New cab: IRENE

[paulcola]

I'm almost done with IRENE (just announced as a new project on the What's New section too). It's fully playable and the sound and video are now up to my standards. Just a few more touches here and there and she'll be ready for an unveiling ceremony. Click on my weblink for more pics. Hope you enjoy!

[Matt, GoC]

Like the pacman cutouts.  That's a different approach to a cabinet.  Looks like an entertainment center that wanted to be something greater .  Nice.

[paulcola]

Thanks Matt. One of my goals was to make it not-so-obvious that it was an arcade system until you really opened things up. Pull out the control panel, swing the surround sounds out, and you've got a whole 'nother animal.

[SNAAKE]

Is that an HDTV ?
Looks greatz !

[paulcola]

Thanks a lot! Yes, it's an HDTV. I'm using a transcoder to convert the VGA signal to a component signal for progressive scan output. Games look REAL nice, no fuzzy s-video for me. Vector games are now super crisp and colors are brilliant and not washed out. I wrote about the transcoder on my website if you want more info (and weblinks).

www.integratedrecreation.com/about.htm

Woah! I just checked out your cab, SNAAKE, I am honored to be complimented by you. Thanks again!

[Matt, GoC]

Transcoder, eh?  I'd like to try one of those.  I'll look at it after work tonight.  As far as my HDTV goes, my ATI card's S-video looks sweet on the HDTV, since it removes the interlacing effect.  But I'm planning on building a all-in-one media PC to hook up to it, and if I can get an HD signal to it, then I'll be one happy camper!

[paulcola]

I really thought the S-video out would be good enough but I was very unhappy with the results (you really lose a lot of sharpness going from a monitor to a TV). Pinball emulation was even worse. I got the transcoder and it was like night and day! Pacman's dots weren't "ghosting", Tempest's vector lines were brilliant and crisp, robotrons colors were deep red and yellow and the dark background in most classic games was BLACK. Bezels and artwork even look photo quality. Best $109 I ever spent.

[AmericanDemon]

BTW, thats pretty damned impressive and massive.

[paulcola]

Thanks AD! Seats two players pretty comfortably believe it or not (ha ha).

Another pic, this time from a different perspective.

[Raven..]

Damn!  That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!  I love the slide out control panel.

[SNAAKE]

Damn!  That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!  I love the slide out control panel.

hell I think I wanna bulid one like that for burnout 3..too cool for school !

[paigeoliver]

Only problem is that TV set is the wrong aspect ratio for every game in existance,  

My friend has a set like that, great for DVDs, terrible for everything else.

[paulcola]

Thanks EyeDoc! The sliders are rated at about 100 lbs each. I've attached a pic of the control panel when not in use.

As for the aspect ratio (16:9), paigeoliver, since MAME and many other emulators have ratio control, it's not an issue (I've got MAME set up to play in 16:9 so the aspect ratio for all my games is accurate). There are quite a few games that take advantage of 16:9 too (Defender for example). Plus, a lot of PS2 and XBox games now have a setting for 16:9 so it's cool to use it when it's available in a game as an option. Otherwise, yes, I have played some games that do appear slightly stretched (not in MAME though) but the difference is negligible. I will say this however, having the extra room on the sides of the screen helps when you want to display bezels in MAME games without losing the size of the play area. Top and bottom bezels, well that's a different story.

[JamIt]

I dig it!  
One question however, are those pedals fixed?  Probably not since it would make driving games a little awkward (unless your in a cool cruisin' mode)

Looks great!
--JamIt

[paulcola]

Thanks JamIt! The pedals are definitely moveable. I built a base on them so they would "sit" on the step along the front, but only when you're not using them. Otherwise, you can put them on the floor where most comfortable. The pedal base also makes for a better angle for the pedals since I don't like the angle at which they're manufactured.

The picture shows the pedals in another "resting" position. Note: I didn't necessarily want to add the 2x4 along the bottom (that the pedals are sitting on) but HAD to because of weight distribution.

[paulcola]

A peek under the hood. Took 2 full 8 hour days to wire. Ipac, Optipac and ground are wired to the back of the patch panel. Every controller and button can be unplugged for easy troubleshooting or replacement. No serial grounding from button to button necessary, each switch has their own ground. Keeps it real clean and easy to work on.