Monitor Angle (for Mame and TV viewing)

[jcroach]

Good morning.  On my never ending quest to design my cabinet I was thinkgin of ways to get the most bang for my buck.  I'm thinking about using a TV as my monitor so that I can also use it for tv viewing and DVD viewing for my den.  This raises an interesting question.  Most cabinets were designed for people standing up, looking slightly down at the monitor.  If it'm going to use it for TV viewing also, I'd want it ata more 90 degree angle to the floor. 

Does anybody have any experience with this?  Will a 90 degree/perpendicular monitor make game playing uncomfortable?  Has anyone made one of these all-in-one machines with success?  Please share your experiences.

Thanks.

[SpamMe]

It seems to me that the best solution for this kind of thing is to build a showcase cabinet with a removable pedestal, instead of some bizarre hybrid arcade cabinet (no offense meant to those folks with bizarre hybrid cabinets).

[jcroach]

It seems to me that the best solution for this kind of thing is to build a showcase cabinet with a removable pedestal, instead of some bizarre hybrid arcade cabinet (no offense meant to those folks with bizarre hybrid cabinets).

Yeah, I thought about this, but I love the look of the classic cabinets.  I want to maintain that shape. 

What about a cabinet where I could change the angle of the monitor?  Like a tilt pedestal on a PC monitor?

[jcroach]

.........bump.......

Can anyone help me with this? 

I did find this thread: LINK

It talks about building a tilting base for a monitor for gaming and TV viewing.  Has anyone done this?  Would a 90 degree angle be unbarable for playing games on?

[versapak]

It depends on your distance from the TV. Generally speaking though...

The distance at which you would be standing at a standard arcade cabinet would make straight up vertical monitor pretty horrible to stand and play at.

The only problem I would see with a tilting base, would be that you would have to set the TV further back from the front glass, and having a bezel solution accommodate that movement.


As mentioned above, I think the ideal solution for your situation would be a showcase cab.

[ericball]

Another alternative would be a lowboy or candy style cab.  Basically, you want your eye-line to be perpendicular to the front of the screen from your normal viewing position.  Unfortunately, unless you watch TV standing up in front of your cabinet, you're going to have to make some compromises.

[jcroach]

Another alternative would be a lowboy or candy style cab.

[Bill Mote]

If you look into the tilting monitor idea be cautious of your bezel glass.  Completely a guess here, but I would think that have the bezel glass on a different angle than the TV screen would create an odd viewing effect.  I would also guess that it would be worse at a distance than up close.  So, you might experiment with flat glass vs. angled TV and visa-vis.

dot

[Lilwolf]

Xybots and some sitdown japanese cabs have monitors appropriate for watching TV across the room.

I considered it because my monitor is bigger then my TV.... And I was going to build a box around my monitor... Then add a pivot point.   And make it so I can just move the whole monitor forward and back.  But the idea wouldn't work on my cabinet (had to take the CRT cage off to fit in the cab to begin with)

[jcroach]

Xybots and some sitdown japanese cabs have monitors appropriate for watching TV across the room.

Hummm.

[jcroach]

I found this image on-line.

[SteveJ34]

I have an upright built couple years back based on a lusid design. It has a slight tilt back but its perfectly fine viewed from across the room.

We don't use it for that but it's viewing angle is fine.

Steve

[versapak]

If this is going to be in a place where it will be a primary television, then you oughtta just rethink whether you really want an arcade cabinet or not.


If you really want to build a typical standup arcade cabinet, then you are going to have to make sacrifices with the television's viewing for other purposes.


The one in the pic, where the controls are under the monitor area, seems like it would have you standing too close to the actual monitor for what I would consider comfortable.



My cabinet is an Ultimate Arcade II design, and the monitor can be viewed just fine sitting from a distance, but it is angled, and it is NOT what I would consider ideal. It does make a great secondary television though, and I do use it for just that actually. My cabinet faces the kitchen, so we often have the tv on while cooking.

[jcroach]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.  I'm begining to realize that if I want to make my cabinet dual purpose I will have to sacrifice functionality of either the game or TV viewing aspect.  Now, just to figure out what to do....................