Some Q's from the newb

[crashdmj]

Hey everybody long time viewer first time poster, i am building a cabinet in the not too distant future and I had a couple questions that I hoped you all could answer.

I know this is a pretty common question but i thought I would give you guys some info (not that you care a whole lot). I need ideas about the monitor. I will be using win98 OS, probably windows instead of dos (is there any advantage to dos over windows as long as i have a mod. fast comp. pentium 2.0+ etc), i will be using for duh mame and a lot of other nes,snes, gen emulators so thats why i picked windows. So here comes the question I see on this board everyday: WHat type of monitor should I buy, Im lookin to spend upperwards of $400+, but i want to use windows. Is a dual res monitor what i am looking for???
Thank you for your time and answers.

Oh and lastly what does the new ultimarc card do?

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, you are the 1500 member!!!!  Well, since the new board came about:)

Sorry, I just needed to announce that.  Don't have an answer for you.

[generousben]

buy a second hand $20   25" 15khz arcade monitor.

and spend the rest on beer.
the picture will be fantastic for mame,zinc,pj64,.
the only advantage of dos was it used advance mame ,
making the display closer to the arcade.

[eightbit]

I know this is a pretty common question but i thought I would give you guys some info (not that you care a whole lot). I need ideas about the monitor. I will be using win98 OS, probably windows instead of dos (is there any advantage to dos over windows as long as i have a mod. fast comp. pentium 2.0+ etc), i will be using for duh mame and a lot of other nes,snes, gen emulators so thats why i picked windows. So here comes the question I see on this board everyday: WHat type of monitor should I buy, Im lookin to spend upperwards of $400+, but i want to use windows. Is a dual res monitor what i am looking for???
Thank you for your time and answers.

Oh and lastly what does the new ultimarc card do?

On a 2ghz with a bunch of ram it will run much better in Windows than Dos. Dos can't take advantage of very much memory. I would recomend WinXP over 98 though. The only 2 reasons I would recomend 98 would be for a slower computer or if you wanted dual mice using analog+.

The monitor is up to you and depends on what you have access to, what you want the picture to look like and what your planning to do with it.

You can get a cheap arcade monitor as GB suggested and run it with Andy's new video card. What Andys video card does is output 15khz signal to the monitor right from boot-up and into windows. Running a arcade monitor under windows before now was a lot more difficult. One of the problems with arcade monitors is that most are old and often need repairs to get them working well.

Another option is a PC monitor which is by far the easiest to hookup. It takes a little more to mount it in your cab but will work with any video card. They can range from free, if you have an extra one laying around, up to a whole lot of money if you want to go bigger than 21". If you want to also play high end PC games in your cab this is probably what you'll want because you'll want the best video card you can find and you'll want to play at maximim resolution.

The third option is a TV. TV is almost as easy as a regular PC monitor but you do need a video card capable of doing it. You almost can't go wrong with an ATI card here and the older models of those can be found very cheaply. TV's can be found in larger sizes relatively cheap compared to PC monitors and the picture is acceptable for emulation play. You will probably be dissapointed with a TV if you want to play those high end PC games. On the other hand it makes a perfect screen for playing DVD's or watching TV and gives you the added flexibility of easily hooking up a console game like an xbox to it.

With a $400 budget you can get a 25" hybrid monitor. What it is, is a arcade monitor with a VGA connection on it. Its just as easy to hook up to a PC as a regular monitor. Its also as easy to mount into your cab as a arcade monitor. The quality here will be great but you'll be limited in max resolution compared to a 21" PC monitor for that price. I don't have any idea what the comparison between Andys card and a hybrid monitor would be. I have never used either. Up untill Andys card was released I would say that the Hybrid monitor was the preferred method if you wanted Windows on an authentic arcade monitor.

[generousben]

the cheapest and best way to is to buy a cab with a monitor in it thow in a jpac +a radeon card then ur all set up in 30 mins.

[crashdmj]

So Andy' card allows someone to use both an arcade monitor and window's? It let's you play all arcade games (all are 15khz) and windows (like u 24-35khz i forget??) I just worry about not being able to play my fav. snes games. If this is the case then a 25-27 inch arcade monitor would be awesome correct? So in theory, doesn't this new card make hybrid monitors obsolete? Thanks for the replys.

[generousben]

i run snes9x on a 15khz  ,
just with standard radeon card.
it looks great.


snes,zinc,pj64 will look just as good with standard card as ultimarcs, mame 32 will be beter .as no H/S is used
ive been  running windows on 15k over a year now so i never really saw the point of a hybrid if u only wanted to use emus

[eightbit]

So in theory, doesn't this new card make hybrid monitors obsolete? Thanks for the replys.

No there is still a place for hybrid monitors. If you want to use a different video card like an integrated one then you can't use Andy's card. My understanding is also that the hybrids are capable of higher resolutions making them more usefull for Windows and PC games.

i run snes9x on a 15khz  ,
just with standard radeon card.
it looks great.


snes,zinc,pj64 will look just as good with standard card as ultimarcs, mame 32 will be beter .as no H/S is used
ive been  running windows on 15k over a year now so i never really saw the point of a hybrid if u only wanted to use emus

Ben I am not argueing with anything your saying or trying to put you down I just have a few questions. Please educate us.

You don't get a picture untill windows is loaded do you? I've heard that turning your monitor on before the Windows driver is loaded can hurt the monitor, is that true? Whats the max resolution that you can support? You made the statement that its only good for emu's, what can't it do?

You should try being a little more openminded. There are many solutions to the problems we face in arcade cabinets. Just because it works for you doesn't mean its the only way to do it. It may be a great way to do it but a lot of people make compromises with their cabinets and use them for multiple purposes like watching tv or surfing the internet. Not everyone has room or money to dedicate a cabinet to arcade use only.

[crashdmj]

I guess to put it a different way, what would you guys get if you were using the cabinet for: Mame, snes, nes etc. and where gonna be using windows to a) help setup the interface and b) addon any software roms etc in the future?

So i couldn't really go wrong (now that the ultimarc card is out) by going with an arcade monitor becuase I get the best of both worlds, is that correct? I mean I hate to limit my cabinet usage to mame (even though mame is pretty fricken sweet) or hate to half to switch monitors for playing other emus. I am really starting to get excited about building my cabinet.

[generousben]

ive few cabs.(5) in my flat.
i dont curently have a dedicated either.
as i dont really play mame that much.

i have a desktop pc with svga monitor ,then in the corner i have a cab with a 5m vga and ps2 leads running to it.
witch i belive is a far beter option than trying to make a cab using a svga or tv if you are short of cash.

as i already had a pc.
the set up i use cost me about $150 ($100 for cab including 4 year old 25" monitor + $50? jpac)
it took about 30 mins to get running (+ reconfiguring all the emus)
this is about the cheapest and easiest way to get a mame cab .
thats why i can never understand people not using an arcade monitor they are so cheap.
i have been tempted to use a hybrid monitor ,but not in an arcade cab a 38" 15,25,31 auto switch monitor would be great in ur living room.


to use the cab i just switch the pc to run at 736x288.

u cant hurt the 15khz as i use a jpac .

when i had a dedicated cab and u load windows u still get a pic but its displayed side by side while the boot screens load .
736x 288 is the max res which is in between 800x600 and 640x480.

at the time(a year ago) this was the easy way to display windows.

the downside is H/S in mame 32. although the games still look pretty good as they have a really low vertical res.
beter than scanconverter

the ultimarc card will run mame 32 beter.
as the horizontal games will run at there proper res instead of being forced to run at 736x288.
i think vertical games will be similar.

the desktop should be about the same although it can display 640x480 interlaced im sure the desktop will look far beter at 736x288 uninterlaced i think the ultimarc card comes with the res 640x288 uniterlaced (looks really blocky)and this looks ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- compared with 736x288.

u can only use games and programes that u can select 736x288 in the video mode menu.
ie.
mame,zinc,snes9x,pj64,daphne,psx emus etc.
you cant run pc games .

[crashdmj]

So the 25'' arcade monitor with Andy's new card displays mame games/neo geo etc. without hardware stretch. And it can display windows but at a lower resolutions? So i wouldnt be able to play good ole snes?  
Oh and i still dont get the whole hz thing (and VGA, EGA etc), arcade is 15, tv is 15 too? and windows is like 32? I get so confused I should just by one of each (TV, comp., arcade monitor) jk.

[tom61]

Oh and i still dont get the whole hz thing (and VGA, EGA etc), arcade is 15, tv is 15 too? and windows is like 32?

15kHz Horizontal refresh rate is called CGA or standard res. TVs also use 15kHz horizontal refresh rate.

24kHz is called EGA or medium res.

31kHz is called VGA. VGA and Super VGA are what regular PC monitors are. (super VGA just supports more resolutions and higher refresh rates than regular VGA)

Windows runs at what ever the card you're using supports. With a standard VGA card, this means 31kHz horizontal refresh rate. With Andy's card, it runs at 15kHz vertical, so it's compatable with an arcade monitor.

You can run any emulator you feel like with Andy's card and it will still display properly on an arcade monitor. Most emulators that go full screen set the display to the resolution the console uses with a TV, since those those same resolutions are used for arcade monitors, it should look great.

FYI, it's kHz not Hz. 1 kHz is equal to 1000 Hz.

[crashdmj]

Hey Tom61 what type of monitor do you have and do you like it? Thanks for the info. Oh and what does everyone think of the Wells-Gardner's D9200? There isn't another model with a high resolution like 800x600 is there?

[crashdmj]

bump