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General excitement and what size monitor for a cabinet? (Offical "I'm doing it")
hulkster:
--- Quote from: RyoriNoTetsujin on July 28, 2010, 10:16:28 am ---Opinions: everybody's got one... ;D
I wouldn't use luan, even with a support frame. I'd suggest at least 1/2" plywood, especially for the Control Panel (I'm pretty sure trying to mount controls to luan would not be fun...) That is, unless you just happen to already have a lot of luan laying around...
Regarding monitor size: I can't tell you how much to spend, but my personal guideline is "go one size larger than you think you need." I dare say 24" lcds are pretty affordable nowadays, even on a modest budget. I think 24" is great. Having considered a 24" for some time, I finally bit the bullet and stepped up to a 27" Viewsonic, and am extremely happy with the choice, despite the disproportionate cost change. A little extra screen real estate can go a long way... then again, my old cab had a 31" crt... I really like large format. Your mileage may vary.
If nothing else, decide on and get the monitor BEFORE YOU BUILD ANYTHING. Then you can lay out your design with ergonomics in mind. You are going to be standing/sitting at this thing for many hours -- make it comfortable. You won't have Lumberjackass' problem (not to critique his build choices, he's got a nice cab) which could have been solved in the design phase by recessing and/or angling the monitor within the cab.
And just for the record, 4:3 LCDs larger than 19-20" are a bit of a holy grail around here; everybody wants one, but nobody can ever seem to find one in stock...
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i'll just chime in here and say that while i'm not a display "purist" and have to have the original arcade monitors....i will say that putting an LCD screen in for your display on an arcade cab vs. a CRT monitor or TV can be a bad thing. of course its personal preference i guess, but LCD monitors make the old school games look TOO good. what i mean is that you now see how the pixelation really stands out on games like karate champ or donkey kong. thats why i think so many people use TV's with svideo because the image is kinda blurry....but thats a GOOD THING.
this is all of course IMO, but i found the following thread showing some image comparisons http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95833.0 . part of the charm of old school games on a tv or arcade monitor is the fact that you dont see all the lines, and makes the images a little less...um...perfect. not sure if that makes any sense.
then again, i could be COMPLETELY wrong about this....so someone straighten me out if so. ;D
EightBySix:
--- Quote from: ragnar on July 28, 2010, 12:03:12 am ---But one of the big expenses seems to be an LCD which I want to buy new.
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You seem to have your mind made up here, but just consider that you can pick up cheap monitors that have 'presure marks'. Normally you'll only see this on white/plain backgrounds. I picked up a monitor for £9.99 and on a black background (most of the games I want to play), you cant see them.
drventure:
Yeah, second the 24". You can get em on CL for pretty reasonable, just put a watch out and wait.
I'm quite happy with my 24" Dell 2405. a 4X3 ratio would likely be better for a typical cab, but if you want to do full screen Virtual Pinball or Visual Pinball, a rotating 24" is a pretty nice option there.
I'd also go with ply unless you've got a pile of luan sitting around.
I think an all black cab with maybe some contrasting tmold, and some nice CP art is a really good look for a household where you don't have a dedicated gameroom. It's a bit easier to get the wife's ok if there's not a ton of arcade characters printed all over the sides and the cab's not neon orange or green.
Even better, the stained wood option can work very well (See Knievel's woody as a great example of that) and it's thin as well.
ragnar:
Awesome comments. I watched all the lumberjackass videos. NICE! It really let me see how to properly get one of these things put together.
I think I'll go with a 22-24" screen. Seems that the 20",21" is out of the question. I'm glad that I narrowed things down a bit. I agree that a 4x3 aspect screen is desired but I always keep repair in mind. If a 4x3 LCD dies 5 years from now, then what? I've pretty much decided on doing widescreen.
OK, luan is out. I guess I will just do MDF. I have to figure out how to keep things lightweight. Granted the more I think about it, the more I realize that I don't worry so much about weight as I do the bulkiness factor. I just want something that is easy to get in and out of my house.
The Lumberjackass:
if your building with plain mdf , you may need to laminate the sides before adding vinyl.
ive just added the vinyl to my cab , and lets just say , if it was bare mdf and not melamine faced , i'd be in a world of hell.
sure , you can still put vinyl on plain mdf , but it has to be 100% perfect and you only get 1 chance in applying it correctly. its tricky to apply.
i was really lucky i built my cab with prefinished mdf , as the melamine allowed me to take the vinyl off and re-apply it when i had trapped air bubbles.
but as for your monitor choice , buy whatever suits .
RyoriNoTetsujin is correct on one thing , i should have recessed the lcd back more to make my viewing experience better . however the angle of the lcd is in fact
perfect . its not tilted very much at all. i can change the depth of the monitor if needs be , but at this point in time , i can live with the flaw and i'll change it
at another stage , as ive alot of other projects on-hold and they need attention.
here is a preview of my finished cab , im waiting for a mini-pac replacement before i can shoot the new vid :
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