49" Tv W/ Custom Cab Or 40" Tv W/ Standard Cab?

[uptaker]

Hi folks!

This is my 1st post here. My name is Fabio, I'm from Brazil, and decided to start the (hard) road on building my 1st cab.

I'm just seeking for an advice here.

At 1st I got really excited with BAM Head Tracking and Stereo 3D features. So excited that I went ahead and purchased the only TV I found that had good passive 3D requirements, which was a 49" 4K LG TV. The reason behind picking up a 4K TV for 3D is explained here: http://www.cnet.com/news/4k-tvs-with-passive-3d-finally-a-good-use-for-all-those-pixels/

Basically, even using 1080p resolution, the lines separations in 3D are be divided by half (because it has more pixels), making it possible to still see the game in 1080p resolution even in 3D. On regular full hd TVs, the 3D resolution is cut by half.

But now I'm having a real issue I didn't know I was going to have: finding a good carpenter that is able to make a good custom cabinet for this TV. Not only that, I would have to purchase custom lockbars and trims. It turns out that it's really hard to find this kind of service / parts here. I'm not receiving good news from international dealers, some local pinball dealers don't want to do this kind of service, and I've found that an international shipping of this size/weight is really expensive. Could invalidate the entire project. (I will still have to order parts and controller boards from international sites though, but those shippings are cheaper).

So I had this idea: Use my old 40" Samsung TV (http://www.cnet.com/products/samsung-ln40b530/specs/) from my living room, as the playfield. I could then buy a broken standard size pinball from a local pinball dealer, and fit the TV in it. I would loose the 3D feature, of course, but would probably get rid of those cabinets issues I'm having.

I would still make good use of my 49" TV in my living room of course, watching 3D movies, sports actions, with lots of beers laying around

So, what do guys think? Should I simply do that, and loose the 3D feature, or insist on finding someone that can build the cabinet and trim pieces to my taste?

Thanks!!

[Mark Norville]

Total over kill in my eyes if you are building a cabinet and using it for retro gaming. Why are you bothered about 3D for gaming for? The demand is very low to start with, I have two 3D TV's and have never sat down and actually watched a 3D movie all the way through, 3D is pretty much dead and even for modern gaming nothing really special. Yes some people do have large TV's as cabinets, but I would say most have smaller screens to create that retro feel. Really it is you're money, you're home and up to you what you really want. I would suggest to have a look a look at some of the peoples set up's in the forum, and also look at YouTube as well as some people show off there set up. I will say one thing though. STORAGE STORAGE STORAGE. I would say that this is one of the most important things.

[Tredog]

Noticed that Hyperspin forums are mostly active on the Arcade side of things. Try asking over at vpforums if you want to get more responses... For your question, it's really up to you. I used a new screen in my build, only because the viewing angles on the screen I already had was horrible. If you have the time/resources, I would vote build it yourself, or be patient and wait for a broken pinball machine to pop up for sale. Woodworking is not that difficult, take your time, measure twice or more, watch videos for ideas/how to if need be, plan your build well, and don't glue or paint until you are satisfied.

[uptaker]

I have taken the 40" TV road. I've bought a broken 'Baywatch' pinball cabinet and I'm now in the process of restoring it (sanding, drilling extra holes, fixing, painting). It's still some hard work but at least the cabinet is good and the pieces are there!

Thanks for the responses! Appreciate it.