Off Topic Cabinet Question

[jeffremiller]

I built a cabinet about a year ago and have loved it. Problem is, my 21" LCD just finally died. Seems they were never made to run constantly.

What is the best... within reason.... monitor for a cabinet?

What would it cost me to replace?

[bkenobi]

I would get a used CRT monitor off CraigsList if it were me. If you made the cabinet specifically for an LCD, you probably want to go with another one. They are very low energy, so they will save some cash and they are a good mix of nice resolution to price. If you weren't used to such a high resolution, I would have suggested a TV, but others will certainly suggest an actual arcade monitor. Thing is, I've never compared the two side by side (for a reason), so the TV looks fine to me!

[GeorgeT]

almost all of the larger LCD monitors I see advertised these days are widescreen. does this effect how arcade games look when running MAME? (I currently have a 19" lcd that's NOT widescreen and I'd like to upgrade to a bigger screen)

[bkenobi]

Of course it will! Wide screen monitors were only introduced in the last few years. Any arcade game that you play will have a 4:3 ratio meaning that you will have large bands on the sides. There is a potential fix for this though. It may be possible to make a custom bezel that will go on the sides so it has controller info or whatever you want sitting there at all times rather than boring black bars.

For modern consoles, there is usually an option to play in wide screen. The problem there is those consoles aren't emulated yet