Questions about switching to S Video T.V.

[slug54]

I am considering switching out the 17" pc monitor in my cab for a larger S video tv. I have a bunch of questions that I hope you guys can help me with.

1). My drop dead available space for a monitor is
    20h X  24w X 21D  the 20h has a little play because I could move the monitor shelf down but only so far until the screen would be below the C-panel. How large a TV do you think would fit? I measured my 19" it would go with no probs, but how bout a 21" or larger?


2). I run win98se with a radeon 7000 and run programs like Internet explorer, fps games and other pc games . Do these look acceptable on s-Video with a T.V.?


3). I don't want to fuss with the TV when I turn my cab on.
    do tv's generaly come up ready to go in svideo mode when you hit the ac power switch for the cab? I don't want to have to break out the remote and turn the tv on , switch the channel , go into the menu to change something or adjust the volume on the tv down. I know tv's are all different but do you guys have to mess with your tv when you turn your cab on?


4). I've heard the viewable area on a tv is larger than that of same size rated computer monitor is this true?


5). I'm thinking arcade and nes emulation would look awesome on this kind of setup. Is this true?

6). Is it better to go with a flatscreen tv? I am thinking that a normal curved tube would give a more realistic look.


7). Are most of you generaly happy with your tv setup and
   are there any dis-advantages to going this route? I know that the act labs gun won't work on tv's , I do have the gun but since it won't aim correctly in zero point (the main game I wanted it for!) I don't think I will be permanently installing it in my cab anyway.


sorry this ran so long, I have read most of the older posts on these topics but I know things change on a daily basis
and I wanted to find out for sure before I make the leap to TV.

Thank you to all that take the time to respond.

                           Slug54


here is the link to my cab as it is now.
http://home.insightbb.com/~anson66/arcade.htm

             

[Frostillicus]

I just went through the initial crap of deciding on arcade monitor, pc monitor or s-vid tv - here is what I've determined:

If you were to go with an s-vid tv, DEFINITELY test out all the menu stuff at the store.  A lot of people were bummed by the cheap apex(?) 27" at circuit city cause it would reset to regular input when you turn in on and off.  So everytime you turn it on you gotta cycle through to the s-vid input - obviously annoying.
I found a good 27"(or is it 25"?) tv at bestbuy for 220$ its a Sansui.  That tv did retain it's state when you turn it off, so when you turn it back on - it's svid.  plus the case is TINY - no gigantic speakers attached to the sides, and  you might even be able to just stick it on a shelf in your cab and save the hassle of monitor voltage.

I decided to go ahead an get a Wellsgardner d9200.  the best monitor, IMHO.  It accepts vga input(right into computer) and has a native resolution of 640x480 or 800x600, which means I can get xp to run on it.  The downside is a big one - after shipping it was like 540 bucks . But well worth every penny, as I'm sure others will agree.  The only problem I see with this in your situation is that it's like .6" too wide and .8" too high.  oh and 300$ more than the tv.

I have heard playing on a tv too long can cause a bit of eyestrain.  I haven't played games on a tv long enough in one sitting to get eyestrain, but after watching the law&order marathon today I'm getting there

[CM]

I am just finishing my first MAME cabinet and it has a 27"    Toshiba TV using S-Video.  My first trial run was last night and the games looked INCREDIBLE!  DVD output was great too.
  The text in the WinXP desktop and apps was too blurry to really use though.  It started hurting my eyes after a few minutes actually heh.  I am going to play with enlarging the default fonts or something tonight.

[Trenchbroom]

I have a Panasonic 20" TV that fits those general dimensions (I think--it's been 6 mos. since I finished my cab).  The TV does not reset the S-Video input upon shutoff BUT if you cut off the power source from the TV (likeusing a common surge protector switch to turn everything on) it won't remember your color settings or automatically power on.  Not a big deal for me--I have an older standup cab with the TV laying at an angle inside so I can just push the plexiglass bezel up, push the ON switch, pull the bezel back down and away I go.

Overall, pretty happy with the results of the TV.  I don't believe it looks as good as a real arcade monitor (especially my friend's Eygo, the 10 minutes he had it working--heh--) but it is a nice compromise between real monitors and a PC monitor.  Just remember to use the "sharp" setting in MAME and you should be pretty happy unless you want pixel-perfect accuracy.