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4:3 or 16:9 for Possible Bartop?

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Jack Burton:

I'm confused by this discussion.  Using a widescreen monitor for vertical games will not be any more accurate than it would be for horizontal games. 

Vertical games always filled the screen in the arcades, the only time you will see borders is when you are playing in MAME with the rotate function turned on, or on a console that has been programmed to display that way.

If you played a vertical game in mame without rotation turned on then you will have borders on the top and bottom of the screen exactly the same size as the pillarboxing you would find on a horizontal game being played on the same monitor.  This is because they are the exact same aspect ratio.  99.9 of arcade games use the 4:3 aspect ratio, vertical games included.


So, a 16:9 monitor would not be a good choice if you were going to go with the most accurate image, because no matter what, you will have some empty space on screen.

scotthh:

Some measurements from the Pythagorean theorem:
A 22" 16:9 monitor is 19.2" x 10.8"
A 22"   4:3 monitor is 17.6" x 13.2"
A 24"   4:3 monitor is 19.2" x 14.4"
A 18"   4:3 monitor is 14.4" x 10.8"

Assuming you do not stretch the image:
If you display an image that was designed for a vertical 4:3 monitor on a vertical 16:9 monitor you will have wasted space on the top and the bottom of the monitor. If you use a 22" 16:9 screen, you'll get the same size image as you would from an 18" 4:3 because the 10.8" dimension is the limiting size, leaving you 2.4" black bars on the top and the bottom.

*You can't compare the diagonal measurement of 16:9's vs. 4:3's directly.
*Using the screen size that the image was designed for is best.

lettuce:

Do they actual produce a 22" 4:3 LCD monitor?

Turnarcades:

Can't believeso many find it hard to visualise what a vertical game looks like!

Vertical arcade games basically just had a rotated 4:3 monitor, so if you like, was viewed from a 3:4 aspect ratio. To my knowledge no vertical games used anything but a rotated 4:3 monitor, especially as widescreen wasn't really around back in the day. Some games may have appeared longer or thinner, but this is probably just a trick of the eye because of the graphics layout on the screen and maybe some side bezel coverage.

So I echo what most have said here; a vertical widescreen would be pointless as you wouldn't gain a bigger viewing area on vertical games. If size is your thing, you'd be better off looking for a 19" LCD in 4:3 - anything bigger in 4:3 is hard to find and may cost you.

lettuce:

Your right, after 19" 4:3 size screens, the price sky rockets. It may be worth getting a 16:9, but keeping the aspect correct thus having boards at the top and bottom of the screen when rotated vertical, and then just fit the marquee so it just fits the active display of the widescreen TV

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