Which screen size is PERFECT for a Visual Pinball cabinet?

[@blawicki]

The STRETCHING gets me everytime I see it. I own many machines IRL and seeing anything outside of 1:1 drives me nutty. I'm SO glad I'm not the only one that sticks to 1:1.

[@SpaciesArcade]

I am pleased you think the same way and it's not just me!!

[@lynnmakes]

My virtual cabinet is built to vintage widebody dimensions, and uses a Bally Paragon lockdown bar. I'm currently using a 49" 4K screen (running at 2K), but like you I built my cabinet originally around a 47" 1080p screen with a thick bezel (that we had laying around!). I do try to get 1:1 ratios on all the tables.

[@dphobastream]

Great Job on the video Gregg! Nice analysis and good advice. I like the way you did the comparison images, well done. I had so many thoughts while watching this! A few I would like to share: 1) Strict adherence to 1:1 is useful - to a point. So much of this is our perception of the image, and our brains are able to adjust and compensate a great deal to "bring" what we are seeing into reality. Therefore, I wouldn't personally stress too much about the difference between 50" vs. 47" for example. The difference is only a few percent and rather minute. This is especially true I believe for those whose ONLY pinball cab is a virtual cab. If you don't have the real thing to become accustomed to, you don't really perceive the difference. I think the bigger factor is what kind of cab you are using for virtual pinball, what are the physical constraints, and what level of effort are you willing to put in to make the screen fit (woodwork vs. drop-in for example). 2) Screen options change over time and this is a factor to be aware of! When I made the jump to 4K, I bought a 40" monitor which fit my cab very well with a little routing on the sides. There were many options at the time when I first bought it. Some time later, through an act of supreme stupidity, I cracked the screen. When I went to replace it, the minimal 4K screen I could find ANYWHERE was 43"... too big for my cab. Had to buy a 40" screen used. These are becoming more rare as time passes. My point being, you can plan your purchase painstakingly, but at some point you will likely need to replace it and size options do change over time. 3) I hate to say it, but anymore I think this topic is a bit academic for many because clearly the best screen option is a VR headset. I find it almost impossible to go back to a "flat" screen to play pinball after using VR for some time. If you're tight on $$$, put a basic screen in to drive the system and launch your frontend, invest the real money on your VR headset (Quest 3 is a very compelling and relatively affordable option that does Augmented Reality pinball (color passthrough) quite well and can also be used wirelessly via Virtual Desktop rather effectively)

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep some excellent points there, thanks for sharing! Points 1 and 2 I generally concur .... Point 3....I have a few broader opinions to share....I will share my thoughts in an upcoming video....😉

[@likestech1873]

I’ve been playing FX pinball on Viture Pro Glasses, and really liking it. I still want to buy or build a cabinet, but it isn’t really necessary. You get a very good pinball experience with the glasses, and aren’t feeling so isolated as with a VR headset.

[@dominickolas]

Interesting with the apron you have there. I'm scared that wouldn't work for all games.

[@G-Diddy007]

FINALLY I see all the display option sizes laid out and compared to each other. The true pros and cons were all nebulas to me until watching this vid. I built around a Asus Rog 48" monitor but never understood the 1:1 ratio and the impact of stretching the width.

[@SpaciesArcade]

Awesome! I'm glad it was useful!! Thanks for your comments.

[@VanDammage87]

1000% if you are looking at updating your Vpin setup, documenting step by step would be awesome. Would be a cool series of videos to watch.

[@VanDammage87]

Love these discussions about VPX. Very informative.

[@Burnsy8709]

Always wanted a cab, but I honestly just don’t feel the need to get one anymore thanks to VR it’s like the choice between a flatscreen 2d pinball cab or literally feeling like you have a real pinball machine in front of you Also I know you like emu vr did you see there’s a pinball machine on there now that you can set vpx on with the back glass display etc, you set it up in the same way as you would set a cab up 😃

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep I hear ya... The VR experience is, as you say, like having the real pin in front of you. There is still a case for a Pincab but the benefits/trade-off's are of course different to VR... In regards to EmuVR, yes I've set up a VPX pin in EmuVR! You can see it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mpbKXoGditafqZI 😉

[@jericks06]

Thanks so much for this!! Question, you said it matters whether the developers did the perspective right or something like that around the 16:20 mark. I'm just not a VPX guy and never will be: is a full cabinet still worth having to just play Pinball FX and Zaccaria? I have a PinSim with legs, but have been considering upgrading to a full cabinet and a 48" 4k 120 hz display.

[@paulcleary8088]

I currently have a two screen setup. A 32" Playfield at 165Hz on a height adjustable desk, and a 43" 4k TV for the backbox mounted vertically on the wall. The 43" allows me to create proportionally accurate backglasses with custom speaker panels and DMDs, making each table look closer to the original. while small, the 32" scales pretty well with this. When I play pinball, I just raise the desk so that the bottom half of the backbox screen is covered up. When I play arcade games (especially vertical games), I lower the desk to show the whole screen. I also have my playfield tilted slightly higher than most people, because I play exclusively in anaglyph 3D. This allows me to increase the depth of the table, while still making the table slope "correct." If I made it the angle of the typical vpin table, I would either have to sacrifice the 3D depth, or the slope would start to look backwards. I do often think about going bigger. I think a 48" Playfield with a 55" TV for the backbox would scale okay, but anything bigger would go beyond the width of most backglasses. The problem is, 48" is kind of rare and having one with 120Hz or greater and a sub 5ms response time is even more rare.

[@RobotRon_2084]

I'm currently playing vertically on a horizontal 32" screen. Now worrying about if I'll notice it not being 1:1 when i build a cabinet lol

[@XR1000]

I have a mini 27 inch custom built. I’m happy as it was s sweet spot between space and still fun for my apt.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

And a good thing to remember is if you are not making a dedicated machine Pinball machines are all sorts of different sizes anyways.

[@whompmaster]

I thought you had to measure from corner to corner. So, would I buy a 43" TV or a 48" TV? I probably will not have a built VP cab but will just use a monitor with back glass monitors as well, all sitting on a table. Still trying to figure out if I should use a 43" or 48" and adjust the resolution accordingly.

[@SpaciesArcade]

Bottom line is 48" if you want real sized ball and all of the table graphics - or 43" if you want a smaller than real life perspective or real life size ball but cropped-in table (you'll lose some of the graphics like the apron and a little off the top). So comes down to your personal preference really. Cheers

[@h.l.malazan5782]

I wanna see you upgrading to 4K!!!! Looking forward to the video!!

[@vpinchile]

Really interesting stuff. Could you walk us through with the settings POV for 43" or 50" tv??? Theres no much documentation for good practices in settings vp POV's . Thanks for.your video! It was very educational!!

[@scottfarrar3441]

Watching the video over again...and taking Notes! Couple of Questions 1) Did you come to the conclusion that a 48" screen would fit inside a Data East Wide Body Cabinet but is TOO WIDE to fit in a WMS SuperPin (Wide Body) Cabinet? 2) Can you review what a 42" Monitor and 43" Monitor would look like within a WMS SuperPin (Wide Body) Cabinet? * with DE GNR Table (wide body table) * with WMS IJ Table (wide body table) * with WMS TOTAN Table (standard table) Thanks, Scott

[@jericks06]

P.S. What I'm really looking forward to is Pinball FX VR in lime 9 months or so. Im thinking having a physical full size cab would be great for tactile feel and fooling my brain into thinking it was the real thing, especially since ill have the 3D of VR.

[@aslak4008]

Nice comparison video. One thing we can use to get some extra "lenght" off the monitor is to mount it on a relative high angle inside the cab. Real playfields are laied more flat than the playfield glass, all depending on the machine. On my real cab, the playfiled glass is roughly 15-16 degrees from horisontal, while the actual playfield is 6-7 degrees, when the machine is leveled. If the monitor is mounted with an angle equal or greater (up to 20 degrees maybe?) than the playfield glass, the vertical distance from standing positionview will be greater. When you then adjust the virtual table angle down, you will have more room show more of the lenght of the table.

[@aslak4008]

In theory, the whole cab can be tilted with a steeper angle, by raising the rear hight allot more than what is normal, and then we have more vertical height to show more lenght of the virtual table. But the backglass angle would then also change, and the whole cab might look strange:)

[@aslak4008]

A note: My real cabs playfield glass angle off 15-16 degrees is on a standard body stern machine, from 2005. Some older real life cabs, might have smaller angles

[@SpaciesArcade]

Good points made! I hadn't considered that specifically, so thanks for 'raising it'. Sorry, excuse the pun... ;) But yes, this would indeed give additional 'actual' viewing length which could be tuned in further with the VPX layback setting to correct the perspective. Thanks for sharing.

[@scottfarrar3441]

I would love to see a Screen Upgrade...to a WMS SuperPin games...and WMS Sys11 games and WMS SYS3-9 games...including 4K.

[@Kwistenbiebel100-ns5ko]

If you do live POV edit (F12) and choose "Window" mode, then hit the "Start button" you get the exact POV for the measured playfield dimensions you have set in "Video Prefererences". From there, look at the options to raise/lower the top end and bottom end of the table and you can perfectly fit it on your monitor. I do this always in 3D stereo mode with my red/cyan anachrome aviator glasses on. That gives you the most realistic perspective for your pov setting. I tend to also crop off the apron for better fit considering real tables not being 16:9 ratio

[@SpaciesArcade]

Absolute gold advice! Thank you Kwisten for sharing! 🙏👍

[@pasikeranen]

This is what I do these days as well and it works really well! The Star button default is a good place to start.

[@mikek6049]

I have a widebody (Red Ted roadshow) converted pinball cab. the screen in it fits perfectly when taken out of its case however its a 1080p 46inch screen. I would love to upgrade to a 4k screen but AFAIK no such size exists any more and god knows what i will do when it packs up. I do regret buying it to be honest, i wish i had gotten a smaller custom cab based around standard pinball dimensions..

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep, the manufacturers keep changing their standard dimensions. My 39" was also a bit of a one-off for the time period it was available. 46" might be available again at some point. It's interesting to hear your longer term thoughts on playing a widebody over a smaller normal sized cab. Thanks for sharing your thoughts as it may help others. Cheers

[@mikek6049]

@@SpaciesArcade to be honest given a choice I prefer a standard sized table over a wide body. I got this one because 1) it was the one which was available at the time and 2) red ted as a table has sentimental value as there was one at my uni back in 1994. the thinner tables are generally better however IMHO and the wide body takes up a hell of a lot of space in my man cave (I even have to take apart to get it through the door where as a standard table would fit)

[@Jodannar]

What about doing the same that will fit into a widebody (WPC wide body) cab? Considering doing an update as my machine is a decade old also now with a 1080P LCD TV. Id love to go to a 4k setup in it and upgrade the PC also. Looking at this again so if you do research and share the journey id be happy to contribute/share /learn

[@Jodannar]

Also need considerations with viewing angles. I know that was a big concern of mine when i did mine years ago. I know newer monitors/displays aren't as bad, but we are viewing the monitors from an unintended angle when having vertical/end on orientation

[@SpaciesArcade]

Hey good to see you back! You must have built yours around the same time I built mine.... I'm currently thinking more about options....

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep...and in particular what that means for the two front runners OLED and QLED..... OLED wins out with practically perfect 180 degree viewing angles.... More on this when I discuss panel tech....

[@lanfeustdaytona4483]

VR Headsets is the only way to go for Virtual pinball 😉or 16:10 flat screen in Desktop & FSS mod.

[@jacooosthuizen3593]

Bam headtracking with kinect is what i will try. i got a high end VR headset and yea its super cool but the fun factor of setting highscores and then mates trying it kinda fades that excitement! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nV6ooYemlJiqgdE

[@SpaciesArcade]

They all have their place!... I think there is space for a pincab in that line-up...😉

[@lanfeustdaytona4483]

@@SpaciesArcade Of course 😉

[@hollywoodpolo9872]

How do you have your vetical screen attached to that table? looks good!

[@SpaciesArcade]

If you are referring to the 48" screen on the wall then it is affixed with a standard VESA TV wall mount. Cheers

[@panagiotiskritikos3056]

I have a 48 inch where about is best to put player z setting?

[@EBKTV_AU]

Excellent topic!

[@JeWCyDuDe]

Can you remove the digital apron in the vpx tables?

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yes, that can be done (on a table by table basis) to remove the slight overlap with the physical one. It hasn't really bothered me that much to consider doing that, but it's a nice idea.

[@JeWCyDuDe]

@SpaciesArcade where is the option in vpx??

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@JeWCyDuDe It's not an option, you would need to find the right layer that the apron is on in the editor, select it and delete it manually. You may have to unlock the layer graphics to select the apron on it's own and it may be in multiple parts. You would need to be comfortable with the way the editor works to delete it from each table.

[@JeWCyDuDe]

@@SpaciesArcade thanks for that.

[@jacooosthuizen3593]

Im looking into this for my playfield. 43 " Neo QLED 4K 144Hz Gaming Smart TV QN90C. 37.8 x 22 x 1.1" / 96 x 55.9 x 2.8 cm (without Stand) Thanks i was always wondering about screen sizes.

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep nice choice. Thanks for also posting the exact measurements for others. 👍

[@jacooosthuizen3593]

@@SpaciesArcade This community is one of the best! Anytime. im from South Africa, we dont have nearly half of the pinball tables as suppose to the US. So im trying to make mine as authentic as possible so i can atleast try and get some sense of how they played & enjoyment. VPW is the way to go with quality tables and i cant wait to finish building my vpin!

[@cpace123]

What is the correct aspect ratio of a real pin

[@SpaciesArcade]

It is close to 21:9 but you would also need a screen size of about 52" at that Ratio...unfortunately 21:9 monitors tend to only go up to 32" only and are often curved.

[@Psyrecx]

*21:9 is still an option...*

[@SpaciesArcade]

Unfortunately there are none made that are wide enough for the width of a Standard Pinball cab.