167 replies to this topic

[Tesla]

Amazon.com: LG QHD 32-Inch Computer Monitor 32QN600-B, IPS with HDR 10 Compatibility and AMD FreeSync, Black : Electronics

 

What did you find my friend? So we are looking to use a desktop-monitor (with possible de-case)... I'm game.

 

I've opened and repaired LCD-Monitors and TVs before over the years, so it should be similar to that. It will be kinda weird buying a nice new monitor like this and tearing-it-apart right off the bat, but I need me some nice pinball-cabinet parts. 

 

That 32-inch IPS LCD-Panel looks sweet.

32QN600-B.AUS

Some really nice specs (too many to mention) for this price.

 

So, the Brochure/Specs say: Without Stand (WxHxD) 28.1" x 16.5" x 1.8

 

My side-ways space between the cabinet-sides is 17-3/4 inches. I have plenty of vertical space. And since 16.5 is less than 71.75 we are good that way as well, right?

Edited by Tesla, 31 October 2023 - 04:36 PM.

[wiesshund]

you may not even need to decase

it has no bezel on 3 sides and only a trivial amount of bezel on the bottom.

 

view angle on that panel is nuts

you can see the thing nearly sideways

[Tesla]

you may not even need to decase

it has no bezel on 3 sides and only a trivial amount of bezel on the bottom.

 

view angle on that panel is nuts

you can see the thing nearly sideways

 

It looks like the controls are built-into the bottom edge of the display (facing down). If I do not de-case, how would I get to them? Maybe just enough space to barely use them occasionally as needed (but how under the glass)?

 

Would you suggest that I ultimately have this display mounted 1.5 inches below the thick playfield-glass like the existing one?

 

Yes, I noticed that ( that spec and others). Hopefully this IPS-panel will work optimally (and look pretty). 

 

Thanks for helping me see that blowing the old AtGames lcd-panel will likely end-up being a blessing-in-disguise after all. 

Edited by Tesla, 31 October 2023 - 06:08 PM.

[wiesshund]

once you set up the monitor, you wont need the controls really

the only control is a single fingertip little joystick thing in the very center.

Personally, i would just put a tiny finger sized access hole in the cab side.

could even put a little chrome hole plug in it

 

It is pretty much set and forget

most one would normally need to do, is maybe power it on, but doubtful if even that as it resumes state on powerloss

and has it's own auto sleep/standby, so normally no reason to turn it on and off

Mounting depth is up to you

Personally i am not too fond of reverse angling the screen and sinking it deep into the cabinet

 

it kind of looks funny, when a table has its own cab sides

and regardless of how great a screens view angle is, the lower the angle will always be better than higher
so i prefer to have the screen running even with the angle of the cab sides incline

and just low enough that it does not simply reflect off the glass, if one has glass on top, 1.5 inches sounds good?

PS

 

the 1660 will run 2K resolutions in VPX with mostly all video options maxed out.
offhand, the only thing i can think of, which has nothing to do with the 1660 would be limiting max texture size

to the 3k option if you run any of the VPW tables that are using huge textures.

Edited by wiesshund, 31 October 2023 - 06:52 PM.

[Tesla]

1. once you set up the monitor, you wont need the controls really ... It is pretty much set and forget

 

2. Mounting depth is up to you

 

and just low enough that it does not simply reflect off the glass ... 1.5 inches sounds good?

3. the 1660 will run 2K resolutions in VPX with mostly all video options maxed out.

offhand, the only thing i can think of, which has nothing to do with the 1660 would be limiting max texture size

to the 3k option if you run any of the VPW tables that are using huge textures.

 

I have ordered that LG 32QN600-B display you recommended.

 

1. Cool. 

 

2. OK, I will try working toward that (similar to the way it was with old display-panel ... an inch or so under the glass).

 

3. Thanks for remembering. Yes, I have the Nvidia GTX-1660 in this pinball-computer, but it is "Super" version with 6gb GDDR6. Glad to hear you think the GTX-1660 can handle it (2K/1440p gaming). 

Edited by Tesla, 31 October 2023 - 08:00 PM.

[wiesshund]

1660 super is very similar to the RX 580/590
and both of those can run vpx good at 2k

 

not so well at 4k without reducing all the good settings, but 2k yes.

 

That monitor has a standard vesa mount

so you may be able to implement that in the mounting

might make life easier

[Tesla]

1660 super is very similar to ...

 

According to my benchmarks, just a little slower my GTX-1070's.

 

I'm envisioning a quick mounting for the LG (probably not even de-cased ... like you mentioned might be possible). It's got a couple of horizontal arms down in there ready to cradle it. 

 

After I get some other stuff working, I can then circle back around and make the mounting more permanent and pretty around the bezel.

[wiesshund]

if nothing else, black foam core board would work as an easy bezel.

measure, cut with straight edge and razor blade or good exactly knife

than take a black sharpie to the cut edges.

Stiff enough to support itself, but weighs nothing.

Does not cost much either

[Tesla]

Looks like Murphy's Law got me on that original ALP 1080p/60Hz LCD-Panel. Maybe it wasn't optimal for 32-inches, but it was adequate. It could also have been re-purposed in another machine (my brother is looking for one) or a MAME-arcade-cabinet (my next project).

 

Since the Amazon review said it worked on his ALP, I have ordered another one of those new VSDisplay LVDS Controllers. If I ever have the opportunity, I will try again with this fresh board. Next time, after I dissipate the flea-power, I will try letting all the parts lay dead for 30-minutes before I start messing with it. I'll let yall know how it goes.

 

If another user here gets the VSDisplay board to work on their original 32-inch ALP display panel, please let us know.

[wiesshund]

For a MAME cab?

to be honest?

 

Look for a Dell or HP 19 to 22" 4.3 LCD (for MAME the resolution literally does not matter
You can find those used cheap, check craigs list etc

 

It is the correct aperture, it is actually larger than a real arcade screen (if 22"), with a few exceptions

and, you can easily spin it inside the cab for horizontal and vertical games

 

PC wise for that, really all you need is some cast off laptop that someone smashed the screen on.
Off hand i cant think of anything MAME runs that does not work perfect on my antique dell laptop

 

One advantage MAME cabs over a vpin is materials

You can make the cabinet out of the cheapest thinnest mdf.
You just build a 2x4 frame, hidden inside the cheap MDF to support the control panel etc, and the rest of the cab is literally just for looks

 

You could spend a bit on the control panel, depending on what you needs are.

some people need nothing more than 2 4way/8way sticks, 12 player buttons, 2 player select buttons and a coin button plus some sort of exit button.

 

If you dont foresee heavy abuse, you can get decent mileage out of a zero delay kit from amazon

or you can stop up to some heavier duty stuff from Ultimarc.

 

Mine you there are people that do build mame cabs with 3 screens, and dof etc

but one definitely does not need to do that.

 

One of the nice things about MAME is you do not need to spend very much
and a top of the line PC is pretty much a waste.

 

In the old days, i'd just run down to the coinop repair and get you a gutted cab and probably like a street fighter control panel and could probably scrounge up a marquee or monitor glass for 40 bucks

but those days are decades gone now.

[Tesla]

For a MAME cab ...

 

 

That is some good info, so I captured it for later. Honestly, I'm in a different mode at the moment, trying to get this pinball-cabinet upgraded and working again. 

 

But let me ask you ... like we have this forum for Virtual Pinball, can you recommend a similar resource for building a MAME Retro Arcade cabinet? Maybe even a build-guide for later?

 

OK, back to pinball.

[Tesla]

OK, the LG 32-inch 1440p monitor is here (Amazon "Transporter Technology" is a little slow but works fine).

 

It looks good and fits down into the ALP-cabinet just fine.

 

So, should I try to get this LG-32in connected with DisplayPort (instead of HDMI) ? Seems like that might help stuff like 75Hz and HDR to work if I ever want to try them. I see my little 8-inch DMD lcd-monitor is HDMI until it gets to Nvidia video-card where I see a simple HDMI-to-DP-Converter. 

 

Of course, I would still like the LG-32 to be Windows Display #1 (if possible) as it all seems to work better that way.

Edited by Tesla, 02 November 2023 - 08:26 PM.

[wiesshund]

Use DP
It has 1st priority, so it will ensure playfield is actually Display 1

beyond that, no real advantage, 75hz 10bit and hdr all work on hdmi

 

DVI > HDMI is a 1 to 1 connection, minus the audio conductors

same conductors otherwise

 

no worries there

 

Oh wait, you said DP convertor

eh still no worries, but if you dont need the convertor, you can remove it?

Edited by wiesshund, 02 November 2023 - 08:31 PM.

[Tesla]

Perfect, thats what I needed to know. Let me see what I can do.

I just remember that I need to work out my display connections and display numbers before I start messing with my ScreenRes.txt and similar files .

Edited by Tesla, 02 November 2023 - 08:44 PM.

[wiesshund]

Perfect, thats what I needed to know. Let me see what I can do.

I just remember that I need to work out my display connections and display numbers before I start messing with my ScreenRes.txt and similar files .

 

Dont worry about that so much
Plug them in one, boot up PC and their positions will remain static.

 

It is when you go plugging and unplugging you get issues and have to dump the monitors from registry

[Tesla]

Just to be clear ... I have all 3 displays working (mostly) ... very cool.

 

So, since I'm re-doing it anyway ... the Windows Display Layout and Orientation of the 3 displays ...

 

I always set-it-up with the displays "sitting on the ground" (because that is the way Farsight did it).

But did I see that the more accepted standard is to have the displays oriented along the top edge ? (looks like boxes floating under water)

 

Maybe MJR shows a definitive way? How do you do it?

Edited by Tesla, 03 November 2023 - 01:05 AM.

[Tesla]

Maybe MJR shows a definitive way?

 

Interesting, seems not really.

 

http://mjrnet.org/pi...php?sid=windows

 

It's been my experience that calculating coordinates for the multiple displays is much easier if all the displays are all perfectly aligned ... all along either the bottom or top edge.

Edited by Tesla, 03 November 2023 - 01:25 AM.

[wiesshund]

TOP

 

top left most pixel is pixel 0,0

going straight down will bring you to pixel 0,1440

 

(which will be right off the screen for backglass or DMD)

 

going to the right brings you to pixel 2560,xxxxx

 

pixel 2561 is on the next screen

 

2560 + backglass width +1 is the 3rd screen

playfield, left most screen (number means nothing) set as windows PRIMARY DESKTOP

and DONT APPLY SCALING OVER 100%

 

backglass is next, and tops aligned exactly

 

3rd is DMD, and tops aligned exactly

[Tesla]

Captured all that.

 

Yes, I will make left-most portrait Display the Windows Primary one.

Understood. This time, I will exactly align all the display tops. 

[Tesla]

An update ...

 

All 3 screens are working and the LG-32 is temporarily mounted (mostly with gravity, it's pretty heavy)  .

I think I will move on to other aspects of the project ...

 

I'm eager to start installing things, but I realize I still have no good-sized hole in the floor-board. If I'm going to keep the computer under the ALP ... cables could be shorter and neater if they didn't have to go all the way out the back and then down and around.

 

Seems like now would be a good time while the lower cabinet is (or can be) a very empty shell right about now. Do you think I should haul the cabinet out to the garage for heavy drilling/cutting?

Edited by Tesla, 04 November 2023 - 05:38 PM.