I was wondering if anyone out there had tried or seen someone try this. I know many of us would love to have an arcade cabinet, but part of the problem is they are huge and bulky. Well it seems obvious, but why not reduce the depth of the cabinet drastically by mounting a LCD monitor opposed to a CRT monitor or TV? I think this would be really neat because you could make the cabinet probably only a foot deep. That would make it much more convient to move around the house for cleaning or whatever. And it wouldn't take up a bunch of space so it would be easier to place since it wouldn't really get in the way as much. I had considered buying an arcade cabinet before but it would weigh so much and who knows if it could even fit through my doorways. But a custom built light weight/thin profile cabinet would be neat. I'm actually very tempted to try it. Infact if when I get this LCD monitor I'm interested in, if it turns out Mortal Kombat's video signal is compatible with it, I might buy a second to build such a cabinet. This was just a thought that popped into my head. I forget exactly what I was thinking about that made me realize what a cool idea this would be.
Two problems: 1) Resolution differences. If you don't stretch the image, you will get a better picture, but smaller image. 2) Lightguns. This is what prevented me from going with an easier to install LCD. Unless the game is a sensor based game (e.g. The Lost World), then the lightguns simply won't work. Take a look over at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com for a whole bunch of people who have used LCD's in their machines.
A foot deep? That sounds nice and all...but I imagine having an awful time finding space for a power supply and boards...maybe somebody else thinks otherwise... The worst part for me though would be the fact that it would probably feel very topheavy and flimsy. Something one foot deep and about six feet tall? TIMBER! Unless you added a VERY wide base to it...or weighted the bottom with uh....lead....I'd think that the whole cabinet would feel like it could fall over.
I had contemplated doing this until I realized that the cga from the arcade would need to be converted to vga on the lcd. I didn't get as far as looking for the schematic because I'm wondering what exactly the cga>vga conversion would look like.
art of what makes certain cabinets so cool is their (side) art. You'd take away that if you make them only a foot deep. Also i think current gen LCD's would look crappy for arcade. I was also tempted to look into it since i *HATE* messing around with high-voltage and monitors, but since my old monitor still works i won't even look at it ever until it stops working
I do see how you might end up with a "top heavy" unit if you don't design it right. But I figure you could probably fit a PSU and the boards near the bottom, with something to weight it down some more in the bottom. I'm sure it could work somehow and still be not very deep. I do agree though the side art and such does make those cabinets purdy. I still think it's gotta be doable. The stretching thing could be avoided by sacrificing screen space by not stretching. Ofcourse if you have a 4:3 LCD, why would you need any stretch? I'm still gonna be sticking with my SuperGun, but actually I'm going to be getting a LCD that can rotate 90 degrees I think. =) That will be neat to try out Raiden III on. I also still hope Mortal Kombat will work right when I get the LCD.
I haven't seen them, but from what i've read they supposedly are LCD displays yes. These games however were made with high-res (native) LCD resolution in mind. Different thing than connecting any low-res board to an LCD
Well damn. The new LCD did not like Mortal Kombat. It actually refused to show any video. I did make sure the board was working, my PC's Video Card with Capture capability was able to see the board running. Also my Street Fighter 2 board when I tried to get S-Video from the JROK, it got no signal. =( So double crap for my arcade gaming. Maybe the SVideo cable is bad or the JROK is damaged. I might try getting his newer encoder that outputs Component "YPbPr" video. I think I heard some sets do better with MK via Component than Composite. I also ordered a S-Video hybrid cause on this new display Composite looks pretty bad. The S-Video hybrid cable was less than 6 bucks and supports SNES, N64, GameCube, PS1, PS2, and Xbox. That covers most of my systems for S-Video with just 1 cable. Or yes and Raiden III + 90 degree rotating LCD = Totally AWESOME! Now I just need S-Video or Component from my PS2.
I could be totally wrong, but doesn't Mortal Kombat use some screwy sync rate that your TV might not recognize but your capture card does?
I know that it does. MK uses something sometimes called extended resolution. MAME says the game runs at 53fps, where as JROK said the video single is around 56hz. Now if MAME is right and it runs at 53hz, my monitor won't sync that low. If JROK is right, who knows. I don't really care that much at this point. I've pretty much decided the MK boards will more than likely be sitting around for awhile. They've been a pain in the ass.
