27" presentation monitor gave it up. Looking to redo my arcade system with LCD.

[farmecologist]

Hi all,

First some background.  I built an arcade system a LONG time ago with the help of some of the fine folks here.  Looking back, my last posts were in the 2008 time frame.  That just doesn't seem possible...but I guess it is!   

Anyway, the system has been sitting dormant for a number of years.  I recently got the retro gaming itch again and attempted to boot the system up.  No luck.  Apparently the hard drive went bad...AND my old NEC MultiSync XM29 won't turn on either.   .  Software wise, the system was an old cobbled together Mamewah job that was hard to maintain, etc...and I was never fully happy with it.  So guess what...I have a new project!

I am in the process of building a PC from scratch with some extra parts from my recent PC builds...plus a few new parts.  I plan to use LaunchBox...and have already got a 'portable' LaunchBox build working on my main PC.  I'm extremely impressed with LaunchBox.  Frontend software has come a LONG way since the olden days of Mamewah, etc...

As far as the monitor goes, I plan on ditching 'authenticity', and want to run an LCD.  I just don't want to deal with a massive CRT beast like the NEC MultiSync anymore.  My cabinet has 27" of horizontal clearance...which is the limiting factor. 

Anyone have any ideas?  Unfortunately, a 32" LCD won't quite fit as the horizontal dimension on those are typically 28" so.  I'm just wondering what other cabinet LCD'ers are running.  It also seems like the fact LCD's do not typically have a 4:3 aspect ratio may be problematic (  i.e. - it may look strange compared to the 4:3 aspect of the multisync ).

Thanks all!  I really appreciate any input.   





 

[mourix]

4:3 lcd's stop at around 20". Putting a 28" widescreen in would also leave you with a 20" 4:3 area. I've seen people put 40" lcd TV's in vertically to get the nice width back, but it depends on your cabinet... 

[ThePezCollector]

I've seen people put 40" lcd TV's in vertically to get the nice width back, but it depends on your cabinet...

I just asked about this in another thread.  Once you get the 40" mounted vertically, how do you go about getting the software to display the size screen you want and the the location?  For instance positioning it in a stock bezel from say a Killer Instinct machine.