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.

[lnx64]

Yea for preventing sliding I have something planned for that, strap. I could use legs inside, I could turn that into mini divider shelves for the storage area.

[Jeff-20]

I see you are using a first model MD. I recommend a FUNAI monitor (usually found in Symphonic and other off-brands) because the power switch stays ON. All I need is to feed it power via a power strip. It's very convenient.

The only downside is that there's a bit of overscan. MUSHA doesn't lose much, but some games will lose the top 4 bit lines and around 8 from the bottom. The nice thing about the MD is that you can run the sound directly from the headphone jack and get stereo without CRT buzzing.

[lnx64]

I don't have the financials to get another monitor. I'm already trying to convince my Dad to let me even make the cabinet, based on the fact that we have a 27" TV sitting in the garage that's getting no use.

I will be using the headphone jack for sure. I might not use a full amp though as planned, too much heat and power, I might make a simple one myself.

[Harvestman]

I planned on doing something similar to this a couple years ago, but it never came to fruition.

What I'm curious about is how you will re-wire the controllers to buttons on the front of the machine.

[AiboPet]

The amp I use for the old little Donkey Kong machine is just some simple little stereo amp from Radio Shack I got like 20 years ago. I remember no specs on the thing...but you really should get by EASILY with just 5W or so per channel. No need to put a "big-ass" Onkyo component thing in there. Probly ANY stereo amp you can excise out of something would do.

You are already effectively building a WONDERFUL speaker box and you'll get really decent sound in a big wooden box...and you'll get better seperation with YOUR design with the speakers up top. I had to work with the original Nintendo cabinet and just mirrored the right speaker in the same position the "single" speaker was on the left....but it's at "groin" height.

[colorfixer]

On the CPS boards, the battery backs up a small amount of RAM that is used in conjunction with a copy protection scheme to decode the program roms. What you need to do is find the ROMs for the game with the rom contents already decoded. Google Capcom CPS suicide battery ROMs and the solutions are very well documented.

[Harvestman]

Originally Posted by AiboPet

The amp I use for the old little Donkey Kong machine is just some simple little stereo amp from Radio Shack I got like 20 years ago. I remember no specs on the thing...but you really should get by EASILY with just 5W or so per channel. No need to put a "big-ass" Onkyo component thing in there. Probly ANY stereo amp you can excise out of something would do.

You are already effectively building a WONDERFUL speaker box and you'll get really decent sound in a big wooden box...and you'll get better seperation with YOUR design with the speakers up top. I had to work with the original Nintendo cabinet and just mirrored the right speaker in the same position the "single" speaker was on the left....but it's at "groin" height.

I wonder what it would sound like if you had two at the top of the cab (where the light and backglass usually are) and two on each side of the CRT...

[AiboPet]

I wouldn't want speakers right where the marquee is. Just a bit to "right in your face" and I like the marquee art for authenticity, as well as it's original flourescent and diffuser setup.

Since this is a homebuilt cab....there might not be a marquee, but still a set of speakers RIGHT there up top would be like listenning to an '80s boombox with your nose pressed to the cassette door :-P

If they were maybe up top but "firing down" to the screen bezel, THAT might work. The Nintendo cabinet I have does not have a horizontal overhang like that for me to even consider it. The old Namco/Midway cabs (PacMan,Galaxian,Galaga,etc) did have a huge "roof" which they had one big (I think 6x9) speaker firing down at the more horizontal CRT bezel. This made for an AWESOME sound even if it was just mono. (I do have a Galaga upright..and LOVE to keep it loud). The only machine I have actually done "construction" on is the Donkey Kong upright that I had turned into a MAME machine. The ROMs were scrambled...and I had sold the recapped monitor to my friend with the Radarscope machine. The Ms. Pac Man cocktail, Galaga upright and Frogger are still original, though the Frogger's monitor is starting to get weird (likely OVER due for it's recap now)

[julianburke]

Any TV or "real" monitor chassis doesn't need a fan to be run 24/7. Why build a cabinet when so many old arcade games are scrapped. Just find an operator and he should find you a cabinet.

[lnx64]

I like the challenge of making one for myself.