Tv to arcade monitor concerns

[AiboPet]

A little $7 universal remote taken apart and the buttons "broke out" to somewhere nice is likely how I would do it if I wanted to just leave the set unmolested. Stick the remote's board just somewhere in front of the TV. I would leave the IR LED of the remote "naked" just to make SURE the TV sees it correctly. Wrap the remote's board up in something black you won't see through the tinted plexi.

As far as the CPS2 board....I wonder if someone in a forum that deals with ACTUAL game hardware (not MAME), would know how to deal with this board after it has completely lost power. If the battery is infamous for this problem, no doubt someone has run across this battery being TOTALLY dead before.

As far as the real heavy TV....I wouldn't be worried if it was an original cabint (those open frame Wells/Gardner units ARE heavy), but you are building a cabinet from scratch.

MY suggestion would just to make sure you use "real" wood inside and put legs inside the cabinet to it's bottom. Don't make your TV shelf from the MDF you are likely using for the cabinet. I wouldn't just blow a shelf in with only screws going through the sides because it might sag...AND it would pull the sides in some unless you have good "legs" inside that go to a solid bottom. If you really want a good "open" cabinet on bottom (to use as storage,etc)....that "table" idea and some good bracing under the shelf should enable you to not have big pain-in-the-ass table legs going down the middle of the thing. Make sure you do secure the TV to not slide ON the shelf as well since you are building a slanted shelf. When I went to LCD....I could have chosen to put the mATX mobo in a smaller case and put it up with the monitor...but instead chose to keep the original "faraday cage" look in the original location.