480p CRT TV any good for MAME cab ?

[Nataq]

I have an opportunity to buy one cheap that has svideo and component connection. I was wondering about the 480p resolution. I am thinking it would be perfect for a MAME cab since it would remove all flickering usually coming from an interlaced signal. Am I correct ? Any bad side effect ?

Also, would I need any special video card to output a 480p signal or I can do that with most video card ?

I hope I will get answers rapidly not to miss on this opportunity.

Thank you!!

[TOK]

I have a 27" Toshiba connected via component with a Radeon 9550 and DVI to component adapter. I think the pics on it look great.

[Nataq]

Is it 480p ? I am more wondering about that specific resolution for MAME. Thank you

[TOK]

I guess... Adapter is set up for 480p. It doesn't flicker.

[Nataq]

Yeah doesnt seem to flickr at all from the pictures... usually flickering will be visible on photos. Any special video settings you use ? How about your MAME.ini file ?

I would like to hear from people that have EDTV (480p) TV though...

Thanks again

[TOK]

Yes, you have to run it at an oddball resolution to keep the bottom of the image from getting clipped (right side the way mine is installed). Running at 640x432.

[Justin Z]

Alternately you can go into the TV's service mode and adjust the picture geometry.  You can normally find out how to get into service mode by doing a search for "<tv brand> service mode" on Google.

I found that worked much better since I could keep 640x480.

[Jack Burton]

Most modern video cards with TV out have the ability to output 480p over component.  They will come with a little adapter to do this:



480p will be noticable sharper than 480i, and the colors will be more vibrant.  

Arcade images running at 480p will look pretty good.  It will nearly zero flickering.  Some will be visible in windows, but during a good frontend or during a game it will be unnoticeable.  

The downside to running at 480p is that most arcade games will not be able to run in native resolution.  You can turn on some scaling and smoothing options to make the image look nice.  I recommend advancemame2x and bilinear filtering.  There are many other options out there though, and you should find what suits you.

Some modern arcade gamess run in 640x480.  Soul Calibur is one awesome example.  I think all Naomi games ran in 640x480.

If you have an old PC CRT monitor lying around you can try it out at 640x480.  It will be very similar.  The only difference is that the tv will have a softer look to it due to the coarser dot pitch.