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Author Topic: Basic arcade monitor troubleshooting questions...  (Read 1657 times)

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ahofle

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Basic arcade monitor troubleshooting questions...
« on: February 02, 2007, 01:32:18 am »
Well, through a local ebay auction I managed to get a few Dotronix 25" RSV25 arcade monitors for $25 each (I attached the manual)!  They came from one of those 3 by 3 matrix setups you used to see in department stores.  They certainly had some hours on them, so I wasn't expecting too much.  Well, first I must say that I can't believe what I have been missing in regards to MAME and accurate arcade resolutions (I've been using a TV)!  I do have a few issues with the monitors and I was wondering if they sounded easy or difficult/expensive.

1) One of monitors does not seem to have any green whatsoever.  Blue and red only that I can tell. 
2) The other two have good colors, but the top of the screen is slightly squished together.
3) There is supposed to be a horizontal width adjustment on the back of the monitor, but it is just a small worn out paper tube poking through a hole.  When taking the back of the monitor off, I saw that it is attached to a coil.  I was not able to get it to adjust anything.  There was a hex nut in the tube, but it didn't really turn.  The coil is basically just sitting there loose.  Both of the monitors need to be adjusted horizontally unfortunately.
4) One of the monitors was missing the brightness pot on the front of the monitor.

Do any of these sound like easy/cheap fixes?  I am so excited about this that I may end up spending the money on a good multisync now if these don't work out.

Another question I have is with vertical games.  This monitor goes up to 640x480, but I was having problems getting vertical games to look right.  For example, Galaxians...224x256.  I tried setting the resolution at 321x256, 256x256, and a few others.  MAME either wanted to stretch them horizontally (so they didn't appear to be vertical games), or the top of the screen was cut off.  How do you handle vertical games on arcade monitors?  I wish MAME would use the 256 horiz lines and just use 224 of the 321 widthwise.   :dunno