Some Questions On Arcades PC to TV??

[parpunk]

Hello. im new to this site and after talking to a few people about MAME etc. i decided i wanted to make some kind of set up to play old arcade games and have a little feel of the arcades to it. I think the route im gonna try and take is the simplest one there is. Im planning to buy a 4 player control panel that someone built for MAME. then i plan to get a PC and upload MAME to it etc. Get a good frontend and do it like normal. But now instead of convertin an arcade cab and monitor, I might just build a custom arcade cabinet where i can just set a flat screen 25 inch TV in it. and buy these cables>

http://www.amazon.com/PC-TO-VIDEO-CA...7?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Now i know this might not be the truest arcade expercience etc. but it looks easy and having a sweet control panel would give it the feel. And i was bascially wondering what the resolution, clarity, and picture would be to buy one of these pc to TV cables and do it this way? if all goes well ill buy some surround speakers etc, and kinda just make a place to rock old school arcade games with joysticks. Any ideas from anyone or has anyone done something like this and used these cables?

[tetsu96]

The link didn't end up on a valid page so correct if you want someone to check it out in detail.

As far as using a TV, you can actually do very good with one.  As a general rule, CRTs (flat or curved) will be similar to arcade monitors just because of the technology used.  Couple that with a lack of filters (hardware scaling only), and you get a picture that looks very similar to arcade monitors.  It won't be AS sharp as a real monitor using it's native resolution, but it won't look bad.

[ArcadEd]

I agree with Tetsu.  Using a standard television works great, especially with an S-Video connection.  Windows might look a bit squirly, but once you get your frontEnd setup so it looks good on the screen (640x480 with some larger fonts) all will be good.  The games will look fine too .

Good luck with your project.

[ahofle]

Hopefully the cable is at least S-Video.  You can get even slightly better video quality with a DVI to component converter (if your TV has component inputs).  I personally think using a TV is more than fine -- I prefer the picture to a PC monitor in fact.  This is especially true if you plan on running ANY console emulation, as the picture looks just about perfect on a TV.  It's also much easier to get started with a TV than trying to get correct MAME resolutions with an arcade monitor.  

Having said that, I don't think you can beat an arcade monitor for MAME.  Here are some comparison pics I took recently between a TV (S-video) and an arcade monitor (beware, they are big):

TV:
http://hofle.com/mame/robotron_ddraw.JPG

Arcade monitor:
http://hofle.com/mame/robotron-arcademonitor-ddraw3.JPG

I'm actually torn whether to go with the arcade monitor or go back to the TV for a few reasons.  (I got the arcade monitor for $25 and it's used and has some convergence issues)

[parpunk]

hey guys! thanks a lot for thie info! yea ill prbably just use a TV if all goes well. heres the link to the cable i was looking at>

http://www.amazon.com/PC-TO-VIDEO-CABLE/dp/B000BR7VEK/sr=8-6/qid=1172163579/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6/103-1574086-8923067?ie=UTF8&s=hi

sorry it didnt work the first time. lemme know if this would work good! Also what else would i have to buy for my computer?? its a hewlett packard with windows Xp. Any info would help a lot. thanks!

[ArcadEd]

For that price you can get an ATI 9250 card which has S-video and DVI out.  Just a suggestion as I'm not sure how well those adapters work.  I've always just used vid cards with tv-out already.

[ahofle]

There was a thread around here earlier about a similar adapter.  I think the general consensus was that it wasn't nearly as good as using a video card with TV out already built in.  I'd go for an ATI card with S-vid out if I were you.  You also get some software adjustments (sharpness, screen size, flicker adjustments etc) if you go with an ATI card.

[Jeff AMN]

Here are some comparison pics I took recently between a TV (S-video) and an arcade monitor (beware, they are big):

TV:
http://hofle.com/mame/robotron_ddraw.JPG

Arcade monitor:
http://hofle.com/mame/robotron-arcademonitor-ddraw3.JPG

Wow, that arcade monitor is sweet. However, for ease of maintenance, pricing, and peace of mind, I'm going to go with a TV set for my cabinet. Somewhere down the line I might upgrade to a monitor, but for now the TV is good enough for me.

[tetsu96]

hey guys! thanks a lot for thie info! yea ill prbably just use a TV if all goes well. heres the link to the cable i was looking at>

http://www.amazon.com/PC-TO-VIDEO-CABLE/dp/B000BR7VEK/sr=8-6/qid=1172163579/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6/103-1574086-8923067?ie=UTF8&s=hi

sorry it didnt work the first time. lemme know if this would work good! Also what else would i have to buy for my computer?? its a hewlett packard with windows Xp. Any info would help a lot. thanks!

I wonder if that's an adapter or a funkly shaped scan converter.  There's no passive VGA -> TV converter adapters that I know of that will take a 31KHz signal to 15KHz.  Maybe I'm wrong...

If you want a plug & play solution, scan converters are a mixed bag.  I had good results with the TView Gold several years back.  If I didn't pick up some presentation PC monitors and Betson tubes, I'd still be using it probably.  I liked it a lot because it scaled up or down to fill a NTSC TV.  Lots of odd resolution games were full screen w/o filters because native resolutions went full screen (hardware scaling of course, but most software scaling looks rougher or impacts performance).

If you do use video cards with TV out instead, I've heard good things about ATI.  NVidia cards never really had it down when I tried using them with s-video, but maybe they're just as good.  *shrugs*

[parpunk]

ok yea im gonna try to go with whats best. anyone have any links to where i can by one of the best ATI card with S-vid out cards??

[Jeff AMN]

ok yea im gonna try to go with whats best. anyone have any links to where i can by one of the best ATI card with S-vid out cards??

Try eBay, you can find a pretty good deal there.

[parpunk]

hi thanks. this is the only one i could find

http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-X1300-Pro-256MB-AGP-Card-DVI-VGA-S-vid_W0QQitemZ330091649939QQihZ014QQcategoryZ40158QQssPageNameZWD10VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item330091649939

would that work? Also are there any tutorials on how to put these in? Also what would be a good price for one of these. Do i need to buy a graphics card or anything like that too?? the computer has windows XP so i figure that would be good enough for most games. lemme know what ya think thanks!
-mark

[parpunk]

would something like that work or could it be simpler??

[FrizzleFried]

If you gotta go 25" or bigger,  a TV will be MUCH cheaper.  For 19" though,  arcade monitors are cheap enough NEW ($150 or so) that there is no excuse to use a TV at that size.   I am wondering how a 25-27" TV with component inputs looks...I have a VGA to Component Video converter box sitting in the garage...hmmm....

[ahofle]

would something like that work or could it be simpler??

Yes, that would work fine although it may be overkill for arcade emulation.  The Radeon 9250, 9550, and 9600 series would also be fine.

[parpunk]

overkill? As in more than i need, or will it look bad? Also whats a good price for something like this?

[hsstie]

hey guys! thanks a lot for thie info! yea ill prbably just use a TV if all goes well. heres the link to the cable i was looking at>

http://www.amazon.com/PC-TO-VIDEO-CABLE/dp/B000BR7VEK/sr=8-6/qid=1172163579/ref=pd_bbs_sr_6/103-1574086-8923067?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Well that fancy cable doesnt have a price nor any reviews, but i did find one similar there on amazon that does.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000BSLSYI/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/002-4912004-0541636?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics

the reviews for it rate it quite poor. I really reccomend using a video card with s-video output. If you can't afford a new one there are plenty out there you can get used for cheap. When i just bought my 27" flat screen tv for my upcoming mame cab ( 100 bucks what a steal, and its a panasonic ) , i told the guy what i was gonna use the tv for.... he gave me a s-video card just to help me out 


[HsS]Tie

[ahofle]

overkill? As in more than i need, or will it look bad? Also whats a good price for something like this?

Yeah, as in more than you'll probably need (unless you plan on running modern PC games on that machine).  The other cards I listed should be much cheaper.

[parpunk]

ok thanks a lot for the info!! 2 more real quick questions>>

1. Would this radeon x1300 Be able to run more advanced arcade games like tekken, marvel vs. capcom etc.?? Also are those arcade games easy to find and work in MAME

. How much do you think this radeon x1300 card will go for?? whats a good price for it?

Sorry for so many questions but im still very new to all this stuff. any info will help. thanks guys!

[FrizzleFried]

ok thanks a lot for the info!! 3 more real quick questions>>

1. Would this radeon x1300 Be able to run more advanced arcade games like tekken, marvel vs. capcom etc.?? Also are those arcade games easy to find and work in MAME

2. Do you know anyone here with a complete ****** *** *** they could sell on a disc, or a place to Download it?

3. How much do you think this radeon x1300 card will go for?? whats a good price for it?

Sorry for so many questions but im still very new to all this stuff. any info will help. thanks guys!

1. Graphics card means squat to MAME.  A Radeon x1300 will run about as well as a Radeon X1900 in MAME.

2. BAD QUESTION!  BAD BAD BAD!  You risk being banned for asking this question.  Don't do it again!  Trust me!

3. EBAY / NEWEGG / ETC is your friend.

EDIT:  I would recommend you edit your post as soon as possible.  You are breaking the #1 rule of the forums with question #2.   

[parpunk]

hey thanks man for the heads up. i had no idea.............anyways so mame pretyy much runs anything whether u have a graphics card or not? Besides a computer with windows xp, and this radeon x1300 card, is this everything i need for the computer to run almost every arcade game?

[parpunk]

oh i just won the 4 player MAME arcade controls i was talking about. thats gonna save me a ton of work in wiring and getting joysticks together, its a 4 player already configured control panel. has 4 joystcks, and 6 buttons for player 1 and 2 and 4 buttons for players 3 and 4. Has a Ps/2 port on it. now i gotta get a s video pc card and i should be ready to go. Whats the settings i should have on the resolution from MAME, for say a 20-25 inch TV??