrast and black level, but they are very LCD like in their imaging.  Advances in LCD technology have almost made OLED moot, unless the price falls dramatically.  For this to happen, OLED would need to supplant LCD displays in the consumer marketplace, and that's not likely to happen any time soon, given LCD's technological maturity, and their lower cost of production.

I own several plasma displays, which share many traits with OLED technology.  The biggest departures being size and power consumption, but plasmas can deliver CRT picture quality, viewing angles and color rendition.  But the units which could deliver this, also suffered from higher cost.  It remains to be seen whether consumers will embrace OLED, or whether it will suffer the same end, regardless of the advances in picture quality over LCD.  The way it went with plasma VS LCD, tends to indicate that most consumers just aren't discerning enough to pay more (currently, much more) for what OLED can offer.

[plazma]

Didn't some big manufacturer like LG etc. recently stop manufacturing LCDs and moved to OLED?

[Alejo I]

 

Didn't some big manufacturer like LG etc. recently stop manufacturing LCDs and moved to OLED?

LG has moved its entire top range to OLED. There's a lot of interest, specially in the commercial space due to the technology's frugality. There are some challenges ahead, but I'm optimistic. Specially since costs keep lowering, whereas plasma remained expensive through its life.

[RandyT]

Didn't some big manufacturer like LG etc. recently stop manufacturing LCDs and moved to OLED?

The articles I saw showed that they dropped production of plasma, to focus on OLED, but they were dated ~2014.  I can't imagine LG dropping LCDs.  Seems like it would be financial suicide, without another similarly positioned product to take it's place.

I have already seen complaints about OLED's image retention issues ("burn in"), which was one of the things which put consumers off with plasma.  So there are definitely challenges ahead.

[Alejo I]

Didn't some big manufacturer like LG etc. recently stop manufacturing LCDs and moved to OLED?

The articles I saw showed that they dropped production of plasma, to focus on OLED, but they were dated ~2014.  I can't imagine LG dropping LCDs.  Seems like it would be financial suicide, without another similarly positioned product to take it's place.

I have already seen complaints about OLED's image retention issues ("burn in"), which was one of the things which put consumers off with plasma.  So there are definitely challenges ahead.

First gen OLED was unsurprisingly crap. LG, however, is betting huge on it and plans to bring it down range, specially now that they claim to have fixed the burn in issues (which is why Samsung dropped out from the big OLED race to focus on mobile displays). Chinese manufacturers are already sourcing from LG, so there's that.

Panasonic had also replaced its upmarket plasma line with  LG built panels, although they use their own processing, which is apparently insane and well ahead any competitors.

I'm a huge OLED fanboy and I can't wait to see where it takes us.

[FALSE]

I've been trying to decide on a monitor myself for my build.
I'm really leaning toward a 40" or 42" lcd widescreen mounted vertically.
Vertical shmups are hugely important to me as are the '90s beat em ups and fighters.
A 42" widescreen mounted vertically would give you a 20.6" wide game screen where as a 21" 4:3 monitor would almost give you a 17" game screen.
4" makes a world of difference (thats what she said).

*edit*
Maximus's Revolution cab is the best example I could find of a vertical widescreen.
Anyone know any other builds I can look at?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139647.0.html

[Laythe]

Maximus's Revolution cab is the best example I could find of a vertical widescreen.
Anyone know any other builds I can look at?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139647.0.html

Ok, if I remember how this went last time...   

I say that Token's Moonshot is another, as is my Mimic.

Then, you ask me a question and the forum crashes before I can answer.

What was your question again?

[FALSE]

Maximus's Revolution cab is the best example I could find of a vertical widescreen.
Anyone know any other builds I can look at?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,139647.0.html

Ok, if I remember how this went last time...   

I say that Token's Moonshot is another, as is my Mimic.

Then, you ask me a question and the forum crashes before I can answer.

What was your question again?

You must have made the forum crash then lol...
I think I asked how the trackball is for golden tee and bowling games on your Mimic cab?
The control panel doesn't look very deep, can you get a good roll?

Mimic is AWESOME btw!
Thinking of stealing the idea if I can find an affordable monitor for the marquee.

[Laythe]

You must have made the forum crash then lol...
I think I asked how the trackball is for golden tee and bowling games on your Mimic cab?
The control panel doesn't look very deep, can you get a good roll?

Mimic is AWESOME btw!
Thinking of stealing the idea if I can find an affordable monitor for the marquee.

I'll try not to break the forums this time.   

Thanks!

I'd say the depth of control panel I went with in Mimic is:

Ideal for games like Missile Command, Centipede or Ataxx
Good enough for games like Marble Madness or The Irritating Maze
Marginally adequate for games like Golden Tee or bowling
Totally inadequate for Golden Tee plus alcohol

So depending on what your target use is, maybe go a bit deeper and/or lay the display further down like Moonshot.   

[jtslade]

There is nothing you are going to emulate that isn't 4:3. Choosing anything that isn't a 4:3 display is made out of 100 percent fail. I hear all the excuses in the world as to why someone had to use some cruddy LCD widescreen, that ultimately has the same or smaller 4:3 viewing area than a standard 19" or 21" CRT.

"Oh, I don't want the trouble of a crt." Not sure what trouble you are talking about. They have connectors, they hook up.

"CRT is too heavy". Didn't realize you were a 9 year old girl who needed to be able to move the machine without a dolly, and if so then why is it built out of MDF instead of plywood.

"I have to play Street Fighter 5, etc." Those are 3D windows applications that support a whole bunch of different resolutions and aspect ratios. In fact if the newer SF games had a preferred aspect ratio then it is actually 5:4, as that is the only ratio that doesn't crop the backgrounds.

1000% correct.. But I am realizing the question " Why are we trying to tell anyone that CRT is the best way to go" there are only a finite amount of CRT tubes left and we go up against endless Millennial hate for CRT's .. So I don't think we should bother anymore..

Just advocate that the ones who are ripping arcade CRT's out of existing games donate or sell them to an Arcade Collector..

I think I saw more than one post where someone said CRT was dead.. Ok no problem. More Tubes and Chassis for the rest of us.

I may be wrong but just thinking ..

[haynor666]

While I prefer and use CRT TV (arcade monitors are expensive and rare right now in Poland) I understand people using LCD:
- Easier to configure - no need for soft15khz or ArcadeOSD or any special hardware
- easier to build rotary mechanism for monitor in tate mode
- flat build so your cab won't be as big as one with crt monitor/tv (I've seen here on BYOAC cabs mounted on wall)
- sharper picture (unless intentionally we use effects). Some people prefer clear picture over natural crt picture after years of usage LCD monitors
- easier to transport - 21 inch TV/monitor is usually around 15 kg or more (like Sony Trinitrons). It might be on an problem at house but transporting 29 or 25 inch TV/monitor from seller to our home might be sometimes problematic

[RandyT]

- sharper picture (unless intentionally we use effects). Some people prefer clear picture over natural crt picture after years of usage LCD monitors

I'd agree with everything on the list but this one.  While some might prefer the sharp pixel images, it's not what the designers intended.  They took artistic advantage of the characteristics of the CRT display, to make graphics which looked much better than the inherent resolution of the hardware, would seem to allow.  While it seems somewhat counter-intuitive, the sharp and well defined pixels of LCDs , and similarly sharp displays, have the net effect of removing information from the image, as these CRT artifacts were leveraged for these visual improvements.

In other words, some might like very low resolution images on an LCD, but they really aren't seeing the visuals of the games as they were intended.

[paigeoliver]

While it seems somewhat counter-intuitive, the sharp and well defined pixels of LCDs , and similarly sharp displays, have the net effect of removing information from the image, as these CRT artifacts were leveraged for these visual improvements.

In other words, some might like very low resolution images on an LCD, but they really aren't seeing the visuals of the games as they were intended.

That is why Pac-Man is round on my Wells gardner monitor and looks like he is made out of jagged blocks on an LCD.

[monkeybomb]

I can't believe this thread is still going.  I checked in to see what the fuss was and there is a lot going on here.  But the OPs question is so easily answered.  If you are building an arcade cabinet, it will have a 4:3 CRT monitor. If you want something that reminds you of an arcade cabinet, then go with a 4:3 LCD.  If you are going 16:9 and just want to play games, I recommend a kick ass flat screen and a pedestal.  Or something similar.  I didn't get in to SFV, but I never liked SFIV on anything smaller than 46". From what I can see, everything 16:9 is console driven and thus belongs on a big screen.  YMMV