Biggest 4:3 LCD?

[CDiablo]

Whats the biggest 4:3 LCD out there. I think the biggest I have found is a "25 and I am looking for something bigger. Do any arcade games run in widescreen, cause I haven't seen any? Thanks!

[romshark]

Where'd you find a 25 inch 4:3 LCD? Biggest I could find (and got one for my cab) was 21 inch...

I know Guitar Hero arcade and Deal or No Deal arcade use widescreen hi-def displays. I bet Street Fighter 4 does too. Pics of Viewlix cabs look widescreen too.

EDIT: Also saw this "official" cabinet on Youtube.

 
Can't wait to see who tries to build a MAME cab off this design. Looks neat.

[DJ_Izumi]

While there are plenty of new arcade gmaes thatn run wide screen, I think one would be hard pressed to find anything running MAME that's wide screen.  Probably not for another ten years.

[Franco B]

[Where to find a big 4:3 LCD]

[Beretta]

several years ago there was a large 4.3 monitor put out.. i believe it was 30 inchs.. or might have been 29.. but i think it was 30.

anyway i can't seem to find it now on google.. im pretty sure it was a samsung, or possibly NEC.

they sold for roughly 3 grand, and that was BEFORE widescreen had TOTALLY dominated the market.

[Turnarcades]

Give up looking. The short of it is you're rarely gonna find them above 19", most 19" available are refurbs and anything above isn't going to be much bigger and will cost you the earth.

That's the short of it, and the further time moves on, the truer this will be.

[Epyx]

You can still find new 19"

http://www.softchoice.com/catalog/en-ca/monitors-acer-v193b-lcd-display-tft-ET.CV3RP.001-X02641


But, as Turnarcades mentioned...thats about the largest size wise.

[drventure]

I've seen 21" LCDs (I know Planar makes one, I've seen then on CL and ebay in the 200-300$ range)

But 21 is as big as I've seen them go.

[solid12345]

Believe it or not I saw an old 25 inch 5:4 Plasma monitor from the year 1999-2000 made by Hitachi on ebay about 2 months back. Thing was the screen was a bit scratched, but I kick myself for not buying it just out of the sheer curiosity factor of it being an early plasma and it was designed for a PC not TV watching. However it only displayed some obscenely lowers colors like 250,000 colors according to the specs so who knows what the quality was like.

Actually found the model

www.lsdrinc.com/uploads/Hitachi25Plasma.PDF

[Epyx]

Solid12345

Wow thats pretty interesting and from 99/2000 eh?  I wouldn't think the colour limitation would be an issue for anything other than photographic work...I mean look what the Amiga could pull of in HAM mode with just 4096 colours.

Most of the older games were severely palette restricted anyways...64/128/256/512/1024 etc...

That is a pretty cool find...you are right about the curiosity factor, I wonder how the plasma would have held up 10 years on.

[bkenobi]

You can recharge a plasma and it's supposed to be as good as new.  I'm not sure of the cost, but if that's true then any large 4:3'ish should be a good choice.  I didn't realize plasmas were made in any other aspect than 16:9 though.

[Beretta]

well you should be able to at least get 19inchs still..

NEC just released a 19inch earlier this month

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/nec-keeps-standard-aspect-ratio-lcds-alive-with-multisync-ea190m/

[solid12345]

Epyx, good point about the colors, not like old-school games had a large palette, plus the dot pitch is .39 which is somewhere in between an arcade and a modern monitor so might produce interesting results. I still have the guy's ebay contact info and it never did sell I think...sorry guys may have to keep the secret to myself, if I snag one though will do some investigation and show pictures 

[Blanka]

Oh boy, is nobody capable of doing the math. There is no 4:3 19 inch LCD's. Its 5:4.
The biggest normal available (not for traphic control or XRAY doctors) 4:3 available is 21.3 inch.
Here's all that is for sale:

[solid12345]

After doing a little research it appears this old plasma may use a early plasma technology called ALis which was interlaced and used non-square pixels, I believe rectangle. I contacted the ebay seller and he does still have it so looks like I will buy it, I am getting for the sheer curiosity factor to see what the picture will be like as it sounds like it is unlike most modern LCDs and plasmas.

Anyway I know i'm hijacking this thread but just found it interesting.

[TOK]

Oh boy, is nobody capable of doing the math. There is no 4:3 19 inch LCD's. Its 5:4.
The biggest normal available (not for traphic control or XRAY doctors) 4:3 available is 21.3 inch.
Here's all that is for sale:

Not incapable, they just don't care. When someone says 4:3, its understood they are looking for a non-widescreen monitor even if the exact aspect isn't technically correct.

[Epyx]

When someone says 4:3, its understood they are looking for a non-widescreen monitor

Bingo.

[bkenobi]

It's kinda like how there are many wide screen formats other than 16:9.  In fact, MANY movies have been released over the years with widely varying aspect ratios which is one reason it took a while for the HD format to be fully established.  Either way, it's pretty well understood that when you say 4:3 or 16:9 you are talking standard resolution vs wide screen even if the actual aspect is somewhat different.

Also, the main point isn't what the aspect ratio is, it's that the screen has the correct general shape to fill the height of the hole as well as the width in the cabinet.  If I build a new cabinet and use an LCD for it, I'll probably have to go with a Viewlix style just to avoid the odd shaped bezel.

[Turnarcades]

Oh boy, is nobody capable of doing the math. There is no 4:3 19 inch LCD's. Its 5:4.
The biggest normal available (not for traphic control or XRAY doctors) 4:3 available is 21.3 inch.
Here's all that is for sale:

Not incapable, they just don't care. When someone says 4:3, its understood they are looking for a non-widescreen monitor even if the exact aspect isn't technically correct.

Glad it wasn't just me thinking this. If referring to them quickly in conversation, I say 'square' or 'wide', neither of which is accurate, but it doesn't matter.

[solid12345]

It's kinda like how there are many wide screen formats other than 16:9.  In fact, MANY movies have been released over the years with widely varying aspect ratios which is one reason it took a while for the HD format to be fully established.  Either way, it's pretty well understood that when you say 4:3 or 16:9 you are talking standard resolution vs wide screen even if the actual aspect is somewhat different.

I remember one time about a year or two back seeing at Best Buy a super widescreen HDTV more like an actual movie theater screen than the  slightly wide rectangle of most TVs. Which I could remember the model number, I couldn't find any info online, I think it was a JVC. I wish HDTVs had gone that route but to the average consumer i'm sure they get in their minds "well it looks small..." because it is much wider and thinner at the top/bottom.

[Ummon]

Well, while social convention makes a certain sense....it would perhaps be 'progressive' to be more accurate - say, like, standard aspect, vs widescreen.

[Blanka]

When someone says 4:3, its understood they are looking for a non-widescreen monitor

Bingo.

What is the use of 5:4 screen? You have a distorted image in full screen just like on a 16:10 widescreen in full screen. Combine that with most 5:4 panels being yesteryears technology, I would rather have black bars on a 16:10 modern screen, than on an old 5:4 screen. They are much blacker now.

[mytymaus007]

If I wanted to replace my 15inch crt with an LCD, would a 19in 4:3 be the same shape for classic games as of now its on the desktop but would like to build a pacman cocktail any sugesstions or should i just keep my 15 inch turned on its side

[MaximRecoil]

What is the use of 5:4 screen? You have a distorted image in full screen just like on a 16:10 widescreen in full screen. Combine that with most 5:4 panels being yesteryears technology, I would rather have black bars on a 16:10 modern screen, than on an old 5:4 screen. They are much blacker now.

There isn't much of a difference between 1.25:1 and 1.33:1; certainly not close to the difference between 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 (or 1.6:1).

You rarely saw exactly a 1.33:1 image on the screens in the arcades anyway. It depended on how the operator adjusted the vertical and horizontal size of the image on the monitor (those adjustments could degrade over time too). 

This is 1.33:1 (its intended display AR):



This is the same image stretched to fit a 1.25:1 screen:



This is the same image retaining its 1.33:1 AR and being letterboxed to fit a 1.25:1 screen:



Fortunately I don't have to worry about any of this in practice, as I'd never desecrate an arcade machine with an LCD display.

[Ummon]

This is 1.33:1 (its intended display AR):



This is the same image stretched to fit a 1.25:1 screen:

Trip out - though both images are the same width, the top one looks wider because it's length is less than the lower one. I put my ruler to the monitor to make sure.

[MaximRecoil]

Trip out - though both images are the same width, the top one looks wider because it's length is less than the lower one. I put my ruler to the monitor to make sure.

Yes, 1.33:1 (4:3) is a "wider" aspect ratio than 1.25:1 (5:4), but only slightly. Neither image looks "distorted" because one is exactly the intended display AR and the other is very close to the intended AR; close enough that unless one had the 1.33:1 reference beside it, one would probably never know the difference. As I mentioned earlier, very few original arcade monitors were perfectly adjusted to a 1.33:1 displayed AR; they could easily range from say 1.25:1 to 1.4:1 without looking noticeably distorted.

[solid12345]

Just to butt in again...

I received my 25 inch Hitachi plasma in the mail and amazingly so, it actually works! No burn-in!

Now as to my report, it looks pretty much like an LCD panel. However the dot pitch is about somewhere between a TV and a modern LCD so it gives somewhat of a soft look to it, the black levels could be better. The main thing though is even though it still gives old-school games the blobby stairstep look, holy cow does this thing look big on a desktop, even my 28 inch Hans-G doesn't give the same size impression as this 5:4 monitor. Also  because of the 256,000 color capability, movies suck, they look like high-res Sega CD FMVs and gradation is almost non-existent. But for old school MAME the games don't look half bad. Anyway it was a unique find as it is not something you come across everyday as evidenced by this thread.

Also note in the screenshots I am running my own custom mame filter I made so that is why there is something of a "texture" to the pixels.

Also one more interesting thing, there doesn't appear to be a case where native resolution looks more stunning than lower resolutions other than being more defined of course, I believe these old Hitachi style plasmas where capable of multisyncing, unfortunately though it can't go down to 15hz, I tried