Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: matz100 on January 08, 2004, 12:14:36 pm

Title: problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 08, 2004, 12:14:36 pm
hello  8)

ive the following problem:

i bought a cabinet and want to use the arcade monitor with my pc in msdos mode. the monitor works with the buildin cardgame just fine. the game connects via a adp-adapter to the cabinet. the monitor has following inputs :ground r g b and sync. so i disconnected the adp-adapter and connected a vga-cable(with these coax connectors) with extra r g b and two sync cables to the monitor. i connected the 2 syncs to the 1 sync on the monitor and the rgb to the rgb on the monitor. all grounds i connected to the monitors ground.

the problem is that i just doesnt see anything on the monitor (its still working with the card-game and the power is also swiched on an i can "hear" the monitor)

i have a matrox mystique graphic card and i used the advcfg programm to test (i choose servral arcade settings 15-30khz)

i also tried powerstrip and a gforce2 with windows ...

and still i dont see ANYTHING on the monitor ....
i excpectet to see just some flickering or anything else


so id be very happy if anyone had some idea to get something visible  ....

 ::)

 
(i just dont know the specs of the monitor ... its from 1984   :P)
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: PacManFan on January 08, 2004, 12:30:09 pm
Arcade monitors expect a signal from the 0-5v range, Your vga card is outputting 0..1v, try turning up the brightness of the monitor and see if that helps.
-PMF
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 08, 2004, 12:40:08 pm
thanks for the good idea  :)

but where can i increase the brightness of my monitor?
is there a way to increase the volage out of my vga-card?

Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: Dak-ak on January 08, 2004, 12:50:15 pm
brightness is controlled by an onboard dial in the back somewhere...

http://link.mywwwserver.com/~jstookey/arcade/WG_25k7191/WG_25k7191_diagram.JPG

Mine is in a different place... on a little remote control thingy...


To boost your voltage level.
http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html

a possible problem: My monitor is blank if i accidently send it positive sync signals... you need both negative hsync and vsync...
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 08, 2004, 01:04:07 pm
hey nice ideas  :)

ok next thing i do is to check the voltage ...

i expected that every vga-card has negative output for both syncs ... at last my mystique which is often recommended


ok tomorrow ill try out  ;D
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 09, 2004, 11:21:49 am
ok i made some mesurements ant the result ist :

the wireing is ok
the vga outputs only 1v
the original game about 4v

so i got to increase voltage ...


thanks for the help
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 10, 2004, 07:08:40 am
today i looked again and i found out that i realy have positive h and v-sync out of my vga-card ... how can i change this to negative output?

is there a way to do this by software or do i need some hardware solution?

another question: is there any guide to build the vga-amplifier by myself?

confused greetings  ::)
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: menace on January 10, 2004, 09:28:57 am
Your monitor should have H sync-, H sync+, V Sync-, V sync+.  I hooked my hacked vga cable so that the horizontal sync went to the h sync- and the vertical sync went to the v sync- .  This works fine.  Some monitors may require you to combine the H sync and the V sync from the monitor cable to a single sync input on the monitor (this doesn't seem to be your case)  To build your own vga amplifier look here:    http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/hardware.html

I built it but haven't tested it yet--its fairly cheap to build if you have access to electronic supplies (and radio shack won't cut it on this one)
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 10, 2004, 09:46:49 am
thanks for the guide ... ill try it


no my arcade monitor has only combined h and vsync ...
and it seems to respond only on negative values ...


ill try mon-arc plus with a vodoo3 video-adapter now ...

ill post the results soon ...
wish me some luck  ;D
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: Ken Layton on January 10, 2004, 11:56:31 am
It would be very helpful if we knew the make & model of your 'arcade' monitor as there are many different makes & models out there. Not all have positive and negative sync inputs. Some have positive only, some have negative sync only.
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 10, 2004, 12:13:49 pm
unfortunately i dont know the model of my arcade monitor ...
it seems be be from 1984 and theres a card-game running

its labeled with "orion" and seems to be some rare? german custom machine with a adp connector ....

i just took some mesurements again and found out that i was wrong and that the monitor runs with positive sync ...

im quite sure that its the voltage level of the vga-rgb that ist to low for the monitor. the build-in game has about 5v and the vga rgb about 1v  (as aready said here) ....
the sync of the vga-card seems to be nearly as strong as the sync of the build-in game

so im gonna build the vga-amplifier to get the monitor  working  :P
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: Dak-ak on January 10, 2004, 05:54:08 pm
I would guess that its more likely a sync problem than a voltage one... from what I've read, you should at least be getting a picture from your monitor (although dark) with a 1 volt signal... However, I've gotten the EXACT same thing you describe using positive syncs....

You might try powerstrip or advancemame.. I believe both allow you to specify the polarity of your sync signals.
Title: Re:problem with arcade monitor
Post by: matz100 on January 11, 2004, 09:09:58 am
i did some mesurements again:


with the 2gaphic-cards i used the advcfg testscreen (CGA 15khz)

            arcade_game          vodoo3          matrox_mystique
r          +3v                           +0,1v            +0.1v
g         +3v                           +1v                +0.1v
b         +3v                           +0.1v            +0.1v

sync    +4v                           +5v                +3.5v


i cant really explain the +1v on green at the vodoo3  ???
and jet i cant get ANY image on the arcade monitor (only with the original arcade game)

strange  :P