Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: boranes on April 24, 2014, 12:51:12 am
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hello!
im looking for an alternative to arcade vga. i would like to put a little more powerful gpu in my cab but still use my tri res monitor.
im running windows 7 64. is the any alternatives worth looking out for? i read up on soft15khz but i might be a couple years to late..
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Soft15khz is not the best option anymore. Use CRT_emudriver instead. http://mame.3feetunder.com/windows-ati-crt-emudriver/ (http://mame.3feetunder.com/windows-ati-crt-emudriver/) you can use any compatible card from that page. From what I've heard, the Radeon X300 and HD4350 are the most flexible.
I'm not sure how powerful you want, but the AVGA says "guaranteed to run sf4 at full sped" or something like that.
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The CRT_emudriver is not an option (it only works on Windows XP at the moment). And you say you are running Windows 7. You also may want to check out GroovyMAME by the way.
I'm running Soft 15 Khz. In combination with a program called Power strip. One thing you definitely need to have is to buy the ATI brand and not Nvidia. These programs are geared towards the ATI chipset (Arcade VGA is based on that chipset as well). I'm not even sure Nvidia cards will work with them.
Good luck!
DeLuSioNaL29
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i was looking into soft15khz but how would it be running a newer ati chipset. i guess my main goal would be to run demul along with mame without any hiccups. right now i have a i3 3220 8 gigs of ram with an arcadevga5000. even thought some of my demul games are runnable the ones i really want are not. sound stuttering and such. i just fell torn because the arcade vga make the lower res games look so good with mame. and i dont want to loose out on that.
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CRT_Emudriver is transitioning to Windows 7 now.
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I bought one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-To-RGBS-CGA-AV-S-Video-PC-to-TV-arcade-Video-Game-Converter-Board-GBS-8100-/291055126386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c43cc772 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-To-RGBS-CGA-AV-S-Video-PC-to-TV-arcade-Video-Game-Converter-Board-GBS-8100-/291055126386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c43cc772)
and im pretty satisfied with the results
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I bought one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-To-RGBS-CGA-AV-S-Video-PC-to-TV-arcade-Video-Game-Converter-Board-GBS-8100-/291055126386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c43cc772 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-To-RGBS-CGA-AV-S-Video-PC-to-TV-arcade-Video-Game-Converter-Board-GBS-8100-/291055126386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c43cc772)
and im pretty satisfied with the results
Interesting. What resolution are you running at? Is this for a genuine arcade monitor?
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monitor is a 25" k7000
my only real gripe is that there is no save feature for the settings on the board so if it loses power you lose your settings.
This is a pain for me because I use the board in a switching cabinet so I cant adjust the monitor to the converters defaults withut screwing up the settings for the other vdeo source.
if your monitor is dedicated you should be able to adjust the monitor to the converter once thugh and never have to worry about it.
I WAS using soft 15khz before i installed the converter and I would say my image quality has certainly been upgraded.
I run 640x480 BUT I also find 600x800 to work quite well. I try to select 60Khz when possible but 120Khz does work at both of those resolutions too.
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The image quality is upgraded now? You're not running native res, you're running in 480i. 90% of MAME is ~240p. You could be getting MUCH better picture quality out of your CRT by running native res. If your soft15kHz setup looked even worse than 480i through that converter, it wasn't set up anywhere close to correct.
Those converters are not too great for MAME. You're not getting native res (not making use of the potential of the CRT), you're not getting native refresh (which causes its own problems with sound/game speed/input lag), and you don't know if the converter itself is adding any lag. Sorry to rain on your parade, if that thing's ok with you that's fine, but I don't think you should recommend it to others.
OP, look into CRT_Emudriver and GroovyMAME on Windows 7, using a Radeon HD 4XXX card.
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Despite mr know it all's reply the GBS8100 works much better than soft 15khz and it is completely trouble free for me. Sure you could go with groovy mame AND a video card AND a third party video driver, or you could buy the GBS8100 for $30 and enjoy the simplicity of use.
I WILL recommend this product to friends and forum members, I don't think it would be a great fit for using CRT based lightguns, and if you are a video purist, yes this is not the most accurate way to emulate, but it sure as ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- works with everything I've thrown at it and I KNOW that there is no chance the device will send a video signal to the monitor that will damage it (the reason I moved AWAY from groovy MAME, after a high res game automatically bumped my resolution to an overscan value that fried my H.O.T. )
I LOVE the BYOAC forums, this is just a golden example of the "pissing match" type assistance you'll get on here.
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You're saying that it "works much better than soft 15khz" because you can just plug it in and get a picture. In that sense, yes it works. In the sense of getting a picture of the full quality the CRT is capable of, no it doesn't work. Not even close. There is a world of difference between the native resolution, native refresh, scanlines intact, etc., and a scaled and interlaced approximation in 480i which is blurrier, lacking scanlines, has interlace-flicker, wrong refresh rate, etc. There is also the possibility of added lag which you don't seem to be addressing, both from the MAME work-arounds to prevent tearing when running the wrong refresh rate and from the converter itself.
As far as accidentally putting out a 31kHz signal, that won't happen with CRT_Emudriver/GroovyMAME if it is set up properly for your monitor. As for the output prior to Windows loading, you could either wire a computer-controlled relay to automatically turn the monitor on after Windows loads, or just listen for the Windows start-up sound before turning it on manually. I believe there are also hardware solutions which will block any non-15kHz signals.
This is not meant to be a "pissing contest," it's about providing accurate, useful answers. I believe boranes stated that native res was important:
the arcade vga make the lower res games look so good with mame. and i dont want to loose out on that.
It's frustrating when people ask questions and someone comes along and says "here use this dirt-simple solution, you just plug it in and there's nothing wrong with it." That's blatant misinformation, and a disservice to anyone following the thread. If you must recommend something like that you ought to say, "the benefit to this solution is simplicity, the downsides are..."
When running MAME on a CRT, there is rarely a solution that is both very simple to setup and performs well. These two things are at opposite ends of the spectrum, and the various solutions lie at different points on that spectrum. Different users have different levels of time, money, and ability to devote to a complex setup, and different expectations of quality. So, they may end up choosing a solution from anywhere on the spectrum. There's nothing wrong with that, but if they've come to the video section for answers they could at least be given a full explanation of the options so they can make an informed decision. Just saying "here plug this in, it works good enough and there's nothing more you need to know," is just disrespectful to the people asking the questions. I consider it a disservice to try and keep people in some kind of "ignorant bliss."
(Also, this isn't to say that the best performing setup can't be just as simple to use after the setup is complete.)
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boranes, the Radeon HD4890 is the most powerful card that's compatible with CRT_Emudriver. It's way more than enough for MAME, but you should see how that performs with other emulators you want to add, like Demul. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to optomize both native res MAME and newer 3D/31kHz+ stuff in the same cabinet.
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tl:dr version
buy GBS8100 -> plug in, set any VGA/COMP/SVIDEO source to 640x480 or 800x600, play
perfect option -> downgrade system to windows xp, make sure graphics card is ATI, install crtemudriver (If you have an ATI card that is compatible), install groovyMAME, setup config file wth allowable resolutions -that's EVERY SINGLE RESOLUTION you'll be using for EVERY SINGLE GAME, triple check that no overscan resolutions will be allowed by crtemudriver or it WILL BREAK YOUR CHASSIS, configure windows to operate natively with CRT EMUDRIVER, isntall and design and hardwire a video cutoff switch to avoid BREAKING YOUR CHASSIS DURING WINDOWS BOOTUP EVERY SINGLE TIME. Also this might not work with newer games, so just eat the fact that you won't be playing SFIV, and you're limited to aging video cards - so also don't expect this setup to age well, the list goes on....
the GBS-8100 is completely viable and "dirt-simple" you should view it as one of many arcadeVGA alternative and in case you forgot, you live on Earth and ANY solution to any problem here on this planet will have its pro's and con's
to the [nice person] telling me to not recommend that device on this forum - [I respectfully and passionately disagree].
[Keep it civil, everyone. -- Scott :police:]
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How to get a car:
Easy option: drop out of high school, work at McDonald's, buy crappy used car, drive down the road, done (also insert fingers in ears and convince yourself you're not missing out on anything better)
Hard option: finish high school, get a college degree, find a good job, work hard, buy nice car, done
Either way, you'll have a car you can drive down the road just fine. What's the difference?
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You don't need to set up a ton of resolutions of for GM. For a 15kHz tube, set up 5-10 "super resolutions" (large horizontal size), and let GM autoselect for individual games:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138903.msg1440362.html#msg1440362 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138903.msg1440362.html#msg1440362)
If your monitor spec is defined correctly, it won't output anything outside of the range specified. If using GM with a real arcade monitor was so impossible, there wouldn't be dozens of people doing it.
Newer games can run in 480i (or 480p or more if you have a multi-sync monitor). The limitation for new games comes from the monitor selection as well, not just the graphics card. It's hard to optimize both the oldest and the newest games in the same cab either way.
The OP of this thread already mentioned he wants more quality than your solution provides. I don't know why you'd come in here, suggest a poor solution, and then start name calling when I mention the negatives of that solution which you failed to disclose.
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On a more productive note, anyone have a comparison between a Radeon HD4890 and an ArcadeVGA5000? Any good CRT_Emudriver card is better than an ArcadeVGA card for MAME purposes due to flexibility with different timing values and integration with GroovyMAME, but how do the two stack in terms of graphics power for modern games?
Still there boranes?
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How about you just run everything at 1024x768i, sure, your TV might not sync to it, but if you get any picture, it will look real nice. That's what's important, right? Some things look nice, so everything else can look like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.
I leave for 1 month and a half and this is what I come back to.
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Keep it civil, everyone. (That includes you, rCadeGaming.)
I know people can be passionate about certain topics, but anyone planning to continue posting on BYOAC, please disagree in a more agreeable fashion.
Anyone who doesn't understand why I'm posting this should review the rules (http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_message_rules.html), especially #1 and #13. :police:
Scott
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Retroactively moderating posts? Bored at work? >:D
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It was reported to the mods this morning. :dunno
When somebody switches on the bat-signal, we show up.
Old post or new, the rules still apply.
Without them, there would be human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! >:D
Scott
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It was reported to the mods this morning. :dunno
When somebody switches on the bat-signal, we show up.
Old post or new, the rules still apply.
Without them, there would be human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! >:D
Scott
Hahaha! Good job, Scott. I thought you were just looking for something to do. :applaud: