Please help me before I buy a Monitor

[brained]

Hi!!

I

[menace]

1.   I

[brained]

Ohh.. so is it possible to use 640x480. Can I use windows??

oops... I didn't notice the Faq, let me read it to get more info!

[brained]

hmmm.. if my other emu's aren't compatible should I get a TV then???

Which emu's are compatible with arcade monitors that are CGA?

[StephenH]

If you want to use the standard res (CGA) arcade monitor, I highly recommend buying the ArcadeVGA.   Yes, it is compatible with Windows, and you can run at 640x288 (non-interlaced) or 640x480 (interlaced) and 800x600 (interlaced).  The interlacing makes small text hard to read, but for games it will not be as much as of a problem.

Additionally, I have heard that NES, SNES, Genesis, and many other console emus run fine at CGA res.  In fact, a standard (non-HDTV) TV is CGA-Res, and it runs interlaced!

[brained]

The problem with ArcadeVGA, is that is too costly, with the price of that device I can buy a TV and hook it up without hassle.

I'm planning on the arcade monitor for the bundled cost he might offer me for the cab + the monitor. I've been doing some reading, and it seems kinda hard to use arcade monitors on pc's, it making me wonder if I should go with this solution :

[GMZombie]

ok i would like to say this...i have hooked up 2 pcs now to cga monitors and it is not hard at all. you will have to get a hacked vga cable which you can get from ultimarc.com for round 6 dollars plus shipping. also i would suggest the ipac from the same place as it is the best keyboard encoder that i have played with and its not that expensive either. but if you are like me....tight on money you can go to your local computer store and buy a keyboard and take the controller out of the keyboard and solder some wires to it and make yourself a neat little matrixed setup. now keep in mind that when you do this there is only so much you can do and i would only reccomend a 2 player setup if you go with the keyboard hack.Now for the computer you dont need a arcadevga but it sure does help alot. and i mean alot. but you have to use a ati based chipset if you dont use the AVGA. i know there are a few cards that will work but i have made both my machines out of atis and havent had a problem. Now as far as the pc goes you will need a file called arcmon.sys this will trick your vga card to output cga. You will want to you arcadeOs 2.50 as this is a good Front end for mame and will support other emus as well. i have setup a system that had a nes snes and sega emu on it along with mame and arcadeos will swap to the emu you want to use.  sound card you should use a sound blaster pci 128 as these are the easiest to setup in dos. if in fact your using a dos promt like me for space reasons. Also use advancemame as you can setup your arcade monitor perfectly with the advv.exe program bundled with advmame. this prog will let you adjust your resolutions and add new resolutions. note that the new resolutions that your monitor can handle. i have built 2 of these and i have built 1 dual pcb/mame machine and i got to say this is a fun hobby. hopefully this clears up any question you might have.

[chrisinauz]

I shun you forever for concidering a TV in your cabinet, TV's are the devil they look washed out and horrible resolution! Buy a cheap 19" Monitor with an ArcadeVGA card I have an old Sanyo 20EZ 19" Arcade Monitor hooked up through a hacked VGA cable well it was now it uses a VideoAMP from Ultimarc (same thing) and with ArcadeOS it works perfect! ONLY thing is you can't run any windows screens only DOS, so ArcadeOS is one of the few progs out there that will work... But if you have the $$ buy a ArcadeVGA card!! I am very soon so I can run windows to, my MAME for some reason will NOT get the correct vertical sync as ALL my MAME games suffer from rolling and when I adjust the synch on the back to stop it some will work some won't.... hopefully arcadeVGA will fix this prob...

[cstarengineering]

Hi, I've 2 kind of pcb board
1) RGB / CGA to VGA Monitor Converter
 CGA game board signal can display on PC Monitor or TFT monitor
Designed for low picture noise and detects a wide range in game
Low-resolution enhance to high-resolution
Enhances sharpness and tiny pixels
Support CGA and VGA input select bypass SW
Support multi-game board select by 16ch DIP SW
RGB gain by 3 VR

2) Convert RGB signal into PAL or NTSC
with this pure hardware design. No software needed and features adjustable RGB colours.

I Think, the 2nd item is most suitable for you, because TV at more than 19" is cheaper than VGA monitor

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