Can a 19" monitor fit in a mini cabinet?

[javeryh]

I'm going to build a mini arcade cabinet inspired by the Ms. Pac-man design but with different artwork and at a 75% scale.   Does anyone know if a 19" Happs monitor will fit inside vertically?  I am building this for my daughter and I think I just want to put vertical games on there.  I guess I could install the monitor horizontally but I really don't like the black bars on the side when playing vertical games... is it a big deal?

[leapinlew]

The black bars ain't a big deal for some folks - I don't like them.

I would say a 17" would look just fine. One thing I've found is that if the monitor is too big, as in, you have to pan the screen by moving your head - it's not as much fun. I would be happy with either a 17 or 19.

[leapinlew]

now that I thought about it for 2 seconds. Since it's for your daughter, have you considered the jakks route with a tv inside?

[spacies]

Not sure if it will fit but if its for your daughter then I would run a PC monitor and enable the artwork feature in MAME. That means when running a vertical game on a horizontal monitor MAME will insert the bezel of the game instead of the black lines. Looks fine like that.

Or you could just mount it vertical and configure your frontend to run vertically and only install vertical games.
Most horizontal games are pretty hard like Defender etc and most of the easy to play classics are vertical.

Go DAD!

[Stingray]

As long as you're building the cabinet anyway, just buy the monitor first and then design the cab around it. Does it really matter if it turns out to be say 80% instead of 75%?

-S

[shardian]

Personally, for a kid a Jakks hack with a TV would be Ideal for a bedroom setting. There is a detailed build on here where the guy made a modified pac-man mini with a 19" tv. The front of the pac-man had a door that gave access to a dvd player, and a switch box to switch between a handful of Jakks handheld games.

If you are set on mame, You could do the same thing with an arcade VGA card and TV.

If TV is definitely out, then a 17" pc monitor would be perfect for a pac-mini build. 19" arcade monitors fit into the original pac man without that much room to spare. 19 pc monitors stick WAY far out the back of an original cabinet (I'm stuck currently with this situation on my Taito cab and 21" vertical pc monitor.)

[javeryh]

Hmmm...  now I'm undecided on what to do...  What do you guys think about LCD monitors?  I was looking at this: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=320-4421&cs=19&c=us&l=en.  If I use a flat panel monitor I can keep the proportions of the original cabinet (or actually make it a little less thick).

Also, I was thinking about maybe going for a 13" monitor (http://www.happcontrols.com/monitors/491345vp2.htm) but I'm afraid it would be too small.  I really want the cabinet to look nice aesthetically otherwise my wife will never allow me to put it in my daughter's room (can you hear the crack of the whip?).

Oh, I also thought about the Jakks hack but I think I'd rather load this thing up with a ton of differet games for her...

[Nannuu]

I know a 17" vertical PC monitor barely fits in a 75% mini pac.  I would say no it won't but arcade monitors are slightly different.  An LCD would work great though.  If you are using a 15" LCD you may as well use a 17" CRT instead since you can get FREE 17s all over.

[ArtMAME]

If you want to keep the 75% proportions accurate, you might as well use a 15" PC monitor since the viewable area is about 14.5" and if you take 14.5 divided by 19 you get about 0.76... 

You should be able to get a 15" PC monitor in there, plus you could find one anywhere for dirt cheap.  This would be a good choice because you could save money on the monitor solution.  If you want the cabinet to look really nice, you could invest that money back into artwork and make it look really awesome.  Custom artwork is rather expensive these days...

Best way to go about it is to find a monitor, then build the cabinet around it.

  Again, I say, it is your project, and the design choices you make come down to your own (or your daughter's) personal preference. 

If you feel comfortable spending $189 for an LCD monitor, then that's your right.  If you feel comfortable spending $10 for a nice old CRT PC monitor from the thrift store, then that is your right also.  If you want to get a Happs monitor and ArcadeVGA card and have the time to tinker with the hardware to get the original arcade accurate resolutions, then tinker away to your heart's content.

One last thing, then I will get off my  ...

Try not to over-analyze things to the point where it hinders progress on your project. It can be very confusing, and sometimes frustrating to decide on stuff since there are so many design choices to pick from.  I would say explore your options, make your choices, then roll up your sleeves and start working... and have fun... that's what the whole BYOAC experience is all about.   

[javeryh]

Thanks for the response!  I definitely don't have a problem with the $189 for the LCD monitor.  It's not that money isn't a problem it's just that when I do this I want to do it right even if it ends up costing a little more in the end.  I figure the monitor is going to be the most expensive part of this project because I'm only planning on one joystick, 3 action buttons, a small coin door, paint, t-molding and artwork printed by mamemarquees.  I have a junker computer I'm putting in there.  I'm thinking I can do this entire project for less than $500 even with the $200 monitor.

So what are your thoughts on a 17" LCD picture vs. a 13" CRT picture?  If I can get a nice "authentic looking" picture on the LCD (with the scanlines and not looking so pixelated/blocky) then I'm leaning towards that since it is much bigger than the 13" one.  I love my 19"arcade monitor in my cocktail cabinet plus the bezel fits it really nice (I'd have to build my own for the LCD since it's flat). 

THANKS!!!

[ArtMAME]

If you have access to a laptop PC, then load it up with MAME and see what the games on  an LCD monitor looks like.  I have been experimenting on my laptop and have been messing around with the scanline settings and it definitely makes the games look nicer and less pixelated. 

If you are using an older PC, you may want to try MAME version 0.36, which has a scanline setting that is pretty good.  Later versions of MAME let you set the percentage of scanlines, but I do not like those settings very much.  I have also been using MAMEPlus 0.109 and it has some really neat tricks and effects.  I have been experimenting with those also, and I have gotten very favorable results.  But, you really need a more powerful PC to run the latest versions of MAME and MAMEPlus.

Also, with higher versions of MAME you can use use the bilinear filtering to smooth out the graphics a bit.  It is not really arcade acurate, but I think it is better than the blocky pixelated look.

I really am a diehard CRT person myself, but in your case, I would say go ahead and use a 15" or a 17" LCD.    Better to have too much monitor than not enough.  Also, an LCD will be easier to mount and more versitile in the long run. 

Again, it is your project  and your desicion ultimately.  I would say go ahead and get the LCD and experiment with some of the settings, and see if it looks good to you.  If it does not look good to you, you can always return it, or use it on another PC in the house.

[MinerAl]

... There is a detailed build on here where the guy made a modified pac-man mini with a 19" tv. The front of the pac-man had a door that gave access to a dvd player, and a switch box to switch between a handful of Jakks handheld games.

That would be MarkRVP's mini for his son.  Regardless of what monitor you use you should find that thread and study it for how to do this stuff correctly.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36591.0

[javeryh]

... There is a detailed build on here where the guy made a modified pac-man mini with a 19" tv. The front of the pac-man had a door that gave access to a dvd player, and a switch box to switch between a handful of Jakks handheld games.

That would be MarkRVP's mini for his son.  Regardless of what monitor you use you should find that thread and study it for how to do this stuff correctly.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36591.0

That project is my inspiration.  It came out so nice.  I think I'm going to keep the monitor of mine at the original angle though (or very close to it) because this won't be used for TV watching - although it's a great idea but I'm not so sure how the angle would be for gaming.  It seems like the player would have the monitor too close to his/her face...

[javeryh]

OK, I think I am going to go for the LCD screen.  It will allow me the most flexibility in terms of cabinet depth even if I decide to lay it at the same angle found in the Galaga/Ms. Pac-man ones.  I am going to lay out my cuts and hopefully have the sides cut out tomorrow!

Any reason not to go with LCD that hasn't been already posted?

[javeryh]

OK, I've definitely decided on a 17" Dell LCD for my vertical mini cab - any last thoughts before I pull the trigger?