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Author Topic: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)  (Read 3770 times)

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hypergaming

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Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« on: January 31, 2016, 10:31:45 pm »
Hi Everyone,

can someone tell me if there is anyway to connect an arcade monitor to a desktop PC?

What I'm trying to do is use the Monitor from a Tekken Cabinet I picked up, and connect it to my MAME Set up ( I have MAME set up on my Desktop PC )

Is there any way to do this? or should I just get rid of the monitor and use a new LCD monitor?

I would love to use the Old monitor, to keep the style of the cabinet.  I attached 2 images of the monitor

any help will be appreciated!!

Thanks everyone :)

P.H.U.

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2016, 02:08:02 am »
Since you're asking this question, best answer for you is to visit Ultimarc.com and look into picking up a ArcadeVGA card.
When you find great deals on Craigslist for CRT based cabs, exuberance :laugh2: can be a bad thing!


Current Status of Cabs:  2-of-11 (and counting) working as desired  :applaud: :applaud:/:banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

jtslade

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2016, 09:29:05 am »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


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Ms. Pacman Original Cocktail with Non destructive mod to Groovy Arcade Linux with All 4way Vertical Cocktail capable 2 button or less games.


Neo Geo MVS Mame Cab Running Hyperspin, 25" Nanao Arcade Monitor, Mini-pac, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (ATOM-15), IL 8 Way Euro-Sticks from Paradise Arcade, Win XP 64bit, and tons of other junk.


hypergaming

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2016, 11:10:54 am »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Married, 2 kids, full time  job, love to learn new stuff but my time is very limited, I wish I could wait but I been wanting to put a cabinet togheter for a while now an been running into this issues that require some tech knowledge.:)

Alaska

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2016, 12:06:29 pm »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Married, 2 kids, full time  job, love to learn new stuff but my time is very limited, I wish I could wait but I been wanting to put a cabinet togheter for a while now an been running into this issues that require some tech knowledge.:)

I know exactly where you are coming from. I picked up an old Hit the Ice cab for $100 to convert into my first MAME when my wife was in her third trimester with our first. My son is now 7 weeks old and the thing is still not running ::)

What operating system are you running on your PC? In my experience using the Arcade VGA is a headache and a handful unless you are running an old operating system like XP that does not have the driectdraw issues that Windows 7 has.

Do you have MAME setup in a frontend like HyperSpin, RetroArch or GroovyMAME yet?


hypergaming

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2016, 12:52:26 pm »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Married, 2 kids, full time  job, love to learn new stuff but my time is very limited, I wish I could wait but I been wanting to put a cabinet togheter for a while now an been running into this issues that require some tech knowledge.:)

I know exactly where you are coming from. I picked up an old Hit the Ice cab for $100 to convert into my first MAME when my wife was in her third trimester with our first. My son is now 7 weeks old and the thing is still not running ::)

What operating system are you running on your PC? In my experience using the Arcade VGA is a headache and a handful unless you are running an old operating system like XP that does not have the driectdraw issues that Windows 7 has.

Do you have MAME setup in a frontend like HyperSpin, RetroArch or GroovyMAME yet?


oh man, 7 weeks old, congrats man! The first 2 months is crazy, I know,   I have 6 year old twin girls, it doesn't get any easier.
I have a great Hyperspin Set up running on windows 7  on a HP Pavillion quadcore
It sounds complicated, I think LCD monitor sounds less time consuming :)

Alaska

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2016, 01:11:40 pm »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 
Married, 2 kids, full time  job, love to learn new stuff but my time is very limited, I wish I could wait but I been wanting to put a cabinet togheter for a while now an been running into this issues that require some tech knowledge.:)

I know exactly where you are coming from. I picked up an old Hit the Ice cab for $100 to convert into my first MAME when my wife was in her third trimester with our first. My son is now 7 weeks old and the thing is still not running ::)

What operating system are you running on your PC? In my experience using the Arcade VGA is a headache and a handful unless you are running an old operating system like XP that does not have the driectdraw issues that Windows 7 has.

Do you have MAME setup in a frontend like HyperSpin, RetroArch or GroovyMAME yet?


oh man, 7 weeks old, congrats man! The first 2 months is crazy, I know,   I have 6 year old twin girls, it doesn't get any easier.
I have a great Hyperspin Set up running on windows 7  on a HP Pavillion quadcore
It sounds complicated, I think LCD monitor sounds less time consuming :)

TWINS!!! Man that's awesome but I couldn't imagine all these dirty diapers and crying decibels x2. Congrats on that!

I am running a windows 7 machine with Hyperspin and Rocketlauncher. A word for the wise... don't get an Arcade VGA card. It will be a headache and a half. The cards seem to work with Windows XP, but there are a lot of glitches with Windows 7 ddraw, interlaced video, etc. Do some research on Soft 15khz http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Soft-15khz. That might be your ticket to using your current setup with a cheap graphics card.

P.H.U.

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2016, 08:09:10 pm »
Quote
oh man, 7 weeks old, congrats man! The first 2 months is crazy, I know,   I have 6 year old twin girls, it doesn't get any easier.
I have a great Hyperspin Set up running on windows 7  on a HP Pavillion quadcore
It sounds complicated, I think LCD monitor sounds less time consuming :)

Nooooo. Whatever you do, don't toss that beautiful CRT!!! In any case, this whole site is dedicated to interfacing X to an arcade cabinet. You have 3 options to interface Windows to an arcade CRT machine:

  • ArcadeVGA, which I described above.
  • Soft15khz, doesn't work with all cards, but can prove to be a quick solution.
  • Calamity's CRT Emu Drivers, Radeon HD4000 card, GroovyMAME
  • A VGA>CGA convertor, but this is the worst possible way to do this

All of these solutions, especially if you are using HyperSpin, seem to work better in WinXP not Win7. In all honesty, the best solution is the 3rd one. Simply pick up an HD4350 card off eBay for ~$20 (a higher HD4000 series card is overkill). Calamity's drivers now allow you to use HD5000 series cards, but only under Win7. Do some reading in your free time. Ultimately, if done right, the ends will justify the means and you will have exactly what you want even if it takes a while longer to get there.
When you find great deals on Craigslist for CRT based cabs, exuberance :laugh2: can be a bad thing!


Current Status of Cabs:  2-of-11 (and counting) working as desired  :applaud: :applaud:/:banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

hypergaming

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2016, 11:45:34 pm »
What is your free time landscape like? Kids, married? This will weigh heavily on this new project.. GL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 
Married, 2 kids, full time  job, love to learn new stuff but my time is very limited, I wish I could wait but I been wanting to put a cabinet togheter for a while now an been running into this issues that require some tech knowledge.:)

I know exactly where you are coming from. I picked up an old Hit the Ice cab for $100 to convert into my first MAME when my wife was in her third trimester with our first. My son is now 7 weeks old and the thing is still not running ::)

What operating system are you running on your PC? In my experience using the Arcade VGA is a headache and a handful unless you are running an old operating system like XP that does not have the driectdraw issues that Windows 7 has.

Do you have MAME setup in a frontend like HyperSpin, RetroArch or GroovyMAME yet?


oh man, 7 weeks old, congrats man! The first 2 months is crazy, I know,   I have 6 year old twin girls, it doesn't get any easier.
I have a great Hyperspin Set up running on windows 7  on a HP Pavillion quadcore
It sounds complicated, I think LCD monitor sounds less time consuming :)

TWINS!!! Man that's awesome but I couldn't imagine all these dirty diapers and crying decibels x2. Congrats on that!

I am running a windows 7 machine with Hyperspin and Rocketlauncher. A word for the wise... don't get an Arcade VGA card. It will be a headache and a half. The cards seem to work with Windows XP, but there are a lot of glitches with Windows 7 ddraw, interlaced video, etc. Do some research on Soft 15khz http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Soft-15khz. That might be your ticket to using your current setup with a cheap graphics card.

I guess I'll do a little reading and see what my brain allows, am not too techie, I might just choose the  lazy way and go with an LCD Monitor, will still get the same amount of fun and won't have my kids waiting too long to play Puzzle Bubble hahaha.

thanks for the advice and good luck! see you around

hypergaming

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2016, 11:47:41 pm »
Quote
oh man, 7 weeks old, congrats man! The first 2 months is crazy, I know,   I have 6 year old twin girls, it doesn't get any easier.
I have a great Hyperspin Set up running on windows 7  on a HP Pavillion quadcore
It sounds complicated, I think LCD monitor sounds less time consuming :)

Nooooo. Whatever you do, don't toss that beautiful CRT!!! In any case, this whole site is dedicated to interfacing X to an arcade cabinet. You have 3 options to interface Windows to an arcade CRT machine:

  • ArcadeVGA, which I described above.
  • Soft15khz, doesn't work with all cards, but can prove to be a quick solution.
  • Calamity's CRT Emu Drivers, Radeon HD4000 card, GroovyMAME
  • A VGA>CGA convertor, but this is the worst possible way to do this

All of these solutions, especially if you are using HyperSpin, seem to work better in WinXP not Win7. In all honesty, the best solution is the 3rd one. Simply pick up an HD4350 card off eBay for ~$20 (a higher HD4000 series card is overkill). Calamity's drivers now allow you to use HD5000 series cards, but only under Win7. Do some reading in your free time. Ultimately, if done right, the ends will justify the means and you will have exactly what you want even if it takes a while longer to get there.


oh man you're a true CGA monitor fan, it seems really complicated to me, I just wanna play some games man!! I got my kids waiting, I'll be happy to give you the monitor if you want it, I'm in Jersey. Thank for the advice though, I appreciate you taking the time.

P.H.U.

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2016, 03:10:22 am »
Alright. Some last bit of advice...before the industry stopped producing 4x3 LCD's, the best one in terms of lag was the Samsung 204B. On Craigslist or eBay it can be had for ~$40. And Google this:  cools HLSL. HLSL will get you scan line emulation. Looks pretty good.

Just don't trash the CRT. Find a home for it. Or save it till when you have some time.
When you find great deals on Craigslist for CRT based cabs, exuberance :laugh2: can be a bad thing!


Current Status of Cabs:  2-of-11 (and counting) working as desired  :applaud: :applaud:/:banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

jtslade

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2016, 11:55:17 am »
+1 for CRT Emu and Atom15 and GroovyMame
With a Radeon 4k level card..


I had the arcade vga and it drove me crazy that the games hardly ever ran I. Their native resolution..

The time killer really is the whole emu and front end setup..
I'd go insane looking At a lcd the whole time with the classics


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ms. Pacman Original Cocktail with Non destructive mod to Groovy Arcade Linux with All 4way Vertical Cocktail capable 2 button or less games.


Neo Geo MVS Mame Cab Running Hyperspin, 25" Nanao Arcade Monitor, Mini-pac, ATI Radeon HD 4850 (ATOM-15), IL 8 Way Euro-Sticks from Paradise Arcade, Win XP 64bit, and tons of other junk.


Alaska

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Re: Old Arcade Monitor to Computer via VGA ? Help :)
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2016, 12:10:16 pm »
+1 for CRT Emu and Atom15 and GroovyMame
With a Radeon 4k level card..


I had the arcade vga and it drove me crazy that the games hardly ever ran I. Their native resolution..

The time killer really is the whole emu and front end setup..
I'd go insane looking At a lcd the whole time with the classics


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I fully agree 100%. The most time consuming part is setting up the front end, which it looks like hypergaming has already done with HyperSpin. With Windows 7 DO NOT get the Arcade VGA. I'm in the process of starting over with my build and believe me you want to avoid that at all costs.

Also... don't trash that monitor. As soon as you get a picture to come up on the monitor from your PC a light bulb will go off and you'll know then and there that there's no other way to set these things up than with an old CRT Arcade monitor.