Please help me choose a monitor

[jhabers]

Im having trouble picking out a monitor to put in my planned Mame Cabinet. I am using the Luid Arcade flashback plans.

I was thinking a 27" arcade monitor. I was thinking of going with an arcade monitor with the authentic look of the picture. Can anyone recommend one for me?

Also a few questions and comments.

Is a 27" too big for this cab/in general? Should I go with a 25" instead? Want to get the best bang, but I know that bigger isn't always better.

I'm gonna be playing a variety of old and new games, fighters, golden tee (a lot), my wife likes ms pacman...would like to make it versatile to all game eras. There will be no console emulation on this (thats what the xbox is for ; purely MAME.

I see some arcade monitors are flat screen and some are curved...whats YOUR opinion on either?

Do these monitors have a standard 120V plug on them or do they have to be hard wired? Any extra need to be purchased to hook them up besides an Arcade VGA and a breakout cable (is a breakout cable universal?)??

How do you turn them on, do they have to be soldered into a switch? I would ultimately like to have one single power button that when pressed turns on the PC, monitor and marquee ect. any advice on how this is done? Relays? also the same to shut the arcade down.

I was also planning on getting the ultimarc Arcade VGA card, good choice?

Thanks so much

Jon

[jhabers]

am I being too vague with my questions? do I need to give any more info? Thanks.

[paulscade]

I'm just starting my build and I figured that the monitor was one of the first items that I needed to purchase.  I wanted to insure that I had all the correct dimensions and what better way to do that than to have the actual monitor....

For me, I wanted a big, high res monitor.  I don't care so much about running games in authentic CGA mode.  I wanted a monitor that looked good in MAME... and looked good for PC gaming or other emulators.  I picked a 27", flat screen, high res monitor.

My first choice (for features and price) was this Billabs monitor:
http://www.billabs.com/bl27cb0p.htm

But I found that working with these people was not exactly easy.  My questions were answered... but in broken English.... leaving me with more questions.  When we finally got around to ordering (after the questions)... I find that the monitor is discontinued and they have none in stock.  Sheesh... they should have told me that over the week that I was asking all the questions.  I was getting a bad feeling about them anyway... their website is full of broken links and incomplete information.

So... my second choice was this Makvision Monitor:
http://www.happ.com/monitors/49271700.htm

It's sitting in my spare bedroom waiting for me to build a cabinet around it right now.  It looks real nice!  I hope that I didn't make the wrong decision when it comes to buying a reliable product... I suppose that's why I put it on the credit card that offers 1 year extended warranty for free. 

It's difficult (I think) to recommend a monitor to someone.  Everyone has different requirements... and a different budget to work with.

For me... I wanted big, high res, flat, and open frame.

Your milage may vary.