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Cut the crap - Is the Aimtrak any good?
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Turnarcades:
Bit off-topic, but why does 'optical-type' technology not work with LCD screens? I know it doesn't after trying my G-Cons on my PS1 with my LCD TV and hearing this from various sources, but why not? Surely a modern LCD can flash the black/white image up just as quickly as a CRT, so what is it?
RandyT:
Even the current star system is lacking for me.  I guess I'll make my own.

Please rate the following (1 Star = Poor, 5 Stars = Excellent) :

[***]  Ease of hardware setup
[**]  Ease of calibration
[**]  Ease of setup in games
[****]   In-game accuracy from calibrated position
[**]   In-game accuracy from other positions/distance/angle
[***]   Works consistently
[***]   Overall satisfaction

In addition, please mark which you are using :

Operating system
[X] 98SE
[ ] XP
[ ] Vista
[ ] Win 7

Monitor Type
[ ]   LCD
[X]  CRT

Monitor Angle
[X] 90 degrees (or very close)
[ ] Something else

Size (aspect)
29" (27" viewable) 4:3 (720x480)

Front Window Type
[ ]   Clear
[X]   Smoked
[X]   None

Distance between camera and screen face
48"

CrossHairs
[X] Enabled
[ ] Disabled

Your self-described interest in shooting games
[ ] My first gun
[ ] Play them once in a while
[X] Played them all (really, all of them...more than once)
[ ] Gun nut

Board-to-Gun Installation
[X] Did it myself
[ ] Paid someone else.


I think this should about cover 90% of what you need to know about the user environment and the experience without getting too invasive.  Use it or don't...don't care :)

RandyT
bkenobi:

--- Quote from: Turnarcades on October 30, 2009, 06:29:46 pm ---Bit off-topic, but why does 'optical-type' technology not work with LCD screens? I know it doesn't after trying my G-Cons on my PS1 with my LCD TV and hearing this from various sources, but why not? Surely a modern LCD can flash the black/white image up just as quickly as a CRT, so what is it?

--- End quote ---
GunCon's and other 'optical-type' sensors use the CRT's drawing technique to figure out where the gun is aimed.  To keep it simple, when the trigger is pulled, the screen writes a mask of sorts where the targets are white (or is it black...whatever).  The gun responds when it sees the mask and that time is used to determine where on the screen the gun is pointing based on the amount of time it takes the scan lines to show up on the gun.  If there is no mask detected, it was a miss.

Now, LCD's don't display images the same way.  Each pixel is separate and is refreshed essentially at the same time.  As a result, the time it takes for the gun to see the mask would be the same time for anywhere on the screen.  Therefore, if you could get a gun to detect the mask, it would always indicate the gun is pointing at (0,0).

Simplification, but hopefully enough to give the basic gist.  I'm guessing there's a wiki article somewhere that would have pictures and such...

EDIT:  I got it mostly right, but combined the two techniques.  Read a better description here:
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Light_gun
CheffoJeffo:

--- Quote from: bkenobi on October 30, 2009, 06:43:14 pm ---
--- Quote from: Turnarcades on October 30, 2009, 06:29:46 pm ---Bit off-topic, but why does 'optical-type' technology not work with LCD screens? I know it doesn't after trying my G-Cons on my PS1 with my LCD TV and hearing this from various sources, but why not? Surely a modern LCD can flash the black/white image up just as quickly as a CRT, so what is it?

--- End quote ---
GunCon's and other 'optical-type' sensors use the CRT's drawing technique to figure out where the gun is aimed.  To keep it simple, when the trigger is pulled, the screen writes a mask of sorts where the targets are white (or is it black...whatever).  The gun responds when it sees the mask and that time is used to determine where on the screen the gun is pointing based on the amount of time it takes the scan lines to show up on the gun.  If there is no mask detected, it was a miss.

Now, LCD's don't display images the same way.  Each pixel is separate and is refreshed essentially at the same time.  As a result, the time it takes for the gun to see the mask would be the same time for anywhere on the screen.  Therefore, if you could get a gun to detect the mask, it would always indicate the gun is pointing at (0,0).

Simplification, but hopefully enough to give the basic gist.  I'm guessing there's a wiki article somewhere that would have pictures and such...

EDIT:  I got it mostly right, but combined the two techniques.  Read a better description here:
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Light_gun

--- End quote ---


--- Quote from: Turnarcades on October 27, 2009, 11:44:13 am --- Yes or no - no elaboration.

--- End quote ---


 :whap

 ;D

Kinda makes the point that perhaps there is more than a simple yes/no required, particularly if you are a vendor.
Turnarcades:
I decided 'yes' very early in this thread - it's up to others now what to make of the poll and comments.  A point was just raised that I just didn't know the answer to, sod all to do with the Aimtrak. But then as this thread's ended up over 100 posts long now, the point's already been mostly missed so I may as well throw something else into the mess.
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