Best Monitor for Light Gun Games

runawayabc123

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I'm looking to build/run a light gun cab and a 4 player cab both are late 80s/early 90s games. I want them both to use the same monitor as light guns will ALWAYS need a CRT and the 4 player cab will actively carry my backup monitor. (I currently have an operation thunderbolt cab with a Hantrex in it. It could be upgraded to the same as another backup for my light gun cab.)

I am working on building a switching harness for both (And the operation thunderbolt so I can run it with Zombie Raid). So, my needs are similar to MAME, in that I will be running many different games on 1 monitor. However, my generations of games are much closer together. If resonable, the 4 player cab may also run MAME.

So, what monitor will work best for both of these cabs?
Currently I have a ton of PCBs (light gun and 2-4 player games), a couple are
Leathal Enforcers I+II
Area 51
Invasion
Turkey Hunter
Police Trainer
CarnEvil

TMNT
Simpsons
Sunset Riders
Bad Dudes

I am currently running all of these and more on my TV through a converter board. (The only exception being Carnevil doesn't want to work on it or the board is bad.)

I read through how the tri-mode monitors are gone (which are best for mame). So, I am looking to get a pair of new ones for years of light gun game playing.

Also, if anyone can point out the correct 15 pin connector and contacts for the monitor (and the power one two so I don't have to buy a power cable), the would be great!

This looks like my best choice so far:
http://na.suzohapp.com/monitors/49305600.htm
(If I get 2 or 3 it is worth it for me to drive and pick them up.)

Thanks!
 
you need an actual CRT monitor to do it. Carnevil by design will not work with the TV because it requires direct connection to the monitor sync, which is impossible through the TV/converter approach. LCDs don't work because they don't have the kind of contrast for light guns to work correctly I guess.

I'm sure that 25" Makvision will do just fine. :D
 
I thought the LCD's were a contrast thing too, but lately I've been thinking they probably scan different. If they draw the screen digitally and don't scan like a raster monitor does, the gun wouldn't know how to work.

I've always thought that Hantrarex Polos had the brightest pictures with the most contrast. So that may be a good option, if you need a new one though I'm not sure what the best new ones are.
 
I'm sorry I wasn't clear (or I brought too many confusing details in).

I understand/am stating I must have a CRT monitor. :)

What I am asking is if I have a switching wiring harness (assume it exists or that I am using that canned 6in1 from jammaboards), what is the best CRT monitor choice such that I won't have to retweak the monitor settings all of the time?
 
Just find a 25" CRT monitor that works and try it. They released CRT brighteners to help with light-gun games on older monitors, but I don't know where you'd get one now...
 
Yeah, I was disappointed I couldn't buy a 25in CRT at the midwest gaming classic (short of it being in a cab).

Anyone got a link to the right connectors/contacts for a monitor's video and power cables?
 
It changes depending on the monitor, so get the monitor first and then we can tell you how to hook it up...
 
LCDs don't work because they don't have the kind of contrast for light guns to work correctly I guess.

Not to derail the topic too much but you're way off :)

Lightguns work with CRTs by picking up WHEN they see the phosphor in front of them brightened by the beam, and then the computer compares that with where they are in rastering out the picture to the tube. Since the monitor and game hardware are exactly in sync, the game knows exactly where the beam was at that point, and therefore, where the gun is pointing.

LCDs complicate things. A lot. The biggest problem is that the sync agreement between the game and the monitor no longer exists -- the LCD takes in the source, stores it in internal memory, and then flips the TFTs whenever it damn well feels like it. The pixels always make it to the TFTs long before the next frame, so there is no visible lag (shitty scalers notwithstanding), but the brightness pulse returned by a lightgun's photodiode now has absolutely no correlation to the output signal of the game, if there even is a pulse.

We already have a solution -- look at the Nintendo Wii, or Time Crisis 4, or any of a number of Sega projection-screen gun games. The problem is, the output of the infrared beacon technology is completely incompatible with traditional lightguns and would take some non-trivial translation that nobody has figured out yet.
 
I have a Hantrex MTX 9000 in my operation thunderbolt cab. What contacts does that (15pin?) connector take?
 
I'd find a 25" Wells K7000. They always worked in every gun game I've ever tried them on and they are easy to fix. Those Hanatarex monitors have a great picture but when they fail they can be a bitch to repair.
 
anyone know the video connector and contacts for the Hantarex MTC 9000?

I'm going to place an order tonight for other parts.
 
Ok, so it looks like these are the contacts:
280702-1

And this is the connector:
280592

I can only find them for sale in min qty of 2000 and 1000. Yikes.
 
Ok, so it looks like these are the contacts:
280702-1

And this is the connector:
280592

I can only find them for sale in min qty of 2000 and 1000. Yikes.
(above from page 20)

Upon further inspection, the above part numbers are do NOT match the contacts on my 2 cables (1 needing 1 new contact, the other cut from another wiring harness). These may be alternative working parts? (with high min buys)

Hantarex 61000140 (page 56) is listed as the replacement cable, which I don't think they make anymore.

Thanks for the manual, but I was either unsuccessful or unable to find the correct parts for the monitor. :(
 
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