Tips for best performance using a TV as a monitor

[Odin]

I'm getting my MAME project going and I'm testing everything out as I work on the cabinet.  I bought a Sony 27" flat screen CRT TV for the monitor and I'm looking for tips to set up this TV for best game perfromance.  The clarity is terrible with Windows but not too bad with games, although the vector games don't look very good. 

Any special tricks for setting up the video card or monitor settings?

[markb]

There's not really that much you can do to improve the picture, however some of the following might help.

Set the desktop to 640 x 480 (with multires if in XP)
Ensure your graphics card is set to the correct region (ie pal, ntsc or by country)
Set font sizes fairly large.
Use contrasting colours on the desktop.
I use the overscan optin on the graphics card to fill the screen with no black edges.

As you mentioned text is poor but games are okay which is why you should try and hide the windows environment as much as possible.

[Odin]

I can't seem to choke my screen res down below 800x600.  It won't stick at 640x480, it keeps reverting back to 800x600.

[ArtMAME]

What video input are you using to connect to the TV? S-Video, Composite, or RGB?

If you are not already using it, try the RGB component video inputs, you should have one on your Sony flatscreen TV. 
You can get a DVI to RGB adapter and some RGB component cables and if you have an ATI Radeon 9500 or better or the right N-Vidia video card, you should be able to do it.  This setup has greatly improved the performance on my games, especially the older ones.  I have compared using S-video and composite and they look yucky compared to RGB setup.  MsPacman, Robotron, Defender, etc. look awesome.   Asteroids will still look pretty crappy, but Tempest and others look quite decent. 

Set your games to use 640x480 resolution, then use Extended desktop in conjunction with a PC monitor, then set the TV to 640x480, then set your TV as your primary display, then your MAME games will open up to the TV. 

The TV will only support 640x480 so you may have to do most of your admin through the PC monitor untill you can setup a frontend or something.

Hope this helps.

[bb040]

 

i managed to find an dvi to rgb adapter but when i got it ...it was for an ATI card and i have an Nvidia card ...which cards for Nvidia are you taking about ....mine has the DVI out put

[ArtMAME]

See this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=51752.msg507444#msg507444

The Ebay entry is for a generic adapter, which is what I have, it states that it is compatible with the Nvidia 6600 or 6800. 

That means if you don't have one of these you may have to do one of two things:

Upgrade to 6600 or 6800 or better.
or
(Please forgive me in advance if the following statement offends you in any way...)
Change your religion from  NVidianitism  to  Radeonism 

I do not think there is any difference in the ATI branded adapter and the generic adapter that I have. 

They both do the same thing I would imagine.  There are no drivers to install or anything like that, you just have to set the dip switches on the adapter to 480i and that's it.

If worse comes to worst, you can get an ATI 9550 for $50 or less and use it in your MAME box.  It works with my MSI Radeon 9550 beautifully.
If you this option, get an ATI Radeon 9500 series or better.  I don't think it works on a Radeon 9250 or lower.

You better go put some ice on your forehead...don't want it to bruise up before you get your cabinet built...lol

[bb040]

      LOL....looks like ill have to switch to an ATI card....i got my adapter here.......http://www.geeks.com/

[escher]

If worse comes to worst, you can get an ATI 9550 for $50 or less and use it in your MAME box.  It works with my MSI Radeon 9550 beautifully.
If you this option, get an ATI Radeon 9500 series or better.  I don't think it works on a Radeon 9250 or lower.

Can anyone back this up?  I was looking at using an 9250 (with DVI out, of course) with the ATi adaptor, and I'd like to know ahead of time if I've gotta get a different video card. 

[bb040]

here is what i found on ati's web site...dvi-i to componet will work with all radion 9800/9700/9500 series.....all in wonder 8500 and 8500dv.....vga to component will work with all in wonder 9600 pro....radion 8500/64mb/128mb/Le