Idea for a multi-monitor cab for ArcadeSD multiboard

Tornadoboy

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Idea for a multi-monitor cab for ArcadeSD multiboard

Figured I'd float this idea and see what people think.

I've got a Boot Hill at home and for those whom aren't familiar with it it has a monitor mounted facing up and is reflected at the player off a 2-way mirror, and behind the mirror there's a plastic background which is lit, can be seen and the monitor image appears to be overlayed on it.

Long story short is I wonder how well this technique would work for TWO monitors, one mounted in vertical orientation and the other horizontal, instead of just one with a background? In other words you could switch between them to accommodate the ArcadeSD games that use either. Now granted the image on the reflected monitor would have to be reversed, but my understanding is that's simply a matter of flipping the coil wires.

Thoughts? Ideas? Insults? :D

Oh and for the recorded I'm not talking about hacking up my Boot Hill, I'm talking about building a new custom cab from scratch.

Attached is a mockup of what I'm talking about:
 

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Great idea! you don't even have to spin the monitor like you would in a candy cabinet.

That would work fine, but for the effort wouldn't it just be easier to have 2 cabs? It would weigh as much as a X-men 6 player!
 
That would work fine, but for the effort wouldn't it just be easier to have 2 cabs? It would weigh as much as a X-men 6 player!

True, but then you'd either need two boards (about $300 a shot) or some way to run a switchable cable for the monitor, controls, speaker etc, that would be too much of a pain.

I don't think it would be THAT heavy or big, it would need to be a little deeper than normal but it probably wouldn't be any more heavy than a duel monitor cab like Punchout, and even less so if I used 13" monitors and made it sort of a quasi-cabaret. If I put in one of those 6-in-1 JAMMA switches I could put in a whole array of differently oriented boards too as well as the ArcadeSD!
 
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Few thoughts -

1. Really Heavy cabinet!
2. Swapping Yoke wiring is easy if the molex is already replaced/cracked
3. Where would the mirror sit when the other monitor is in there?

Awesome idea! Just needs some stuff worked out...
 
The mirror would be perminately mounted at a 45-degree angle between them, the monitor behind it would be looked at straight on by the player and not reflected, then turned off to use the another which would be reflected from a monitor mounted below facing straight up at the mirror. Take a look at a Space Invaders upright some time and see how the monitor works with the background behind the mirror, that's what I have in mind, except replacing the background with a second monitor.

Again, it'll have the added weight of a second monitor and maybe a cab that's 5 or 6 inches deeper than normal, but I wouldn't expect it to be that bad.
 
True, but then you'd either need two boards (about $300 a shot) or some way to run a switchable cable for the monitor, controls, speaker etc, that would be too much of a pain.

I don't think it would be THAT heavy or big, it would need to be a little deeper than normal but it probably wouldn't be any more heavy than a duel monitor cab like Punchout, and even less so if I used 13" monitors and made it sort of a quasi-cabaret.

Don't say quasicade because that is already taken! :D

http://www.arcadegamesuperstore.com/quasicade.htm

Also, I don't think it is a bad idea, but you would have to use 13" monitors, or that cabinet would stick out really far in line-up of games.

How about a cocktail with a movable double sided mirror? :p

stupidcade.jpg
 
I'm making a multicade cocktail that supports botth horizontal and vertical games with one monitor I got the idea from this picture. Basically the vertical games you sit on the end like a normal cocktail than for the horizontal games 2 players sit on the same side I'm using a 60 in 1 and 19 in 1. But this would work with mame as well just buy having mame set to auto rotate the screen. Here is the pic I have of my cabinet I just started on it I got a 19" LCD with metal bezel from Suzo happ had to cut the metal bezel down to size to fit a cocktail than I routed the top to hold the bezel flush now Im waiting on my cocktail underlay than the glass goes over that.
 

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I'm making a multicade cocktail that supports botth horizontal and vertical games with one monitor I got the idea from this picture. Basically the vertical games you sit on the end like a normal cocktail than for the horizontal games 2 players sit on the same side I'm using a 60 in 1 and 19 in 1. But this would work with mame as well just buy having mame set to auto rotate the screen. Here is the pic I have of my cabinet I just started on it I got a 19" LCD with metal bezel from Suzo happ had to cut the metal bezel down to size to fit a cocktail than I routed the top to hold the bezel flush now Im waiting on my cocktail underlay than the glass goes over that.

My post was a joke.
 
if this is specifically for the arcadeSD. don't you have to pull the SD, put it into the computer and change the orientation setting to get it to switch between the 2?

maybe there is a menu settings I'm not aware of that lets you do it on the fly from the test button?

but the idea of doing a space invaders style multicade sounds really neat. would add a really cool dimension to the experience.

I kind of gave up on the arcadeSD as a horizontal platform and use it now in a vertical cab. I have a mame setup for the horizontal which can also do vertical games with no setup required. not pretty and clever but it works for playing games.
 
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if this is specifically for the arcadeSD. don't you have to pull the SD, put it into the computer and change the orientation setting to get it to switch between the 2?

I'm not sure, but either way it's an improvement over a rotating monitor (though those are cool too!), if what I have in mind works it'll just be a matter of pressing a switch to go from V to H, and if you have to reprogram the SD you're going to have to do that no matter what kind of setup you have, but at least you'll be spared dinky around with spinning the monitor.

Not that I'm ever going to be able to make use of it this way, but this reflected dual-monitor idea would probably work to make a REALLY cool game that used the combined graphics of both a vector and raster monitor! The PC game someone made for Polybius would be an awesome one for that, as it has both raster and simulated vector.
 
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