In the end is an arcade monitor really worth the effort?

[tyson171]

Hey everyone, just curious what your opinion is about using an arcade monitor vs a tv/pc monitor?  I have a WellsGardner 25k7191 (looked great on MK3) in a jamma cab that i plan on building my own controls for.  Actually hooking the monitor up doesnt' seem to bad, its the fact that you have to go in and set resolutions for every game through advmame that doesn't seem like it would be very much fun trying to figure out which resolutions for which game ect.....so is it really worth all of the effort when compared side by side?  Is it is like the difference of hdtv to standard tv, then there wouldn' be any question about it, or is it more like 1080p vs 720p? (or what is a good comparison?)......

[Malenko]

the picture is sooooooooooo much better on a real arcade monitor IMO.
Ive never heard of anyone having to manually set the resolution for every game.

[cmoses]

Simple answer - YES

My first cab was with a 20" LCD, crisp picture, but not authentic and not very big.  My second cab I decided to go with a 27" TV.  I got the TV and tested it.  Larger picture, more authentic looking, but also not a great picture, but the sacrifice was for the larger size.  Unexpectedly I acquired a Wells Gardner D9200 monitor that wasn't working.  I got it fixed and tested it.  WOW, it was amazing.  By far the best picture, most authentic looking and very good quality.  Also that is all just at standard 640 x 480 resolutions.  I haven't even done the native resolutions yet, which are supposed to be even better. 

 

 

[tyson171]

Thanks for the reply! So you don't have to configure the resolution for every game....just run a standard resolution for all of mame, then do fine tuning for the native resolutions of the games if you want to?  I think i was reading that the ultimarc arcadevga card has a file with a lot of the native resolutions already configured, but i couldn't really find this anywhere?  Okay thanks you guys, leaning back towards staying with my monitor now 

[Eversynth]

Thanks for the reply! So you don't have to configure the resolution for every game....just run a standard resolution for all of mame, then do fine tuning for the native resolutions of the games if you want to?  I think i was reading that the ultimarc arcadevga card has a file with a lot of the native resolutions already configured, but i couldn't really find this anywhere?  Okay thanks you guys, leaning back towards staying with my monitor now 

If you use an arcadevga, then you simply have to configure mame in the correct way and it automatically change the video resolution to use the original resolution for every game. You don't need advance mame for this.

If you dont' have an arcadevga you can use another card and soft15khz instead to generate a valid signal. Then the same I write up applies in this case too.

[northerngames]

there is also tools out there that set the correct res's for each game as mame just guess's what is the closest but there is tools out there to get them exact like the AVRES TOOL.

[joshwaan]

Hi

So for MK2 game 53KHZ res 399x256 how do I set this res in AVRES?

I find the game is not running full speed in MAME. CABMAME I'm using.

Love to set this res correctly for this game.

I also find my TV/ARcade monitor rolls a lot like it can't sync to any resolutions.

Is this due to my VGA breakout lead?

I bought a Sharp Dual Chassis for my old TEAC 68CM tube.

Thanks

JOsh

[Ummon]

READ THE MONITOR WIKI. And read up on how mame treats native resolutions.

[joshwaan]

Sorry reading now

Cheers

[adidas1984x]

arcade monitor is the best way to go

[Level42]

arcade monitor is the best way to go

+1

[FrizzleFried]

arcade monitor is the best way to go

+1

+1 more

[ahofle]

There seems to be a misconception about how 'difficult' it is to run MAME with an arcade monitor.  I easily spent way more time trying to get MAME to look good on a TV/S-video connection than I ever have with an arcade monitor.  Especially if you are using an ArcadeVGA.  MAME auto picks the correct resolution most of the time.  There are really 3 main settings you need, which you can apply to all games:

video = ddraw
hwstretch = 0
switchres = 1

Then it's just a matter of setting specific games that you aren't happy with to a specific resolution (90% of the time you won't have to bother with this).

[richms]

A good arcade monitor is great, but if you have a pretty worn out one and are not confident to re-cap it yourself, I would say its above what its worth to find someone that would even look at it.

I had a hell of a time finding someone that would look at a PSU out of a plasma tv a while ago, and thats a nice small compact board, not a giant piece of glass. Most service shops these days consist of parts swapping monkeys so are not worth taking things to.