What is the best Arcade Monitor to get?

[rdowdy95]

I am thinking of upgrading my current 27" TV svideo to an arcade monitor.  I would be just plugging the monitor into my video card which is a Radeon X1300 Pro card via the 15 pin analog monitor cable.  I was looking at either the Wells Gardiner D9400 or the Betson Imperial Monitor.  Now do those monitors have the geometry settings so I can make sure everything is on the screen like meaning no overscan?  That is what I would really like. 

Also if I am not using powerstrip program or arcade vga card will it still make the games look good?  Or do I need to setup this powerstrip program to make sure it displays the games nicely.

[ahofle]

The whole point of using an arcade monitor is to get authentic CGA resolutions, which means you'll need an ArcadeVGA or software like Powerstrip/Soft15khz.  Otherwise you are wasting your money IMO. 
To address your other question, I know the Betson has on screen geometry and size adjustments and I'm pretty sure the 9400 does as well.  Billabs is another maker of 27" multisyncs.

[DeLuSioNal29]

As far as the monitor goes, I just bought a Betson 27" Monitor.  According to the people here on the forums, it's been known to be more reliable than a Wells Gardner, which is why I bought it.  My buddy also has this monitor.  So far I love it.  It's so crisp and accurately recreates the arcade feel.
It's on sale right now for $374 (normally $469) which is an AMAZING price!  It will cost about $100 to ship, but I picked mine up directly at Betson's facility so I lucked out and saved on shipping.  (You may need an SUV or a hatchback to pick it up as the box is pretty big and you should not really take it out until you are installing it).  Betson has several showrooms around the country.

The monitor itself has a standard VGA hookup, similar to a normal PC monitor, so no other equipment is necessary.  It will work great with Ultimarc's VGA2 card.  Although I eventually will purchase the arcade VGA, for now I have an Nvidia GeForce 7 working with Powerstrip and it works like a champ (you must cut and paste the extra 15kz resolutions into the powerstrip.ini file, then reboot)

Find out how here:  http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Custom_display_modes_(Windows)_-_Powerstrip#Step-by-step_guide

The actual stuff that you need to paste into the .ini file is here:  http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Custom_Powerstrip.ini

Last but not least... Here's a link to the monitor:  http://www.betson.com/products/IMP-44-4070-RT

Enjoy!

~ DeLuSioNaL

[joeH]

I've had the Betson for almost a year and a half now and have not had any problems with it.  It's a great monitor. Too bad I had to drive all the way to Phoenix to get it though. 

[NoOne=NBA=]

I've got a Happ 27" VGA/SVGA that I love.
I prefer able to properly display 640x480 and 800x600 for PC games over absolutely arcade authentic.
Arcade games look reasonably authentic with it, and it displays vector games better than a true arcade monitor.

I also have a 25" arcade monitor, in my sitdown cab, that is CGA/EGA.
I don't care for it quite as much, but it's still a huge step up over a TV.
With the ArcadeVGA, it will display 640x480, but it's blurrier than using a VGA monitor.

[Circo]

I have said this a million times but I will throw in my two cents again as I have owned the wells gardner, betson, and now the billabs, what is that $1800 in monitors over the years??? My wife would kill me if she knew but I digress.

WG - Great picture, but it did die within 2 years

Betson - I know many people are happy with this POS, but if you search you will find many threads about issues with the picture, specifically how it bunches up on the sides giving a fish eye effect on scrolling games, it drove me crazy and I had to bring the picture in over an inch on each side to use it.  Betson wouldn't help and I ended up selling it for a huge loss because it drove me crazy.  I absolutely despised this monitor.

Billabs - Wonderful product, have never been happier and everyone who sees it is amazed.  Also with it's 1024x768 resolution it allows you to have some stunning layouts and play PC games as well.  Also it leaves you enough vertical lines to play vertical Mame games at full original resolution with an arcade VGA card.  ***** 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have owned this monitor for over 3 years and have never had an issue with it.

Having spent a minimum of at least one year with each product I can ONLY recommend the billabs, it is a few dollars more, but is worth it.  If you are going to go all out and get a true multisync monitor the billabs is the one to get.

Did I mention that the betson was complete crap???    And they didn't stand behind their product...

[Lakersfan]

I loved my Betson until about 4 days ago when it started going spastic on me. Now I have a thread in the monitor section looking for support.

PS- I've only had it since September and have actually been using it since beginning of this month.

[Spaced Ace]

Just bought a 32" Gateway Destination 2000 computer monitor for $50.00.  Best investment as far as arcades I have ever made.  The picture is simply put, awesome.

But if you can find one, I suggest a Monivision.  Cant go wrong, reliable, low maintance, durrable.

They have them here:

http://www.psism.com/svgamoni.htm

But the shipping will be atleast $300.00 or more in the US.

I suggest looking local first.

[rdowdy95]

If I have ArcadeVGA will I still need to use PowerStrip or will I have to have both of these items.

[ahofle]

If I have ArcadeVGA will I still need to use PowerStrip or will I have to have both of these items.

No you won't need it.

[rdowdy95]

So with the ArcadeVGA and say like a Betson or Billups once I run say one of the games the Arcade VGA will display it the right way like it should be displayed?  Would I need to tell MAME settings file anything different?

[ahofle]

In general MAME will try to pick the closest matching available resolution.  Once you install the ArcadeVGA drivers, you should have more low resolutions available for MAME to choose from.  Of course, there are exceptions and some games are not chosen optimally by MAME -- in that case all you have to do is tell MAME what resolution to use manually.  There are also tools out there that will set the resolutions for all MAME games for you.

[Spaced Ace]

Wish you lived near El Paso.  I have a 27" Philips Magnavox Hi-Res NBA Jam monitor in my garage collecting dust. 

Free for pick up.  I listed it on graigslist:

http://elpaso.craigslist.org/sys/508865660.html

Ill have to throw it in the trash if I cant get rid of it by Jan 08.

[Circo]

I dug up this article about the Billabs monitor on retroblast, why buy anything else???

http://www.retroblast.com/Hardware/Wei-Ya-M2929DC-62-_-bilLABS-BL27CA1K.php