Before I go any further

[iamnaeth]

Let first say, I appreciate all the responses and information everyone has been sharing with me in the forums and through PMs.  I've learned a good bit in the last 2 weeks or so!

That said,

I've spent the last couple weeks trying to find a 25" multisync arcade monitor to put in the new cabinet I plan to build.  After contacting a few people through PM about possible options, Ken Layton told me:

"Currently, there are NO 25" multisync or even medium res monitors available anywhere---new, used, or otherwise. Pentranic is supposed to have one available later this month at competitiveproducts.com

Wells-Gardner told me they will not have any available until the end of the year!

When any of these monitor do become available, they will be listed as 24.8" monitors in order to comply with those stupid FCC regulations."

That kind of put a damper on my plans but also, it made me wonder a few things.  Do I actually NEED a multisync monitor?  Or even a medium res one?  I thought I'd layout what I want to be able to do in my new arcade as I understand it and see what people think.

My current cab has a 27" TV hooked up with S-Video to a PC.  In it, I use mame to play arcade games and use other emulators to play some GB, GBA, NES, SNES, Genesis, Daphne, and Zinc games.  I don't use the monitor to watch TV, watch movies, or use to look at the internet.  The only time I fiddle with the PC is to change settings in the config, alot of times I haul out a separate PC monitor or use remote desktop.  Also in my current cab, I have a dreamcast wired in the controls and hooked into the TV through a RCA input.  The new monitor needs to be able to support that too.  I've seen the VGA hacks over in the console section.

My new cabinet I intend to add a trackball to play missile command, centipede, & other classic arcade games.  I also thought I may want to play a PC version of Golden Tee but I'm not sure the resolution requirements on it.  Also, if Golden Tee is the only game on the list that requires a higher res tube, its not worth it to me.  I'm not a huge golden tee fan.  Having played arcade games for 2 years on my current cab (27" TV) never once have I looked at an game and said, that looks bad.  Probably because I'm 25 and don't accurately remember what they originally looked like, I grew up on SFII which looks okay to me on my current cab.  If I saw then on an arcade monitor would I be blown away by the different?

Okay, will all this information and what I plan on using it for should I:

1) Wait to get a 25" multisync arcade monitor?
2) Buy a current 25" arcade monitor, if so, which one or resolution should I look for?
3) Buy a 25" TV, decase it?
    Note:  If you chose option 3, I know its possible to put a TV tube in an arcade frame, where can I find a frame?
               Also, I know that its widely accepted that S-Video is the worst for arcade games, what should I
               be looking for instead?  SCART really isn't an option, I live in the US.

Thank you in advance for your help.  I hope that this thread may be useful for other people as well and I'm not beating a dead horse.

Nate
   

[drumlogix]

I can say for sure there is a big noticable diff between a TV and a real arcade monitor. Do you plan on using your cab for other things besides gaming? Do you plan on playing many pc games on it? If so then you may want to wait for a 25''/24.8'' multisync. But if you plan on using it for mame and emus and a frontend mostly you would be fine with a standard or med res. The SI-DS-25 i told you about in PM works amazing for me. I was in same predicament as you going crazy trying to figure out what I should do. I had option of waiting 3 months on Korteks new 25'' flat MS (plus paying a bundle to have them install new brackets to fit my cab). , Going for one of those POLOSTAR's (cost 600+) to get em in the USA in 24.8/25'' variety. Or I could have bought a d9500 and moded my cabs mounts to fit. Thanks to a tip from the guru Ken L. I found Belamy and am very happy with my choice. I have had absolutly no probs at all with it. It would be nice i suppose to be able to play some pc games in higher res but I have a beast of a gaming pc anyways. My cab serves as a library of classic games and computing. And its doing its job great. Hopefully you will find something that suits your needs. If only they had a 25'' version of the d9500... I would own one.