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Arcade monitor do vs PC or TV?
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Jeff AMN:
I'm using a 27" Samsung TV via component connection and I couldn't be happier with it. With some tweaking, it's pretty darn close to a real arcade monitor. In fact, until I tell people, they just assume it's an arcade monitor in the cab. I can tell the difference, but mostly because I know what to look for.
ahofle:
There are a few threads like this in the monitor forum.  Here is one with side by side comparison pics of arcade monitor vs TV/s-video (no PC monitor though).

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=65263.0
shorthair:
ahofle: yeah, but I don't really see the difference in those pics.

I notice several are talking from specific cab set-up conditions. Important, depending. I ALMOST bought a 29" presentation monitor off ebay for under $200, that went up to XGA. Wish I had, cos then I could put it next to my Billabs...though comparing both my 21" PC's to it, the Billabs seems brighter or richer in color. Possibly, as Jeff said, that's more a color settings thing. Although either I like a lot.

I saw a new-issue Centipede at Castles and Coasters - had, I think, a 25" monitor - and it was very nice-looking, with no scan lines. Seems the Ms Pac re-issue is set similarly, and I like that. I think it's interesting that a lot of people prefer how it orginally was, when that was just a cost-cutting thing.

On the LCD thing, besides the backlighting and viewpoint issues that make golden age games almost unplayable, I haven't had the opportunity to see games run on something faster than 12ms - though I bet the fastest, the best.

Anyways, thanks.
MaximRecoil:

--- Quote from: shorthair on April 20, 2007, 05:43:26 pm ---ahofle: yeah, but I don't really see the difference in those pics.

--- End quote ---

The S-video (TV) image has a lot of color bleed while the arcade monitor image has none. It is a very noticeable difference.


--- Quote from: dmckean on April 20, 2007, 06:42:06 am ---Most everything from the early 90s on and also any Vector games will benefit from a high resolution PC monitor.
--- End quote ---

Any game designed strictly for a standard resolution (CGA) monitor is in the same resolution range as the 80's classics and does not look good on a PC monitor. For example, this is a screenshot from Street Fighter 2 (1991) which is probably the quintessential "early 90's" game:



That image is in SFII's native resolution (384x224), so imagine playing that on your PC monitor, centered in the middle of your screen surrounded by a sea of black. The only way to make it fill your screen (even a low PC monitor screen resolution of 640x480 is about double the resolution of SFII) is with processing techniques (e.g., hardware stretch), which by its very nature can only degrade the image compared to its original form.
shorthair:
I'm not talking about ahofle's pictures, but the pac pics.  Pictures, especially too close up, can be deceiving. I think that SF II image is good. But, at least when using the avga (I just select 'switchres' and either 'auto' or the resolution if it's available or something that seems close), there are scan lines. There are supposed to be scan lines, right? This is a matter of the resolution being used on a screen that has more pixels lines than the resolution has, right?
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