Monitor Question Betson or Wells?

[rdowdy95]

Guys I am just researching.  I currently have a Sharp 27inch S-Video set in my Cab right now.  it works okay, but would rather have a nice Arcade monitor.  What is the newest one 27inch from the two companies I listed in the subject? And where do I get them from? Also do they have onboard controls so I can get the picture lined up so I don't have any overscan.

Thanks.

[Shieldwolf]

You should probably ask this in the monitor/video section. That said I have a wells and love it!!! I've read that some users are having problems with them recently.

[Ginsu Victim]

Betson, just because of all the bad things I've heard about WG lately.

[TOK]

Betson, just because of all the bad things I've heard about WG lately.

People are saying stuff about Betson too, such as curled images and flakiness regarding mode switches.
Look for info on Nieman displays in the monitor forum. Rick offers support right here, too. You won't see anyone from Wells or Betson doing that.

[retrometro]

The cab I have now had a WG D9200 that lasted about 6 years or so.  I think something went wrong w/ one of the boards so I sold it for parts and got about $100 out of it for parts.

I've replaced it with a WG D9400 and it's been used weekly for a year and has had no problems.  The D9400 has a few upgrades from the D9200 and is a direct replacement model.

[rdowdy95]

Thanks guys.

[Shoegazer]

I had a WG D9400 which I had to exchange THREE times due to major screen warping issues, and never had a monitor that looked right.  Eventually I took a full return - thankfully, their customer service was top notch.

I looked at the Betson monitors but in the end decided on Bil Labs.  They are just better monitors all-around - first of all, they support 1024x768 resolution (the other two I believe are still limited to 800x600) which makes navigating Windows/MAMEUI much easier, and also makes vector games and game artwork look much cleaner, as you can imagine.  They are also much lighter, which made mine a lot easier to fit into my cabinet, and mine had no warping at all from the first unit I was shipped.

I'm not sure what happened to Bil Labs - I can't find them online anywhere (did they go belly-up?).  If you can find one of theirs though, either on Ebay or perhaps even here somewhere, I'd highly recommend it.   Do a search for their monitors on this forum - other people have mentioned and praised their monitors as well.

Hope it helps.  Good luck..

Shoegazer

[wbassett]

Bil Labs is strange... when I go to their site all I get is-
"Why are you here?"

It's a white screen with just plain text in the upper left corner.  At first I thought maybe someone hacked their site but I just checked it again.

Anyway,  this sounds like a similar monitor
http://www.happcontrols.com/monitors/49271700.htm

It's also 1024x768 native.

[retrometro]

Anyway,  this sounds like a similar monitor
http://www.happcontrols.com/monitors/49271700.htm

It's also 1024x768 native.

I guess in this case you're trading a higher resolution for the inability to go below 30KHz horizontal freq.

[Ummon]

Yeah, that's a VGA monitor - does VGA/SVGA.

Don't know what happened to Billabs - though it doesn't matter, as they stopped making 27" digital multisyncs a year ago.

The cab I have now had a WG D9200 that lasted about 6 years or so.  I think something went wrong w/ one of the boards so I sold it for parts and got about $100 out of it for parts.

I've replaced it with a WG D9400 and it's been used weekly for a year and has had no problems.  The D9400 has a few upgrades from the D9200 and is a direct replacement model.

I remember you saying this but you hadn't before said when you got your D9400. A year is a decent testing period.

I had a WG D9400 which I had to exchange THREE times due to major screen warping issues, and never had a monitor that looked right.  Eventually I took a full return - thankfully, their customer service was top notch.

...however, this was recent, right?

[retrometro]

The cab I have now had a WG D9200 that lasted about 6 years or so.  I think something went wrong w/ one of the boards so I sold it for parts and got about $100 out of it for parts.

I've replaced it with a WG D9400 and it's been used weekly for a year and has had no problems.  The D9400 has a few upgrades from the D9200 and is a direct replacement model.

I remember you saying this but you hadn't before said when you got your D9400. A year is a decent testing period.

I think so too.  But i'm not too thrilled with the 6 years for the first one though.  I guess I'm not realistic but I expected CRTs to last for more than 10 years if they pass the first few months without problems.  Plus, it wasn't like the D9200 was on as often as a TV.  I expected it to last longer.  Also, I think it may have been less than 6 years now that I think about it.

[wbassett]

The cab I have now had a WG D9200 that lasted about 6 years or so.  I think something went wrong w/ one of the boards so I sold it for parts and got about $100 out of it for parts.

I've replaced it with a WG D9400 and it's been used weekly for a year and has had no problems.  The D9400 has a few upgrades from the D9200 and is a direct replacement model.

I remember you saying this but you hadn't before said when you got your D9400. A year is a decent testing period.

I think so too.  But i'm not too thrilled with the 6 years for the first one though.  I guess I'm not realistic but I expected CRTs to last for more than 10 years if they pass the first few months without problems.  Plus, it wasn't like the D9200 was on as often as a TV.  I expected it to last longer.  Also, I think it may have been less than 6 years now that I think about it.

It depends on how it's used too.

I'd think an arcade monitor would be much more rugged than a consumer TV or something like that, but let me ask something... and this is a sincere question...

Aren't most actual arcade machines left on just about all the time?

Coming from an electronics background I know that turning things on and off introduces a surge wear on components.  A question I have is do most people turn their cabs on and off a lot?  If so, could this possibly contribute to some earlier than normal monitor failures with arcade monitors?

I understand that if something isn't going to be used for long periods of time it is better to turn them off, but for things like say my computer, which is used constantly for either work or personal use- turning it off anytime I leave for a couple of hours, and then back on again when I get back would be worse than just leaving it on.

Just a thought is all.  It is also possible that something is actually designed with a MTBF built in.

[retrometro]

I think that's a good theory.  My main computers are in sleep mode and are woken up when necessary locally or remotely.  The only machine that stays up all the time is the web/file/dns/dhcp/backup server.  The LCD panels shuts themselves off after a while.

The arcade gets turned on once a week or two for 30-90 minutes at a time.  otherwise, it's completely off.  However, the TV is left on a lot even when no one's watching... but it does get shut off several times a day....

[wbassett]

Yeah I'm definitely not trying to say that is the problem/a problem, just that it is a real situation.

I'm trying to remember the longest I ever had a CRT TV...  Probably around six years and then I was upgrading.  Still, the old sets always had great pictures so I'd give them to one of the kids or a relative.

Right now I have two Del 21" monitors that if I recall the date on the back is 2000 and they are both still going strong and they are on all the time.

The only other thing I can think of is if lower grade components are used or lower quality workmanship for arcade monitors, but you'd think they would actually be higher quality because of the use and abuse they get in an arcade.  It does seem though that a lot of people here report issues with not just Wells Gardner, but I've seen people complain about just about every brand at one time or another.

The experts in the monitor thread could probably answer this much better.

[Visitor Q]

I think I am going to give this guy a try.

http://www.happ.com/monitors/49271700.htm

[wbassett]

Visitor Q I kinda have my eye on that one too!

[Jakobud]

I don't have much experience with Arcade monitors but in the past 4 years of visiting this website, I have seen more people complain about Wells Gardner quality than anything else.  I would NEVER purchase a WG product b/c of this.  I have heard good things about Betson though.

[DJ Infinity]

Makvision is my second choice behind Nieman. I hate the fact I got a WG9400 none of my NAMCO boards will display on it. Next year I will buy a Nieman to replace it and promptly chuck it in the dumpster at work.

[Ummon]

Definitely leaving most devices like these on is better than constant on/off. When I got my first computer, I would only turn it on when I used it, which was for maybe a half hour, once or twice a day. After a little while, I started using it a bit more, and eventually I realised it was better and easier to leave it on all day.

With my arcade monitors, however, I don't have them on while I'm doing other things, so any particular one may only be on later in the day/evening. Of course, my main rig I also flash in and out of games and surf and stuff, so it's on for some hours.

As well - as someone else mentioned, I think, above - the constant changing of sync when switching between FE and games is a factor.

Visitor Q I kinda have my eye on that one too!

Those seem kind of a lot for that function, though. I might look on ebay for something similar likely for less.

[ahofle]

Makvision is my second choice behind Nieman. I hate the fact I got a WG9400 none of my NAMCO boards will display on it. Next year I will buy a Nieman to replace it and promptly chuck it in the dumpster at work.

Where do you live?  I don't suppose you'd consider shipping it, would you (assuming I pay you of course)?  You haven't thrown it on the ground in anger or anything yet have you?