'If I had unlimited cash' Marquee idea.

[mikenotbob]

How cool would it be if we had an LCD monitor shaped like a marquee, that would display the correct marquee depending on which game is being played? Oh man, crazy! Oscar? Ultimarc? Who's gonna build this for us?

While I'm dreaming... I finally came up with an idea that could potentially dethrone 1UP as having the cabinet 'most likely to be stolen if we knew his friggin address'.    Two words: Rotatable Monitor(s).  Yes, plural.  Somehow, someday, I'm going to wedge both a CRT and a Vector monitor in the same cab (using that pc vector interface doodad that's been talked about lately).  I haven't quite figured out how to get them to rotate, though I'm leaning towards magic... or voodoo.  Has anyone worked with either of these?

[Brax]

Magic or Voodoo would obviously not work!!! That's more  "Sell your your soul to the Devil" territory. hehe

 

Oh and since you're dreaming..... You want 3 monitors... Horizontal, Vertical and Vector. That way they can all be full size.

Now all I have to do is find that "sell your soul to the devil" website again.

[Darkstalker]

But what about games like punchout and the Nintendo vs games that liked having two monitors stacked?

[1UP]

You could have a very tall cab, with one monitor above, one monitor below, both facing each other, and a beam splitter in the middle to reflect them.  Then just have the raster monitor disabled when vector games are on, and vice versa...

[Howard_Casto]

Actually It can be done, but it would be very expensive, processor intensive and physically hard to develop.  

You have two options....

#1 Have a custom 8x24 lcd screen built.

#2 Have 4 6x8 lcd   screens put together side by side.  There would be a border between the montiors but still probably acceptable.

Now keep in mind that for each display you would need an additional video card in your pc... probably not a high end one, but the still takes up resources and pci slots.  

Now on the software end it's suprisingly easy to display seperate things on seperate monitors.  There is a simple api call that gives you the position and size of multiple monitors on a desktop.  To put a picture of a marquee on the custom screen one would simply have to make a fe with a seperate form, and that form is positioned to span that top monitor's area.  If you used multiple monitors you simply make the width of this form the width of all the monitors combined.  Windoze is smart enough to know to display the rest of the form on the other monitors.  

So what I'm saying is it's not a crazy as it sounds.  As a matter of fact I'm ready to do it now, I just don't have the cash to get a lcd screen.  

But regarding the vector/crt rotatable idea.....  First off vector monitors are very fragile.  They are even more fragile than crt monitors.  They are also a fire hazard. Many an arcade burnt down from someone leaving a faulty star wars on over night.  Not to mention that both a crt and a vector monitor combine would have to weigh somewhere around 600 lbs minimum.   your cab would have to have a butt-load of ballast in the bottom just to keep from tipping over.  

I'm not saying it can't be done.  I'm just saying you would have to be a master engineer/fabricator to pull it off.  Unfortunately, unlike 1up's sweet design, if you failed you might get electrocuted or crushed under heavy monitors.  So try not to kill yourself ok?

Oh and magic and voodoo are very viable options.  My cab is held togehter by mojo and duct tape.  

[Xiaou2]

Well, I had this idea a long time ago... but here goes...

 
 Some arcade games monitors are mounted facing upward, using a mirror to point them twords the player.   Some other arcade games used a police style 2-way mirror, and had artwork lit up behind the mirror - so that it the art apperas to be behind the main display, and creates a 3d effect.  (discs of tron)

 You could mount 2 monitors... one facing up, and one directly forward, both seperated by the 2way mirror.  If you choose, both could rotate.

 These are some types of configurations you could do:

Arcade / Vector Arcade
Arcade / Arcade (one vertical, one horizontal no need 2rotate)
Arcade / PCmonitor (so one can use windows clearly.  Also, you could project artwork through the rear mounted pc monitor, and make those custom 3d display effects - which is why I came up with the idea

 Also, you could place 2 side by side for dual monitor display - if mame ever supports it... that or networked gaming via 2 pcs.

Also, another way to rotate different displays... you could make a cab thats top section rotates horizontally.   Place all the monitors you can fit on this rotating table, and simply rotate the correct monitor to face you controls. (though you may need some sort of magnetic shielding surrounding each monitor?)

 The downfalls... well, its been said that the 2way mirrors that have the mirror coating on the front side of them are pretty expensive.    Ive yet to go to a mirror place and ask though.

 The rotating monitor table may eat up a good chunk of space.

[1UP]

Also, the forward facing monitor would have to a ways back from the glass, to allow for the mirror and the upward facing monitor.  It'd be a massive cab either way.  

Best to get a PC monitor if you're that big on vector games, or get an arcade monitor and live with it.

[mikenotbob]

Wow!  Very interesting responses! I knew that idea #1 (lcd marquee) was quite doable, just required some serious amount of disposable cash... I actually threw it out there hoping someone w/ some extra loot (or at least some LCD monitor connections) would give it a shot.  I wonder if an LED display would be more viable/less expensive?  Irecall seeing some of the late 90's pinball machines pimping one hell of a display (albeit monochrome)...

As far as the rotating monitors go, I really didn't expect any solutions! I guess I should have added the line, 'in a standard cab'.  I can see it now, a main frame-size cabinet (will call it the 'cray'), w/ a 10 foot diameter lazy susan, housing a half dozen different types of monitors.  

What seems to be a cheaper solution (that would even allow you to maintain a cabinets standard size) is to simply have a second cabinet for your vector games.  Instead of buying a tempest cab that I've been thinking about, for a few hundred more, I could play every vector game. (Same logic used to build my mame cab after craving a pacman).

[Darkstalker]

Not to mention the sitdown enclosure style games as well.  Spy Hunter just doesn't feel right in a stand up cab...Same thing with Red Baron....Then there's games like Cyberball that need two interlinked cabs...