Hydro Thunder Show piece

Barrett59105

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Hello all. One of my customers has a Hydro thunder Showpiece with a 36" CRT. The CRT is badly faded and in need of replacement. Has anybody had any success retro fitting any type of LCD? Are there any vendors left that sell a 36" CRT? I think the shipping alone would be crazy expensive.

Thank you for any input.

I've attached a picture of the showpiece cabinet that I am talking about for reference.
 

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Happ sells an LCD kit for it, be prepared to shell out some money for it though. you won't find any "new" CRTs of that size. you may very well be able to get away with a rejuve on the tube, no guarantees it'll work or stick though.
 
Hey Mecha,

I did talk to my sales person @ happ and she said they don't offer a replacement LCD for this particular cabinet. If you have seen or heard different and you can get me a part number and I'll check it out.

From what I have learned so far It may have to be a custom LCD replacement. In order to do that I would have to convert the video signal to VGA or DVI I'm guessing in order for it to display on any new LCD. Not sure if that would even work or display correctly given aspect ratios, and what is most likely a Mid rezolution set up currently in the cabinet. Any thoughts? Experience? Sombody must have crossed this road before. ;-) I'm I the only one working with a Showpiece Hydro? Should I buy it from him and sell it for big bucks! LOL

Thank you.
 
interesting. maybe the Hydro Thunder at my bowling alley isn't the 39" model then, but it certainly looks to be like the same size as the Cruis'n Exotica at my work. the Hydro I speak of has an LCD replacement in it.

I would think Happ would have such an item because they own Midway's arcade division and because replacements for that size CRT are like... impossible to find.

I don't know how you'd get medium res out of one, but I know for VGA an LCD TV is a drop-in replacement... catch will be figuring out what to do with the power.
 
If your issue is burn-in, the cabinet is pretty much a lost cause. You'd have to get an LCD panel custom-made to not look utterly terrible in that cabinet, and "custom LCD" means four to five digit minimum orders, with the price tag you'd expect for that many panels. Even if the tube is burnt to a crisp, you're stuck with it.

What exactly is the issue anyway? Some things a rejuvenator can help with.
 
You could always troll craigslist for a free or cheap 36 inch tv might take a couple tries to find one with a tube thatll work but id definately try.

A lcd will cost an arm and a leg. You could get a used 29" or 33" tri-sync m make brackets and a bezel for it. WOnt look right but better than nothing.


These days unless the burn is just horrendous i live with it. Crt monitors are not becoming any more available so i prefer to use them up as much as i can before i move on.
 
I'd go with the Craigslist route too. I put 26" LCD's in a pair of 25" Hydro's and they looked like crap (the monitors did the EGA to VGA upscaling). I can only imagine what a 36 or better LCD would look like.

Hw bad is the picture?
 
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