RGB TV vs arcade monitor?

[benwillcox]

Hello,

I'm in the UK, and a D9200 monitor costs around

[Lord Hiryu]

Hi Ben.
Take a look:
Arcade VGA + Arcade Monitor ( Hantarex MTC 9110 25" model year 1991.....a bit blurred)

And Arcade VGA + TV Scart 21":


Cheers.
Lord Hiryu

[benwillcox]

Hi Ben.
Take a look:
<snip>

Ah thanks for that! It actually looks better on the TV to me, what do you think to it in real life?
I think looking at those pictures I'll certainly give the TV method a try.

Cheers,
Ben

[Hamselv]

I have found that one major(ish) setback to the TV option is that there is usually considerable overscan on TVs, meaning that the picture is initially too large for the screen.

Adjusting the picture size is sometimes easy, sometimes a real pain, depending on your particular TV. Sometimes there is a hidden 'software' service menu, which will enable you to do the adjustments, and sometimes you need to fiddle with internal pots on the TV PCB/carrier panel. How to access the service mode of a particular TV can be quite hard to figure out, and service manuals are not always easy to come by...

On the good side, though, it seems there is hardly ever any sync problems with TVs, whereas some arcade screens (from what I hear) can be troublesome to get just right for all resolutions.

Also, automatic power-on after a power-outage may not be possible for all TVs....

TVs generally look just as good as arcade monitors (i.e. absolutely fantastic), but I suggest you try the TV you have in mind before committing (if possible).

[StephenH]

I heard from Andy Warne, that a TV set to use the SCART in, essentially turns it into an arcade monitor, because it is using the pure RGB and Sync, instead a resolution conversion which happens with Composite, S-Video, and Component in.

[Lord Hiryu]

However, the good thing about using a TV with Scart, is the facility that you must to be able to connect any console.(i.e: Dreamcast, X-box, PS2, GameCube)

Greetings.

Lord Hiryu

[b3atmania]

Are there any things that may be different that could reduce the picture quality, such as dot-pitch or quality of the CRT, internal video amplifier etc?
I'm assuming that a TV in RGB mode is internally doing the same job as an arcade monitor?

Some points to consider:

• TVs are factory made to overscan. You may be able to reduce overscan in a service menu though.
• Not all SCART sockets accept 60Hz. Check before you buy because if you are forced to run at fixed 50Hz everything will play significantly slower.
• Not all SCART sockets accept RGB-signals. Some only accept composite and S-video.
• Be aware that refresh rates other than 50Hz and 60Hz might not work. This is mostly an issue if you want your refresh rate authentic. Many games have 54Hz, 56Hz and 58Hz refresh rates.
• Keep in mind TVs are not designed to be use vertically. Though it might work if you can degauss it properly.
• TVs have vents to dispense heat. When mounting in a cabinet take care to not block those vents. Better yet, remove the TVs factory enclosure.  You need to vent your cabinet too.    If the heat can't escape you'll have a fire hazard.
• Find a TV that does *not* do (digital) processing on the image. Arcade monitor don't do any processing to the image as RGB signals are of very high quality and you want them to remain untainted for maximum authenticity. You will want a TV that almost directly feeds the RGBHV signals to the tube. This can be quite hard to determine. If the TV is advertised with a 100% flat screen, 100Hz, motion blur reduction, video noise reduction, scan doubling or line doubling, then you have a pretty big chance it does processing on the image.
  

[rchadd]

its just as good