Vision Pro VGA/SVGA owners?

[Dire Radiant]

It's monitor time for the MAME cab and after doing some soul searching regarding the various monitor/TV options I decided that I don't want to just shove a TV in there. A 19" should just drop in since all the mounting hardware is there already (Just need 4 nuts I think!)

Since I know next to nothing about arcade monitors and the cab is being used for other things too I think I'm better off going with a "plug and play" monitor that displays at least 800x600 resolution. The Vision Pro 19" VGA/SVGA from Happs seems to fit the bill nicely and the price is very reasonable but I have a couple of questions before I order:

1. Any "gotchas" with this monitor? Is there anything I should be aware of before I decide to buy one? Reliability and quality issues?

2. As I understand it, I can use pretty much any video card with this, it simply plugs in as its basically a PC monitor without a case, correct?

Thanks in advance for the help. I dunno what I'd do without this board!

[AlanS17]

If this is the monitor I'm thinking of, it'll display fine at basic resolutions, but it may have trouble with certain refresh rates. Typically, the lower the better. I think 60Hz will work just fine. Just be sure to manaully set and lock a known working refresh rate. Other than that, go for it.

Your refresh rate ought not to affect to playability of the game so one is just as good as the next. Also, don't let MAME choose your resolution for you. Manually specify a set resolution. If MAME picks its own resolution, it might find one out of range or changing the resolution might change the refresh along with it.

Keep in mind that these things are PC compatible, but they're not as full featured as a typical computer monitor. Just find something that works and stick with it.

You might need a dual video card setup to get it working in the beginning and then just pull the second card when you're done. Either that or preconfigure you Windows (assuming you're using Windows) to VGA resolution @ 60 Hz before you hook up the monitor. That way you know it'll work. Then you can play around from there.

... and if this isn't the monitor I'm thinking of then you can disregard alot of the stuff I just said. 

[Dire Radiant]

Thanks Alan. I'm aware of the max refresh rate issues for windows but I didn't think about MAME changing refresh rates. I appreciate the heads-up. The thing is, I dont know whether this monitor has the monitor ID feature (The PDF manual didn't help) It's not necessary in this application of course but it would be nice to know that if I mess it up I'm going to see "Signal out of range" instead of blue smoke! I know it isn't exactly the same as an off the shelf PC monitor, for example the dot pitch is huge but I'm assuming that will just give it a more "arcade-monitor-ish" look so it's all good.

[AlanS17]

Oh you'll know when you go out of range. 

You can manually specify what type of monitor you want to use. It pretty much involved reinstalling the monitor driver, but Windows has built-in drivers for basic monitors like "Standard VGA 640x480". You wouldn't have to go scouring the internet looking for one.

You could always give that a shot and tell us how it works. Do you know how to manually set a driver?

[Dire Radiant]

Yep. Not a problem. I just looked at the windows generic drivers and it looks like they won't cause any refresh rate hassles.

[slayj]

Saint put the 27 inch Vision Pro in the Project Arcade....you might check with him.