Plz Help! Arcade Monitor vs. TV (Been discussed before, but still need help)

[Becton]

Hi all!

(Backstory: A few months ago I decided to finally try and get an arcade machine (a dream since childhood). As I started scouring local ads, I learned about MAME cabinets. This was a perfect fit for me, unfortunately, the few cabinets I found were cobbled together out of undersized LCD monitors, underpowered PC's, poor wood craft. They looked horrible, and were an arm and a leg. I knew I could do better for less. Fortunately, I found a cabinet restorer who was, not only a nice guy, but had an old Golden Tee with an untested Wells Gardner 25 in. monitor in the cab. He sold it at a very reasonable price, and I dove into MAME.
I'm not totally inexperienced, having built my own computer, done woodworking, and rewired USB controllers into fight sticks. I got the cab refurbished, JAMMA harness pulled, marquee up with lighting, sound system up and running, and have all of my control panel equipment ready to roll. I'm good with everything except the monitor... which is where my problem begins....)

So, I have a Wells Gardner 25K7191 that came with the cab I bought (my first MAME project). I finally hooked it up to 120v today, using the isolation transformer, but no video input. Other than a slight orange glow at the neck of the tube, there was absolutely no indication of life. The monitor itself showed no sign of lighting up. (I did feel static off the screen at startup.)
I have checked the main fuse, and it appears intact, but I was told at purchase that the monitor may need a cap kit. I've also learned that I may or may not need a video amplifier along with the ArcadeVGA card for this monitor. I would like to stick with this monitor, but I don't want to go down an expensive and time consuming "rabbit hole" only to find that it's DOA, or there's massive screen burn. That leads me to option  #2...

Today at my local thrift store, I ran across a Sharp TV model #27c530, circa 2003. This is a 27" curved CRT alternative that with component inputs, would fit my cab with some minor alterations.

So, here's my questions:

* Do you think I should stick with the WG 25" and try to get it working?
* If so, what in addition to an ArcadeVGA would I need to connect it to a PC (if I manage to get it going)?
* If not, what is the difference in picture quality between TV and Arcade monitor if I use the Component (not composite inputs)?
* Could I just use a VGA cable to component cable for the TV, or would you suggest something else?
* Would you still suggest the ArcadeVGA with the Sharp, or something else?

Please give me any feedback you have. I'm still learning with this, but I don't run across CRT TV's that fit my cab (w/ component inputs) everyday. Still, I don't want to sink another 25$ into the learning process. Thanks for your time, and any help you can offer.

Bec

[yotsuya]

Hi all!

(Backstory: A few months ago I decided to finally try and get an arcade machine (a dream since childhood). As I started scouring local ads, I learned about MAME cabinets. This was a perfect fit for me, unfortunately, the few cabinets I found were cobbled together out of undersized LCD monitors, underpowered PC's, poor wood craft. They looked horrible, and were an arm and a leg. I knew I could do better for less. Fortunately, I found a cabinet restorer who was, not only a nice guy, but had an old Golden Tee with an untested Wells Gardner 25 in. monitor in the cab. He sold it at a very reasonable price, and I dove into MAME.
I'm not totally inexperienced, having built my own computer, done woodworking, and rewired USB controllers into fight sticks. I got the cab refurbished, JAMMA harness pulled, marquee up with lighting, sound system up and running, and have all of my control panel equipment ready to roll. I'm good with everything except the monitor... which is where my problem begins....)

So, I have a Wells Gardner 25K7191 that came with the cab I bought (my first MAME project). I finally hooked it up to 120v today, using the isolation transformer, but no video input. Other than a slight orange glow at the neck of the tube, there was absolutely no indication of life. The monitor itself showed no sign of lighting up. (I did feel static off the screen at startup.)
I have checked the main fuse, and it appears intact, but I was told at purchase that the monitor may need a cap kit. I've also learned that I may or may not need a video amplifier along with the ArcadeVGA card for this monitor. I would like to stick with this monitor, but I don't want to go down an expensive and time consuming "rabbit hole" only to find that it's DOA, or there's massive screen burn. That leads me to option  #2...

Today at my local thrift store, I ran across a Sharp TV model #27c530, circa 2003. This is a 27" curved CRT alternative that with component inputs, would fit my cab with some minor alterations.

So, here's my questions:

* Do you think I should stick with the WG 25" and try to get it working?
* If so, what in addition to an ArcadeVGA would I need to connect it to a PC (if I manage to get it going)?
* If not, what is the difference in picture quality between TV and Arcade monitor if I use the Component (not composite inputs)?
* Could I just use a VGA cable to component cable for the TV, or would you suggest something else?
* Would you still suggest the ArcadeVGA with the Sharp, or something else?

Please give me any feedback you have. I'm still learning with this, but I don't run across CRT TV's that fit my cab (w/ component inputs) everyday. Still, I don't want to sink another 25$ into the learning process. Thanks for your time, and any help you can offer.

Bec

You have a picture of how its currently set up?

[behrmr]

... I finally hooked it up to 120v today, using the isolation transformer, but no video input. Other than a slight orange glow at the neck of the tube, there was absolutely no indication of life. The monitor itself showed no sign of lighting up. (I did feel static off the screen at startup.)

This is the correct behavior of a monitor with no video input. 

[Becton]

Update:
Thanks for the quick replies...
Yes, I know a screen w/o input should be black, but I'm used to seeing some sign of life. i.e. the faint glow of the screen

That said, after leaving power to it for a bit last night, we did finally notice exactly that. The screen glow is very dim, there are some very faint horizontal scan lines, and it takes awhile to warm up, but it is alive.

On that same note, I went back to my local thrift store and found that they'd dropped the TV price to 9.99$, so now I have both.

Will get a picture up as soon as possible.

[pbj]

That 25" monitor was probably turned on 24/7 for 15 years.  You're probably going to be better off using the TV.....

[morton]

There are some nice TV's out there with component for next to nothing that are very capable and can be modded to accept RGB inputs if you feel ambitious enough... The Sony KVxxFS120 line is pretty nice, and my 27" has great picture just over composite... I reckon RGB would look quite brilliant. As for the PC side, I am a noob, and yet to delve that far yet. Hope you get sorted, as many face this dilemma down the road.

[buttersoft]

Assuming you're on Windows 7 or 10...

The ArcadeVGA cards lose out to using crt_emudriver and a compatible Radeon card. The latter is cheaper, faster, easier and far more powerful if you need it to be. The only drawback is that if you want full protection including during boot, you have to flash the card's Bios with Atom15, and this carries the same risk that flashing any custom bios does - you might brick the card. It's not at all likely, but not completely impossible.

That said, if you don't want to build your own amp from something like a THS7314 or 7316, the J-Pac from ultimarc is a handy piece of kit. It can block signals out of range of the monitor (anything above 15kHz - during boot, for example) and protect your monitor that way. Along with it being a video amplifier, and a usb joystick interface, of course.

If the monitor you have is blurry or weak, you might think about the TV. In which case you either need to hack it for RGB, or get a 1:1 RGB-to-component transcoder like this one - https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xvga-to-component+transcoder.TRS0&_nkw=vga-to-component+transcoder&_sacat=0

The description for that unit says all the right things, so read it and take note. Shinybow probably make something you can use as well. Don't fall for cables, you need an active converter box that takes a 15kHz resolution and turns it into YPbPr. With this option there's no need for the video amp, but you still need either the ArcadeVGA or a compatible Radeon HD card using crt_emudriver in order to get the 15kHz resolution in the first place.