Did I just buy a Large paper weight?

[Panzer]

Hello all!

I just went out and bought and NFL BLitz 99 arcade cabinet. I was about to purchase the arcadevga card when I was informed that the monitor on the Blitz 99 model is 25khz and not 15khz so I am screwed. BUt after doing some research I found a list of dip switches which indicate I can switch it to a 15khz mode.

Am I correct or am I really screwed? Thanks all!

K7500
MID RESOLUTION
K 7 5 0 0
P R O D U C T S P E C I F I C A T I O N S

[MYX]

From Andy's Site...

ArcadeVGA
The Ultimate Video card for gaming on 15Khz Arcade Monitors and now PC Monitors

YES NOW ALSO FOR PC MONITORS!
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, RUN CLASSIC GAMES IN THEIR NATIVE RESOLUTIONS ON A PC SVGA MONITOR IN WINDOWS!
INCLUDES CRT AND LCD (DVI) DIGITAL MONITORS.
The picture quality has to be seen to be believed!
Now also supports 25Khz resolutions on multi-frequency monitors.
.

Connect your 15Khz arcade cabinet monitor to your PC with NO special configuration or special driver software in either DOS or Windows.
Now you can also connect an ordinary PC monitor and get all the resolutions of the 15Khz monitor plus conventional higher Windows resolutions.

    * Displays all boot, DOS and Windows screens on the arcade monitor and/or PC monitor. Displays Windows desktop in a choice of resolutions including interlaced and non-interlaced.
    * Connect an ordinary PC monitor, or an arcade monitor, or both at the same time
    * Allows DOS MAME or MAME32 to run almost all games at their native resolutions without hardware stretching, scan converters or other degradation.
    * All the native game resolutions are available on bith the arcade and the PC monitor.
    * Emulates the original game board's graphics hardware closer than has ever been possible before.
    * Contains 28 built-in 15Khz video graphics modes tailored specially for emulation. All of these modes also available on a PC monitor.
    * Now supports 25Khz modes as well, on multi-frequency monitors such as the WG D9200.
    * All 240-line modes have an exact 60Hz vertical refresh rate for best performance in scrolling games.
    * Special 300 X 256 Mode timed at 53Hz vertical for games such as Mortal Kombat .
    * When used with arcade monitor, all video modes timed at 15.7 Khz horizontal frequency to eliminate picture shifting on mode changes.
    * Also contains all standard VGA graphics and text modes, running at 15Khz. On arcade monitors. text screens display the full 25 lines without interlace using a special reduced-height font.
    * All special modes available in Windows XP, Windows 2000 at all colour depths. NOTE Windows 98 is not supported.
    * Desktop rotation supported in Windows for vertically-mounted monitors in Windows XP and 2000.
    * Choice of Windows desktop resolutions including interlaced and non-interlaced modes. Can be assigned hot-keys .
    * Virtual-desktop mode supported in XP and 2000, so you can run a desktop of 1024 X 768 and auto-pan.
    * No MAME monitor configuration necessary, no need even to tell MAME you have an arcade monitor.
    * Run any Windows application which can use 640X480 or 800X600 on your arcade monitor including 3D games.
    * On PC monitors, all the native game resolutions are available, plus conventional Windows resolutions.
    * All modes locked with vertical and horizontal negative sync for easy connection via a direct cable.
    * Choice of available connection methods, Via J-PAC, Via Video Amp, or Direct Cable connect.
    * Powerful ATI Radeon 9250 AGP or Radeon X550 PCIe chipset for great performance in 3D games as well as emulation
    * .Get the best from your D9200 or Betson multi-frequency monitor. The ArcadeVGA card will run the low frequency modes which these monitors can handle, as well as the higher VGA modes.

[CheffoJeffo]

FWIW, the DIP switch you are talking about is for the game (so you can use a 15Khz montor with the game), not the monitor.

Cheers.

[Grauwulf]

FWIW, the DIP switch you are talking about is for the game (so you can use a 15Khz montor with the game), not the monitor.

Cheers.

So essentialy what he is saying is that yes, in regards to MAME, you have a very large paperweight. I'm sure you can find someone who wouldbe willing to trade you for an equivalent size standard res monitor.

[Panzer]

So despite the arcadevga that mentions a 25khz mode i am screwed? Thansk all.

[Q*Bert_OP]

if the cab has a U5000 monitor, all that you *should* need to do is unplug one connector, and put it on the other...but I have seen some U5000s that use soldered in jumpers, which are also not hard to install...

[johnnya]

Blitz can be used with either a medium or a standard resolution monitor.  The dip switches are to tell the game what kind of monitor is hooked up to it so it will generate the correct frequency or whatever.  If you run the wrong one on your monitor, chances are you'll ruin it.  No, this doesn't answer your question.

[Grauwulf]

So despite the arcadevga that mentions a 25khz mode i am screwed? Thansk all.

I would e-mail Andy and get his take on it, you may still be abel to make it work.

[RayB]

I wouldn't use that to hold down paper. Not unless you're used to keeping your paper work on the floor.  You essentially have a nice cat perch... or a patent pending "Space Consumer"TM

[Kremmit]

A lot of 25k monitors are "dual res", and can be switched to 15k.  Find out what model your monitor is.

IIRC, Andy said the 25k modes on the new avga were pretty much only good for games that originally used 25k monitors.  I could be wrong, though.

[Grauwulf]

I believe he said that the monitor is a k7500. Most of the 7500's I've looked at have not been switchable.

[Lilwolf]

You could use the new pci express version of the arcade vga and use that with your monitor.  But you will have to use hardware stretching for most games. 

Not a bad solution until you get around to swapping the CRT with another later that handles standard and medium.

[Kremmit]

I believe he said that the monitor is a k7500. Most of the 7500's I've looked at have not been switchable.

D'oh!

[quadmasta]

There's a bunch of drivers out there for different video card manufacturers that output 25KHz.  You could probably do it with powerstrip too.

[koolmoecraig]

Ask Andy.

[Silver]

It's not really if you CAN use the ArcadeVGA or not - it's whether you want to.

The (new) ArcadeVGA has one or two (I think) 25Khz modes to support the few 25Khz games natively.

So you could very probably use the arcadeVGA's 25Khz mode to drive your monitor. This should work fine - However, every single non-25Khz game (ie 99% of all games in mame) would have to have hardware stretching enabled to look normal on your monitor.

IMHO - this completely defeats the point of 1) having an real Arcade monitor and 2) buying and ArcadeVGA in the first place.

Either make a 25Khz-game only, or replace it with a 2nd hand 15Khz monitor.