Monitor
The choice of a display device was between a standard television or a large monitor. Cost wasn’t as big a deciding factor as I had first thought – a 21” monitor is not that expensive now days. Image quality and size were the important issues. A monitor produces images and colors that some consider too precise for vintage games. Also a 21" monitor is not big enough to adequately fill my cabinet. For these reasons a TV was selected.
- Refer to Xiaou's comparison of S-Video and composite connections and TV v Monitor comparison
- See also this comparison of ATI and GeForce video output quality (original url: http://www.agoranet.es/~ddv/cabinet/tele.htm)
My
original cabinet was equipped with a dead Toshiba arcade monitor. This was
removed, together with its mounting bracket, to allow a shelf to be installed.
My intention was to install a TV
at an angle of around 45 degrees. A 45 degree angle is very steep and would
require something more than a shelf to support the TV in position.
My
solution was to use a series of straps that would loop around the rear of
the TV and be secured on rods at the front sides of the cabinet. Climbing
webbing was selected for strength, and brass eyelets riveted into the straps to
allow them to be easily looped over furniture studs that had been screwed into
the front of the sides of the cabinet.
Hint
– the furniture studs have no point at which to grip them – screwing them in is
therefore very difficult! I eventually worked out that threading two nuts onto
the stud and then twisting them into each other would lock them onto the
thread. They could then be used as a grip point for a spanner to twist the stud
and its nuts into the pilot hole.
Selecting
a suitable cheap TV proved quite difficult. I only
found one TV (a "PALSonic") that was 62cm (25"), had a S-Video connector and had no
side-mounted speakers (this was important to ensure the width of the case was thin enough to
allow it to fit into the cabinet).
A black plastic bezel and glass screen-front were recovered from the original cabinet in perfect condition and fitted the new TV perfectly.
