88 replies to this topic

[Bob Creepy]

I voted for both 4:3 & Cab as I love to play 4:3 on my laptop & desktop and hope that someday I can play it on my Android Tablet that would be cool! I scan the local 4 sale lists every day looking for new pins to buy and as soon as 1 becomes available if I am unfamiliar with the machine I dl the table and give it a go. I have passed on several tables because I did not like the gameplay. I am about 1/4 finished my mini pin cab using a 27" monitor as the pf that will sit beside my Brunswick Superstar in the games room.

I most prefer the real thing but there are tables that I will never be able to acquire either through availability or $$$. I have never seen a Black Knight, Flash Gordon, Twilight Zone or Elvira available locally and if I did it would be for some stupid price.

So to play the tables that I grew up playing and to try and recapture the feel of the original I have opted to build a cab. If it goes well I will gut one of the parts games that I have and go for a full size table. Maybe I will weigh in on this topic again once I have had the opportunity to test it out.

[oggologgo]

Doesn't matter at all to me. None of it is like the real thing anyway, but when it's a good table, and you get into the game, it makes no difference what format it is.

[wildman]

Doesn't matter at all to me. None of it is like the real thing anyway, but when it's a good table, and you get into the game, it makes no difference what format it is.

Then why are you here if you dont like it???

[oggologgo]

Doesn't matter at all to me. None of it is like the real thing anyway, but when it's a good table, and you get into the game, it makes no difference what format it is.

Then why are you here if you dont like it???

At what point did I say I don't like it? Read before you reply.

Edited by oggologgo, 27 February 2012 - 01:18 AM.

[zerrax]

I like FS tables because of the playability and the far more realistic experience compared to 4:3
I have bought a wall mount that can rote my 55 inch Samsung TV in no time,

It's easy to set up, the quality of the parts are great, and there are a lot of spare bolts, screws suplied with the package.

My Visual Pinball TV

[Zablon]

I told the wife that now that my cab is pretty much done, I was going to start working on a "Hercules" style cab using our 70" TV and a projector! ....she didn't see the humor lol

[Practicedummy]

I prefer cabinet, but I am stuck with a lousy 24" widescreen. >

[NicToria]

Way cool Zerrax...

[Pintrepid]

I like FS tables because of the playability and the far more realistic experience compared to 4:3
I have bought a wall mount that can rote my 55 inch Samsung TV in no time,

It's easy to set up, the quality of the parts are great, and there are a lot of spare bolts, screws suplied with the package.

My Visual Pinball TV

That was really great! I love you can turn that tv around at will. Watch Star Wars, and then turn it to play Pinball after the movie. I'm jealous!


As for me, I was going to stick with 4:3/WS on my laptop, and also with the 24" WS on my work machine. Indeed, a desktop VP plays very nicely on that big screen!

... but the FS B2S tables in the discussions these days have been nothing less than spectacular! Now I just don't have the resources to invest in a full cabinet purchase. But I've seen on a few posts that some players use a dual or multi monitor setup to achieve a FS B2S setup, even if it's not a cabinet. It was enough for me to at least have a look and see what is possible.

I was happily surprised to find that computer and monitor prices are well within reach for such a setup. I found a Dell GX620 /Pent 4 2.8 GHz / 1 GB RAM / 80 GB HD / Win7 Pro / 17" 4:3 LCD for a mere $ 147.99. The 17" LCD would make a very nice Backglass. Next I found an Acer A231H BD 23" WS monitor for only $ 99.98. Total investment = $ 247.97 (+TX & S&H).

I was going to go ahead and make the purchase. But I had an unexpected bill that came up and kinda put that on hold.

I was going to resign myself to sticking with Desktop tables again until a more practical time ... but I couldn't get the FS Bug outta me. I'd tasted it, I wanted to see what it was really like to play VP in a FS B2S setup. Is it really that much of a better gameplay experience? Would it justify spending that little bit of money to find out? I needed to know if it was going to be worth the expense.

So I decided to test FS B2S using what I had at hand. I used my Dell Vostro 1000 WS laptop for the playfield, and hooked up an old 17" CRT 4:3 monitor for the backglass. Then I downloaded "JP Pirates LW B2S". Here's what I found out:


I was very delighted to see how easy it was to set up the two screens. I couldn't help it, a very big smile started going across my face like that Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland!


In looking at the playfield, I thought, this is the only way to play pinball, where it fills the entire screen. To me, it's a far more realistic game play experience. There's nothing to the sides of the playfield to distract from the gameplay. In fact, the sides of the monitor seem to give the illusion of being the sides of the table cabinet. Even on this little laptop screen, it was very nice to play the table like this!


But having the Backglass on a separate monitor was AWESOME! Yes, the monitor here in this test was much larger than the laptop screen. But effect of having the separate Backglass was FAR more realistic. And what a Backglass this particular table has. The lightning flashed behind the ships. There was even a bolt of lightning shooting through the sky. And the score in the Digital Display area was right where it was supposed to be, above the playfield, and not embedded within it.

Note: these picts don't show it very well, but the digital display was very functional, fully animated. And the gameplay was as smooth as it usually is in normal desktop tables. I did get a little stutter ... but this was because I'd inadvertently disconnected the powercord to the laptop .. the table was playing nicely with two monitors, and it was on batteries!

To me, this test passed with FLYING colours! I saw that having a FS table has decidedly more realistic gameplay for me. And I also saw that having a separate backglass that's animated, and with digital scoring in it, greatly enhances the realism I get from playing a FS table. There's no doubt about it, I HAVE to get a FS setup now. I see that, for me, I will definitely get much greater returns in enhanced gameplay that will make this investment more than worth it several times over.


The new setup's on order ... can't wait for it to get here! YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!

-PeterMac

Edited by Pintrepid, 28 March 2012 - 09:09 AM.