Finding the right size monitor for LCD conversion?

[James391]

Hi there,

I'm trying to sort out my first project, which is in need of a new monitor, among many other things. Dropping in an LCD has turned I to a much bigger challenge than I expected.

The opening in the cabinet measures 14" wide by 16" tall. Finding measurements on anything but the diagonal is hard enough, but this doesn't appear to be a common (or even existing) size in 4:3. Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way.

Also, I am still trying to sort out the matter of connecting to a Jamma board. Any advice on that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks.

[Rickn]

So, are you planning on mounting in the traditional horizontal mount, or vertical? What games are you planning on running? If it is a vertical mount and say a pacman or XXin 1 playing vertical games then the options are different. Depending on what you are doing options may include 15 or 17 inch for Horizontal mount (17" may be tight) vertical might accomodate 19".
This is assuming you use one of our industrial open frame displays. In this case connection to Jamma is quite easy, they come with a standard 15 pin sub-d VGA style connector plus a "break out board that converts the 15 pi to 6 wire for connection to Jamma.

I will be happy to give you some dimensions depending on the mounting.

Good luck

Rick

[James391]

So, are you planning on mounting in the traditional horizontal mount, or vertical? What games are you planning on running? If it is a vertical mount and say a pacman or XXin 1 playing vertical games then the options are different. Depending on what you are doing options may include 15 or 17 inch for Horizontal mount (17" may be tight) vertical might accomodate 19".
This is assuming you use one of our industrial open frame displays. In this case connection to Jamma is quite easy, they come with a standard 15 pin sub-d VGA style connector plus a "break out board that converts the 15 pi to 6 wire for connection to Jamma.

I will be happy to give you some dimensions depending on the mounting.

Good luck

Rick

The cabinet is cut out for a vertical mount. The board I have is a Raiden 2, though I'm considering adding a vertical specific xx-in-1 board later on. When this is done, I'll probably build up a horizontal cabinet for those games, so if you can fill me in on how that works as well, the knowledge wouldn't go to waste.

Here is a picture from the front of the cabinet:

And from the inside:

Like I said, the opening is 14 inches wide and 16 inches tall. With a 4:3 aspect ratio, a 20" monitor on its side would be 12 inches wide and 16 inches tall. I'd rather not have an inch on the sides if I can avoid it....not to mention I am not sure if it would distort the image on the game. The manual I have for the board does not include such details.

Since I'm already way past what I was planing on spending on this project, I was hoping that I could wind up using some common monitor size that could be picked up for a couple bucks on craigslist and adapting it for this use. If that isn't possible, I'll have to look at other options. I get the impression that you deal in these types of industrial monitors, so I would be interested in seeing what is available on that end.

As far as connecting to the board, I had rewire the whole cab, and ordered a Jamma wiring set that vaguely mentioned having a VGA hookup option built jin. I wasn't entirely clear on if it would be a solution to my problem but got it anyways since I need the harness anyways....I guess I'll see when that arrives. If it solves it, great. If not, I haven't lost any ground.

Thanks for your reply, getting help from people with real experience has made this process go much more smoothly.