A few questions on arcade monitor before I buy...

[Jimbo]

Hi all,

I'm just about to buy a 15Khz/CGA 21" arcade monitor (a Polo/3 directly from Hantarex), but just wanted to confirm a few things before I do. I really wanted a 21" PoloStar, but it seems they don't do those anymore. Most of the games I want to run are low-res anyway, so I should be happy enough! I can't go larger than 21" because I'm rotating the monitor in the cab for vertical games, and my cab can't be wider than 28" or it won't fit through doors.

So here's my questions: -

- I have an Ultimarc ArcadeVGA (2) card. With the Polo, I should be able to run most of the MAME games at their native resolution, right, since most run at 15Khz (along with being able to run other systems such as C64, Spectrum, SNES, Amiga, ST, Megadrive, SMS, NES etc.)?

- The monitor comes with a remote cable for manual adjustments... would I need to adjust the picture every time I load a new game?

- If I wanted to run Playstation 1 games on the monitor (or games that are 31Khz), I still could, but it would be interlaced (which won't look too bad if the game scrolls/moves a lot), is this correct?

- What do vector games look like on a 15Khz monitor?

- Are there any other surprises I should be aware of with this monitor, such as needing further cables for connecting up etc?


Many thanks for any info before I let loose the cash!

[FrizzleFried]

Hi all,

I'm just about to buy a 15Khz/CGA 21" arcade monitor (a Polo/3 directly from Hantarex), but just wanted to confirm a few things before I do. I really wanted a 21" PoloStar, but it seems they don't do those anymore. Most of the games I want to run are low-res anyway, so I should be happy enough! I can't go larger than 21" because I'm rotating the monitor in the cab for vertical games, and my cab can't be wider than 28" or it won't fit through doors.

So here's my questions: -

- I have an Ultimarc ArcadeVGA (2) card. With the Polo, I should be able to run most of the MAME games at their native resolution, right, since most run at 15Khz (along with being able to run other systems such as C64, Spectrum, SNES, Amiga, ST, Megadrive, SMS, NES etc.)?

Yes...the majority of MAME games are CGA and will run at their native resolution on an arcade monitor...

- The monitor comes with a remote cable for manual adjustments... would I need to adjust the picture every time I load a new game?

Depends...if you set up your resolutions properly you shouldn't have to mess with the remote board too often...however,  if you want ABSOLUTELY the proper resolution for each and every game,  some games will require you to adjust the vertical hold likely.

- If I wanted to run Playstation 1 games on the monitor (or games that are 31Khz), I still could, but it would be interlaced (which won't look too bad if the game scrolls/moves a lot), is this correct?

I'm not 100% sure as I haven't tried to run a PS1 on an arcade monitor...

- What do vector games look like on a 15Khz monitor?

Ass...they look MUCH MUCH MUCH better on a PC monitor...though a CGA monitor will "do"...just barely.

- Are there any other surprises I should be aware of with this monitor, such as needing further cables for connecting up etc?

Make sure if it needs an isolation transformer or not.  If it needs one,  you CAN NOT just wire it to 110/120v and go...

[ahofle]

- If I wanted to run Playstation 1 games on the monitor (or games that are 31Khz), I still could, but it would be interlaced (which won't look too bad if the game scrolls/moves a lot), is this correct?

In my experience the only thing that looks bad running interlaced at 640x480 is Windows (and windows applications like notepad).  Every emulator I've thrown at it so far looks great at 15khz.