Advice on Resolution Switching on Auto TriSync Monitor

[grendelrt]

This may be a dumb question, but does constantly flipping from 31khz to 15khz cause any harm to a auto trisync monitor (MS-2933)? I see various options on how to set up my machine but kinda depends on the first question. On my original setup I used 31khz modes for everything and just added scanlines, which slightly darkened the picture but didnt require any resolution switching. I see multiple options now, depending on how much stress it puts on the monitor.

Option 1: Run Desktop 31khz, make menus more readable in Big Box, allow games to pick between 15khz and 31khz, but most games are 15khz so tons of switching everytime i start and leave a game.
Option 2: Run Desktop in 640x480i, lots of flicker, make menus more readable in Big Box, allow game to pick between 15khz and 31khz, less switching since 15khz doesn't require a switch in interlaced mode.
Option 3: Run Desktop in 15khz, no flicker, menus are barely readable in Big Box, allow game to pick between 15khz and 31khz, less switching since 15khz doesn't require a switch.

I do run all my vertical games in 31khz regardless via ini in mame, I like using scanlines in this mode.

Option 2 seems pretty good so far, not sure if there are any drawbacks outside the flicker in the menus.

[Calamity]

Yes, I would pick option 2 in your case.

Also, there's option 4:

- Run everything at 31 kHz, with scanlines for low-res games. 31 kHz + scanlines looks the same as 15 kHz on a trisync monitor.

[grendelrt]

Yes, I would pick option 2 in your case.

Also, there's option 4:

- Run everything at 31 kHz, with scanlines for low-res games. 31 kHz + scanlines looks the same as 15 kHz on a trisync monitor.

Option 4 was what I did for the first 9 years haha. So far I am liking option 2, seems to work well so far. I can always bounce back to option 4 if I find a problem I was curious if anyone knew if switching on an arcade monitor a lot was detrimental or not over a long course of time.

[GroggyExpulsion]

And what is the opinion on the mode switching? Does it put too much stress on the chassis?

I'm running groovyarcade with a tri-sync chassis using option 1.. but of course 99% of the games I play are low res

[flybynight]

I've a few WG D9200 monitors in groovymame cabs that are tri sync (actually quad sync) and have the desktop at 38k 800x600 and switch between 15k 24k 31k games then back to 38k for the desktop all the time and no issues yet after several years (touch wood!!).


But yes as Calamity says, on a naomi cab with a sanwa 29e31s 31k only monitor, 15k games look *fantastic* with mame scanlines enabled and you cant tell the difference. I have a small video of it somewhere if you are interested.

You can even send mid res 24k games to the 31k monitor and adjust the vertical size on the monitor remote to fill the screen and they look great too.
I just wish there was a way to tell mame to only apply scan-lines for 15k games as you have to manually go into the menu to toggle scanlines off when you play 24k or 31k games. (maybe there is a way to automate that with lua scripts??)

[grendelrt]

I've a few WG D9200 monitors in groovymame cabs that are tri sync (actually quad sync) and have the desktop at 38k 800x600 and switch between 15k 24k 31k games then back to 38k for the desktop all the time and no issues yet after several years (touch wood!!).


But yes as Calamity says, on a naomi cab with a sanwa 29e31s 31k only monitor, 15k games look *fantastic* with mame scanlines enabled and you cant tell the difference. I have a small video of it somewhere if you are interested.

You can even send mid res 24k games to the 31k monitor and adjust the vertical size on the monitor remote to fill the screen and they look great too.
I just wish there was a way to tell mame to only apply scan-lines for 15k games as you have to manually go into the menu to toggle scanlines off when you play 24k or 31k games. (maybe there is a way to automate that with lua scripts??)

Yeah I used to do the 31khz all the time with scanlines. I am sticking with the 15khz interlaced right now, seems to work pretty well, it switches to 31khz when needed which is much rarer. I have done the opposite of your issue where I force some games to 31khz with scanlines by just putting the switchres resolution into the ini file of the games. Which is easier because there are a lot less 31khz games I play than 15khz. For my vertical shmups on a horizontal monitor I don't like running 15khz with scanlines because the natural scans are horizontal. So in my vertical.ini i force 31khz with software scanlines to get vertical scanlines.

[CRTFTW]

I imagine 31kHz with scanlines would look dimmer than proper 15kHz.

If you think about it, the scanlines are on the screen for half the amount of time, meaning the phosphors aren't being lit as intensely

[Endprodukt]

Brilliant. How do you force 31khz?

I've a few WG D9200 monitors in groovymame cabs that are tri sync (actually quad sync) and have the desktop at 38k 800x600 and switch between 15k 24k 31k games then back to 38k for the desktop all the time and no issues yet after several years (touch wood!!).


But yes as Calamity says, on a naomi cab with a sanwa 29e31s 31k only monitor, 15k games look *fantastic* with mame scanlines enabled and you cant tell the difference. I have a small video of it somewhere if you are interested.

You can even send mid res 24k games to the 31k monitor and adjust the vertical size on the monitor remote to fill the screen and they look great too.
I just wish there was a way to tell mame to only apply scan-lines for 15k games as you have to manually go into the menu to toggle scanlines off when you play 24k or 31k games. (maybe there is a way to automate that with lua scripts??)

Yeah I used to do the 31khz all the time with scanlines. I am sticking with the 15khz interlaced right now, seems to work pretty well, it switches to 31khz when needed which is much rarer. I have done the opposite of your issue where I force some games to 31khz with scanlines by just putting the switchres resolution into the ini file of the games. Which is easier because there are a lot less 31khz games I play than 15khz. For my vertical shmups on a horizontal monitor I don't like running 15khz with scanlines because the natural scans are horizontal. So in my vertical.ini i force 31khz with software scanlines to get vertical scanlines.

[flybynight]

in vmmaker, choose a template for a 31k monitor.