LCD Monitor choice
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Just wanted to share that a refurbished HP LP1965 is quite acceptable for a monitor choice. It has a 6ms response time and 178 deg. view angles. One particular site has them without a stand for around $25. I'm just about to order a cocktail cab kit to house my project.
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@normanmsu96 One consideration that is not immediately obvious is the viewing angle in both orientations. The 178 degrees usually refers to left-right angle when the screen is oriented on a desk horizontally. While that's great for cocktail builds because player controls are usually on the vertical ends, I have alway had to mount LCDs upside-down if you have controls on the horizontal side too.
Check my signature and click the link to my build thread. My 4-player cocktail build has side-by-side controls along a horizontal edge (Street Fighter, etc.) and if I had mounted my display normally, the effective "low" viewing angle would have been extremely problematic. Under normal use as a computer monitor, a user looks straight-on or DOWN FROM ABOVE a display sitting on a desk. In my cocktail build, the horizontal players would be viewing as though they were "under the desk" when used as a computer monitor. Hopefully this makes sense. Anyway, my screens always get contrasty when viewed from below, but viewed from above, they are great, so I simply mount them upside-down in cocktail builds and specify 180 degree rotation in my software config at boot.
I have had to deal with this on Samsung 15", Sony 19", and Dell 19" displays. Not sure about HP, or if they source screens from one of these.
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@caver01 im not sure about this hp monitor but the hp 1080p monitors have a phenomenal picture with a great viewing angle from all directions. If i ever need to buy a 1080p monitor again i probably wont buy a monitor that is not an hp monitor. The only issue they might have for people is they have a glass screen on them which can have reflection issues for people who have their monitors facing in direct sunlight.
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@edmaul69 No doubt, but for these cocktail builds, I am referring to 4:3 aspect ratio displays. There was a very short window of quality with large, high-res LCDs that are 4:3 and have good viewing angles. They are hard to find. Many are satisfactory, but if @normanmsu96 found a good one at a decent price, that's something to grab if you ever see one.
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@caver01 i have modified many arcade machines with all different types of monitors and the best monitors to use are flat screen crt's. The picture is amazing on them. But definitely if you can find a good viewing angle 4:3 lcd you want to grab them. They are hard to find. But then again any good 4:3 monitor being crt or lcd are hard to find these days. I wish i had stockpiled them when thrift stores were practically giving them away.
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@caver01 Great info, I was considering adding side by side controls on one side for horizontal games, but this may be a factor. My focus is the older classic vertical that have the cocktail DIP switch setting as far as 2 players. Now I have considered just adding a usb port to the player 1 end so I can plug someone in and play a quick street fighter game. I was not familiar with the definition of view angle but now I see what you mean.
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