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I've been postponing building my own for some time now for one reason only. Monitor! There are three issues that bug me. First, I really like CRTs, but I can li

I've been postponing building my own for some time now for one reason only. Monitor! There are three issues that bug me. First, I really like CRTs, but I can live without one. Second, I wan't a big 4:3 and that is not going to happen. There are some 16:10 options, but not as big as 16:9. Third, which is more important to me, is that I want an elegant cabinet with rotating monitor that rotates between horizontal and vertical (tate) mode. This is important for shmups which I enjoy playing. Until I resolve this, I won't go forward.

themodelplumber 10y ago
If anyone is wondering what Tate Mode might be, "tate" is a Japanese word that indicates the property of standing up, or being upright. It is pronounced tah-tay.
- PhasmaFelis 10y ago
  Indeed. It essentially means "vertical," and English-speaking arcade fans use it when they mean "vertical," for some reason.
city41 10y ago
Have you considered a Candy cab? They typically have 29" CRTs and can be rotated. Although for most candies rotating is very labor intensive. The Taito Egret 2 has a rotation mechanism, but is in mega demand because of it. Candies are nice because they are the real deal ("Candy" is a general term used to describe Japanese arcade cabinets made by Sega, Konami, Taito, etc) and are simply wonderful machines.
- Keyframe 10y ago
  Yes! Candies have this sorted out, though you have to open the front 'hood' and rotate the thing. They are gorgeous even.
xbryanx 10y ago
We still buy a few CRT monitors from time to time (museum field) and get them from Dotronix. Not cheap, but you can get big ones: http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html
- Keyframe 10y ago
  Are those new, as in still in production? If so, that's fascinating.
  - xbryanx 10y ago
    Yes.
frostburg 10y ago
If you're willing to take some liberties with historical accuracy, you can get extremely high quality CRT monitors that were used for broadcast work for cheap on ebay (Sony BVM series, the 20 inch models are easily available). Those are really impressive, but they're not really "how the games were meant to look", because they had costs at least one order of magnitude higher than the parts actually used in arcade cabinets.
- Keyframe 10y ago
  I actually have several, since I work in film and tv and got them for free when we switched over to new stuff. :) See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11374224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11374224 They are heavy, real heavy though.

themodelplumber 10y ago

If anyone is wondering what Tate Mode might be, "tate" is a Japanese word that indicates the property of standing up, or being upright. It is pronounced tah-tay.

PhasmaFelis 10y ago
Indeed. It essentially means "vertical," and English-speaking arcade fans use it when they mean "vertical," for some reason.

city41 10y ago

Have you considered a Candy cab? They typically have 29" CRTs and can be rotated. Although for most candies rotating is very labor intensive. The Taito Egret 2 has a rotation mechanism, but is in mega demand because of it. Candies are nice because they are the real deal ("Candy" is a general term used to describe Japanese arcade cabinets made by Sega, Konami, Taito, etc) and are simply wonderful machines.

Keyframe 10y ago
Yes! Candies have this sorted out, though you have to open the front 'hood' and rotate the thing. They are gorgeous even.

xbryanx 10y ago

We still buy a few CRT monitors from time to time (museum field) and get them from Dotronix. Not cheap, but you can get big ones: http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html http://www.dotronix.com/dnrSeries.html

Keyframe 10y ago
Are those new, as in still in production? If so, that's fascinating.
- xbryanx 10y ago
  Yes.

frostburg 10y ago

If you're willing to take some liberties with historical accuracy, you can get extremely high quality CRT monitors that were used for broadcast work for cheap on ebay (Sony BVM series, the 20 inch models are easily available). Those are really impressive, but they're not really "how the games were meant to look", because they had costs at least one order of magnitude higher than the parts actually used in arcade cabinets.

Keyframe 10y ago
I actually have several, since I work in film and tv and got them for free when we switched over to new stuff. :) See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11374224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11374224 They are heavy, real heavy though.