Re: About mirrors with arcade monitors.. Rev 2.0

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: Having worked many years in the Optics field, i can tell you this: : On normal window glass, you get about 4% reflection from an uncoated surface (read front of rear coated mirror). So what you end up with is 2 images, seperated by the thickness of the glass. Typically, the thinner the mirror, the less noticable the dual image. This can be defeated by using an anti-reflective coating on the front surface of the mirror, or, as has been stated, the use of a first surface mirror. Neither are particularly cheap. : Randy : : : Xiaou2, : : Try this, : : Take any mirror from your home, and hold it perpendicular to your arcade monitor with say, Galaga or Pacman on the screen. Look at the while letters in the score or credit areas. You will see a "ghost image" of the characters to the right of the actual characters. This ghost image will be about 20% of the actual brightness of the image, and be offset by the thickness of the glass you are using. This is the refraction of the image by the glass. It is noticable with any types of glass, unfortunately. And it does not change no matter how sealed the glass is from light sources. The only way around this known property of mirrors is to use a a "first surface" mirror. Used in copiers, big screen tv's and telescopes. I have researched this extensively, because I am sure that the best way to build an all-in-one arcade machine is to build a cocktail, place controls of all types around it, and use a rotating hood to allow the variety of monitor positions without moving the monitor. I just am really picky when it comes to picture quality, and cannot stand the image ghosting. : : You can se it also on a space invaders machine, if you look closely at the invaders, you will see the ghost image. : : Sincerely, : : Tim C. : : : : : : Hi Tim, : : : Thats pretty odd. Ive never seen mirror ghosting before. The only thing I can think of... is that maybe you didnt have the sides of the mirror blocked from light - which allowed a differing refraction. Also, was the inside of the housing for it painted black? Was there a black bezel arround that monitor? Maybe excess light that escaped into the cab caused it as well. : : : Lastly, Space Invaders did use a one way mirror. The lighting used to show the image behind the game may need to be of a certain intensity. If its too high... may cause ghoust effect. In Disk of Tron, they used a Marquee like backdrop with a standard florescent light behind that... so it wasnt even in the space behind the monitor and the art, it was behind it. : : : I think most standard mirros would work fine, but one ways may need a little tweaking. A dark inner space is a definite though. : : : As far as the post below goes... A mirror can make the image feel a little farther away... but not by much. And with a large enough monitor, that can be a good thing! :) Only problem is that making anything to rotate a 27" tv is going to eat up a Huge amount of space! : : : Although, you may just have a good idea here... Put wheels on the bottom of the cabinet, and rotate the cab one turn so that the monitor is facing vertically - then rotate the top of the cab (mirror top section), so that its reflecting the image in your new direction. Brilliant :) :) :) : : : PS: Do be carefull of cords being broken though. May want to make a Pivoting platform so that its always in one place. : : : Sincerely, : : : Xiaou2 : : : : : : http://www.homestead.com/xiaou2/xiaou2s/html : : : http://xiaou2.homestead.com/turbo.html : : : : : : : : : : : : I have tried this already, with building a cocktail and using a Space Invaders mirror to reflect an upright image. I thought I could rotate the top, and have controls on all sides, this way I would not have to rotate the monitor. Unfortunately, it's less then stellar. The thickness of the glass in the mirror causes image "Ghosting" due to the refration of light through the glass. The only way to get a perfect image is to use a "first surface" mirror, where the mirror material is on the front of the glass rather then the back. Unfortunately, these are very expensive to have made, about $250 for a small one. They are used in projection tv's, so if you can find a broken one, you may get one cheap. : : : : I think this idea has loads of promise, if a mirror can be found cheaply enough. : : : : Tim : : : : : : : Today in study hall, I was thinking about arcade monitors and got to thinking of how people make it so you can rotate it to switch between vertical and horizontal games. Well I have a great idea. Instead of cutting holes on the side of your cab to spin it, why not use motor(s)? You would have to put some electromagnetic shielding (aluminum foil) around the motor to prevent damage to the monitor. But that would be so cool! Have a SPDT switch or keyswitch and rotate the monitor any way you want. Plus you could mount microswitches so when the monitor reaches a certain point, it cuts off power to the motor! Tell me what ya think. : : : : : -Kev

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