tweeking the clarity / helping with slightly fuzzyness new Nieman 24.8'' crt

[mrclean]

Rick was on the phone with me and stepped out for a bit, I have since pulled the monitor out of my cab because of my cabinet restrictions i have no way of tweeking it once its in there it's in there - the contrast / brightness knobs etc.. basically to me the picture doesnt seem perfectly focused slightly fuzzy rick told me there was a way to adjust this does any one know / or can help me while he stepped out ? I see where I have access to the R,G,B Gain knobs.. along with v position/ h position / brightness / contrast but don't see anything in regards to adjust the focus to my own personal taste 

[grantspain]

look for the focus adjustment on the flyback transformer(thats the black plastic thing with the fat red wire that goes to the tube anode)
its above the screen volts,which is also on the flyback transformer

[mrclean]

dude i have no idea what or where that is never mind.. i found it.. but either rick or "samsung" put glue on it so it won't get adjusted ??

[grantspain]

this is a different model monitor but it the same basics and almost certainly the same position---the focus is above the screen volts adjustment

[Kevin Mullins]

but either rick or "samsung" put glue on it so it won't get adjusted ??

Common for a new monitor to be pre-adjusted and glued down like that.

[ahofle]

Before you start adjusting things, what game are you running and at what resolution?  Are you using direct draw or D3D for MAME rendering?  I'm betting you are using D3D which stretches the game and blurs the image.

[Rickn]

Yes as I mentioned, There are 2 things that affect the focus,

Brightnessm if you have the brightness too high then focus will suffer,

As I mentioned on the phone, the settings on the monitor have been optimized for a true Arcade Game... remove the hotmelt glue from the top control on the Flyback Transformer,

This is focus, adjust it to optimize the focus.

If need be call me again tomorrow,,, weather permitting,

Rick
Rick@niemandisplays.com
www,niemandisplays.com

[Todd H]

Before you start adjusting things, what game are you running and at what resolution?  Are you using direct draw or D3D for MAME rendering?  I'm betting you are using D3D which stretches the game and blurs the image.

Agreed. Sounds like the bilinear filter is being applied. Add filter 0 to your MAME ini and see if that helps.

[mrclean]

Even outside of mame on my desktop doesnt seem crisp like my other crt but then again my other one is being used for a dedicated non mame.

here is my mame ini if this helps :

<UNADORNED0>             

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                   roms
samplepath                samples
artpath                   artwork
ctrlrpath                 ctrlr
inipath                   .;ini
fontpath                  .

#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
cfg_directory             cfg
nvram_directory           nvram
memcard_directory         memcard
input_directory           inp
state_directory           sta
snapshot_directory        snap
diff_directory            diff
comment_directory         comments

#
# CORE FILENAME OPTIONS
#
cheat_file                cheat.dat

#
# CORE STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS
#
state                     
autosave                  1
playback                 
record                   
mngwrite                 
wavwrite                 

#
# CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
autoframeskip             1
frameskip                 0
seconds_to_run            0
throttle                  1
sleep                     1
speed                     1.0
refreshspeed              0

#
# CORE ROTATION OPTIONS
#
rotate                    1
ror                       0
rol                       0
autoror                   0
autorol                   0
flipx                     0
flipy                     0

#
# CORE ARTWORK OPTIONS
#
artwork_crop              0
use_backdrops             1
use_overlays              1
use_bezels                1

#
# CORE SCREEN OPTIONS
#
brightness                1.000000
contrast                  1.0
gamma                     1.000000
pause_brightness          0.650000

#
# CORE VECTOR OPTIONS
#
antialias                 1
beam                      1.000000
flicker                   0.000000

#
# CORE SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound                     1
samplerate                44100
samples                   1
volume                    0

#
# CORE INPUT OPTIONS
#
ctrlr                     
mouse                     1
joystick                  1
lightgun                  0
multikeyboard             0
multimouse                0
steadykey                 0
offscreen_reload          0
joystick_map              auto
joystick_deadzone         0.3
joystick_saturation       0.85

#
# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS
#
paddle_device             keyboard
adstick_device            keyboard
pedal_device              keyboard
dial_device               keyboard
trackball_device          keyboard
lightgun_device           keyboard
positional_device         keyboard
mouse_device              mouse

#
# CORE DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
log                       0
verbose                   0
update_in_pause           0

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
bios                      default
cheat                     0
skip_gameinfo             1
       

#
# WINDOWS DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
oslog                     0

#
# WINDOWS PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
priority                  0
multithreading            0

#
# WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     d3d
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                1
prescale                  1
effect                    0
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0

#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch                 1

#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion                9
filter                    1

#
# PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
#
screen                    auto
aspect                    4:3
resolution                640x480
view                      auto
screen0                   auto
aspect0                   auto
resolution0               auto
view0                     auto
screen1                   auto
aspect1                   auto
resolution1               auto
view1                     auto
screen2                   auto
aspect2                   auto
resolution2               auto
view2                     auto
screen3                   auto
aspect3                   auto
resolution3               auto
view3                     auto

#
# FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
#
triplebuffer              1
switchres                 1
full_screen_brightness    1.0
full_screen_contrast      1.0
full_screen_gamma         1.0

#
# WINDOWS SOUND OPTIONS
#
audio_latency             1

#
# INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS
#
dual_lightgun             0

[Ummon]

 I have mentioned using MameUI so you can actually see and adjust the parametres easily. Anyways, you're running D3D with prescale at 1, hence it's regular output. Turn the prescale to 2 and it'll clarify. Although I'm curious, did you get this monitor to run things at 640x480 only?

[mrclean]

yeah its pretty much just for mame most of the games i play have lower resolution then 640x480

[ahofle]

Try changing to:
video      ddraw
hwstretch   0

Vertical game may need hwstretch = 1 if you are forcing every game to 640x480 though.  Unless you start using the monitor's 15khz modes that is. 
What game are you running?  Is this for a dedicated cabinet?  Or multiple games?

[mrclean]

this is for MAME / every game etc.

currently i' now have another problem a big green splotch

[Kevin Mullins]

That's your shadow.   

[grantspain]

maybe you need to allow your screen to degauss unless you have manual degauss,taking a monitor in and out of a cab will cause gaussing

[Rickn]

When we talked, you said something about when you got close to the monitor with your watch, the green spot apeared.

Any chance you have one of these magnetic bracelets people use for arthritis and such??

Next as I mentioned, it is possible you have the brighteness and contrast too high, when on the windows white desk top. If that screen ius too bright, it will cause what is called doming of the picture tubes shadow mask. This is solved by reducing the brightness or changing the background of the desk top to a picture or such that is not so bright. Reduce the brightness a little. The monitor was preset for an arcade game that has different signal levels from your VGA card.

Next, any chance in the tight squeeze of you cabinet, there is any metal brackets or speakers near th green splotch.

Yes Grant is right, taking a monitor in and out of a cabinet especialy if it is still on is a no no.

Hope all this helps if not please call so we get it right.

Thanks

Rick Nieman
Rick@niemandisplays.com
www.niemandisplays,com

[mrclean]

I just guessed it was my watch but it's on my left hand, and the green splotch comes and goes. I dont have arthritis yet.. i'm sure i will in the future from all the video game playing i do. I probably do have the contrast and brightness set "too high" however if i go into say "World class bowling" for instance the lanes look very dark unless i really boost the contrast / brightness, but then the text seems to get a little bleedy / chunkyish in pac-man / galaga. also in galaga i noticed that it seems to trail alot while the bugs are comming down,if that makes any sense. I'm fiddling with it to tweek it just right. My NES games to me seem to be fine. But forgetting about emulators / MAME...while on the desktop in windows somethings not right with the focus the text isn't crisp on my icons etc,  and also back in MAME Mr. Do's artwork is pasty and unreadable / unclear. The game play to me is tolerable but I know there is something that can probably get done about calibrating it correctly.

[ahofle]

Windows looked pretty crisp from the screenshot you posted.  Not sure what more you are expecting. 

[Todd H]

Windows looked pretty crisp from the screenshot you posted.  Not sure what more you are expecting. 

I agree. Arcade monitors don't have the same dot pitch that a nice computer monitor has. They're not going to be super sharp.

[Rickn]

Sounds like you still need to tweak the brightness and more important contrast,

Reduce the contrast n increase the brightness,

Try this and if need be please call me tomorrow at the factory say about 11:00 am,

I want to make sure you are happy,,, tolerable is just not us.

Rick