Question for MAMErs with large CRT televisions as their display

[Vash]

I was just curious what everyone used to hold up the television.  I have a 27" JVC that I'll be using in my cabinet, but have no idea how I'm going to pull it off.  Do you just use a slanted shelf that's screwed into the sides of the cab or an entirely separate contraption that rests inside? 

[somunny]

I'm using a 5/8" mdf shelf slanted back at 5-7 degress (I forget) and it's plenty sturdy for the 29" NEC monitor I have sitting on it.  The shelf is braced with 2x4's I should add. 

[phishpac]

I have a large flat screen CRT television.  It's on a tilted shelf which holds most of the weight.  The shelf is supported by 2x2's, shelf supports, and the tv itself is bolted to the shelf and cabinet sides.

[whoozwah]

I'm unorthodox...



I built everything around this TV.

[RoninEditor]

I'm following someone else's advice in building a 2x4 'structure' that holds the tv independently of the surrounding cab, which I will then tack to the 2x4 brace.  My tv is way to heavy to be held up by screws.  I'm also going to use an earthquake strap (or any other kind of strap will work) to bind it to the 2x4 structure, in case I need to tilt the whole cab to move it, so the tv isn't sliding around.

[DJ_Izumi]

I think the question would be what are you using to drive the TV?  Composite can be pretty greesy.  S-Video can be a fair bit better, but if you can, will the TV let you do component?  Component gets you some damn nice 480i video.

[Vash]

I think the question would be what are you using to drive the TV?  Composite can be pretty greesy.  S-Video can be a fair bit better, but if you can, will the TV let you do component?  Component gets you some damn nice 480i video.

It depends on the video card I can find.  I don't want to spend too much on it, but my TV is capable of component, composite, and S-video, so I'm shooting for a card capable of component out.

[Jdurg]

I think the question would be what are you using to drive the TV?  Composite can be pretty greesy.  S-Video can be a fair bit better, but if you can, will the TV let you do component?  Component gets you some damn nice 480i video.

It depends on the video card I can find.  I don't want to spend too much on it, but my TV is capable of component, composite, and S-video, so I'm shooting for a card capable of component out.

Yeah, don't even THINK about anything other than Component if your TV supports it.  Component is the closest you can get to an actual arcade CRT due to the distinct color signal separation that Component is able to provide.  Everything else is just icky in comparison.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm unorthodox...



I built everything around this TV.

Isn't that TV too low? I would think that you're looking at it from an awkward angle like that.

[ahofle]

I have a MDF monitor shelf supported by two 2x4 braces underneath.

[leapinlew]

I used a 32" Television. I built a stand for it:
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I was paranoid that anything less than it's own support structure wouldn't provide enough support. I see plenty of people using 27" and smaller televisions mounted inside a cabinet using 2x4's.

I guess it depends on the size of your television. I have a 36" Sony Wega that weighs nearly 400lbs. I can't imagine using it - but I may try. 

[DJ_Izumi]

I think the question would be what are you using to drive the TV?  Composite can be pretty greesy.  S-Video can be a fair bit better, but if you can, will the TV let you do component?  Component gets you some damn nice 480i video.

It depends on the video card I can find.  I don't want to spend too much on it, but my TV is capable of component, composite, and S-video, so I'm shooting for a card capable of component out.

Yeah, don't even THINK about anything other than Component if your TV supports it.  Component is the closest you can get to an actual arcade CRT due to the distinct color signal separation that Component is able to provide.  Everything else is just icky in comparison.

A great many graphic cards have component output support, you just need to get the output adaptor for it as they usually don't come with the card.  For ATi based cards you can generally get the adaptors from their site or on eBay.  If you notice, many Video cards with 'S-video out' actually have 7 pin svideo jacks rather than 4 pin in the card, meaning it can do a lot more than Svideo if asked too.

[tophatne1]

I'm almost ready to hook up my 27" Toshiba CRT television to my new MAME cab but I don't know what graphics card to get.

My computer that I want to hook up to:

Dell Dimension 8300HT
P4
2.6 GHZ
1GB RAM
120G HD

The graphics card slot is AGP. I know I can find a card with S-video easy enough but I want to have the best quality possible on a CRT TV. I have S-Video and a ton of the red,white, and yellow audio video jacks. Is there a card that can hook up to the TV with the red,white,and yellow jacks? Would the quality be better?

I'm confused on the whole thing. I want to get this up and running! Please give me some much needed advise.

Thanks!

[DJ_Izumi]

Quick run down of video signal quality!

First of all, as I hope we all know, the red and white jacks together are just left and right stereo audio.

The 'yellow jack' is composite video, this is the lowest possible quality.  Especially noticeable on a 27" TV that in an arcade situation you're only 1-3 feet from.  This is cause it's jamming an entire video signal down a SINGLE line.

'S-video', also called Super Video keeps the video seperated into two different signals.  It's basicly like two cables built into one, that's why it has 4 pins.  This allows for more signal bandwidth and thusly higher quality video.  If you have the option to use S-video over composite (yellow jack). GO FOR IT.

Component Video is when you see at trio of red, green, and blue video jacks.  This is the best analog video for a standard TV usually.  You could get RGB but most TVs won't take that.  Like S-Video the signal is seperated, but not into 2 seperate signals but 3, allowing even more bandwidth and a much better video signal.  If you can go for component, go for it.  It's as good as an RGB signal, but you probably won't tell the difference.

For those of you with ATi cards with a 7pin Svideo output port, you can get this output adaptor instead and get compontent.  http://www.shopati.ca/product.asp?sku=2550138

That would be for most cards, my X800 however is 9pin, that woudl be this adaptor: http://www.shopati.ca/product.asp?sku=2766464

[tophatne1]

That all made since to me. Thanks!

S-Video for me it looks like.

[severdhed]

I am helping a friend build his first cabinet, we are just finishing up the control panel and will be starting on the cabinet soon.  We are not quite sure how we are going to do it yet, but he has a 36" CRT computer monitor (800x600) that weighs in at a little over 200lbs.  we plan on making a stand for the monitor out of 2x4s and plywood, and then building the cabinet up around it. 

[whoozwah]

Isn't that TV too low? I would think that you're looking at it from an awkward angle like that.

nah. It's perfect height for me either standing at it or sitting in some barstools.

[RoninEditor]

If your tv has component, then you don't need a special graphics card to connect it... just use this (cheap) cord:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10235&cs_id=1023503&p_id=2170&seq=1&format=2

It's a VGA to Component! 

[DJ_Izumi]

That's a VERY misleading piece of cable.  All it REALLY does is change the pinouts.  The signal going into that would have to be component  in the VGA cable.

You must note one very important thing 'component' is a misleading title.  Anything where the signal is seperated into multiple signals is 'component'.  VGA RGB is component and some AV gear takes an RGB signal.  But the component video that almost all home televisions take is NOT RGB component, those TVs use YPbPr component rather than RGB component.  (Yes, even IF the video jacks re colored red, green, and blue).

If you're hooking up your PC to a component television, that cable is USELESS. 

There is ONE excepton I know if, an ATi All In Wonder Card where they sold a small 'VGA to HDTV' adaptor.  But this was misleading.  The adaptor has dipswitches on it to select your analog HDTV signal, it communicates with the card and basicly says 'Yeah, you gotta switch from RGB to component output mode now, 480p please.' and the card obeys.  I don't even know if this adaptor works on other ATi cards, but basicly the adaptor does nothing except convert the pinout and give the graphics card a command, the graphics card itself switches modes and starts generating a different kind of signal.

[Paladin]

Now I'm getting paranoid.  I bought all the guts from the 38" monitor version of Gauntlet Legends that someone bought so he could use the cabinet for MAME.  I'm building a showcase cabinet from scratch, and have been worried about strength.  I downloaded the showcase cab assembly instructions from mameroom.com, and their plans look like it's only held together with screw cams.  I've been downloading all the pictures I can find online of the Atari/Dynamo showcase style cabs.  So far I've only found two photos that show the cabinet with the door open, and it looks like 1x1 reinforcments are all that are used.

I downloaded the showcase plans from jakobud's site, but the measurements contradict themselves so I'm pretty much winging it based on that design.  I'm using 3/4 particle board with 1x1 reinforcements.  I'm gluing and screwing all panels to the 1x1's and crossing my fingers that it's going to be strong enough.  I just started assembly today on the monitor pedestal, and I should have it done tomorrow.  I'm letting the glue dry on the foot section before adding the front and back panels as well as the top and single shelf.

[Vash]

Now I'm getting paranoid.  I bought all the guts from the 38" monitor version of Gauntlet Legends that someone bought so he could use the cabinet for MAME.  I'm building a showcase cabinet from scratch, and have been worried about strength.  I downloaded the showcase cab assembly instructions from mameroom.com, and their plans look like it's only held together with screw cams.  I've been downloading all the pictures I can find online of the Atari/Dynamo showcase style cabs.  So far I've only found two photos that show the cabinet with the door open, and it looks like 1x1 reinforcments are all that are used.

I downloaded the showcase plans from jakobud's site, but the measurements contradict themselves so I'm pretty much winging it based on that design.  I'm using 3/4 particle board with 1x1 reinforcements.  I'm gluing and screwing all panels to the 1x1's and crossing my fingers that it's going to be strong enough.  I just started assembly today on the monitor pedestal, and I should have it done tomorrow.  I'm letting the glue dry on the foot section before adding the front and back panels as well as the top and single shelf.

Any idea how much that beast weighs?  Either way, let us (me =p) know how it goes.  My original plan was to use only a piece of MDF screwed and glued onto the sides of the cabinet with a shelf bracket underneath that would also be glued to the sides.

[Paladin]

I don't know how much it weighs, but it took 2 of us to get it in and out of the truck.  Here's a sneak peak at the bottom of the monitor support structure before I attached the bottom piece.  I added the extra 2x4's in the middle to help support the weight.  The holes in the pieces are to allow the wires to pass through to the control panel section.