MAME machine! anyone built one?

[vx_clubby]

So I have an old SD rear projection 59 inch TV I was going to give away, then I thought to myself I used to love the old video games, So now I'm thinking of keeping it and turning it into a MAME machine!

Just thought I would raise it here and see if anyone has done a similar thing? If they had any tips or issues that have come from it I might learn from?

The idea is NOT to make a stand up console machine like most people have done, I was more thinking have it in front of a comfy couch (which I have spare) and install a mini pc (which I have) into the TV itself and run it from that.

For controls I wasn't sure what to do, was looking at maybe 2 x Xbox 360 controllers since they are very PC compatible. or maybe some purpose built game pads, Still not sure on this part. Wireless would be handy but not essential.

Any thoughts on this setup? positive and constructive welcome
cheers

[Toddler78]

I speced one a while back and had all the games on my PC and was working through them to get them set up, but lost interest and deleted the games, Now Im interested again, but Im making a 3 sided cocktail machine so I can play the 80s games(pacman, donkey kong) and also the 90s side by side games(street fighter etc).

with what you want to do is alot easier. But you need to work out how many and what games you want. EBAY is your friend here. look up JAMMA, you can buy full kits with the games preloaded and the buttons and joysticks and all you need to do is build a control enclosure and then connect it to your tv via VGA cable. this is the ideal option, also search youtube under mame and jamma and you will see some builds or look on the MAME forums

[mechatron]

Great idea, but I'm not sure how good these MAME games will actually look on such a big TV. You might find that the graphics get really pixelated and they distract you from playing the actual game/s.

Just my 2c and don't let this stop you from making your game machine...it's just something to think about

[vx_clubby]

Thanks for the ideas! The jamma thing isn't really what Im looking for, but they have some good stuff there. Also I didn't think about the pixilation on a large screen that is a very good point! Ill have to check that before get too excited

[Angeldust]

i found that when i had my old pc, running a TV-out through the video card onto a 51cm tv gave great results. If you use a lcd tv, you will find the pixels look too 'clear', too good. They need to be a bit 'fuzzy' and thats why the crt tv's are the best choice. Too bad everyone has already thrown them out. (i kept a51cm and 4 x 34cm crt tv's just for gaming reasons; ie i have a c64 etc that i still use)

[Stewge]

Thanks for the ideas! The jamma thing isn't really what Im looking for, but they have some good stuff there. Also I didn't think about the pixilation on a large screen that is a very good point! Ill have to check that before get too excited

As far as pixelization is concerned, you can apply filters over it to blur out edges. Most emulators have several choices so it comes down to preference. Sonic has never looked better on a 55" TV :P

I use my media PC as an gaming/emulation box as well and it's great. Seeing as you're using a PC anyway, might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone and just make it a media/emulation machine from the get-go.
If you're going with 360 controllers then XBMC is the way to go since it has pad support out of the box. There's heaps of work being done with integrating emulators into XBMC directly. If you don't need media capabilities there's stuff like mGalaxy which can run as a frontend. Alternatively, it's possible to use Steam as an emulator launcher.

Being a PC, there's also plenty of other pad-supporting games you could play on there as well.