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Post by gliptitude on Jul 31, 2012 19:01:03 GMT -5
I wonder how difficult this project was, or what his intentions are, if he will disclose his process or if maybe he is trying to sell these? Cool project anyway.
... I can't tell from the video how large this screen is, if it's bigger or what?
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Post by VectorX on Jul 31, 2012 19:54:47 GMT -5
I wonder how difficult this project was, or what his intentions are, if he will disclose his process or if maybe he is trying to sell these? I pretty much doubt the latter, but who knows.
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Post by gamezone on Aug 1, 2012 11:43:20 GMT -5
A bigger Vectrex screen has been a dream of mine for sometime. I'm hoping for the best.
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 8, 2012 18:49:26 GMT -5
My dream too. I've been having some email conversation with that guy. He's still tweaking it to get rid of some of the issues that are very visible on the Mine Storm game - so its not 100% yet, more like 85% complete.
It doesn't sound like a quick conversion of a TV. He said he had to rewind the coils on the TV yoke! He could'nt find a black and white TV, so he used a colour TV. It means he can choose between red, green or blue vectors! He doesn't use all three to get white because there is a convergence issue resulting in a visual mess.
He is the main guy at Retro Computer Museum. If you are in the UK he did say he was going to demo it at the Museum event in the Snibston Discovery Park in Leicestershire, UK at the end of August.
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 8, 2012 18:53:17 GMT -5
I wonder how difficult this project was, or what his intentions are, if he will disclose his process or if maybe he is trying to sell these? Cool project anyway. ... I can't tell from the video how large this screen is, if it's bigger or what? screen is 22"
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Post by VectorX on Aug 8, 2012 19:08:04 GMT -5
It means he can choose between red, green or blue vectors! Now, that sounds great. He cleans up the visual mess from the video that would look pretty neat, especially since the prototype color Vectrex (I think only one or two exists) only had red and yellow. Now we could have two additional colors! (Ok, so technically not a color Vectrex, but still cool.)
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 8, 2012 19:47:43 GMT -5
It means he can choose between red, green or blue vectors! Now, that sounds great. He cleans up the visual mess from the video that would look pretty neat, especially since the prototype color Vectrex (I think only one or two exists) only had red and yellow. Now we could have two additional colors! (Ok, so technically not a color Vectrex, but still cool.) By the way, wanting a bigger screen for me was always about making a full size arcade cabinet upright based on a Vectrex. I always thought that the Vectrex screen would look too small. Nevertheless I pressed on, and actually having the Vectrex in an full height upright doesn't look too bad when the width of the cabinet is reduced. See the link to my Vec Cab blog: vectrexmad.blogspot.co.uk/
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 8, 2012 23:09:56 GMT -5
By the way, wanting a bigger screen for me was always about making a full size arcade cabinet upright based on a Vectrex. I always thought that the Vectrex screen would look too small. Nevertheless I pressed on, and actually having the Vectrex in an full height upright doesn't look too bad when the width of the cabinet is reduced. See the link to my Vec Cab blog: vectrexmad.blogspot.co.uk/Me too! Although it is mostly a fantasy to me, not a project I have worked on yet. I did view your link. Looks very cool! ... Personally I am fixated on a cabaret/euro style cabinet, which would not necessarily have to be much bigger than the original Vectrex screen. On my last trip to (one of the very few) video game arcades around where i live, I was particularly focused on some of the simple mechanical/optical systems many arcade games rely on to display the video... It appears to me that many arcade cabinets involve mirrors. ... Not sure how this potentially relates to making the image BIGGER, but perhaps the previously mentioned idea of using a magnifying lens is not so far fetched. ... I also noticed how much of a difference the sound can make - Asteroids in emulation is no comparison to the arcade cabinet - mostly because of the sound, in my opinion. ... In addition to the speakers, I think that the way a cabinet pulls you into a kind of boxed in chamber really adds to the impact...
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 9, 2012 6:11:23 GMT -5
Hey Gliptitude, How wide is a Euro style cabinet? Any pictures on the net? Now i'm curious....
For me I took an existing JAMMA cabinet, dissassembled it and had its width reduced. The cabinet is now just 41 cm’s wide (instead of the original 56 cm).
100% agree with you about the audio. I bought a JAMMA amplifier and my intention is to connect the cabinet speaker and amp directly to the audio circuit on the Vectrex PCB, and disconnect the speaker in the Vectrex. This should give extra bass/boom and hopefully wont suffer from the infamous Vectrex buzz.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 9, 2012 12:51:30 GMT -5
*** EDIT: heh, I just re-read our previous posts and realized maybe our words got a bit mixed up. These mini cabinets are already wider than your current modified cabinet. When I said they "would not necessarily have to be much bigger than the original Vectrex screen", I was really talking about the monitor. I just meant that a regular size Vectrex might be big enough to fill out a cabaret cabinet. END EDIT *** Ok, I tried to attach an image of a flyer for the Asteroids Cabaret, which has the dimensions printed in the description. (140cm high, 51cm wide, 60cm deep). Monitor is 15" vs full size Asteroids monitor of 19". Full size cabinet is 64.14cm wide. If the attachment doesn't work, try this URL: flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=3035&image=1And if THAT also doesn't work, go to the main page for Asteroids here, and scroll down to "Additional References". The cabaret flyer is file number 5 in the list, "Asteroids Flyer #3035". www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=6939... I really like the design of the cabaret cabinets. Besides being smaller, the shape of them is more compact and I really like the more discreet look of the wood panels on the side, smaller marquee placed below the control panel etc. It's a lower profile in every way, weighs considerably less than the full size, and would be a much less gaudy piece to have in your living room or office. ... I think it would be much more difficult/expensive to obtain a donor cabaret cabinet. I believe they are pretty rare and most games that had a cabaret release are real landmark games, unlikely to be neglected or parted out. Battlezone had a cabaret release, which I think included a cool kind of upholstered frame around the monitor. ... However, it would probably be much more easy to build from scratch than a regular cabinet, because it is more simple and geometric in form, and at least apparently more straightforward in terms of the materials it is made from... Could be made almost entirely of flat pieces of wood. ... I will say that IF I have EVER actually played on a cabaret cabinet it was so briefly and so long ago that I really have no idea anymore what it FEELS like to play one, if maybe the sound is less impressive or whatever. I don't know where the speakers would be located, and even if they were some how squeezed in and set back around the monitor, it would seem ridiculous to try to fit your head inside that echo chamber.. Attachments:
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 9, 2012 13:04:41 GMT -5
Here's the Battlezone one that I was thinking of. It is not upholstered around the monitor like I thought, just has some lines printed on it that made it look that way to me. And here is a list of games that got the Caberet/Euro treatment: www.brentradio.com/CabaretMiniList.htmThis page also describes some differences in sizes and terms. Apparently "euro" is bigger than "cabaret" and some companies just called them "minis". ... I guess most of them actually do not have the simple design that I prefer, like Asteroids/Battlezone in the pics. Attachments:
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Post by VectorX on Aug 9, 2012 14:41:05 GMT -5
I played a Tempest mini just a couple of years ago. It was the first time I had ever seen one of those. I never even saw that one back in the day, just the regular full-sized cab.
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Post by gliptitude on Aug 9, 2012 14:47:09 GMT -5
eh, maybe this is starting to stray considerably from the original topic of this thread, but I found this while searching for images of cabaret cabinets. I can't really tell what the size of this Phoenix game is, especially with the monitor taking up such a small portion of the face, but it looks a lot like a Vectrex doesn't it! Besides fantasizing about a stand-up Vectrex cabinet I've also spent a lot of time thinking about distinctive case mods. One aspect I'd want modified is a lot like what you see in this Phoenix picture, that the case would have harder edges rather than the more rounded ones of the original Vectrex. I was imagining silver, something like this Phoenix except shinier, and more just as trim, with the case being wood. ... Also for me an improved Vectrex case would definitely involve a different system for placing the overlays. I'd prefer to slide the overlay down a slot on the top of the case, and just have it lay there loosely with a frame holding it in position. ... All of this would involve separating the hardware and guts from the original case. Attachments:
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 10, 2012 5:07:48 GMT -5
Here's the Battlezone one that I was thinking of. It is not upholstered around the monitor like I thought, just has some lines printed on it that made it look that way to me. And here is a list of games that got the Caberet/Euro treatment: www.brentradio.com/CabaretMiniList.htmThis page also describes some differences in sizes and terms. Apparently "euro" is bigger than "cabaret" and some companies just called them "minis". ... I guess most of them actually do not have the simple design that I prefer, like Asteroids/Battlezone in the pics. That's really interesting, I had never seen these before.
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Post by vectrexmad on Aug 10, 2012 5:09:41 GMT -5
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