Can an Arcade Chassis be connected to a CRT Television?

[Alaska]

First off I live in a small town in Alaska. I was lucky to get my hands on my first cab here last fall. It is a 'Hit The Ice' game that needed a cap kit and I scored it for $100, and the guy threw in Neil Young - Harvest on vinyl. Double score. We have a local recycling center and TVs show up there every week. I finally said screw it and grabbed one to tinker around with. The guts are very similar to my arcade monitor so here's my question.

Are there TVs where you can switch out the neckboard, and chassis... connect the arcade flyback and have an arcade monitor? Essentially all you would be doing is using the picture tube and glass.

or

Is there a way to get an arcade like picture on a TV without swapping the chassis?

With all of the TVs getting thrown out each week, I want to know if this is a viable option.

[P.H.U.]

Yup. The practice is called "tube swap". Guys do that to resolve tubes with unbearable burn-in problems. Google and Youtube it will get you the info you need. Someone gave away an RCA TV and eventually, I am going to see if I can swap it for one of my long gone totally burnt in monitors.

As for the TV as is, if there is S-Video input, you can get an signal in with an older Nvidia card and a program called TVTool (or TV Tool). Graphics manufacturers back in the day really didn't support TV out functions on cards well, so TVTool was created and enabled things such as full usage of the screen. I don't think there is an equivalent for ATI cards however.

[Alaska]

Yup. The practice is called "tube swap". Guys do that to resolve tubes with unbearable burn-in problems. Google and Youtube it will get you the info you need. Someone gave away an RCA TV and eventually, I am going to see if I can swap it for one of my long gone totally burnt in monitors.

As for the TV as is, if there is S-Video input, you can get an signal in with an older Nvidia card and a program called TVTool (or TV Tool). Graphics manufacturers back in the day really didn't support TV out functions on cards well, so TVTool was created and enabled things such as full usage of the screen. I don't think there is an equivalent for ATI cards however.

The one I snagged only has a 3-RCA and coaxial input. I believe it is a 27" Samsung. I thought it was 25" when I picked it up.

Are any make/models that are better than others?

[Tithis]

^ what he said about tube swaps

Additionally if the tube and yoke is not a good match for an arcade monitor chassis you still have options. If the TV is a late model CRT that has component input you can get a converter for that and it should be nearly indistinguishable RGB.

You can also force many TV's to display the RGB signal by hacking it's onscreen display chip to your PCB's RGB signal and then feeding the sync into the composite video in.

http://mikejmoffitt.com/wp/?p=284

[P.H.U.]

I think 27" TV's is the same as a 25" monitor. It's that whole marketing gimmick where they list the size of the display by diagonal measurement to fool consumers in the retail market. So I think you have the right size. But you'd only want to do the tube swap if your monitor has unbearable burn-in. It's lots of effort.

Surprising that you don't have S-Video on that TV. 3 RCA input is component video. So that TV is a late generation 4x3 tube. Not many were made before component video gave way briefly to 16x9 TV's and to HDMI, then the whole industry went to LCD. So that is a really good score. If you do tube swap, you need a multimeter for sure. You're supposed to test the resistance of the neck coil yoke to see if it has the right impedance for your chassis. If it does, it is a good candidate for a tube swap.

As for makes and models being better than another, only a few have ever been qualified as perfect candidates for each kind of chassis. This is a secretive art that not a whole lot of people get into. No where near a science. You'll just have to do your homework and hope for the best. Hard to be selective all the way in Alaska with the kind of donor tubes you might get. This is the only site I know that has  running list documented:

http://junknet.net/donor-tvs

[Alaska]

Hard to be selective all the way in Alaska with the kind of donor tubes you might get. This is the only site I know that has  running list documented:

http://junknet.net/donor-tvs

Right on! I'll need to research what all of these look like so I can be a little more selective when I am at the recycling yard.

Side note... it seems like it would be easier to...

If the TV is a late model CRT that has component input you can get a converter for that and it should be nearly indistinguishable RGB.

You can also force many TV's to display the RGB signal by hacking it's onscreen display chip to your PCB's RGB signal and then feeding the sync into the composite video in.

http://mikejmoffitt.com/wp/?p=284

Do these converters force an RGB signal through one "yellow" RCA (i.e. component to composite)? The next question would be, how do you get this converted from a JAMMA board?

[ed12]

excuse me
I think 27" TV's is the same as a 25" monitor.
do u even read what u state ?
27" is diganol
25" is diganol
2" differnce

ed

[P.H.U.]

excuse me
I think 27" TV's is the same as a 25" monitor.
do u even read what u state ?
27" is diganol
25" is diganol
2" differnce

ed

What is "diganol"? Sounds like a pharmaceutical to me; the irony. I guess you missed where I qualified the statement with "I think". Thanks for the common core lesson. Now let's get back to helping this guy.

[ed12]

next time google is your buddy

how do you measure screen size on older CRT tube TV's ...
forums.redflagdeals.com › Computers & Electronics
Jan 30, 2009 - we have an old tube tv in our house not being used and i want to try to sell it on craigslist but i'm not sure how big it is. It's big and ... You measure diagonally, whether it be CRT, LCD or Plasma. .

ed

[PL1]

The difference is tube size vs. viewable size.

For example, the specs on a 22" NEC FE2111SB-BK monitor are listed as:

    Display type: 22-in. Diamondtron CRT
    Viewable screen size: 20 in.
    Maximum resolution: 1920 x 1440
    Dot pitch: 0.24 SVGA/VGA/UXGA

The tube measures 22 inches diagonal, but the bezel covers part of the tube, leaving 20 inches diagonal viewable.



    Q: Why not call it a 20" monitor?
    A: Because the marketing department says that calling it a 22" monitor sounds like you're getting 10% more monitor!   


Scott

[P.H.U.]

Thank you Scott 

[Alaska]

I feel like we may be getting slightly off topic. We're all here for the same reason, same hobby, and all in good fun.

To answer my previous question of how to hook a JAMMA to RCA it looks like it can be done with this bad boy.

http://www.converters.tv/products/cga_to_pal/68.html

So long as the video resolution is good. This looks like a great way for me to get some of these PCBs up and running on some free TVs!!!

[P.H.U.]

Apologies, Alaska. Let me know how this goes for you. The tube swap is something I have to do down the line. You'll be blazing the trail for me.

[Alaska]

Apologies, Alaska. Let me know how this goes for you. The tube swap is something I have to do down the line. You'll be blazing the trail for me.

No need for apologies. I greatly appreciate the help and dig the forum.

*beer* Cheers