New Cabinet Project: RGB Video Arcade Monitor Question

[myrmidon]

Hi Guys,

I have been researching arcade cabinets for a number of years, and have always been undecided about the good ol' 'convert existing cabinet to MAME, or preserve and build a new cabinet' debate. Eventually I decided to built a new cabinet, which is probably the right decision. I have a few questions though:

I am going to be using an XBox as the 'computer' for the cabinet (running MAMEOx). Why do so few people do this? It is very cheap, and the whole 'modifying/hiding the OS to make the bootup quicker/easier' issue is gone. Granted, it can't play ALL the games, but it will play most of them.

(01) I would really like to use an arcade monitor, but it seems that most of them use RGB inputs. If I purchase an XBox RGB cable, I get a SCART connector. Is it a good idea to cut that off, and attempt to wire that directly to an Arcade monitor, or should I wire in a female Scart connector for the arcade monitor?

(02) Furthermore, is the same signal type? In other words, would I get an image on the display?

(03) Are there any arcade monitors that work with Component Video? (Everything that I have seen at the Happs Controls site is either RGB, or VGA/SVGA)

Obviously I will take tons of pictures throughout the process and publish them online. I am following a slightly alternative approach, in that I am getting all the electronics purchased, configured and tested first, before I start with all the 'cabinet work'. At this stage I have MAMEOx running on the Xbox, with all the games that I intend to play loaded onto it (testing on a television with Component Video at this stage).

Cheers
Olaf

[Barkuti]

(01) Do whatever you feel most comfortable with. You can rip the connector off the cable or wire a female on the monitor. As long as you do the stuff correctly it doesn't matters.

(02) Sure. RGB is RGB. The only differences may be in the way synchronization signals are transmitted. There are 3 possible variants: Sync on green, commonly referred with the "RGsB" abbreviation; composite sync, or RGBS; and separate sync, RGBHV. In nowadays' computer world the most common (and highest quality) one is RGBHV. SCART equipped TV's generally are operated with RGBS, and some sets may accept RGBHV. Most computer & arcade monitors will accept both. Don't know which one your XBOX will output, but it really doesn't matters much.

(03) No. RGB is the highest grade signal format; the true, raw, unprocessed "food" of a CRT. Component inputs in an arcade monitor don't make sense. And btw, the terms VGA/SVGA aren't used to refer to video signaling standards, yet to specify certain (vertical) resolutions or horizontal scan rate frequencies (31/38 KHz).


Cheers

[Adeptus]

Have you considered the option of using a SVGA monitor instead of an arcade monitor?

(Provided the XBox can output to VGA for all the games you're running on it... don't know much about XBoxes myself...)

[myrmidon]

Hi There,

Thank you very much for your detailled response Bakuti. Following your comment in point 02, I think the Xbox RGB is in RGBS format, as there is an additional pin with Composite Out, which I believe other people use for Composite Sync (as can be seen here http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/xbox.htm).

@Adeptus: The reason why I want to use an Arcade monitor is to get the 100% legitimate Arcade Look-n-feel.

At this stage I am planning on building a Jamma cabinet, and then building a Xbox2Jamma 'black box' so that I can remove the Xbox at any stage, and plug in a Jamma Board.

Regards
Olaf

[Abomination]

also lookup and contact snaake, he has this exact same setup with the xbox and likes it.  I'm sure he can walk you through it.

[Minwah]

Ultimarc's Xbox AV adaptor will output to a 15khz arcade monitor (RGB), if that's any use.  I have one and it works great:

http://www.ultimarc.com/xba.html

[myrmidon]

WOW!

Thanks for the info Minwah. I am very familiar with Ultimarc's products (I have used numerous Ipacs in the past), but somehow totally missed that they have Console parts as well.

Their XBox->Arcade Monitor adapter already has the additional chip to isolate the Composite Sync from the Composite Pin (exactly what I needed). I immediately went ahead and ordered one of them.

Thanks
Olaf