Auto-powerup cabinet with LCD monitor

[BrianP]

So, I am getting close to finishing my first cabinet (see my thread in the project announcement).  I have been using the book as much as I can.  So, I hit an interesting snag this week and I got ready to buy the PC and the peripherals.

The book talks about getting a 'smart' power strip where there is one master outlet and the other outlets turn off when the master turns off.  So, you hook the PC to the master, when that turns off, everything else turns off.

So, I was thinking about monitors.  The older CRT monitors generally have a physical switch that remains depressed when powered on.  This would work great with the smart strip.  But I was planning a wide screen LCD (rotated 90 degrees) behind plexi.  But I have yet to see a LCD monitor with a physical switch.  And I have never seen one that you can set to auto turn on with power (like most BIOS in computers now a days).

I could (I guess) use the LCD on the master and the PC on the secondary but that could cause issues making sure the PC is shut down before powering off.  I could put a small hole in the plexi and use a paperclip (ewww).  This has me pretty confused right now.

Anyone else tried this?

- brian

[BobA]

Just leave the LCD screen powered on all the time.   It will default to low power mode when the video signal is lost and will use almost no power in that state.  It will come back on when the signal is received from your computer.

[drventure]

Well, not sure what LCD you've got, but I've got a dell 2405fpw, and it works exactly like you'd expect.

If you power it up, then UNPLUG the power cable (or in my case, hook the power cable for it up to a smart strip), the smart strip will completely shut it off when I power down the pc.

And when I turn on the PC, the smartstrip restores power to the LCD, which immediately powers on, no button pushing required.

But other lcd's might not work that way.

[romshark]

We have a number of LCD monitors in our house. All the computer monitors stay on if the external power is cut. I'm not sure about LCD televisions, though.
Just checked one of our televisions (Sharp). It doesn't have an option for coming on. So I'd stay with a computer monitor.

[getnate]

Like drventure says... It might work anyways, just plug the LCD in and see if it automatically turns on when the powerstrip is turned on. Mine does, I have a Samsung 214T.

[TOK]

The LG I have comes back on when repowered as well. I really don't think you're going to have an issue.

[Blanka]

A small thing to consider is whether the front of the bezel is flat and no buttons are sticking out. Other than that, you won't have any issues I guess.
And please no plexi, but go for tempered glass 

[severdhed]

i have had two LCD monitors in my cabinets on a smart strip (one died, i replaced it with a different brand) and they both worked just fine like that.

[Haterot]

I have a 21" Ausu LCD running in my cab with a Smartstrip I hacked. Runs perfectly fine. You should be good to go.

[Blanka]

I did not see you wanted to rotate 90 degrees. Make sure you buy an IPS screen then. It's faster than PVA, and it does not have the horrible viewing angles of TN screens rotated 90 degrees.

Don't understand the widescreen too. The HP 2065 is one of the best screens for vertical games. It has an 20 inch 1600x1200 IPS panel, is pretty fast and the viewing angles are excellent. If you still insist on widescreen, consider the Dell U2410 or the LG W2600HP

[BrianP]

I did not see you wanted to rotate 90 degrees. Make sure you buy an IPS screen then. It's faster than PVA, and it does not have the horrible viewing angles of TN screens rotated 90 degrees.

There are some terms I am going to have to google

Don't understand the widescreen too. The HP 2065 is one of the best screens for vertical games. It has an 20 inch 1600x1200 IPS panel, is pretty fast and the viewing angles are excellent. If you still insist on widescreen, consider the Dell U2410 or the LG W2600HP

I actually don't really care about widescreen, I just haven't seen a non-widescreen monitor in quote a while.

- Brian