Starting my first Arcade Cabinet, have monitor questions.

[Alexinedh]

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/for/3460416333.html

This is the cabinet I'm planning to get. I don't have the dimensons (since i haven't purchased it yet) but have general questions based on what I'm planning to buy.

My end goal is a MAME cabinet (i think). I want to be able to play the old school stand up arcade games such as Galaga, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Missile Command, Dig Dug, etc.

The greedy side of me also wants the capibility of playing Super Nintendo games on my MAME, especially since I plan to design the cabinets theme after SNES's "Zombies Ate My Neighbors" (best game on SNES hands down).

From what I understand (or, I think I understand), when building a machine you need to choose to mount your monitor either horizontally or verically, and your decision will define which games you can and cannot play.

I've got entirely too much expendible income, and was wondering if there's a way to throw money at this problem and solve it. Perhaps if there are square monitors/televisions that would work? Also, I know very little about the differences in monitors. So if someone can confirm that I'd need a 15ghz display with progressive scan and 420p resolution, that'd be great.

I'd more than happily accept a link to a "MAME for Dummies" tutorial, since I can't seem to find them anywhere. I can buy whatever software I need to make this project work, I just don't want to end up with 3 disassembled TVs in my garage from trial and error runs.

Thanks in advance for reading

[jammin0]

It isn't that you can't play both vert and horizontal games.  I say throw a big enough monitor in and you can easily play both.  You dead set on CRT?  There are some pretty sweet auto rotating LCD builds out there.

[brad808]

The cabinet is a dynamo hs-5. They are 75" tall,  30" wide, 36" deep. They take 25" monitors. Looks like it comes with a monitor?

You can play horizontal games on vertical monitor and vice versa. They just won't take up the whole screen, you will have black bars on either the top/ bottom, or left,right depending on which way your monitor is and the original orientation of the game.

[rCadeGaming]

15ghz display with progressive scan and 420p resolution, that'd be great.

You mean 15kHz and 240p.  Big difference; but yes 90% of the games in Mame run in 15kHz progressive resolutions around 320x240 (240p), as will SNES.

Setting up your cab to run MAME games in native res will take some work, look at the second link in my signature if you're interested.  The SNES will just need the proper cabling.

If the cab comes with a working 15kHz monitor I would highly recommend sticking with it.  Keep in mind that LCD's can never look as good as a real CRT with these low resolutions, and they will add lag as well.

[Alexinedh]

Thanks for the quick replies, guys. You're awesome 

When I called the guy on Craigslist he said the monitor is blurry. Donno if that makes it unusable so I figured I'd just buy a new one. Brad808, you blew my mind knowing those dimensions. You say I can play both vert and hori oriented games if the monitor is big enough, is 25" large enough to do that? I found this 27" TV, same model that rCadeGaming recommended in another forum, somewhat close for a cheap price. You say I can fit a 25" screen, is 27" too large if I remove the speakers mounted to the left and right?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/27-Sony-WEGA-TV-and-stand-/150964965323?pt=Televisions&hash=item2326368fcb

Thanks for the correction rCadeGaming, you can tell I'm new at this =P I'll reference your 2nd link in sig, but I was planning on running SNES via emulator installed on the win XP 32 system that I'd run MAME from. Would you recommend a different set up? I'm planning on installing a front loader so I don't have to deal with mice/keyboards. Is that goal possible for my project?

[brad808]

  I'm not that smart. Dynamo hs-5 are a really common cab so I just pulled the dimensions off the flyer. Yes 25" is big enough to play vertical games on. I've done it for a long time and find it usable. Obviously 27" would be bigger but I honestly have no idea if it'll fit. Chances are with the crt's ears the monitor will be 29-30 inches. Like I said though no clue if it'll fit or not.

If the original monitor works that's good. It may just need some simple adjustments to get it clear again. There is a focus knob on the back that might fix it right up who knows. Could be that simple. If not don't get rid of it even if you decide to put a tv in there. After a while you might want to take on some monitor repairs and could only be something simple like replacing some capacitors.

[rCadeGaming]

The TV would probably fit after decasing, but as Brad says, the monitor could be easily fixed as well; might just need adjustments or a cap kit or something, worth a try.

I'd buy the TV either way while you have the chance.  Just don't pay over $50 for it, I get TV's on Craigslist for about $0-50 all the time.  If it doesn't go in the cab it's still great to sit in a spare room for gaming.  I'm sitting in front of that exact model, getting ready to play some Hagane on SNES when I put the laptop down.

[Alexinedh]

Thanks again for the fast replies guys!

After searching Craigslist further I've found a fully functional setup (controls, monitor, and lighting) except for the actual gaming board, all for $190.00. If I purchase this equipment, I just need to install the computer components and I should be set, right?

Also, I wasn't 100% clear on your answer rCadeGaming, or maybe I don't understand my question as much as you do =P Would I have to have a mouse/keyboard setup to switch between the MAME emulator and SNES emulator, or does MAME include SNES? I plan to use a frontloader.

[rCadeGaming]

I was thinking you were going to use a real SNES.  Anyway, you can get a front to do all that without a mouse or keyboard.