Monitor or TV?

[gprime]

I'm building my first cabinet and I'm wondering what you guys prefer, a computer monitor for your screen or a nice big TV ? I'm not even considering a genuine arcade screen due my noobness.

My local computer store is selling refurbished 22" NEC Monitors for dirt cheap (same as this one: http://www.softwareandstuff.com/MON10100.html ). It looks fairly big, but maybe not big enough? It's hard for me to visualize it actually *in* the cabinet. Do televisions give a more genuine look/feel to it?

Also, what's a general size for a vertical cab screen?

[Jakobud]

You know there is a Monitor/Video forum right?

[gprime]

whoops. no wonder they hasn't been much discussion here.

( remove this thread )

my bad

[Minwah]

I'm not even considering a genuine arcade screen due my noobness.

That's no excuse since the ArcadeVGA card came out - arcade monitor all the way

[paigeoliver]

A monitors orientation has nothing at all to do with it's size.

With that said, most vertical monitor games had 19" displays (or 13" for cocktails and minis), but some later ones had 25".

Import "Candy" style cabinets have been spotted with vertical monitors up to 39" in size.

Also, your choice in monitor size should really take into consideration your favorite games. If you like the '79 to '85 era stuff, then 19" is your best choice. While 90's era stuff is awesome on a 25" monitor (anything larger requires an oversized cabinet).

The reason you should take your favorite games into account is because the older games genuinely look better on a smaller display, AND many are hard to play on a bigger screen. Try playing Robotron on 33" display sometime. Failing that, play a normal Galaga, then go play a 25" Ms. Pac/Galaga combo, and see which one you get a higher score on. The larger the screen, the harder it is to watch the whole thing at once.

[MUKid]

I have recently finished putting together my first cab, and I'm using a 27 inch Apex TV that I really enjoy.  Almost all games look pretty good on it, although trying to actually compute (as in do anything else on the computer) is very difficult when using a TV as a monitor.  I think the bigger screen adds quite a bit to my favorite games, like Gauntlet, Tempest, and Street Fighter 2.

If, as paigeoliver suggested, some games are too big, I believe you can run games using a smaller display size by fiddling with the settings in Mame.  I haven't done this, though, and my scores in Galaga are so awful to begin with that I don't notice if they're better or worse on a big screen.  I think it's all what you get used to.  Personally, I've run games from the early 80s to the most recent stuff, and I think it's all pretty fun when played at 27-inch size.

BTW, the Apex TV I got is super cheap, at only $130.  A lot cheaper than either a big computer monitor or an arcade monitor, and it looks pretty good to me.

[Pat S]

I have a 27" Panasonic TV, and a Radeon 7500 card I believe (SVIDEO to the TV).  With the default drivers, it was hard to use the machine in windows.  After upgrading to the newest drivers, and tweaking the gamma/brightness/contrast settings, I got rid of the monitor that I had running in conjunction with the cabinet because I can actually see things now.

I also bumped the DPI to 120 (using XP), and that helped a lot too.  As for Mame games, they really look AWESOME!  If you can pick up a cheap decent 27" TV, I wouldn't be afraid.  The games look just fine.

[Harakiri]

Well, as a "rotation monitor hater" i recommend ya 2 cabs! One with a vertical and other with a horizontal monitor!  

I know it's a bit expensive to buy both but belive me, you'll not regret the trouble in adjusting screen positions, resolutions etc.  

[StephenH]

A PC Monitor is odviously easiest to configure, just plug it in.  The drawbacks are you will get "too good" of an image, that will not look authentic at all.   You will need stretch and scanlines.


A TV is not exactly arcade perfect, but is better with the lower resolutions of arcade games.  If you go for a TV, S-Video is a must.   A TV image can be slightly blurrier and you may need stretch to get a good picture.    Finding a good TV out video card is key here.


If you change your mind and decide to go with an arcade monitor, you should seriously consider buying Ultimarc's arcadeVGA card, as this card will output the 15Khz signal needed for Arcade Monitors and is built for emulation.  It can also safely load DOS and Windows without worrying about frying your monitor.  

[gprime]

Thanks for all the replies

(forgot all about this thread)

Today I ended up getting a 20" TV because of a huge sale ... I couldn't resist    I originally intended on getting something larger, but now that I have it installed, it's the perfect size. It has excellent picture, a million RCA input/outputs, and of course, S-Video.  

It's funny because the opening in my cabinet looked huge, so when I purchased this I thought, "20 inches? Hah! That will fit no problem!" But honestly, took me nearly two hours to take the cab apart, to accomodate for the size (the sucker was off only by half an inch  )

For $120 CDN it was a steal (what's that in US funds, about $80?)

Maybe I'll try getting a real arcade tube for my next project