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Author Topic: Relocating monitor adjustment pots  (Read 3178 times)

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nespcbuild

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Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« on: December 18, 2021, 04:31:08 pm »
I recently was looking at my WG K7602 to see if it had anywhere that a remote board could be connected for adjusting the display. Unfortunately it didn't look like there was anywhere to connect one but I had the idea of desoldering the vertical size pot then soldering some wires from the contacts on the chassis to the pot and then mounting the pot near the coin door to allow me to adjust the v size without opening up the back of the cab. This cab is running groovyarcade and the v size is the one thing that frequently needs adjustment for various games.

Has anyone attempted this and if so, is there any advice you'd like to share?

I tried searching for this but I wasn't having much luck. Not sure if I'm just using the wrong terms to describe it. I'd be surprised if I'm the first person to have this idea.

lilshawn

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2021, 05:10:35 pm »
pots aren't meant to be adjusted all the time... basically set it and forget it.

some pots (typically those small ones) have a cycle count in the 1000's before they go out of spec.

i'd look into WHY you have to change it all the time, than removing an relocating it.

nespcbuild

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2021, 06:16:42 pm »
I think the reason why is because groovymame with crt switchres basically changes the resolution to the exact resolution of whatever rom you're playing. So as far as the monitor is concerned, it's not much different from swapping from one game pcb to another. Since different games run at a variety of different resolutions and pixel aspect ratios, it's normal to have to tweak the monitor settings to get things to fit properly on the screen. I'd have no problem with having to replace the pot periodically if it wears out but I do appreciate you mentioning that because if I go through with this I'll probably want to make it easy to replace it when it wears out.

Zebidee

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2021, 06:31:55 pm »
Most of the differences between arcade games can be sorted out/compromised with your CRT_emudriver settings.
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lilshawn

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2021, 09:25:28 pm »
Since different games run at a variety of different resolutions and pixel aspect ratios, it's normal to have to tweak the monitor settings to get things to fit properly on the screen.

well, no actually. an arcade monitor is typically adjusted 2 or 3 times... in it's life.

i'm gonna tell you some stuff you aren't going to like to hear.

IRL, arcade monitors are put into a cabinet.. a game placed into said cabinet... the monitor adjusted... and... that's it. Literally. that's it. that is what it's designed to do for it's entire life.... there is no reason to change it unless you change out the game for a different one, or take that monitor out and put it into a different game.

arcade monitors aren't made to take constantly changing feeds going into it. same goes for tri res and digital monitors. people buy them and think "oh i'll be able to play standard, medium, and high res games and it'll change on the fly and work perfectly every time." except that's not what they where made to do. they are a fitzall monitor that will work on any one game at ONE resolution so you'd only have to stock 1 monitor and not 3 different ones. every time you change resolution, you need the change the pic settings...and it irks a lot of people that it's setup this way...but for us in the business. THAT'S what it needs to do. we don't try and run 10000 games at native resolution on the same cabinet... we do ONE.

buying arcade monitors and trying to make them do things they weren't designed to do is only encouraging breakdowns and only setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.

you need to hard set your resolution so it never changes, regardless of your game being played... and set your monitor up for that so it DOESN'T need to be changed at all. and if that means you need to squeeze or stretch your game to do that, you need to do that... not tweak the monitor every game.

if you want to try and extend the pot to the outside of the cabinet or whatever, by all means, have at'er.  some K7000 chassis have the pots mounted to a remote board so it's absolutely possible.

nespcbuild

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2021, 10:16:10 pm »
Most of the differences between arcade games can be sorted out/compromised with your CRT_emudriver settings.

I'm using Linux so I don't have CRT_Emudriver. I'm sure there's some similar settings I could adjust though if I knew specifically what needs to change. Do you know more specifically what needs to be done or know of any resources online that explain it in more detail? I tried searching for software settings/adjustments that could resolve this issue too but haven't been able to find anything helpful yet.

Zebidee

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2021, 11:07:50 pm »
I don't know how you are doing it exactly in software, but you'd need to look at the video modes' vertical front and back porch settings (controls position on screen) for vertical position, and horizontal front/back porch settings for horz position.
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nespcbuild

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2021, 04:27:41 pm »
Thanks to both of you guys for the help. I took your guys' suggestions and did some further research and experimentation and eventually found a solution by adjusting settings in groovymame.

lilshawn

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #8 on: December 20, 2021, 11:39:51 am »
Thanks to both of you guys for the help. I took your guys' suggestions and did some further research and experimentation and eventually found a solution by adjusting settings in groovymame.

right on  :cheers:

abispac

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Re: Relocating monitor adjustment pots
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2021, 11:58:07 pm »
Maybe im late to the party, when i use groovymame on real arcade monitor, i set up groovymame at my monitor settings, and there aren many games that mess with my monitor, maybe mortal kombat, but what i do i create an ini file to make it to run at a good know resolution and it works just fine. Same thing with popeye, popeye dont mess my monitor but it wont look right if i dont tweak it.