Kamiboy wrote: April 22nd, 2025, 9:14 am
Perhaps I could reuse the adapter from my cute, but where is this 17" tube located? I would not trust any nordic shipping company with the task of delivering it without harm.
Gothenburg, Sweden...
Tube is LG Philips A41 size with intervideo SL1000 chassis.
The Intervideo is minty fresh and I hope to eventually put it to good use. However the only thing that comes to mind is buying a repro Neo SC-19 and fitting it inside it somehow.
There are several obstacles though:
(1) As the name implies, the SC-19 is designed for a 19" tube and this Intervideo is 20", so will this even fit inside one of those? I am afraid this is the kind of question that can only be answered by having both at hand.
(2) If it fits, how do I mount it inside? The repro comes with an LCD, so I would have to come up with my own bespoke bracket.
(3) If it fits, and I can mount it, would the bezel of this SC-19, which is made for a flat panel LCD, pair well with a curved CRT? I somehow doubt it, and if it does not it will likely look quite bad. Likely leaving a gap between the CRT and bezel.
Kamiboy wrote: April 22nd, 2025, 9:14 am
Perhaps I could reuse the adapter from my cute, but where is this 17" tube located? I would not trust any nordic shipping company with the task of delivering it without harm.
Gothenburg, Sweden...
Tube is LG Philips A41 size with intervideo SL1000 chassis.
Ah, I have been there once before, travelling by ferry. If I had a car it could be done I suppose, alas...
The Chinese tube I have in the cute currently isn't bad exactly, my main problem is how dull it looks when displaying a bright full screen image. When showing full screen logos with a white background for an example, it is becomes very dim and dull. I still need to adjust the colours correctly as well, but the brightness seems not to be so easy to solve. Turning up the brightness dial on the flyback or pots will just wash out the image.
I need to go back and try to adjust it properly once more, then I can be sure whether the problem is with the tube or my adjustments.
As it is I am reluctant to sell my Blast city, while it takes up a lot of space, and is not very easy on the eyes, the image and audio quality a step above the cute. I need a smaller cab that can at the very least match it in image quality before I am can part the Blast without much regret. The larger screen size is nice to of course, but I can live with 17-19".
aerobert wrote: April 22nd, 2025, 11:12 am
Reach out to Sven666. I believe the tubes and everything are packed in individual boxes suitable for shipping.
Done, and done. Thanks for the heads up. I am continually baffled by how some things that should be impossible, like finding arcade tubes in this day, age and my corner of the world, is more doable than I imagined.
I took another crack at adjusting the used Hantarex polo 2 chassis connected to the Chinese 17" tube that came with my mini cute. This time actually went through the trouble of hooking my mistercade, so I could load up a core that could put out rudimentary color bars and grids.
The results were much more successful this time around, the colours, vibrancy, sharpness and screen brightness are much better overall. Putting the same game on my Blast city and the cute, side by side, the cute fares much better now. Not on the same level, but much closer than before.
One issue that I have become aware of is a level of noise in the image. I suspect the culprit might be the cheap dupont cables I have put between the chassis and the remote board to make it accessible from the front.
Does anyone by chance have an extension cable for the adjustment board of a Hantarex polo 2? As mentioned earlier they sport a weird 20 pin 1 row 2.5mm pitch connector. I looked into perhaps replacing it with JST, but 20 pin JST cable and connectors are not really easy to get hold of either.
Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on another Chinese repro mini cab, this time the Neo SC-19. I mean, I do have this 20" Intevideo arcade monitor that is just sitting on the floor, being useless and the SC-19 repros all come with LCD panels, which is no bueno. I pray to the gaming gods that the 20" arcade monitor can be jerry rigged into the SC-19, even if it is designed for a 19" LCD...
Unfortunately there is little to no information on these repros floating around, so the only way to know for sure is by trying.
I didn't go with the previous seller as their shipping price was $700 US, when Alibaba sellers are asking for around $150-200. Not sure why there is such a large price difference, but the cab itself cost around the same $1300 from both sellers and I am betting on the hunch that the cab will be manufactured to the approximate same quality, no matter which Chinese seller one goes with. Still not sure whether these sellers actually make the cabs themselves, makes more sense to me if they are getting them from a third party supplier, and perhaps putting some finishing touches on them before selling off.
The difference in shipping price was large enough that I am willing to take gamble. If I manage to cram a CRT into that thing, I think I will rotate the monitor in the cute, making it a dedicated TATE machine, and perhaps turn the SC-19 into a dedicated Neo Geo cab, as it was intended to be.
As for the ever bulky Blast city, after some side by side comparison with both the Chinese tube in the Cute, and the homeless 20" Intervideo, I can safely say neither holds a candle to MS2930, warts and all. Sure it has bad convergence issues to the sides, but gods damn if games just don't look grander on there. I like the prominence of the scan lines, the screen size and colours that much more. Thus, it will continue to be my main arcade machine.
Can't wait to see some photos of the SC19 once it lands. Can I just be the first to say thank you for being the canary down the coal mine with these, doing god's work
Yeah you can't beat a big oul 29 inch monitor for sheer impact. Maybe you could replace the blast with something a bit more appealing looking like an Astro?
I have been tempted to do exactly that for years. Only thing that has been holding me back is the rarity of Astros for sale with easy shipping options to me, how heavy and bulky they are, especially when moving them up the stairs and the lack of any guarantee that the screen a unit comes with is not in a terrible shape, inches from death.
I have noticed that those Chinese sellers of reproduction cabs also sell refurbished Astros, and have been wondering about their overall shape. With the lackluster communications from Chinese sellers I expect getting an Astro from them is vey much a bold gamble on the overall state.
