Question about Project X Arcade Cabinet (Gildahl)

[GimmeClassics]

Hi Gildahl,

I've just been reading on your website about your Project X Arcade [ http://dahlstrom.sytes.net/techblog/?p=124 ] as I'm starting to make my own cab

From what I have read on your website you're using a 24" 16:10 (1920×1200) LCD monitor. Your computer and monitor are setup to display a 4:3 image. With the bezel the monitor is equivalent to what is effectively a 4:3 monitor.

I have to say you did an amazing job with the bezel on top of the monitor.

2 questions:
1. Do all of your games (horizontal and vertical) exactly line out in the center position of you monitor? There is no small part of any game that fades away behind the bezel? If not, how did you accomplish this?

2. With GameEx as frontend and using your cab > do you have to make use of a gameex-theme with a 4:3 resolution/scale to get gameex 'fullscreen' and centered on the monitor and fit exactly between the on-top bezel ? >> if so: how do you have to setup gameex to accomplish this 'centered 4:3 gameex on a widescreen monitor' ?

I hope you understand what I'm saying...

Hope to hear from you or anyone who wants to contribute

Thanks,

GC

[DazzleHP]

Hi GC ,

Most (modern) GPU's will have a "keep aspect ratio" setting somewhere, which will keep all programs/software at 4:3 ratio - IF they are set to 4:3 natively. For instance with ATI cards:

Launch Catalyst, go to the monitor section> Attributes> Select "Enable GPU scaling" > Select "Maintain aspect ratio".

Nvidia cards will have a similar setting. Bare in mind this won't keep a 16:9 program within the 4:3 boundaries - it will just make sure things that are supposed to be 4:3 stay at 4:3

Of course if you really wanted to keep widescreen software within a certain boundary (ie a bezel) then you could always use the built in "trim" settings on most monitors. Not very practical though in my opinion.

I'm also interested how Mr Gildahl does this. But that's my two cents till we are enlightened

Daz

[Gildahl]

Hi GC,

Daz has it right. I'm using an NVidia GTX 460, and have it setup to force the display to a 4:3 aspect ratio. GameEx is using a customized DeepPurple theme running at a resolution of 1600x1200. Because of the bezel, you'd never know there was a widescreen display behind it. Back when I was still using a laptop to power the machine I had to resort to a piece of software called PowerStrip to force the 4:3 ratio since the video driver couldn't do it natively.

I was, by the way, extremely meticulous when measuring and cutting out the bezel. The hole is measured to be exactly 4:3 and to perfectly match the screen's vertical height. This is kind of critical because if you go even a tiny bit to big, you will start to see the monitor's own bezel, and if you go a tiny bit too small you'll cut off the extreme edges of the game screen (MAME typically displays right to the limits of the screen area, maximizing the image size).

To answer your specific questions.

1. All games, horizontal and vertical are indeed centered and displayed exactly within the bezel. No portion of the games extend underneath the bezel.

2. As mentioned above, GameEx is set to run at 1600x1200, so it too displays perfectly within the 4:3 window.

Dave

[Draco1962]

I have seen some where the widescreen monitor is "double-masked" (i.e., a black bezel is mounted directly to the monitor behind the exterior game art or cab bezel) as a means of avoiding the game's bezel showing through.

[GimmeClassics]

Thank you for the replies

@Dave: I really like the measurements of your cab so I think it will come down to two options:

1. a 24 16:10 (1920×1200) LCD monitor with a 4:3 bezel in front of it or

2. a 4:3 LCD

A few questions:

a. the reason you chose the 16:10 monitor was because a 4:3 monitor was too expensive right?

So it's eihter pay less for a 16:10 monitor and have a little more "problems" adjusting the bezel to display a 4:3 scale or use a 4:3 monitor which is more expensive but having less problems adjusting the bezel? Am I right?

b. making a bezel:

Making a bezel for a 4:3 screen would only come down to fit on top of the screen without seeing any borders of the monitor itself right? Making a bezel for a 16:10 monitor is more tricky because you do not have the exact reference of the borders of the monitor but have to manually measure the 4:3 part of the 16:10 screen you see when playing games and adjusting the bezel based on those measurements? I'd love to hear if I make the right conclusions here

c. what size of 4:3 LCD would fit in your cab? How much inch is comparable to the 16:10 monitor with the bezel on top?

Hope to hear from you.

Thanks again,

GC

[Gildahl]

Yes, I went with the 24" 16:10 as it represented the best price/size option for what I could find at the time. The screen has a 12.75" height, which works well for vertical games.

A 27" 16:9 widescreen was out of the question because it wouldn't fit in a cabinet with the proportions I had in mind and would have only given me 1/2" more vertical size anyway, which didn't seem worth it.

Other options that I considered good alternatives were a 20" 4:3 LCD or a 21" 4:3 CRT.

• 20" 4:3 LCDs are a good choice and can be had a decent price. A true 20" diagonal should give you about 13" of vertical height (0.25" more than a 24" 16:10). A larger 4:3 monitor might be even nicer, but they usually demand unreasonably high prices.

• 21" 4:3 CRTs can be had pretty cheap (I have one), but only give you about 12" of vertical height (due to the way they are measured).

Regarding the "problems" of forcing a 4:3 aspect ratio on a widescreen monitor, it's really no problem at all if you have any modern graphics card. Just a simple configuration setting.

As far as the "difficulty" of sizing the physical bezel, I wouldn't consider it harder on a widescreen at all. To determine the vertical dimension you simply measure the monitor's bezel, and then you can use that to easily determine the exact width using one of the formulas on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29. That's what I did.

Dave

[Gildahl]

I have seen some where the widescreen monitor is "double-masked" (i.e., a black bezel is mounted directly to the monitor behind the exterior game art or cab bezel) as a means of avoiding the game's bezel showing through.

I could see this if either your bezel is made of very thin material and/or if you are not using smoked glass. In my case, my bezel is 1/2" MDF and I use smoked glass. These serve to completely mask any sign of the monitor's own bezel.

[Draco1962]

I can see where that would make a difference.

[GimmeClassics]

Thanks Dave for your detailed explanation This will really help me out!

Thank you guys !

GC