Monitor

The monitor is a Sony Trinitron 27" TV.

I'm using the S-video port. I'm very pleased with the image quality, but it has one 'feature' that might annoy you if you graft one into your cabinet. It has an on screen menu that you must go through every time it gets unplugged. You can skip the programming sequence, but it will always pop up. No big deal for my design (how often am I going to unplug it? never.), but something to be aware of and perhaps avoid if you use a TV for your cabinet. Actually, I have 2 power lines running to the cabinet. One for the monitor that is not switched, and one for everything else switched at a power strip nearby.

For a bezel, I cut one to fit from 1/4" foam core from an office supply store and covered it with the same black contact paper used on the rest of the cabinet. Not the best solution, but it achieves the desired effect. Note the IR detector for the keyboard on the right, and the access to the controls on the front.

A few people have written me asking why I chose to use a TV instead of an arcade or PC monitor. It's mostly a question of Size vs. Cost. The vertical games wouldn't look right on a 19" computer (or arcade) monitor unless the monitor was able to rotate. I know several people have made rotating monitors, but I wasn't up for it. Also, I knew I would want to play some PC games (like Golden Tee) and console emulators (SNES) on the cabinet. That pretty much eliminates using an arcade monitor. I could get a very good 27" tv for way less then a very bad 19" computer monitor anyway and 27" computer monitors are not really an option.

Several people have asked for pictures of various games running on the cabinet. Well, here they are.