Television and Visual Pinball

[DreamWeb]

Hey folks.. I love the TV in my cab for the arcade games.  But when it comes to PC games and ESPECIALLY Visual Pinball.. I can't help but feel that I'd be better off with a computer monitor.

Ther perfect sized tv (which I have) for my cab is 25".  However, if I went with a computer monitor.. I'd have to go 22".

Anyone have any comments/ideas on this?  I really love my Visual Pinball.. and it's a blurry mess when playing on a TV.  Would it be worth it?  Will I hate playing my mame games on the monitor?

d.

[GameOver]

You're right on all counts

1)  TV's are great for MAME (exception - good, not great for vector games)
2)  TV's aren't so good for VPinball
3)  TV's aren't good at all for PC games

A guy at work gave me an old PC last week that I'm gonna make into a 'tabletop' cabinet (similar to what bishmasterp has made...see pic below).  Now I haven't played mame on a monitor for a long time (since before building my cab) - IMO it STINKS! There's no  comparison between playing mame on on TV vs. a monitor.  The TV blows the monitor away (except maybe vector games).

I wouldn't replace the TV in my cab for anything, but since you're such a fan of VPinball, you need to decide what to do.  Either replace your TV, or make another cab!   

Image below borrowed from Bishmasterp's website http://www.bishopzone.com/bishopzone/projects/tabletops/tabletops.html

[BarontheFirst]

Hey folks.. I love the TV in my cab for the arcade games.

[deadmoney5]

The fact that you use S-video or not won't make the tv display the graphics at 1024 X 768 (or higher)...which would make Visual Pinball look real good...

It is acceptable on a tv screen....but can't compare to how it looks on a computer monitor

[BarontheFirst]

The fact that you use S-video or not won't make the tv display the graphics at 1024 X 768 (or higher)...which would make Visual Pinball look real good...

It is acceptable on a tv screen....but can't compare to how it looks on a computer monitor

I never said it would look great or better than a monitor but there is room to improve it on a tv. So s-video does make a difference but yes not perfect

[DreamWeb]

I'm using a pretty cheap TV, I guess.  An RCA.  But it does have s-video.. and that's what I'm using.  I'm also using a Radeon 8500.. and, while it's pretty old, I think it's still supposed to have decent s-video out.  I'll try playing around a bit more with the ouput.. but, like you said, I'm not really expecting any miracles.

I guess the decision needs to be made..  Mame or Vpinball.  I need to play some mame games on my computer monitor to decide.

Thanks guys.

d.