Dotronix DSV27 Grovey Game Gear

[tommyinajar]

Thre 27'' Dotronix DSV27 For 268 $$ - Any one have one- How does it compare to an Arcade Monitor ?

Dotronix

[rackoon]

I have one matched with ultimarc's AVGA card and it rocks. I have tested this combo with every game I can think of and it looks great! It was shipped quick, packaged well and I think the price included shipping. I have had it for six months and no problems. It comes in a heavy metal box and is only supported by a metal ring around the front of the tube. Real easy to take out of case but some componets are screwd to the inside and will need to be mounted on somthing if taken out of case. The case its self only sticks out about 1" all around tube.

Let me know if ya have any questions because I have it sitting right next to me all hooked up.

[ahofle]

Rackoon, what is the maximum resolution you can run on that thing?  Can you run the windows desktop at 800x600 interlaced for example? 

[Donkey_Kong]

Also Rackoon, if you don't mind...What are the approximate measurements of the actual viewing area.

Diagonally across the screen, I believe is where you should get the 27". How about actual viewing area straight across horizontally, & then vertically? Just for giggles. It mentions something about dimensions in the ad but doesn't include them all I don't believe.

[tommyinajar]

15khz ??

[rackoon]

15.75 khz
500 + lines of resolution
viewing area is 21.5 X 16   the tube it self is a little bigger.

Windows interlaced desk top has slight flicker but that goes away when games start. Infact ya realy dont notice it after a while. I bet it could be dialed in if one messed around with the resolution tool.

The picture is crisp and looks great.

I havent even messed around with the reolution tool at all because I have been doing wood work on cab.

[Tailgunner]

Got one of these in today. How have you gone about connecting it? Mine took a bit of a beating on the trip here and I need to test it. Dotronix has lost the PDF manual on their site so I'm in the dark at this point.

[rackoon]

I'm sure I got the pdf file on my new computer somewhere. Wait no, I dont I just checked. But I did print it out and have it right hear in my mame part box. I could mail you the important pages, its only 5 pages long. I might be able to get it off my old computer.
Oh your gonna need the pin designations on the VGA plug.

I bough a plug at walmart and cut it and solder an end on it from radioshack. The other end plugged in to my VGAcad on my computer but it has another input I think. Ill look tomorrow morning.

[Tailgunner]

I e-mailed dotronix and they've fixed the link, so I've got the PDF to work with. I'm still mad at UPS for screwing up the case, if I thought a replacement would get here in better shape I'd make them eat this one.

[arzoo]

Rackoon, what is the maximum resolution you can run on that thing?  Can you run the windows desktop at 800x600 interlaced for example? 

I've also purchased one from GGG. The max resolution is 640x480. Mine is far from perfect - but acceptable. It has some sort of magnetic issue where by the colors distort in one region of the display - it comes and goes. I've tried degaussing but the problem persists. The display is also distorted on the left and right and compresses the image at the top. The left 5 inches have a noticeable 'haze' to the colors. It was listed by GGG as "re-certified", but I'm not convinced. Randy did try to help me resolve some of the problems - his customer support is always great. But in the end, the display is just not working as well as I would have expected for the price.

[rackoon]

That's a drag guys. Mine came in perfect shape and the picture is great. I totally love mine. I hope tailgunner's looks as good as mine.

[Tailgunner]

After getting the manual I ran up to Rat Shack and picked up a RCA to BNC adapter. Using it to plug in a DVD player, I've got a great picture but no color at present. I'm sure that's just a matter of adjusting the little knobs at the right bottom corner, but doing so will take a little work as the case is distorted and the adjuster knobs are pinched between it and  the picture tube.

Rackoon, did you decase yours? Looks like I'll have to but given a choice I'd prefer to leave mine in the metal box.

[rackoon]

I took the back off just to see what I'm into, but no I haven't taken it out yet. Although I do plan to because it is going in my cocktail table. The cab is only half built but my mame computer is all splayed out on a small piece of plywood waiting to get install in my cab. The case is huge compared to the tube and I need the room.

[Clu]

Anyone interested in some Dotronix DSV-25Cs?  Sorry to post here but my account got screwed up a while back.  I might be able to get 9 of them on Ebay for next to nothinghttp://cgi.ebay.com/9-Bank-Monitor-System-w-9-Dotronix-DSV-25C-Monitors-NR_W0QQitemZ110077790880QQihZ001QQcategoryZ21517QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.  Just checking the waters.  I was thinking around $25-$50 plus shipping.

[Tailgunner]

I took the back off just to see what I'm into, but no I haven't taken it out yet. Although I do plan to because it is going in my cocktail table. The cab is only half built but my mame computer is all splayed out on a small piece of plywood waiting to get install in my cab. The case is huge compared to the tube and I need the room.

When you get to that point give me a shout, I'd be interested in the empty case. Got my color issue sorted, turns out the wiring connector had come off the tint pot inside. A quick tube discharge, and plugging the connector back in solved the problem.

[RandyT]

Anyone interested in some Dotronix DSV-25Cs?  Sorry to post here but my account got screwed up a while back.  I might be able to get 9 of them on Ebay for next to nothinghttp://cgi.ebay.com/9-Bank-Monitor-System-w-9-Dotronix-DSV-25C-Monitors-NR_W0QQitemZ110077790880QQihZ001QQcategoryZ21517QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.  Just checking the waters.  I was thinking around $25-$50 plus shipping.

A friendly heads-up;

If you haven't done this kind of thing before, you will be shocked by how much it costs to deal with this endeavor.  On top of the $200 for the auction, you will need to pay at least $400 to have them shipped to you.  The seller will probably charge a palletizing fee on top of that.  You will need to have custom packing made (cost me $25 each) or you will need to ship via truck on pallets (more $.)  Then UPS will want 80 to 100 each to send them to your buyers. 

Then there are the issues of the monitors themselves.  They are large, heavy and require mucho storage space.  They will also be set-up for video-wall use, which means that the image is stretched to the edges of the screens.  One would think that the adjustment for arcade monitor use is simple, but it is not.  Changing the screen size so drastically cause other things to go out of whack like convergence, so you would need to be comfortable with making these adjustments.

None of this is unachievable, but once you start crunching the numbers, you will see that nothing about this is going to be for "next to nothing"

RandyT

[Clu]

Thanks for the info.  I live in Colorado Springs so shipping is not an issue.  Plus the Electrosonic Imagemag processor would probably sell on ebay for at least $200, so that leaves the monitors for free.  Some guy actually tried that on this same auction a while back, but since the processor only went for $200, he bailed on the whole thing.  I really didn't know anything about shipping these things so thanks for letting me know.  I was estimating about $100, so $150 total still might be a good deal for someone.  It's hard to pass up 9 arcade monitors for a little elbow grease.  I figure I can keep the best monitors for me and let Goodwill take the rest if I don't want to store them and can't sell them.  I might have a project or two left in me.

[RandyT]

Cool.  If you are local (and already have the truck) that will take care of a lot of the expense.  The controller may go for $200 alone, but if that were the case, I'd be surprised if someone didn't bid and tell the seller that he was only interested in that piece, which I'm sure would be fine with the seller...unless he really wants the monitors gone as part of it.

They should be nice monitors as long as they haven't been on since the day they were made.  The group I have were part of a traveling exhibit (I got the road cases and everything) so they were used very infrequently compared to the ones you sometimes see as part of a permanent installation in retail stores.  You might want to see if the seller can give you a little history on them if that's of any concern to you.

RandyT

[Clu]

Here's the auction where the guy tried to sell just the Electrosonic processor - http://cgi.ebay.com/ImageMag-Image-Mag-Video-Processor-by
Electrosonic_W0QQitemZ150062730647QQihZ005QQcategoryZ3319QQcmdZViewItemKind of funny.  He even used the exact same pictures.  Very cool piece of equipment.  I may end up keeping it if I decide to bid.

I've bought from this seller before.  He sells only on consignment, so I doubt he would want to handle these things if someone just wanted the image processor.

As far as the monitors go, I think they are from a retail store.  We had a couple of Media Play stores close up about a year ago, and I suspect they were one of the displays.  From what I remember, they had a price of $5000 on them when Media Play started selling the fixtures, but I don't know what they went for.  They always had a nice picture, but they probably have a lot of hours on them.