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A few questions...

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smaxdot:

Hey guys,

I've been lurking here for about two weeks now and have read a slew of the threads (current and archived).  This message board really seems to have a lot of knowledgeable and helpful folks, so I thought I'd take a stab and post a few questions I have.  I'll be upfront with you, I'm a relative MAME newbie (go easy on me ;), looking to build my first cabinet in the next few months.

At any rate, I'm learning a lot but still have some questions.  Hope it's appropriate for me to just fire them off here.  Without further ado, here goes...

1) I'd rather not use an Arcade monitor, and was going to use a PC monitor.  However, the bigger display that one can get with a TV (for a lot less than a PC monitor) is pushing me in this direction.  I've read a lot about this subject, and it's clear that S-video needs to be involved here (I'm not even going to attempt a component connection!).  I'd like to get a "Built by ATI" Radeon 7500 (or greater) video card with S-video out.  My question though, is this: Would the use of a scan converter in between the TV and video card improve the display any?  Or, is the S-video input from the TV to the ATI card sufficient?  

2) Related to #1, is anyone here using a TV for their display and very happy with the quality?  I've read a number of posts where people say they're using TV's, but not too many that confirm they're happy with the results!  Thanks.

3) Also related to this whole TV thing....can anyone recommend a good 24" or 25" TV to use?  I may go 27", but not sure if my cabinet will be able to fit it.  

4) Any good sources to purchase bezels?  How about side art?

5) I'm not Mr. Handy, so I was thinking of buying a cabinet to use..preferably one that is relatively empty since I don't care about the monitor, PCB, etc..  Any good sources in New Jersey to purchase a cabinet like this?  

I apologize in advance if some of these questions are basic or have been covered.  I definitely did search the archives, but I may have missed something.

Thanks,

- Dave   :D

 

JesterDEV:


--- Quote from: smaxdot on April 06, 2004, 09:27:19 pm ---1) I'd rather not use an Arcade monitor, and was going to use a PC monitor.  However, the bigger display that one can get with a TV (for a lot less than a PC monitor) is pushing me in this direction.  I've read a lot about this subject, and it's clear that S-video needs to be involved here (I'm not even going to attempt a component connection!).  I'd like to get a "Built by ATI" Radeon 7500 (or greater) video card with S-video out.  My question though, is this: Would the use of a scan converter in between the TV and video card improve the display any?  Or, is the S-video input from the TV to the ATI card sufficient?  

--- End quote ---

I use a 29" TV in my cab. It's composite mode however it looks quite good. I use a Geforce4 and recommend it more then the ATI (I'll explain in a moment). I also have a act labs lightgun which has a s-video to composite converter so straight composite mode may not look all that well. But these converters can be had to on the net for cheap. I had a Flatscreen S-Video TV installed but the lightgun wont shoot at the bottom three inches of the screen, which seems to be a common problem with flat screen TV's. If you go the flat screen route I suggest an APEX which seem to be cheaper then others and are good quality (mine was $167 for a 24" but it was a out of box deal).

I tried my ATI 7500 in my cab and it just looked really REALLY bad. I don't know why, but it did. This was on both TV's. Perhaps I just needed to change a setting or something.. Anyway the Geforce4 card works great with both TV's. In any case you should increase the flicker rate slightly to make the picture a little more clear, and if using composite with a converter you need to change the settings to composite or it will look really blurry.


--- Quote ---2) Related to #1, is anyone here using a TV for their display and very happy with the quality?  I've read a number of posts where people say they're using TV's, but not too many that confirm they're happy with the results!  Thanks.

--- End quote ---

The quality is much better on the PC or Arcade monitor for reading text on your OS(this can be fixed by increasing the font size). But when playing games I think the TV just looks better.


--- Quote ---4) Any good sources to purchase bezels?  How about side art?

--- End quote ---

Allot of us just make our own. I used Paint Shop Pro and had it printed out at Kinko's. The darker the background the better. Otherwise the light from the back will shine through the whole thing.



fredster:

I have a big PC monitor I really like in my cab. It's great. It's clear, and it was simple to hook up.  I have another system that has a 27" sanyo TV with SVideo out, and it's good for playing games.  It sucks for anything else.  It's hard to read the text no matter what I do to it.

I used a geoforce card because it was cheap. I got it at the computer show.  I got the TV at the spirtual and geographical center of the universe, Walmart.  They have those component converters from about $15.00 in the wiring section by the CD's.

I don't have the lightgun for the TV, but I have it for the PC monitor.  It's okay. I think it flashes more than a regular arcade gun.  

Bezels are always a problem.  You can order them at www.happcontrols.com or www.wicothesource.com.  There's an excelent section in some thread here called $2 bezel.  You might want to try that, you can make custom colors that way and it's not that challenging.  A bezel for a TV would cost well over $35 and shipping.

For Art, there are lots of places. Check the artwork section here.  I never tried Kinkos.  I printed most of my stuff out with sticker paper you get at office depot.  It's more fun that way to me, but I like bumper stickers.

I have tried building cabs, I built two of them.  One an upright I never really finished and a cocktail I never really finished.  I made two other mame machines out of cabs I got at auctions.  That's the best place to find dead cabs.  Check www.gameroommagazine.com then show dates for the locals near you.  Bring your cash and a pickup truck with plenty of straps.

Trust me, it's easier to take a dead stipped cab and convert it than building one.  It's all there and you can get a pretty decent one for under $30 if you are lucky.  It costs a lot of money just for the tooling to build one.  The tool to cut the T-molding is over $35 shipped.  Not to mention all the little pieces you need.

Ebay is a great place to get buttons and joysticks.  

The important thing is that you are satisfied.  Some people are pretty picky about their cabs, and proud of the work they put into them.  If you are like that you will get a great deal of satisfaction from building.  But if you are not handy it could be a very frustrating experience.

If you read the examples pages you can determine pretty quickly that some people should not be allowed to use power tools.  It takes some skill to map it all out and several weeks to finish it.  

I thought the $20 bucks I paid for the dead cab and the afternoon I spent painting it was much better than looking at 1/2 finished cabs laying around.

Good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of mame.



krick:

Have you considered buying a working arcade machine and "mame-ing" it?

Don't get me wrong, building your own cabinet can be very rewarding and it's the whole point of this site.   I just wanted to present another possibility that may not have crossed your mind.

I got into the whole "byoac scene" back in December.  At first I wanted to make my own cabinet but when I started adding up the cost of all the parts involved and all the tools I would need and didn't own, I started to think that maybe I should look at converting an existing machine.

So in January, I went to an amusement auction (conveniently about 4 miles from my house) "just to look".  I ended up coming home with a working machine with a bright 25" monitor and an oversized control panel for $250.  It has a Capcom CPS2 + GigaWing board in it that I could probably sell for about $100 or so on eBay if I wanted to reclaim some of my purchase price.

There's a pic here if you're interested...
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/mame/gigawing.jpg

So to get it up and running with mame, I bought a J-PAC and an ArcadeVGA card from Ultimarc.   I was playing games in my cabinet in under an hour.

I have since hacked a pair of PC speakers for sound and added a few buttons to the control panel so I can play Mortal Kombat 3.

Still on my todo list is painting the ugly blue sides of the cabinet and creating a new control panel that incorporates 2 more joysticks (for Smash TV) and 1 or 2 trackballs for marble madness and centipede.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure you keep us apprised of your progress, and post lots of pictures.  We love pictures.

...
Krick


mahuti:


--- Quote --- Any good sources to purchase bezels?
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