LCD monitor choice

[monkey puzzle]

Hello.
I've just started planning my first mame cab and I've been racking my brains over what monitor to use. I'm not too woried about an authentic looking arcade picture, so I sort of decided an LCD PC  monitor would be best (space is also a factor, and I figured an LCD monitor would mean a smaller cab).
There are still some 4:3 monitors available here in the UK but the choice is limited. Large monitors like 27" are very expensive so I decided on a smaller, rotating monitor.
I found this one, priced quite cheaply and wondered what people thought it might be like: LG W22345S  its a 22" widescreen with a TN screen. I was wondering if the screen ratio is ok, or would I be better looking for a 4:3? Also any comments on the spec would be greatly appriciated.
The link is here: http://www.lge.com/products/model/detail/w2234s.jhtml

[(+_+)]

Bite the bullet and sacrifice food, clothing, beer etc and buy yourself a Samsung SyncMaster 305T 30” LCD Monitor. It beautific and my next cab will most likely have something similar. The dell 30" is also nice but you'd have to sacrifice and then some.

On a more serious note, I think a 22" wide screen is a bit small. I have a 26 inch LCD in mine and it does the job fine.

[pinballwizard79]

I hope to flip my current cab very soon & LCD is my next monitor choice for sure.

So far, this has been my best candidate so feel free to check it out:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11236988&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC

Imagine playing Virtua Tennis or some of the new JPSalas pinball tables on that beast.

You can get a 22 inch version for $169:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11306935&whse=BC

Good luck!

[nox771]

I was looking at that same panel on newegg, but the costco price you found is better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254026

One thing I noticed is that Costco shows it having a HDMI/RGB/DVI inputs, whereas newegg only shows it having HDMI/RGB.  However Costco didn't show the model number, so it may be a different variant.  Lots of reviews on it on newegg.

Looking at the dimensions it is widescreen but newegg shows the vertical size as 19.2", so probably 18+" in the vertical after subtracting the bezel.

Being a TN panel, the only thing I was wondering about would be the viewing angle.  Certainly almost all TN panels have lousy viewing angle in the vertical direction, but I think most of them are pretty good in the horizontal.

[Ummon]

Remember that LCDs are measured by viewable area, so you get more.

[monkey puzzle]

Bite the bullet and sacrifice food, clothing, beer etc and buy yourself a Samsung SyncMaster 305T 30” LCD Monitor. It beautific and my next cab will most likely have something similar. The dell 30" is also nice but you'd have to sacrifice and then some.

On a more serious note, I think a 22" wide screen is a bit small. I have a 26 inch LCD in mine and it does the job fine.

Unfortunately both the monitors you mentioned are around £1000 (UK) and the monitor I was looking at is only £105. I know a 30" would be better, because It could display vertical games large enough to not have to rotate the monitor, but they are well out of my price range.

Incidently, do you rotate your monitor? You say that a 22" is a bit small, but when rotated, it will display vertical games larger than a 26" that isn't rotated. I've heard a lot of people say that a 19" CRT monitor is large enough, so I figure that a 22" LCD has a much larger viewable area and will be plenty big enough for me (so long as it can display the vertical games as mentioned).

[nox771]

I've heard a lot of people say that a 19" CRT monitor is large enough, so I figure that a 22" LCD has a much larger viewable area and will be plenty big enough for me (so long as it can display the vertical games as mentioned).

The problem there is the aspect ratio.  CRTs are 4:3 and most cheap LCDs are going to be widescreen, something like 16:10 is typical.  So for a 22" on a 16:10 aspect a bit of math will get you approximate dimensions:
width = 22*cos(atan(10/16)) =  18.65
height = 22*sin(atan(10/16)) = 11.66

18.65 wide x 11.66 tall

Now that I look at it this way the vertical on the 28" is smaller than I thought too, just under 15":
width = 28*cos(atan(10/16)) =  23.74
height = 28*sin(atan(10/16)) = 14.84

If you are rotating the screen you can get by with a much smaller widescreen panel.  Of course the cab design means the upper part must be designed to accommodate both the larger height and width (since when it's rotated it will be tall).

You might be able to get by with a 21" LCD in 4:3 format.  It's a better fit since I think most games were originally on CRTs of that aspect (not sure if that's true though).  Generally I think they are becoming harder to find since people prefer widescreens for PCs, and usually they are spendy (PVA or IPS panels).

[Blanka]

In 4:3 the best option is the Samsung 214T.
This one is an S-PVA panel, and has a pivot foot already. Which means it has decent viewing angle when mount vertical (which you won't have with TN, as vertical TN's suck big time).
Most of the time you can use a pivot-mech in the foot directly for cab mounting, which is handy.

The suggested Samsung 30 inch is no option IMO. It is not only too wide to fit most casings, as it is 2560x1600, it needs very specific videocards, and upscaling images may be far worse in speed than on 1920x1200 screens. Better get a 27 inch 1920x1200 screen. BTW, pivotting a 21 inch 4:3 gives exactly the same screen estate as pivotting a 24 inch 16:10. You can have more options in the 24 inch market. But then again, never go for TN when pivotting (but that's probably why TN screens never have pivot built in)

@nox: funny you use sin and cos for calculating! I do everything with Pythagoras (those cheap calculators have + - * / only).

[Blanka]

Generally I think they are becoming harder to find since people prefer widescreens for PCs

Well, I guess if that is researched, it might be very not so. It's like with cars. All new cars have ugly mirrors because people don't like the side blinking lights to be on the side panel directly, so lets stick them in the mirrors (yeah right!) or that we get separate ugly rear reflectors because people don't like the back-lights to be red but want them to be clear transparant (yeah right).
Its just sheep-behaviour in production-land. They all look at BMW, Volvo and Apple. Who got the first wide-screen LCD? What was it meant for? (Final Cut Pro editing). Who made USB popular? Why is Windows 7 getting a Dock?
Because of that, we consumerist sheep are stretching all those 4:3 standard def TV-broadcasts with strange stretching algorithms for almost 10 years now, and looking at skewed egg-head faces is totally corrected in our brains to look normal now.

So please make that 27 inch square 2048x2048 medical screens available to regular consumers as soon as possible. I want a square screen on my desk! 

Light at the end of the tunnel: Maybe OLED screens can be cut with scissors to any shape you like.

[nox771]

Which means it has decent viewing angle when mount vertical (which you won't have with TN, as vertical TN's suck big time).

You know that's an excellent point.  I never considered it but your right, when rotated the viewing angle will be awful.

But then again, never go for TN when pivotting (but that's probably why TN screens never have pivot built in)

Hah, that's probably true!  Never thought of that either.  I always thought TN panels never shipped with a pivot mount because they were low cost and the manufacturers were being cheap.  But not using a pivot so people don't complain about the lousy viewing angle makes more sense.

funny you use sin and cos for calculating! I do everything with Pythagoras (those cheap calculators have + - * / only).

Well, knowing only the aspect and the diagonal it seemed easier to me.  Hmm, using pythagorean:
22^2 = height^2 + (16/10)^2*height^2
height = sqrt((22^2)/(1+1.6^2)) = 11.66
Er, I had to think about that one for a while.  Hopefully your calc has a sqrt key 

[monkey puzzle]

Is the viewing angle really that important on a mame cab? The TN monitor I was looking at has a horizontal viewing angle of 170 degrees and a vertical of 160 degrees. So in other words, vertically you would only lose 5 degrees each side. Also, when playing, you do tend to stand directly in front of the screen. Ok so its not as good for spectators, or 4-player cabs, but that won't really effect me. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I havn't really had much experience with LCDs and mame cabs.

[u_rebelscum]

Is the viewing angle really that important on a mame cab? The TN monitor I was looking at has a horizontal viewing angle of 170 degrees and a vertical of 160 degrees. So in other words, vertically you would only lose 5 degrees each side. Also, when playing, you do tend to stand directly in front of the screen. Ok so its not as good for spectators, or 4-player cabs, but that won't really effect me. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I havn't really had much experience with LCDs and mame cabs.

I might be a little bias, as I hate TN screens, so grain of salt...

There is no fixed standard on what "viewing angle" means.  The most common is it's the max angle that has at least 10% of the brightness of looking straight on.  However, some (cheap) TN marketing PRs drop it down to 5% brightness to come closer to the better techs.  On top of that, what's it's brightness that's measured, not color, contrast or any thing except brightness.  TNs vertical views are terrible in color and contrast; veiwed from top is usually flatter contrast, and looking from bottom usually looks like film negatives.  AnandTech has some nice pics of this effect; other sites have pics like this too, but can't remember OTTOMH.

So if you do use a TN LCD (horizontal), make sure the screen is not slanted back; 90 degrees to your veiwing angle would be best, but shorter and taller people will get different results than the "perfect height" the LCD will have.

Note, some TNs are better than others, but I never want to buy a TN, never ever.  (But am stuck if I buy a laytop )

Good luck.

[nox771]

Is the viewing angle really that important on a mame cab? The TN monitor I was looking at has a horizontal viewing angle of 170 degrees and a vertical of 160 degrees.

Well I think you can see by the Anandtech viewing angle shots that the manufacturers clearly lie about viewing angles on TN panels (in particular the vertical).  If you follow the previous Anandtech link to the other pages of the article you can see the difference for the couple PVA panels they include (much better viewing angles).

Practically speaking though, PVA or IPS panels cost significantly more than TNs.  If your budget is restricted just put in what you can afford.   Personally I'm planning on using a TN in mine, just for cost reasons (although I don't plan to rotate it).  I can't justify a 28" to 30" PVA panel, running at a fraction of it's native resolution, in a side project like this - but a TN, at half the cost, maybe...

Additionally I think the technology has improved somewhat and most TNs these days look really good in the horizontal, so if you do have a viewing angle problem it will most likely only be in the games using the rotated orientation.

It's not like it's a permanent decision either.  Later on if the tech improves, pull the panel, stick it on a PC as a second display, and put something better in.

[Blanka]

Is the viewing angle really that important on a mame cab? The TN monitor I was looking at has a horizontal viewing angle of 170 degrees and a vertical of 160 degrees. So in other words, vertically you would only lose 5 degrees each side.

In as sense of distinguishing pacman on the background, you're right, as pacman stays visible.
But with TN mounted vertical, expect pac-man to be dark blue on a bright yellow/orange background from 30 degrees to the right. He is visible, but colours are totally distorted.
Especially in the bigger sizes (25.5 inch up) more screens are SIPS or SPVA or prices are more similar, so the price premium for a good one is considarable. TN at such a big size would have too big angles from right in front of it to the corners already!

[monkey puzzle]

Ok, thanks for all that, its made me think. I guess I'll have to come up with a plan B.

[Epyx]

My cab was designed around my Sony KV27FS100 (in case) and is about 33" wide but I don't mind as this opens up the 32" LCD tvs for the cabinet.

The 32" WS LCD imo is the rough equivalent of a 27" CRT for viewable gaming area.  You still lose about 1" on the vertical but very close either way. I also still have the arcade monitor option which is nice.

For you the 22" would be fine imo.

[dkubarek]

All,
I'm very new to cabinet making and I'm making one for my nephews. It's going to be smaller. An adult could play it sitting down. (I'll make more foot room for that) but the deal is I have two monitors to choose from. Both are about 17 inches. (Has to be smaller cause the cab is smaller.) One is a Samsung flat screen CRT and the other is a Sony 1084 LCD flat panel. The Samsung's screen is almost an inch bigger in width, but it is going to be tougher to work with because it is obviously deeper than the LCD screen. The Sony has a 20 ms response time, which is slow. What would give me the better picture quality of the two? I heard LCDs aren't as good as CRT, but I never tested them. Thanks.

[Turnarcades]

My two quid's worth......

I dont think using a widescreen panel is very good at all unless you intend to regularly use your arcade as a multimedia machine and you are going BIG.

The type of monitor you use (regardless if CRT/arcade monitor/LCD whatever the response time) will be inconsequential to the casual gamer. That said, if you are after authenticity an arcade monitor is a must. Using a PC CRT is no shame though as they are cheaper, offer the biggest range of display options and support many more software filtering options too.

The only downside to using CRT's or LCD's is that you will rarely find a 4:3 monitor above a 20" (viewable screen area) and if you do, will pay top dollar for it.

Get what you will feel comfortable with, but go for 4:3 else everything you play will be over-stretched or end up smaller with big black borders which will annoy you on a smaller screen.

[RayB]

I'm glad dkubarek finally mentioned response time. We're talking about GAMING here. Response time should be one of the most important specs to look at otherwise you get blurring.

Samsung's 206BW and 226BW has 2ms response time. There's a couple successors to that model that also have 2ms. Just about all other LCDs have a range of response times, 5ms, 6ms, on up. Get the fastest one you can find.

[dkubarek]

I already have the monitors. I'm on a tight budget. Basically free + $90 for X-arcade board, wiring kit and controls. It's easy to get free stuff as I live near Penn State. (Gotta love college towns) but I'm limited of course to what I can scrounge up. So, would you all agree that 20 ms response time is way too slow? I heard 8 or less is best, and I'm way out of that range. I'm leaving toward the CRT anyway, since it's almost an inch larger, and both are a little small compared to what I would like. Still looking for a 21-inch CRT, but then I might have space issues in a 2/3 size cab. So, anyone want to help on response time? Thanks so much

[Blanka]

I'm glad dkubarek finally mentioned response time. We're talking about GAMING here. Response time should be one of the most important specs to look at otherwise you get blurring.

This does not matter in classic gaming. Most of those games are based on patterns. The brain-hand coordination is based on the predicted future state of the game fields anyway, so whether it is 10ms or 30ms behind, it does not really matter, our marvellous heap of head fat deals with that without any problem. Guess even Steve Wiebe can do 1 million Donkey Kong points on an LCD with overdrive. With a multi player shooter this might be a drawback, but also much less than ping time and video card frame rate.

You also talk about blurring. Guess you mean ghosting, blurring sounds like wrong resolution settings? Ghosting has to do with slow grey-to-grey response, and the reason why non TN panels have overdrive, which takes about 2 frames to calculate and have little slower response. Because of these new techniques, ghosting is mostly history for LCD's nowadays.

[Snowblindz]

I just got my Hanns G 28" monitor and It's beautiful!  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254026   

I think this is probably the best choice out there right now... I'm thrilled to death with it.  I was originally going to go with a CRT real arcade monitor but this saves soooo much trouble..and also saves your back from heavy lifting! Only 32 pounds!  I can't say enough about how great this looks in my cabinet. 

[lettuce]

If your just going to use the LCD horizontally then you will not have a problem with a TN panel, its only if the LCD is going to be Vertical will you have big problems, i posted some pic on my Bartop project thread regarding vertical mounted monitors.......

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=83976.40

[Ummon]

I'm glad dkubarek finally mentioned response time. We're talking about GAMING here. Response time should be one of the most important specs to look at otherwise you get blurring.

This does not matter in classic gaming. Most of those games are based on patterns. The brain-hand coordination is based on the predicted future state of the game fields anyway, so whether it is 10ms or 30ms behind, it does not really matter, our marvellous heap of head fat deals with that without any problem. Guess even Steve Wiebe can do 1 million Donkey Kong points on an LCD with overdrive. With a multi player shooter this might be a drawback, but also much less than ping time and video card frame rate.

You also talk about blurring. Guess you mean ghosting, blurring sounds like wrong resolution settings? Ghosting has to do with slow grey-to-grey response, and the reason why non TN panels have overdrive, which takes about 2 frames to calculate and have little slower response. Because of these new techniques, ghosting is mostly history for LCD's nowadays.

Given the context, 'blurring' makes sense. Essentially, there's a blurry trail of the graphical objects that are in motion. I've noticed it. Didn't like it. (Note that any display will do this with black backgrounded classic games. The type of display, as well as the response time of it in the case of an LCD, are determining factors of image quality.)

[RayB]

BLANKA: Just to clarify further on Ummon's post; The response time is the amount of time the "dot" takes to go from black to white, and white to black again. (Turn on or off basically). So if a pixel takes too long to fade out to black, you get blur / ghosting.  So a 2ms response time is real fast. 20ms, terrible. There are also monitors like Toshiba's HD TVs that double the horizontal frame rate and eliminate blurring that way (they call their method "Clear Frame", and the demo I've personally seen was quite impressive).

From Wikipedia:
Response time is the amount of time a pixel in an LCD monitor takes to go from black to white and back to black again. It is measured in milliseconds (ms). Lower numbers mean faster transitions and therefore fewer visible image artifacts.

Older monitors with long response times would create a smear or blur pattern around moving objects, making them unacceptable for moving video. Long response times can be annoying to a viewer depending on the type of data being displayed and how rapidly the image is changing or moving. Many current LCDs' monitor models have improved to the point that this is rarely seen.

[nox771]

Snowblindz, can you post a picture of that panel in your cab?  I was looking at that panel also, it's a good price for that size.

Partially related - does anyone know if there is a site with bezel artwork converted to 16:10? 

Since all large LCDs are 16:10 I've been playing around with resizing the bezel art to give max area to the active screen, while having artwork occupy the otherwise empty black bands on either side (trying to get 100% usage of the panel area).  As near as I can figure a 16:10 ratio will always have some degree of black bands, and using that for art gives it a functional use.

I've managed to convert one just as a test (modifying the .lay file, and cropping the graphic), and it worked great, but if this already exists somewhere that would certainly save some time.

[Snowblindz]

Snowblindz, can you post a picture of that panel in your cab?  I was looking at that panel also, it's a good price for that size.

I don't have a digital camera at the moment.  Should have one soon.. when I get it I will post it.  I will let you know.. right now I do not have a bezel or Plexiglas over the monitor.. so its just sitting in the cabinet.  I'm still trying to figure out what size bezel I need to make and all that good stuff.  I have an Ultimate Arcade II kit from mamerooms.  If anyone knows.. hit me up.

x

[Blanka]

Just a matrix
Remember: knowing the G2G response time is useless without knowing the input delay. TV's and the auto-contrast displays can have really bad input delays!

Code: [Select]

Aspect  contrast, G2G response, input delay, viewing angle horizontal, viewing angle vertical, blacks
TN old     1:400,  5ms,  0ms, reasonable,   bad, bad
TN new     1:800,  2ms,  0ms,       good,   bad, reasonable
PVA old    1:700, 20ms,  0ms,      great,  good, good
SPVA new  1:1300,  8ms, 16ms,  excellent, great, excellent
IPS old    1:500, 16ms,  0ms,  excellent, great, good
S-IPS new 1:1000,  8ms, 16ms,  excellent, great, good
To improve G2G response, the displays with PVA/IPS need to calculate the difference of 2 frames. So better G2G response is eleminated by the prediction algoritm.

resume
Buy TN if you are on budget and want fast response. Buy SPVA/SIPS if you want to mount vertical, want the best image, or play many black-background classics.

[RayB]

Remember: knowing the G2G response time is useless without knowing the input delay. TV's and the auto-contrast displays can have really bad input delays!

That's great to know. (I'll be buying an LCD myself soon). That explains why Samsung's XX6BW successor lists response time as 2GTG instead of 2 ms.

[Ummon]

Some of those don't make sense. The least duration is desired, so if the input delay is 0ms, then wouldn't that be great?  Also, there is perhaps an inplication that the parametres preceeding viewing angles and blacks are related to them.

[Statsman1]

I've been reading this thread and trying to determine my best course of action.

I'm about to replace my 22" CRT (hey, if you know anyone who wants one...) - it works perfectly, but it really increases the depth of the cabinet to the point where my wife wants me to build something that doesn't stick 42" out from the wall.

So I was hoping to determine the merits of going LCD.  This thread is fascinating, because it's too technical for me to fully comprehend the entire scope.

Here's what I am getting so far...

Wide-screen can distort the picture (because it doesn't hold the 4:3 ratio properly) or you get the black lanes showing along the sides.  So trying to keep the 4:3 ratio is the best idea.

A 2ms response time is optimal.

I would like a nice big screen, and started thinking that maybe an LCD TV would be the way to go.

What about something like this...

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/3007WFP/EN/about.htm#Specifications

...as a screen option? 

I'm sorry to be such a noob, but I want to get this right.  This machine isn't only for MAME, it's a dedicated game machine featuring MAME, a bunch of emulators, and a host of old DOS games.  It will be used fairly often and probably ALWAYS powered on.

Any tips or clarification would be great.

[dkubarek]

I, too, am comparing CRT and LCD. This wiki has helpful comparisons, pros and cons that will help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_display

[nox771]

I would like a nice big screen, and started thinking that maybe an LCD TV would be the way to go.

I haven't seen definitively if an LCD TV is a good option or not.  Those would be 16:9 probably, which is widescreen, but I think the bigger concern would be the input lag that someone mentioned.  If someone here has used one for this purpose perhaps they can comment on that.

What about something like this...
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/3007WFP/EN/about.htm#Specifications
...as a screen option? 

Well that's certainly an option, but it's not a TV, 4:3, or cheap ($1400).  The resolution on that one is 2560:1600 which is 16:10.  I think most all large computer LCD monitors you find will be 16:10.  You can find 4:3 but only up to 21".

When using a panel of that aspect the size of the playable screen will always be smaller than the panel (I can't think of any games that would utilize the screen area 100%), however it is not necessarily a complete waste of area.  If you run MAME with properly cropped/scaled artwork, you can fill the black bands with bezel art.  Normally the artwork is whatever aspect the original cab bezel was, but for myself I was going to rework it to make better use of the panel area.  It's not hard, but purists would probably hate it since it involves cropping out chunks of artwork (but whatever, I think it looks better than black bands...)

[Statsman1]

True, they'd be expensive, but there's one available on auction here in Toronto.  No bids on it yet, and the starting bid is $100.  I wouldn't pay $1,400 for it, that's for sure, but if the price is right, it's not a bad deal.

The input lag - is that the same as response time?  If so, you're right - 14ms is not acceptable for this sort of thing.

Given that it's not going to be a dedicated MAME machine (there will be others emulators and DOS games played on it), I just want to make sure I pick the right screen.

[Blanka]

The input lag - is that the same as response time?

That's what I tried to say. Input lag ≠ response time

Input lag is the time needed for the display driving processor to do upscaling, filtering, calibration and G2G overdrive prediction calculations prior to displaying the signal.
(G2G) Response time is the time a pixel needs to get to the desired brightness. Strange thing is that going from 10% white to 5% white can take much more time than from 100% to 0%! Thats why some displays have overdrive, to give an extra boost to the pixel to get it faster to the desired brightness. But it needs two frames of info at least to do this right.

[Ummon]

That's what I tried to say. Input lag ≠ response time

Input lag is the time needed for the display driving processor to do upscaling, filtering, calibration and G2G overdrive prediction calculations prior to displaying the signal.
(G2G) Response time is the time a pixel needs to get to the desired brightness. Strange thing is that going from 10% white to 5% white can take much more time than from 100% to 0%! Thats why some displays have overdrive, to give an extra boost to the pixel to get it faster to the desired brightness. But it needs two frames of info at least to do this right.

From the 'thin film transistor liquid crystal display' Wiki page:

More recent use of RTC (Response Time Compensation – Overdrive) technologies has allowed manufacturers to significantly reduce grey-to-grey (G2G) transitions, without significantly improving the ISO response time. Response times are now quoted in G2G figures, with 4ms and 2ms now being commonplace for TN Film based models. The good response time and low cost has led to the dominance of TN in the consumer market.

[Blanka]

Talking about response time is nonsense for TN anyway. You're not going to encounter any delays in the 0-10ms range.
And with S-PVA/S-IPS it is still not common to include overdrive timing in the G2G numbers in the tech specs. Better display-test /review sites like prad.de measure this separately.

[wbassett]

I don't have any details, maybe someone else does...  I heard a sound bite on the news the other day where several big players admitted to price fixing on LCD displays.

This is just speculation, again I don't have any details or links at the moment about what this means, but could we possibly see a dramatic drop in prices coming for LCD displays?  I'm waiting a bit to see what shakes out.  We could see some good prices coming.

Here is one link I just found on the topic...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10095219-92.html

[Gamester]

I don't have any details, maybe someone else does...  I heard a sound bite on the news the other day where several big players admitted to price fixing on LCD displays.

This is just speculation, again I don't have any details or links at the moment about what this means, but could we possibly see a dramatic drop in prices coming for LCD displays?  I'm waiting a bit to see what shakes out.  We could see some good prices coming.

Here is one link I just found on the topic...
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10095219-92.html

I think the price fixing allegations were for the 2001-2006 timeframe.  I think we've already been seeing very significant drops in pricing on LCD over the past 1-2 years.  Probably no coincidence that the prices started dropping around the time that the investigations started...  If we see bigger price drops going forward, it will probably be for other reasons.

[Statsman1]

I went with the Samsung T220...

http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=computersaccessories&type=monitors&subtype=lcd&model_cd=LS22TWHSUV/ZA

...and hopefully this will do the trick.  If it's a disaster, it doesn't appear that it'd be tough to sell this and replace it with something else.

And it was $219 in mint condition, so the price wasn't bad.

[dcninj4]

i got a 22" westinghouse widescreen lcd from best buy for 200 bucks!

it looks great on sidescrollers and on fighters like street fighter... for vertical games, it gives more space rthan my old 4:3 20in crt... it's great all the way around... and I'm a big galaga fan... just get that one, you won't be disapointed, check it out on their website... see what you all think?

[robC]

One more vote for the HannsG 28"er. I have had this monitor in my cab for about 8 months now, and very happy with it. The vert games have plenty of size, and the horizontal games look absolutely stellar in that size.

[Snowblindz]

I should have my cabinet ready for play by the end of next week.. with my Hanns G 28" in place.  I'll be sure to get some pictures or video of the cabinet up.  I'm excited it's been a long time coming... my cabinet has sat empty for almost 2 years waiting for me to get enough money for parts!

[Ummon]

Where's lew and his special LCD with no backlighting?  I'd like to know what make and model that was.