LCD monitors retrofitted into a Defender style cabinet?

[Flake]

Anyone ever slapped a LCD monitor into a Defender style cabinet?  I have an old Defender cabinet (and BTW, its completely gutted and needs bondo and paint...etc., so not really a good candidate for a restoration) that I was thinking of using to make a Tron/Disc of Tron/Flight games dedicated Mame. 

The cabinet has a monitor shelf already from the old 19" horizontal that used to be housed there and the available space measures about 22.5" wide by about 15.5" in height.  It would seem to me the best option would be like a 24" LCD widescreen.  From some of the measurements I've seen online, this would fill out this open space pretty well.  The problem of course is that Tron and other vertical games will look scrunched.

Anyway, back to my original question....anyone ever put a different monitor into defender cabinet other than a 19" horizontal?

[severdhed]

i dont have a defender cabinet, but i did install a 19" LCD in my cabinet, which originally had a 19" crt arcade monitor.  you just have to fabricate your own mounting bracket.  I dont know if i would go with a widescreen monitor, but then pretty much limits you to 19" or smaller.

[Cakemeister]

RandyT did something with a LCD and a Defender cab.

[Flake]

Wow that looked pretty awesome.  Problem for me is I am looking for options as the main screen.

[iscariot]

I did it for a buddy of mine.  The only problem was getting a bezel to fit the thing.

If you ask me it looked kind of weird b/c I was used to a CRT.

[MaximRecoil]

If you ask me it looked kind of weird b/c I was used to a CRT.

That's not the only reason it looked weird. There was not a single classic arcade game which was in a widescreen aspect ratio. There was not a single classic arcade game which had a resolution even close to matching the single native resolution of an LCD PC monitor (which means the image will have to be scaled). There was not a single classic arcade game with a flat plastic screen and a display technology that makes the displayed colors look different depending on the viewing angle.

CRT PC monitors look bad for classic arcade games. LCD PC monitors look exponentially worse.

[iscariot]

We didn't use a widescreen LCD monitor.  There are several monitors that are 19 inch that are 4:3.  I think the one he had was a rosewill.

[Blanka]

There are several monitors that are 19 inch that are 4:3.

19 inch LCD's have NEVER been made in 4:3
You have 20 inch and 21.3 inch 4:3 panels with 1600x1200 resolution. They are all quite good (viewing angles) as they only made IPS and PVA panels in those sizes.
19 inch is either widescreen, or 5:4 (1280x1024 pixels).

[Flake]

Well here's the deal.  I dont really care about whether its a LCD or CRT.  I would be OK with a CRT, I have that in my main Mame cab now.  Here are my issues:

1.  I already have this cabinet.
2.  I want a cab that is pretty much dedicated to Tron/DOT/other trigger stick games.
3.  Tron is a vertical game/DOT and many other trigger stick games are horizontal.
4.  I cant fit a 25"/27" CRT in this cabinet.

I could take out the monitor shelf I suppose and mount the LCD with a couple wood brackets running from side to side.  That would allow me to get 2-3 more inches of vertical space.  But I'm pretty much stuck to a width of 22.5".

[severdhed]

i have a 19" 5:4 LCD in my cabinet, and you know what?  it looks great.  Nobody has ever complained about the way it looks, and I am quite happy with the picture on it.  Not everyone needs their arcade games to be pixel perfect to the original.   i have only played a small collection of real arcade games in my life...most of the games i fell in love with in mame, i have never seen before in a real arcade.  

yeah, they may not look exactly like they did, but they still look great...and playing them on a full size cabinet with the proper controls makes them awesome.


if you want an LCD monitor and you are OK with the way it looks, then dont let anyone else tell you it is wrong.  

[Flake]

I'm not concernced with resolution issues.  My issue is getting both horizontal and veritcal games to look good - size wise - on the same monitor in limited space.

I dont want this discussion to turn into an LCD vs. CRT debate.....because I just dont care.  LCD would be fine with me, or CRT too.  Size of games vs. limited space is the issue here.

[Kevin Mullins]

My issue is getting both horizontal and veritcal games to look good - size wise - on the same monitor in limited space.

Then you will need a much bigger monitor.
Try to imagine if you will "what would a 19" vertical mounted monitor image fit inside" ?
Somewhere around a 25" monitor.
Just depends on how close you really want it to be.

[Flake]

Yea, maybe I should just scratch this idea of using this cab.  I think I could probably just find another cabinet for cheap that will do the job.  Plus then I can save this one for a day far away when I want to do a mulitwilliams restoration with an added 49-way for sinistar.

[severdhed]

my 19" LCD is horizontally mounted, and i play vertical games on it.  it isn't ideal, but it works just fine.  I did however just pick up a DK cabinet that will have a vertical 19" monitor that i will use for the classics.  i will still play some vertical games on my horizontal cabinet though (anything vertical that needs an 8way stick or trackball)

at work, we have a 36" monitor, so playing vertical games on it are still gigantic. 

it is hard to get the best of both worlds, unless you have a really big monitor, or two cabinets

[Flake]

I already have a mame cabinet with a 27" CRT monitor.  Everything looks good on it, horizontal and vertical.  however, I dont have the controls on the panel to properly play Tron/DOT/flight games.  This next cabinet's control panel will be built exclusively to play these games.  The issue I was wrestling with was monitor size to fit the Defender cab I have vs. being able to properly display both 19" vertical games (like Tron) and other horizontal games (DOT).  I dont want to build a mame cabinet dedicated to Tron games and then have a monitor that doesnt really display a 19" vertical game well.  That seems kinda silly.  The bottom line is I dont think cabinet will work so I'll sit on it a bit longer I suppose.  Must keep my eye out on CL now for another cabinet that will suit my purpose more effectively.