21" CRT VS 17" LCD

[DaOld Man]

I asked this question in the video section, but only got one response.
I have a 21" CRT PC monitor I was going to put in my arcade, which currently has a 17" PC CRT.
I ordered one of those cheap 17" LCD monitors, and am thinking of installing it instead.
I would like to make a rotating setup, and I know it will be much easier with the LCD.
So my question is:
Which would you prefer?
(1) 17" LCD rotating
(2) 17" LCD non-rotating
(3) 21" CRT rotating
(4) 21" CRT non-rotating
(5) 21" LCD

[Avrus]

It's going to be a personal preference that only you can decide.  The critical questions you need to answer for yourself are:

How many vertical games are you going to play?
Is vertical orientation important for those games?
Is authentic resolution reproduction important to you?

That last one is a big one. 

[heffe2001]

What about option 5, 21" LCD Rotating .

[DaOld Man]

heffe2001:
21" lcd would be perfect, but I dont hav ethe funds for that right now.
 

Avrus:
Well, I have a 17" LCD on my desktop PC, when I turn it vertical, Galaga 88 looks much much better.

[Cornchip]

  I think heffe2001 said exactly what I was thinking. The 21 CRT is good...but the effort is almost not worth it. A 21" 4:3 with a thin black frame LCD would be my choice. I'm thinking I might get one to put away for a rainy day. Most everything has gone wide screen.

 Cornchip.

[NoOne=NBA=]

21" rotating CRT would be my first choice if quality is the primary goal.
21" non-rotating CRT would be my first choice if easy implementation is the primary goal.
17" rotating LCD would be the easiest rotating installation.

[heffe2001]

heffe2001:
21" lcd would be perfect, but I dont hav ethe funds for that right now.
 

Avrus:
Well, I have a 17" LCD on my desktop PC, when I turn it vertical, Galaga 88 looks much much better.

Yeah, that's my problem now myself .  I have a 19" on a PC at the house, and Galaga & MSPAC look pretty darn good on there rotated .  I'd say as close to the original size arcade as I can get easily .

[genesim]

To not let this get out of hand, I am curious.

How is a LCD not quality?

This isn't to hijack, so my vote goes with 21 inch LCD.  Lightweight and absent of inherent problems associate with CRT.  Though having quick response time along with high contrast ratio...at least 1000:1 along with having at least 1280 resolution.   After that, you have a very good looking purely digital display.

Rotating a CRT physically would be too demanding in the long run.   CRT design just wasn't meant for that.

Though in retrospect, most anything rotating will break down eventually.   I am almost with alot of people in this view.   A dedicated cab for verticals if that is your pleasure.

[Green Giant]

Either 17" rotating or 21" regular.  The only reason to do the 17" rotate would really be to watch it physically rotate and to decrease the depth of the cab.

In terms of physical viewing size, there isn't much gained on the 17" lcd.

With the 17" you would have 17" viewed vertically and horizontally with the rotation.

On the 21" crt, you would get the 21" viewed horizontally, and a simulated 15.75" viewed vertically with black bars.  A tinted plexi would make it look like a regular vertical.

So not much increase in viewing size on either.

[DaOld Man]

Either 17" rotating or 21" regular.  The only reason to do the 17" rotate would really be to watch it physically rotate and to decrease the depth of the cab.

In terms of physical viewing size, there isn't much gained on the 17" lcd.

With the 17" you would have 17" viewed vertically and horizontally with the rotation.

On the 21" crt, you would get the 21" viewed horizontally, and a simulated 15.75" viewed vertically with black bars.  A tinted plexi would make it look like a regular vertical.

So not much increase in viewing size on either.

Good point!

[koz319]

I guess I'm going to go against the crowd here a little, but I would go with the rotating 21" CRT.   It's obvious from your posts that either maximizing the utilization of the monitor, or viewing the games in their original aspect ratio/resolution is important to you, which would suggest going with a rotating setup.  And once you have decided to go with a rotating setup, it's really not that much more difficult to build a rig to support a 21" CRT than anything else. 

(For the record, my cab has a 21" rotating CRT in it, so maybe I'm biased It's  been working for over four years with no problems)

As far as LCD's go, I actually like them more than CRTs for regular computer use, but to me the classic arcade games just don't look the same on an LCD.


Koz

[Green Giant]

I guess I'm going to go against the crowd here a little, but I would go with the rotating 21" CRT.   It's obvious from your posts that either maximizing the utilization of the monitor, or viewing the games in their original aspect ratio/resolution is important to you, which would suggest going with a rotating setup.  And once you have decided to go with a rotating setup, it's really not that much more difficult to build a rig to support a 21" CRT than anything else. 

(For the record, my cab has a 21" rotating CRT in it, so maybe I'm biased It's  been working for over four years with no problems)

As far as LCD's go, I actually like them more than CRTs for regular computer use, but to me the classic arcade games just don't look the same on an LCD.


Koz

Does yours autodegauss when you rotate it.  Having to hit the degauss button every time would be a big hitch in this plan.

[quanlee]

I used a 19" LCD in my Ms Pacman, and love it.

[Q*bert]

I used a 19" LCD in my Ms Pacman, and love it.

quanlee,

Is that an unusual cocktail design, or is it just the camera perspective that makes an upright look odd?

[quanlee]

It's a Ms Pacman Upright... here's another pic.

[koz319]

Does yours autodegauss when you rotate it.  Having to hit the degauss button every time would be a big hitch in this plan.

Yeah, it auto degausses.  It also auto-rotates automatically when mame launches a game.   I'm putting the info together on how I did this, I'm hoping to get it out on the web today.

Koz

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Coz, please post your website here when it is ready.

[heffe2001]

It's a Ms Pacman Upright... here's another pic.

I've been thinking of this very thing for the 19" that I have.  The wife's favorites are Ms Pac & Galaga, and at some point I'm going to build her a 'real' machine dedicated to those.  What FE are you using on that cab?