Toshiba 27" TV Model 27A41 *Updated Svideo, Component and VGA

[SteveJ34]

I built my cab many moons ago and it still gets lots of play.

At the time I used a Toshiba 27" TV with SVideo input.

I had some hardware problems with the PC which I have now fixed but the TV has developed a constant "jitter".

This existed prior to the PC going out and I thought it might have something to do with interference or something but if I power the TV on with nothing else the constant shaking/jitter of the screen is still present.

Is this TV just toast and I need to come up with a replacement "monitor" of some sort?

I chose this TV model at the time because of the Svideo input and the fact that it turns on automatically keeping Video1 signal when power is restored.

Any advice other than replacing the TV with another or moving to a monitor/etc?

[nitrogen_widget]

I was in my salvation army store yesterday.
They had flat screen CRT TV's from 20" to 36" from $20 to $60.
Most were sony trinitron or toshiba with component inputs and looked good with the coax splitter system running off the digital to analog converter & an antenna on the roof.

I'm going to grab a 20" for my berzerk cab i'm planing on restoring since a 19/20" VGA CRT monitor is hard to find these days.
Plus I can confirm a 20" CRT TV weighs less than a 19" CRT PC monitor because I used to lug them around at work & could never pick one up one-handed like I can with the 20" TV's when I check the inputs in the store.

If you like the TV option for CRT you can find NVIDIA 8400 gt's with component out really cheap on ebay & amazon these days.
Their power requirements are low & work with just about any PC with a pci-e slot.

[SteveJ34]

Replacing the TV is the least expensive option and seems to make the most sense for at least this cab.

I also do have some constraints as I built my cab based on a particular TV model that is basically 25.5 inches wide and 22.5 inches tall so whatever I put in to replace it must fit within this space.

As luck would have it I have located a Toshiba Model 27a34 which is essentially the same TV and like the one I have contains Svideo and Component inputs.

I never considered driving the monitor via Component rather than Svideo, the component input specifications for the chosen TV replacement indicates that it is capable of 480i.

It seems from other reading that picture quality may be of better quality running with component over svideo.

I built this system around a Shuttle XPC SK41G with an ATI All-In-Wonder Rage 128 Pro (AGP) video card.

From reading, is it true that VGA can be converted to Component with a passive cable?

Otherwise to achieve component I would have to replace the video card, which appears to be an inexpensive option for an old AGP card assuming component out is an option or is it a dongle cable that is passive off another connector type? I also have another Shuttle with a PCI-E slot I could use as well for a PCI-E adaptor.

I will just hook the system up via the Svideo connection that exists for starters but interested to learn more about running through component connections if that might improve the overall picture quality.

Game view has always been fine as this setup just runs an old 0.58 version of Mame but viewing Windows applications is obviously not so great, it's a TV not VGA monitor..I get that.

I welcome any input and feedback to further my own education on the topic of driving different video...

[nitrogen_widget]

I used to run component 480i out to my 32 inch TV with a Radeon 9550 & dvi-component dongle back in the day.
You can also pick up an Nvidia 6200 AVG cheaply with component out.
The nvidia cards from 6200 to 8400 I believe that have the 7 pin connector will do component with the proper cable.
I bought a 7900 pcie & 6200 agp off ebay with the component cables.
Each one was just under $20 shipped.

I bought that 20" CRT TV with component inputs & honestly component with my 8400 gs looks better than svideo.
But, do yourself a favor & grab an old 15" LCD monitor and make it the secondary monitor with the TV as the primary.
that way you can drag windows over to the LCD and administer the PC without eyestrain.
480i doesn't give you a lot of real-estate for windows.
You can read the text better with component but it's just too low a resolution to work with.

[SteveJ34]

Thanks for the feedback.

I got the TV replaced today and the PC re-installed back into the cab.

Points noted regarding video options and will check that out further given the fact that these cards can be had for so cheap...worth a tinker.

For maintenance, I have a wireless connection into the cab and typically just use tightvnc or remote desktop to administer the thing.

My nephew wants to build a pedestal arcade over the summer that attaches to a flat screen on the wall. That's my next adventure and need to research how others are making the connection to the LCD flat screen. Is there a limit to the length of HDMI cables, I assume that is what I would use...

Ultimately I would probably go the same route if I add another cab or replace the one I have.

[tiobolinha]

From reading, is it true that VGA can be converted to Component with a passive cable?

Hi Steve,

No it's not true. VGA brings RGB signal which is totally different from component although both signals have the same video quality. At least in my opnion. Both are WAY better than SVideo. No comparison!

I just finished my cabinet with a Toshiba 29" CRT with component input and ATI video card. (what a coincidence!).

I ran it both by component dongle connected directly in the Graphics Card TV OUT and later connected to the VGA out and converted to component (there are a few options to do that altough it's tricky to pick a converter that won't mess up the 15 khz signal you need to make this work. Check out CVS-289 at google and VGA-SCART cable in the topic I linked bellow)

The second option is WAY better in image because you can run the games at native resolution, in progressive mode, which look pretty similar to the original arcade hardware. The difference is night and day!

Check out this topic: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121491.msg1488822.html#msg1488822

That's the bible of native resolutions in CRT TVs with component in. Take a look at the last couple of pages.

Good luck!!