Vertical Monitor Help [Archive] - Retrogaming Roundtable

SegaAges

07-20-2009, 12:31 AM

Now, I have been holding off on even thinking about shmups in my cab, but I do have the board that plays radiant silvergun, and it is very tempting. I do a have a problem though, my montor is horizontal.

Now keep in mind that I can do stuff with arcades, but I am still a little bit of a noob with them, but I think it would be incredible if I got radiant silvergun for this.

I have one shmup, and what I am doing now is just switching up the inputs on the joysticks to basically turn it into a horizontal shooter or a side scroller or whatever.

What is the easiest, and cheapest, way to get something so that I can flip from vertical to horizontal on the fly.

I already know the easiest answer, get another cab, but I have no room for another cab right now, so I wanted to see how possible it would be to setup my current cab so that I could do horizontal or vertical.

How possible is it, and how difficult would it be to do?

Flack

07-20-2009, 11:59 AM

A vertical monitor is a horizontal monitor turned 90 degrees. There is no such thing as a "horizontal monitor" or a "vertical monitor". Some monitors are mounted vertically, others are mounted horizontally.

Some of the candy-style cabs allow for easy monitor rotation. Most stand up cabs do not and would have to have something custom built.

BYOAC (http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_rotate.shtml) has lots of examples of cabs with rotating monitors. Most of not all of the examples are of computer monitors in MAME cabinets, but the same principles apply.

TurboGenesis

07-20-2009, 04:00 PM

Radiant Silvergun plays in horizontal orientation. No need to TATE your monitor for that game. Raizing's ST-V shooter, Soukyugurentai, also plays in horizontal orientation.

From my understanding, the Egret II is the easiest cab to rotate the monitor, which is why they are popular.

jb143

07-20-2009, 06:25 PM

Is there any issues with constantly rotating an arcade monitor back and forth though? I know CRT TV's don't like it. It can cause the colors to mess up and get blotchy.

Are there any devices that will rotate a video signal 90 degrees that you could turn on and off. It probally wouldn't be optimal though since the game wouldn't be full screen but it would be more convenient than physically rotating a monitor.

klausien

07-20-2009, 06:41 PM

SegaAges

07-20-2009, 08:50 PM

All you need is a degaussing coil.

Wow, it is awesome to find out that radiant silvergun plays horizontal.

What is this coil you speak of?

jb143

07-20-2009, 11:11 PM

What is this coil you speak of?

It's a coil around the monitor that removes the discoloration caused by magnetic fields. I know moving TV's around can mess up the colors and you sometimes if it's too bad you need a better coil than the one built in. I just wasn't sure if manually rotating an arcade monitor over and over would do the same thing.

SegaAges

07-21-2009, 07:51 AM

Hmm, I should pick one up anyway to get rid of the discolorartion on my screen. I have a very small amount of it on my bottom right hand corner.

jb143

07-21-2009, 12:28 PM

Hmm, I should pick one up anyway to get rid of the discolorartion on my screen. I have a very small amount of it on my bottom right hand corner.

Just make sure you learn to use it first, otherwise you could make the problem worse. Another trick that might work is to put a CRT computer monitor face to face with the discolored spot and activate the degause option. It's the option that makes the screen go all wonky with a buzz sound for a second. It usually looks like a magnet or a crossed out magnet in the monitor setting options.

I've also heard of people using blow dryers, drills, or anything else with an AC motor in them in place with of a hand degauser, but I don't know how well that really works.

Flack

07-21-2009, 01:09 PM

On the Randy Fromm arcade repair DVDs, he degausses one with a soldering gun (one that actually looks like a gun or a hand drill) with amazing results. He also does one with a hand magnet. I don't know how much skill is actually involved, but he makes it look pretty simple.

Ed Oscuro

07-21-2009, 06:36 PM

A vertical monitor is a horizontal monitor turned 90 degrees. There is no such thing as a "horizontal monitor" or a "vertical monitor".
Except for the issue that some monitors don't like being put in the other orientation.

It's kind of a try-and-see thing though, I haven't heard of that happening to many monitors.

I certainly wouldn't be constantly rotating a monitor back and forth, for my back if nothing else.

Flack

07-21-2009, 08:59 PM

Except for the issue that some monitors don't like being put in the other orientation.

It's kind of a try-and-see thing though, I haven't heard of that happening to many monitors.

Have you ever heard of that happening to any arcade monitor?

Ed Oscuro

07-21-2009, 10:49 PM

Have you ever heard of that happening to any arcade monitor?
Regular TVs certainly, (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=25647) arcade monitors might possibly have some serious issues.

And with arcade monitors, you can run into stuff like this (http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?&t=8867) happening (edit: that was user error though!).

I would certainly defer to your experience with CRTs, though; if you say it's not common, then it probably won't be...but it is something to be aware of at least. I wouldn't run out to buy a degaussing coil though.

I imagine the short version is like this: Can't hurt to try rotating an arcade monitor once. I would follow the advice from the thread linked above about waiting 15 minutes (then again I wouldn't touch any arcade monitor that wasn't discharged as well), and if it still didn't like being flipped on its side, try again a day later; flip back if it doesn't like it, try with another monitor.

Ed Oscuro

07-22-2009, 12:47 AM

No, CRT monitors can be mounted in any position - vertical, horizontal, facing up, facing down...

Now, some older cabinets might be designed for either a vertical or horizontal chassis (not both). Is that what you meant?
I believe the first post I linked is relevant to your assertion. To answer the question, no. I'll need to be put down when I start confusing "monitor" with "cabinet," or do I have a reputation for doing that around here? Second time recently somebody has asked me if I'm making boners. @_@

Flack

07-22-2009, 09:44 AM

We're asking questions because between Stonic and myself we've probably handled 500 arcade monitors and I've personally never seen one that gave a shit about its orientation. Last week I pulled a monitor out of a (horizontal) Defender and tossed it in my (vertical) Karate Champ. It happens all the time and I've never had, or heard of anyone else having, a problem doing it. Yes, sometimes they need degaussing, but most of the time they don't even need that.

That thread you posted a link to is bunk, by the way. TVs catching on fire from rotating them? I'd have to see that one in person to believe it. I have a Commodore monitor that I used to rotate on its side all the time when I first got my Supergun.

Arcade Antics

07-22-2009, 04:32 PM

I believe the first post I linked is relevant to your assertion. To answer the question, no. I'll need to be put down when I start confusing "monitor" with "cabinet," or do I have a reputation for doing that around here? Second time recently somebody has asked me if I'm making boners. @_@

He didn't suggest that you confused a monitor with a cab. He only asked if you meant that the cab was built for a horizontal or vertical chassis.

Ed Oscuro

07-22-2009, 08:02 PM

That thread you posted a link to is bunk, by the way. TVs catching on fire from rotating them? I'd have to see that one in person to believe it.
That's not the part I emphasized though. Yes, I figured you'd moved about 500 monitors with no issue, but I still figured that sharing what I've seen around can't hurt.

Consumer TVs with shabby housings aside, I'll accept I'm wrong to say that some CRT arcade monitors aren't all able to be placed in various orientations with no problem. People regularly manage to mess this up though. Anyhow, glad that all got sorted out.

SegaAges

07-30-2009, 08:53 PM

Back to topic. Is there any sort of shit I can wire up to switch the signal between horizontal and vertical?

I was hoping there was something like that, but I honestly don't know.

jb143

07-30-2009, 09:33 PM

Back to topic. Is there any sort of shit I can wire up to switch the signal between horizontal and vertical?

I was hoping there was something like that, but I honestly don't know.

That's along the lines of what I was asking about before. I know it can be done but I don't know if there's anything out there that will...consumer wise anyways. I always thought it's be funny to design a circuit that you could put on someones cable line that would flip the signal. After cursing at the TV and hitting it a few times they'd have to turn their TV upside down.LOL This would be about the same thing

jb143

08-01-2009, 12:43 PM

The way I understood the question was...is there a black box you can connect in the video signal to have it come out 90 degrees? I'm pretty sure that could be done. I don't know of anything off hand though but I'm pretty sure high end video processors have that option. It could certainly be done with a computer that has video in/out, but that would be quite cumbersome and probally have too much lag.

bust3dstr8

08-01-2009, 04:19 PM

Even if you could find some super video thingy to tate the image on a
hori monitor it would be letterboxed and look like crap. There is only one
real option if you want a cab that does hori and vert easily, get one with
a quick rotation mech. Like TurboGenesis said the Taito Egret 2 is a good
choice, you also have the Capcom Q25. These cabs can rotate in about 3
minutes with one finger.

Egret in action.......
http://www.zax.com.au/images/egret29/egret2-rotate2.jpg