Best angle?

[ignavia]

I'm still in the planning stages of my cab, but I'm doing a lot of thinking about it...

I'm planning on using smoked Plexiglas in front of the monitor, so what's the best angle for my monitor? I don't want it as laid-back as Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, but I'm not sure I want it staight up either. What have you found that works well?

Also, on Ultimarc's arcade monitor FAQ, they say that using a TV is a horrible idea. In this board's FAQ, TV isn't mentioned, so what's the deal?

Thanks.

[Minwah]

I seem to think my screen is at ~8 degrees.  Sounds like not a lot but worked out perfectly.  It's difficult to say what you should use since it depends on how high the monitor is, how tall you are etc...

A lot of people use TV's here, as they are cheap and easy to connect up.  An arcade monitor is better (clearer image + more authentic) IMO, although a Scart TV will give the same result if you can get one

[IntruderAlert]

I'd like to know the angles for some popular machines to help me decide on mine too.
Are single player machines usually more upright than 4 player machines?

[arcadefan2005]

I have the same decision. I'm in the process of sketching out a cabinet and I can't decide on the best angle.

It looks like Lusid's angle is about 12 degrees. And Arcade Paradise 3 looks to be about the same. But that seems too upright to me....especially when you have a BIG screen right in front of you.

I'm tinkering with going 20 or 30 degrees. The only problem is that the more declined the monitor, the more deep the cabinet has to be. Also, I don't really know how each will feel. BTW, a couple of cabinets that I like are Gauntlet Legends (~30) and VirtuaFighter (~20).

But, I'm 99% sure that I'm going to use a 27" TV, because the next the lower size is usually 20" these days, and TVs are genearally inexpensive.

From what I hear, you can get a TV with component (RGB) in and then use a VGA->component dongle from your video cart and get some good results (better than S-video).

Any advice/thoughts?

Thanks.

[GameOver]

Also, on Ultimarc's arcade monitor FAQ, they say that using a TV is a horrible idea. In this board's FAQ, TV isn't mentioned, so what's the deal?

Naaaah...don't listen to 'em.  I use a 24" RCA via s-video, it works great.  The drawbacks are

1)  VPinball/PinMame suffers most, but are still good
2)  Vector games are next, not nearly as crisp as a CRT, but still very good
3)  Raster games are fine
4)  Small print in any of the above is difficult to read

I've never seen an arcade monitor in action, and you can't tell what you'll get by looking at pictures.  Overall I'm very pleased with the results of my 24" RCA using s-video.  As MinWah pointed out, this arrangement is relatively inexpensive (got my TV scratch & dent for @$129) + TV out vid card @$50, and your PC/Windows will work no problem on the TV.

If you have any specific concerns about the TV set-up I'll be glad to help.  Don't be afraid!