Need some advice

[blades]

I recently acquired a Galaxian Cabinet. The Monitor is busted, as in the previous owner dropped it. 

There are a lot of things that I wish to change. But my goal is to keep it as a vertical monitor cabinet for pac-man donkey kong etc... and I will put in a 4 way joystick and an extra button also.

It came with a 19" mon, NOW my question is will just any 19" arcade monitor work and flip it vertical, or is there a specific one that I need to get, to get it just as the old one was. I look on ebay and this is what I came up with: eBay Link

and

Another eBay Link

Whatever the difference is between them, I cannot see.
Will this work or is there something else that you recommend. I realize that there are a lot more factors to it, but right now, I'm trying to get the monitor replaced. I could get a 25", however I don't think it will fit as the cabinet's kind of small.

Any help to a newbie would be great. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Also, what is this craze of people putting LCD monitors/displays into there arcade cabinets, what are the advantages/disadvantages of that?


;

[qrz]

same thing as setting a tv on it's side .  which , IS what they have done .

as for putting in an lcd.   just a matter of opinion .

an lcd will give a "flat" pic compared to a standard crt and  power consumption will be a bit lower .

so, six of one , a half dozen of the other .....

qrz

[blades]

Ok, so what are you saying exactly. I've looked at Mame through a TV via S-video and it's doesn't seem to look as good as it does through a true arcade monitor. IMHO. I'm just asking if anyone knows a good monitor to replace an existing galaxian or galaga monitor with. If these will work or if I should look elsewhere. The monitors I listed in my first post are the same monitors that they sell at the arcadeshop.com.

Even though, it might be easier, I just have a hard time wanting to use a LCD panel as a replacement. As it doesn't seem to be as authentic. I could be wrong however. ...

[hsstie]

I spoke to the guy that is selling those monitors in the past few days myself, as i have some issues with my pac man monitor. For that price with the shipping, i am considering replacing it, if its too much of a pain to fix. He did tell me that the monitor for 169 is a exact replacement for the one in my cab, wire connectors and all. It may be for your cab too. I would ask him. You might want to ask him what the difference between the two monitors is, he seems to be pretty helpful, and has pretty good feedback rating.

[blades]

Thank you for responding. I will email him and inquire about the differences and let everyone know.

Just out of curiosity, do you think a 25" would fit in a cabinet of this (galaxian) size? I ask because sometimes monitors are measured different. It would be a tight fit. I jut didn't know if anyone has tried it. Or if anyone has done a full conversion of that style of cabinet, to put a bigger monitor and 2 player control panels and such. Just curious.



;

[hsstie]

Well all i have here is the 19" in the pac man cab , and the 27" in my other cab. The inside dimensions of my other cab with a 27" monitor is 23 1/2. Pac man cab is 23. So i would assume 25" monitor should fit pretty easy in your cab. I didnt know until Qrz just posted it that the vertical and horizontal monitor is the same just flipped. I always assumed that the vertical monitor was a different deamon. I have a used 19" monitor that came out of a street fighter cab, that may fix my problem. Or i may just sell it and get a new one outright. Havent decided yet.

If you change the monitor size keep in mind you will need another monitor bezel too. Shipping is usually pretty high for them, so add that extra $ for the bezel to the cost of the 25" when your tryin to decide. That same guy sells em , but thery are over 50 bucks with shipping. Unless you want to try and make one out of cardboard. 

[blades]

I guess I'll just stick with a 19" monitor and be done with it. Donkey kong, pac-man etc.. just don't look right with anything but a true arcade monitor mounted vertically. A 27" looks like to be the only thing close to original way. However, I doubt it would fit right anyways. Now my next big decision is whether I "MAME IT" or if i get one of those 60 in 1 jamma PCB boards. What do you think?

Thanks for the help, you guys/gals are truly being helpful.

[hsstie]

Well lets compare em and see.

                                                                         60 in 1
                                                                     ---------------

Games supported                                          55 (NOT 60)
Future games supported                               55
ability to add more games                             no

emulation accuracy                                      " There are, of course, a few quirks, but for the most part,
                                                                       they are pretty close. The biggest compliant usually concerns
                                                                       some of the sounds in the Konami games, which are a little off"

load time                                                       few seconds

ability to use cabinet for other things            not really

improves resale value of cabinet                   questionable since it uses an illegal pcb board.



                                             Computer in cabinet (mame,etc )
                                             ------------------------------------------

Games supported                             over 5,000 (mame )
                                                         thousands more (freeware)
                                                         thousands more (computer games)
                                                         Laserdisc games ( dragons lair, space ace,etc)
                                                         atari 2600 games ( 2687 )
                                                         atari 5200 games ( 277 )
                                                         atari jaguar.lynx,800 ( thousands )
                                                         nintendo 64 games (2477)
                                                         sega game gear ( 473 )
                                                         sega genesis     (4231 )
                                                         sega master system (665)
                                                         nintendo (8820)
                                                         super nes (4900)
                                                         gameboy advance (3465)
                                                         gameboy color (6492)
                                                         future pinball tables (277+)
                                                         visual pinball tables (hundreds)
                                                         and MORE
                                                       
                                                         
future games supported                  More every month

ability to add more games               yes

Emulation accuracy                          gets better all the time

load time                                          few seconds once emulator is loaded

ability to use cabinet for other things     yes Jukebox (play your mp3's )
                                                               Computer games
                                                               Internet
                                                               and more

improves resale value of cabinet      yes usually.


Ok this comparison probably could be improved, but i just threw it together spur of the moment. I think you get the idea. Those x in 1 pcb boards were made by guys that do not have any rights to the games they put on them. Its just the same if someone downloaded some metallica over the internet, burned it on a cd and sold it to you. They are thieves selling you something they stole, I personlly don't feel like helping them make a living doin it.

Its not hard for me to pick which way my cabinet would go. 









 


                                                                                                                                                             

[blades]

That is a good comparison.

     However, I must point out that there really isn't a difference between the 60 in 1 and the 5000+ roms. Most people do not own all 5000 roms. Yes, there are some that are free, however, you know as well as I do that most people don't physically own every dang rom available and download them all anyway.

However, I would agree with you that it's best not to buy from a thief. But, downloading any roms that you don't physically own is also theft. So there really is no justification here. 60 in 1 or Mame and 5000+ roms. Either way it's theft or as some people call "The gray area".

Not trying to be preachy. But I understand what you mean. Mame does have quite a bit of uses though.

This cabinet that I'm restoring is going to be a vertical only games cabinet. This is a great forum. Thanks for all your help.

[blades]

Now what is with this thing from Aracdeshop. It looks as though the games you can upload  to it are limited however. Interesting. I wonder if they work worth a krap . However, $400 bucks is a little steep I think. Take a look.


http://arcadeshop.com/multi-pcb/multi-pcb.htm

[hsstie]

Yea, that is actually pretty cool.  It holds up to 45 games and once they are loaded, you can select from the screen. You can make your own custom x in 1 pcb board. But the games that it supports is limited. If you are goin to get your moneys worth and have 45 games on it then you might as well have the vertical only games. You have to choose vertical or horizonital and right now the most games are in the vertical section. Another drawback is that if you use it for 2 player then the second player is eithier joystick or trackball but not both. So if you have centipede on it and want a trackball, dont plan on having a second joystick for the other 2 player games on the cabinet. They say 1 player only in upright cabinet. 2 player in cocktail cabinet

I didnt know there was another legal way to have a multigame system out there( if you have the roms to back it up ). The best part of it is that you can choose and make you custom multigame pcb. It has its drawbacks and limitations but all the other choices out there you have to choose what they supply.( multi-williams, global arcade classics,ultracade, x in 1 boards  )

I might be interested in getting one and overlooking the limited controller support if i could find somewhere I could buy the original roms to support what i installed on the board for a somewhat nominal price. If it was better than the used pcb's are fetching right now.
 

I had to edit the post due to re-reading the entire webpage of the pcb board, and make some changes.