Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Monitor/Video Forum => Topic started by: MeatballB on December 21, 2007, 10:24:17 am

Title: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: MeatballB on December 21, 2007, 10:24:17 am

Anyone out there know of a decent 25" monitor I can purchase for a home arcade cabinet?  I've tried using an old 27" TV, but honestly, the quality is pretty bad, not to mention that it sticks the images right up into your face.

I don't want to spend a fortune, but definitely want to get something that looks good.  What's the point of spending all that $$ on a home arcade if the games look bad? :)

I've already ordered an ArcadeVGA2 card, so anything that'll work with that would be good.

Thanks!

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: ahofle on December 21, 2007, 11:57:38 am

The only 25" monitor I've found that would work well for a home arcade cabinet environment is the BL24C90T from billabs:
http://billabs.com/crts.htm

I haven't heard many reviews of it though as it's fairly new.

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: Ken Layton on December 21, 2007, 12:03:07 pm

Alva Amusement and 8liners.com both sell reasonably priced 25" and 24.8" CGA (Standard) resolution monitors.

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: Kevin Mullins on December 21, 2007, 07:48:56 pm

All depends on what resolutions you plan on running the games at.

You say that the 27" TV quality looked bad.... but a standard CGA resolution arcade monitor will have exactly the same "look" as that TV.

Your only real solution to that is to run a higher resolution multisync monitor or pc monitor.
Which you can also get in the smaller sizes as well to suit your needs.

Is this is a MAME type machine?

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: APFelon on December 26, 2007, 10:32:42 am

Well, it depends. If he is using S-video or RCA inputs to a standard television, the video quality will be markedly worse than an arcade monitor and an ArcadeVGA card combo. MUCH worse.

APf

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: acevedor2 on December 26, 2007, 11:48:42 am

I am using a standard Nvidia graphics card and connecting it to my 27" sharp TV with component cables and the picture looks fantastic!  I would try your connections before giving up on the TV idea.  Additionally, the 25" arcade monitor will have darn near the same "in your face" feeling as the TV does. Cheers.

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: StephenH on December 28, 2007, 12:28:49 am

Nieman and Bilabs offer 25" Monitors I think. 

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: Captain_Dingo on January 02, 2008, 03:57:50 pm

These are great suggestions.  I have a similar question, so I'll follow up here.

I'm also looking for a 25" monitor, but I was wondering if anyone makes a decent 25" multisync that does more than VGA (640x480) resolution?  It seems in my research so far that one has to go to 27" to get anything more (800x600 or 1024x768).

27" monitors are just a bit too big for what I want, so does anyone have any idea on a multisync 25"?

Thanks!

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: ahofle on January 02, 2008, 06:06:13 pm

I have not been able to find one. 
Another option (what I ended up doing) is to shrink the H and V size on your 27" multisync slightly so you end up with about 25" or so of actual screen.  Horizontal games like Robotron and Defender are just way too big on a full 27" screen IMO.

Title: Re: Good 25" Monitor?
Post by: Captain_Dingo on January 04, 2008, 12:20:45 pm

That's unfortunate.

When I said that 27" are too big, I didn't mean the screen size, I meant the actual physical size of the monitor.

Hmmm.