Using a 27" television in a MAME cabinet

[ddrtist]

Hello all!  I am certainly glad to have found this website!

I am purchasing an Ultimate Arcade II cabinet kit from mameroom.com soon, and I was going to insert a nice 27" TV to use as a monitor.  I have been scared away from using arcade monitors, such as the WG D9400, because of the price and reliability issues.

The TVs I have researched thus far are the Toshiba 27A34 and the RCA J27530.  Both TVs have component out, and picture settings that are saved when the unit is turned off.

Can anyone with insight please tell me if a 27" TV will fit comfortably into the UAII cabinet, without a lot of modification?  I noticed this cabinet comes with a decent shelf that I think would be adequate for holding an 80lb TV.  Can anyone suggest additional bracing once I construct the cabinet?  Can anyone suggest other 27" models to look into that would be good for MAME?

I mainly play 90's fighters and raster games, and already own the X-Arcade tankstick.  I am not too worried about playing vector games on this cabinet.  Also, I will be using the component to DVI on my X800 I have for the MAME comppy.

Thanks in advance, everyone!

[BASS!]

From mameroom's website about your machine

# Fits 27" arcade monitors
# Fits mosts 25" televisions

If you decide to leave the tv in its case you would only be able to go up to 25", otherwise you would want to decase your tv and mount in using the crts mouning holes. Start searching about decasing a tv, or just buckle down and get a 27" arcade monitor.

good brands are
Niemen Displays
Makivision
Billabs

Many of them will also run multisync (meaning EGA CGA VGA SVGA)

[ddrtist]

Well looking at the dimension of the monitor space in the cab:
Monitor area width: 27"
Monitor area height: 24 13/16"
Monitor area depth: 20 7/16"

I think this Sansui 27" TV would fit, because the dimensions of the TV are:

 25.6 W x 22.5 H x 19.7" D

So I have no doubt the TV would physically fit, but what would the best method of holding it in place be?  unless I make a wooden brace along the back of the case, I cannot think of anything.  Has anyone had a similar experience installing a TV in the UAII cab?

[CM]

I built a UAI design years back that allows for 25" width.  My TV was 27+, so this image is what resulted:

[MiKman]

I had a 27" RCA TV in my UA-II it fit nice, then it died.  I bought a 27" JVC TV to replace it and the red color went on it... now I have my lowley 21" sony monitor in it.  None of these were ever removed from the cases, and all fit without a hitch.

Moral of the story 27" TV's fit in the UA-II cabinet without being decased.  HOWEVER make sure you buy one with the speakers on the bottom (both mine had them along the bottom).  TV's with the speakers on the sides will NOT fit.

Hope this helps you out.

[BASS!]

They will if you own a dremel

[MiKman]

true enough!

[carnid]

I have been looking for a 27" tv for months for my UAII cabinet and spent a lot of time looking for the Toshiba model you mentioned.  In the end I found a nice looking Sony KV-27S46 listed on Craigslist for $50.  I picked it up and it fitted perfectly into my cabinet.  It has a very nice picture and also has power return so when I switch back on it keeps all settings.  Anyway, just thought I'd share this.

[ddrtist]

I just finished my UAII yesterday.  I installed the Sansui DTV2760 27" DTV.  It fits perfectly in the cab!  There is maybe only 1/3 inch on each side free, which is great.  Also, the picture is phenominal running s-video at 800x600.  Very crisp and colors are nearly arcade perfect.  I teared up a little the first time I fired up XMvSF with surround sound and bass pumping!

hooray!  I will post pics of my project soon for sure!

[KWeise]

Hey, I have the same plan, ordered that TV from Sears and am building the UAII from the plans. How wide did you make the inside width to fit that TV? Also, did you try it with the component video, or just went with SVideo from the start? I can't believe it's taking Sears 2 weeks to get the thing to the store, but I had some left over gift cards, so the price was right! 

[ddrtist]

Once the cab is assembled, I would say you have less than 1" clearance on the two sides of the TV.  It fits absolutely perfectly!  Using component on the TV, however, yielded little results.  The best I could get is a picture in black and white and maybe 1/3 of the total screen.  S-video went without a hitch up to 1024x768 and the text is actually legible!! (I just used extra large fonts in XP)  I recommend 800x600 for better picture clarity in MAME.

Great TV for the money though.  It has the power on feature where it turns on automatically when you restore the power source and it remembers what input it was on when it cut off.  I grabbed mine on ebay from Rainbow Appliances for $242 with free shipping.  The TV was shipped without a remote, but there is no reason I would need one for this cabinet anyway.

[rdowdy95]

I have a Sharp 27inch TV in mine with minor overscan on the top of the screen and the pic isn't totally centered.  Like on Capcom 2d fighters the screen is shoved a tad more to the right.  Is there a way to change this in the computer or do I need to do the service menu of the TV itself.  Also I have no clue what any of the terminology means when I get into the service menu.  I guess I would need to find something that says horizontal or vertical.  I dont hae a UAII cab I just built my own.  S-video looks great though and I have an Act Labs Svideo light gun