Question about LCD monitors in classic games...

SHaMROCK73

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Hey everyone. I know the general opinion on this board is one that putting a LCD monitor in a classic game is sacrilege. All the threads state that if you install one you'll be disappointed. And state it looks bad. One thread mentions "they look like ass".

I really don't believe this, LCDs look great in all other applications. Does anyone have a picture of a classic game using a LCD display?

I play classic games via MAME on my LCD PC monitor and I LOVE the way they look. Is this how a classic game would look as well?

I want more information and just feel the opinions here (on this issue) are not objective and try and steer people away from these montiors just to preserve a classic!

Let the flaming begin... ;)
 
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here is a few pics of a 60 n 1 bd using an lcd.. looks ok.
 

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If you like it on your computer monitor, then you'll like it. It looks the same.

There's about 3 reasons that LCD's don't look as good as the original monitors, in my opinion.

1. The original monitor is curved, the lcd is flat. Not too big of a deal, but noticeable.

2. Contrast. Tubes just give a better contrast than lcd's do, they have 'blacker blacks', etc.

3. The original games were designed with a crt monitor in mind. Sharp edges were designed knowing that they'd be blurred a bit by the warmth of the tube and just the way the thing works. When you display those same games on an lcd, everything has pixelated edges that looks like shit in my opinion.


What it ultimately comes down to is, it's your game man do what you want. If you want to paint it pink and install neon in the coin slots, have at it.
 
I'm serious man. Don't let anybody tell you what to do with your games. If you're not into the vintage thing, break out the chainsaw and hack that fucking computer monitor in there!!!!
 
Honestly, it depends on the classic game. Vectors look terrible to most folks, but slower games like Pac-Man don't look too bad. Also, keep in mind the CRTs don't provide the same crystal clear picture as LCDs, so you see more of the blockiness on LCDs while CRTs blur the edges some. I have played on both and still prefer CRT since it matches what the original games looked like.

At the end of the day the games are meant to be played, so set-up your cabinet however you'll play it the most. :)

Scott C.
 
People like the original look for the same reason old dudes like vinyl records. Because it's the way they remember them. Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings. But if you like the cracks and pops and hisses....well...it's the way to go. Same with monitors....us old guys just like the look better. You must be one of them young whippersnappers.
 
lcds pretty much only look good in their native resolution. everything else looks like crap to me. i can't stand using a pc on a lcd set to anything other than the native resolution. arcade games use very low resolution and thus look like crap on a lcd. an arcade monitor can actually properly display all sorts of resolutions while an lcd cannot, tubes simply do a better job displaying low resolution, which is what classic games used.

if you like the lcd go for it.
 
People like the original look for the same reason old dudes like vinyl records. Because it's the way they remember them. Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings. But if you like the cracks and pops and hisses....well...it's the way to go. Same with monitors....us old guys just like the look better. You must be one of them young whippersnappers.

I think I fall more into the "old guy" range than the "young whippersnapper" range.

I'm 37...
 
People like the original look for the same reason old dudes like vinyl records. Because it's the way they remember them. Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings. But if you like the cracks and pops and hisses....well...it's the way to go. Same with monitors....us old guys just like the look better. You must be one of them young whippersnappers.

> Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings

I can say this. Or I could about 15 years ago anyway when comparing a record to the same album recorded on a CD, particularly at loud volumes. It wasn't my equipment and it was like $50,000 (at the time) worth of audio gear but you could tell that some of the warmth of the recording was missing from the CD but present on the album recording.

Digital audio quality has improved since then so that may no longer be the case with formats better than CD audio quality.
 
It's not just a strict CRT vs. LCD thing. The last multicade I did had no monitor. I put a curved CRT PC monitor in it, and it was still blocky. Arcade monitors had a much lower resolution, so the blockiness was masked quite a bit. VGA monitors just reveal the image for what it is. I'm not saying I like it, I'm just saying.
 
People like the original look for the same reason old dudes like vinyl records. Because it's the way they remember them. Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings. But if you like the cracks and pops and hisses....well...it's the way to go.

Yeah, actually hardcore audio guys always prefer vinyl to cd. It DOES sound better, if you have high end equipment. The way your ear works is your ear drum picks up vibrations, it's a physical thing. A CD just creates switches that turn the speaker cone on and off essentially, the vinyl record physically vibrates the stylus, etc. it adds more warmth and basically sounds much more natural than a cd.
 
People like the original look for the same reason old dudes like vinyl records. Because it's the way they remember them. Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings. But if you like the cracks and pops and hisses....well...it's the way to go.

I will put my 12" singles up against the CD counterparts any day. They compress the shit out CDs now just so they'll be "loud". The industry has gone way overboard with compression. Don't even get me started on MP3s. I've even been buying new releases on record and recording them to CD without compression and they sound noticably better than the CD counterpart.
 
Oh, and I don't think the old games look that bad on LCDs, they just don't look as good as they do on the original CRTs. Early games almost look like glowing cross-stitch. Like you could touch the screen and feel the texture. You get really deep blacks too, which helps when you want to give an effect of the picture floating behind the bezel. You can't see where the monitor edge starts and the screen begins. You just see the game. Pretty cool. It's all pretty subtle though. I can't stand playing DK or DK Jr. on mame now because without the analog sounds they sound shitty to me.
 
The vibration isn't at the stylus that we hear, it is ALWAYS from the cone of the speaker through a receiver.. It isn't CD or Vinyl, its how music is processed and transmitted through wire to that speaker cone which is the problem.

Oh, and LCD monitors look rather horrible.
 
The vibration isn't at the stylus that we hear, it is ALWAYS from the cone of the speaker through a receiver.. It isn't CD or Vinyl, its how music is processed and transmitted through wire to that speaker cone which is the problem.

Well, not entirely that obvious. The speaker only "sounds off" what it's told to. It's the last stop on the line, but that doesn't make it the "reason of quality" by default. The cone is vibrated A/C via the voice coil by a series of electrical frequencies sent by a created signal. If the speaker is sent digital frequencies in a certain Hz, then it will play that exactly as is. If analog, then it plays exactly that frequency as well.


> Nobody can say with a straight face that vinyl actually produces sound better than more modern digital offerings

Yes it always will straight bold faced. Digitalizing sound processes and filters out all the Hz in a note. On vinyl, you hear the beginning, middle, and end of the note in its entirety. Now im not talking about a shit box turn table that someone could've bought from Caldor that hisses like a King Cobra all for under $30, Im talking about an ANALOG belt driven turntable, with top notch needle and stylus set at the precise weight.

If you don't believe me take a look at some proven scientific graphs out there regarding side by side comparisons of a SINE WAVE note, one produced by a Digital and the other Analog. The Analog has much more Hz per note than Digital, showing you hear more of a full note.

Digital is good for filtering and cleaning up frequencies, but analog at its best is king, no contest.

Anyways if you just want to play the game with an lcd for no nostalgia purposes, then do so. If youre looking for credit, or nostalgia, then it's Crt.
 
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I will put my 12" singles up against the CD counterparts any day. They compress the shit out CDs now just so they'll be "loud". The industry has gone way overboard with compression. Don't even get me started on MP3s. I've even been buying new releases on record and recording them to CD without compression and they sound noticably better than the CD counterpart.

Well you can't fault the digital format for flawed mastering techniques.
 
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