History of Arcade Cabinet Monitors for beatmania IIDX

Table of contents

1. Japanese cabinets
   1. Lightning Model display
      1. Main screen
      2. Sub screen (touch screen)
2. Korean cabinets
3. References

Japanese cabinets

These are official monitors that Konami distributed in Japan.

• 40 inch rear-projection TV (1st style - 9th style)
• 36 inch CRT (10th style - 14 GOLD)
• 37 inch LCD (TROOPERS - Lincle)
  • Three models with very slight timing differences: DJT, EMP, and RA.
• 37 inch LCD (tricoro) - aka “tricoro monitor”
• 37 inch LCD (SPADA) - aka “SPADA monitor”
• 42 inch LCD (Pendual - Sinobuz) - aka “PENDUAL monitor”
  • Actual viewable area is about 37”, covered by metal panels
• 42 inch LCD (Cannon Ballers) - aka “Cannon Ballers monitor”
• 43 inch Lightning model monitor
  • TLK-4300 manufactured by GTT
  • See below for details.

Lightning Model display

Information below is for first generation cabinets. There have been multiple hardware iterations since, but not enough is known about the monitors.

For reference, according to this page:

Main screen

• Manufacturer: GTT
• Model: TLK-4300
• 43” VA panel displaying at 1080p 120Hz (it is suspected that the panel is capable of 4K but the OS detects it as 1080p)
• DisplayPort cable is used.
• Cab initially boots into Windows at 1080p@120Hz.
• For CastHour and below, when the game boots, it switches to 1600x900@120Hz. Game renders at 720p but GPU scales up to 900p.
• For RESIDENT and above, it stays at 1080p@120Hz. Game renders natively at 1080p.

Sub screen (touch screen)

• 23” class monitor, around 21” visible area
• 10 point capacitive touch
• Panel manufacturer: most likely GTT
• Touch controller manufacturer: TES Touch Embedded Solutions
• Connected to HDMI port on the PC, converted to DVI port on the monitor, most likely outputs at 1920x1080@60Hz (but the game outputs the sub screen natively at 720p so it’s upscaled).

Korean cabinets

These are monitors commonly used in Korean arcades, a mix of official (UNIANA) and unofficial models.

• Official 1st generation monitor (tricoro era)
  • LG M4214CCBA 42 inch IPS monitor meant for public signage, with a whopping 10ms input lag and severe ghosting issues
• Official 2nd generation monitor (SPADA era)
  • Speed Technology (“TIVA”) MG4200 panel, aka UX4200; both were TVs and had glare and input lag issues
• Official 3rd generation monitor (SPADA era)
  • Speed Technology SG4200, another “TIVA” brand TV
• DDR monitor
  • Manufactured by BESTECH, originally meant for UNIANA DDR cabs, but now also commonly used for IIDX cabs due to its low input lag and minimal ghosting
• 43 inch Lightning model monitor
  • Same as Japanese model

References

• Japanese monitors 1
• Japanese monitors 2
• Korean monitor history
• Lightning Model hardware