First Mame cabinet, LCD questions

[magus90]

Hey guys

Building my first mame cabinet and i had few questions regarding on what to use for a screen.

I need to use either an LCD tv or LCD monitor as i cannot move anything heavy or bulky because of a bad back.

1- I was thinking of ordering the X arcade 22 or 27 inch cabinet and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a monitor to put in them and is 22 inches enough to play most games like mortal kombat and tekken, and beat em ups.

2- How does the aspect ratio work, as most monitors are in 16:9 format and most games i will be emulating in Mame will be 4:3?

I am assuming i will have black bars on the sides, which if i have a 22 inch monitor will make the screen incredibly tiny.

3- What if i were to buy a 4:3 monitor? Do these have horrible lag times because they are much older LCD screens. And are there any 4:3 screens bigger than 20 inches? Can't seem to find any that are 22 inches.


Thanks so much for any help, i really appreciate it

joe

[Slippyblade]

Get a 19" 4:3 from here. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133968.0.html

[magus90]

Get a 19" 4:3 from here. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133968.0.html

Thanks man, you think 19 inches is enough? I am so used to all the big numbers of modern tv's that 19 just sounds so small lol :p

I assume because its an arcade and you are like 6 inches from the screen 19 should be plenty.

[Slippyblade]

That's exactly right.  Your distance from screen is much smaller so you can use a smaller display.  Most of the "classic" arcade games used a 19" CRT.  Keep in mind though that the view-able area on a 19" LCD is closer to a 20"-ish CRT.

[magus90]

That's exactly right.  Your distance from screen is much smaller so you can use a smaller display.  Most of the "classic" arcade games used a 19" CRT.  Keep in mind though that the view-able area on a 19" LCD is closer to a 20"-ish CRT.

Well that would work out awesome since i am buying a PC from that person potentially. It seems his PC's run just about all the stuff i want at full speed and are exponentially cheaper than what i was going to build.

I just wonder what fighting games would look like on a 19 inch screen........

Thanks again man, appreciate all your help

[Slippyblade]

I play a lot of Street Fighter on my desktop secondary monitor which is a 19" 4:3 LCD.  It's totally fine.  You won't be disappointed, especially for the price.

[magus90]

I play a lot of Street Fighter on my desktop secondary monitor which is a 19" 4:3 LCD.  It's totally fine.  You won't be disappointed, especially for the price.

Thanks brother i appreciate it.

Now how do vertical games work? Do both vertical and horizontal games work on MAME using a regular 19 inch monitor? Does anything special need to be done, or does it not matter?

I know when i was into actual arcade machines this made a difference as the screens were totally different on the two. Pacman and galaga being vertical and beat em ups and fighters horizontal.

Thanks again you are bailing me out big time and saving me a bunch of money

[Slippyblade]

Well, going from horizontal to vertical is a lot like showing a 4:3 on a 16:9.  If you run a 19" vertical game on a monitor that is set horizontal, you will get sidebars.  Now, if you DO go with a widescreen or a larger monitor in general, MAME can be configured to use the extra screen space to display bezel artwork.  It's an awesome thing that almost makes spending the money on a larger screen worth it.

[magus90]

Well, going from horizontal to vertical is a lot like showing a 4:3 on a 16:9.  If you run a 19" vertical game on a monitor that is set horizontal, you will get sidebars.  Now, if you DO go with a widescreen or a larger monitor in general, MAME can be configured to use the extra screen space to display bezel artwork.  It's an awesome thing that almost makes spending the money on a larger screen worth it.

Holy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- that is awesome!!

So say i was to get a 22 inch screen which obviously would be in 16:9. if i were to play a 4:3 game like mortal kombat, would the actual size of the game screen be close to a 19 inch screen?

Just want to be sure i get the biggest image i can. And if the 19 inch monitor ends up being bigger than the 22 inch once it scales down to 4:3 i guess the 19 inch would be the way to go.

[Slippyblade]

Check out this site.

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

It's a calculator that allows you to compare any size screen at any ratio. 

[magus90]

Check out this site.

http://www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi

It's a calculator that allows you to compare any size screen at any ratio.

Well it looks like the 19 inch is actually bigger in the long run, so 22 inch monitor isnt an option. Only 27 inch would be worth it making the screen 2 inches wider and about 2 inches higher. So i have narrowed it down to the following configurations. Let me know what you think works best, appreciate your opinion.

19 inch Monitor  15X11 4:3 screen size

X arcade -  130
Mame PC-  125
Monitor/TV- 20
Full style Cabinet- 400
http://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension_Arcade_Cabinet_for_X_Arcade_Dual_Joystick_p/rm-xt-arc-d.htm

$650


27 inch monitor  17.5 X 13 4:3 screen size

X arcade- 200
Mame PC-125
Monitor- 100
Full Style Cabinet-570
http://www.recroommasters.com/Premium_XL_Xtension_Arcade_Cabinet_p/rm-xt-arc-prem.htm

$1000

27 inch Monitor 17.5 X 13 4:3 Screen size

X arcade-130
Mame PC-125
Monitor-100
Pedestal Cabinet-370
http://www.recroommasters.com/Xtension_Arcade_Pedestal_Arcade_Cabinet_p/rm-xt-ped.htm

$725