Getting an original Vewlix, what do I need to know before taking the plunge

[Everblue]

So, after many many years of thinking about it, I have decided to go ahead and get myself an original Vewlix, and obviously I have a ton of questions
As always, any help and suggestions are very much appreciated!

1. I will probably go for a Vewlix L/C, which I understand have a 720p (is it technically 768p?) panel. Do games look good or I should really go for something which has a 1080p panel?

2. Let's say the monitor dies, or I want to upgrade to 1080p, how hard is it to find a drop-in replacement monitor? Would something like this, which seems affordable, work:
https://www.highway.net.au/arcade-p...cd-monitor-vewlix-arcade-machine/16528-1.html

3. The Vewlix will probably come with a Fast I/O. My idea is to install a PS4 at first and then down the line replace with a PC. I assume I can just use a Brook adapter directly to the control panel? What about video and audio?

4. Will I have to install additional buttons to access the PS4 menu, or I can set it up in a way that I just press 2 buttons at once to do this?

5. Step down: From what I understand Vewlix cabinets come with a 100v PSU. In my country we use 220/240v. Is there a way I can convert or setup down while having any additional power supplies inside the cabinet itself?

6. I would imagine that the Vewlix L yellow over the years. Is it easy to find replacements, or perhaps spray them over at a car spray place?

That's it for now

 

[rewrite]

1. I will probably go for a Vewlix L/C, which I understand have a 720p (is it technically 768p?) panel. Do games look good or I should really go for something which has a 1080p panel?

The L/C panel is fine enough. The 1080p early panels are just so-so and not really worth the any difference in cost from the l/c (the 480p on these is nice though). The newest ones in the Diamond Black aren't bad though. Honestly you're talking about 15 year old LCD tech, none of it will be all that great compared to something now.

2. Let's say the monitor dies, or I want to upgrade to 1080p, how hard is it to find a drop-in replacement monitor? Would something like this, which seems affordable, work:
https://www.highway.net.au/arcade-p...cd-monitor-vewlix-arcade-machine/16528-1.html

This would be a waste of money honestly. You can get much nicer 32" monitors for that price. There are numerous ways now to toss in a standard 32" monitor with almost no additional effort compared to that.

3. The Vewlix will probably come with a Fast I/O. My idea is to install a PS4 at first and then down the line replace with a PC. I assume I can just use a Brook adapter directly to the control panel? What about video and audio?

You can run a Brook to the panel no problem, just buy a 20 pin adapter and go for it. You'd need an HDMI to DVI cable for your PS4.

6. I would imagine that the Vewlix L yellow over the years. Is it easy to find replacements, or perhaps spray them over at a car spray place?

Spray/dye/whatever is entirely possible and the option you're better off with. They're just plastic. Most all of the artwork is repro'd now, so no harm peeling the stickers and fixing up the plastics.

 

[Everblue]

The L/C panel is fine enough. The 1080p early panels are just so-so and not really worth the any difference in cost from the l/c (the 480p on these is nice though). The newest ones in the Diamond Black aren't bad though. Honestly you're talking about 15 year old LCD tech, none of it will be all that great compared to something now.

Cool thanks!

This would be a waste of money honestly. You can get much nicer 32" monitors for that price. There are numerous ways now to toss in a standard 32" monitor with almost no additional effort compared to that.

Can you direct me in the right direction for this please?

You can run a Brook to the panel no problem, just buy a 20 pin adapter and go for it. You'd need an HDMI to DVI cable for your PS4.

How do I get audio form the PS4? Do I need to buy an amp which takes digital audio form PS4 and directs it into the Vewlix's speakers?

Spray/dye/whatever is entirely possible and the option you're better off with. They're just plastic. Most all of the artwork is repro'd now, so no harm peeling the stickers and fixing up the plastics.

Ok!

Thanks for your feedback. Hopefully someone knows how to get around the 110-220v "issue".

 

[rewrite]

How do I get audio form the PS4? Do I need to buy an amp which takes digital audio form PS4 and directs it into the Vewlix's speakers?

Ah, sorry, just grab any old HDMI audio extractor off of Amazon.

Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Optical-Tosl...ds=HDMI+Audio+Extractor&qid=1678956325&sr=8-3

Can you direct me in the right direction for this please?

It's basically just "put monitor in, hold to front of case". You could 3D print little blocks, some guys make little metal brackets, others adapt standard TV mounts and spacers, there's also the very nice (but very expensive and doesn't work with every monitor) Hadouken bracket. Bunch of ways to do it cheap/low effort. I know someone was showing off their TV mount adapter recently, but I can't remember who. Hopefully someone will link that thread soon.

 

[West]

This thread looked to have some useful info for Viewlix monitor replacement.

https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...r-ips-replacement-vewlix-l.24996/#post-372506

 

[Aurich]

Yeah FrancoB and I just did parallel independent development of some homebrew mounting solutions, inspired by someone else's. If you are at all handy there are a lot of ways to mount modern panels. And the Hadouken bracket seems really nice if you don't mind spending the cash for a developed solution. Lots of options.

These high refresh 1440p panels are really nice, but they're kind of waste of time to an extent with something as shitty as a PS4. It can't output to that native resolution, nor can it take advantage of the high refresh rate.

 

[notsonic]

I would go into a Vewlix with the expectation that you will need to replace the monitor, at least if its a 720p one. The 720p monitors are 768p native. I'm not sure if PS4 outputs 1360x768 or not.

You can use a modern pc monitor for a replacement (most people go with something from LG but just about every brand has one with no bezel these days and there's plenty of clearance anyway. The DIY thread @West mentioned is a good place to start. The Hadouken Arcade bracket is perfect imo, but expensive and goes out of stock a lot.

If you want to use a Brook Board there's unfortunately no readily available drop in way to do it. There used to be the "Vewlix Console IO" but it's been out of stock and no word on it for years. I made an adapter on some bread board https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...iation-owners-thread.8709/page-78#post-310366 but you can just use something like test leads. Outside the control panel there's 3 additional buttons you can wire stuff to: test, service, and coin. Alternately you can get an extra buttons panel like https://www.heartcade.com/product/vewlix-cpx.

For video from a PS4 you'll need an hdmi->dvi cable with a stock monitor.
For audio you can use an hdmi audio extractor or an optical audio dac.
https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digital-Converter-Optical-Toslink/dp/B00KNNSKV0

The Vewlix has 5 things that are AC powered. The 12v psu, the control panel light, the outlets inside, the monitor, and the optional JVS psu. A stepdown converter is probably the easiest thing to do.

I think the best option for yellowed plastics is to paint them.

 

[rewrite]

If you want to use a Brook Board there's unfortunately readily available drop in way to do it.

You can just run a 20-pin connector off of the UFB like you would in a fightstick. Direct to buttons/stick. If your use case is consoles and PC, there's no need to bother with the existing wiring and you can just leave it all to the side inside. I guess you could argue it's not drop-in, but it's under 10 minutes worth of work, which is about what it takes to install that console io anyway.

 

[twistedsymphony]

Do games look good or I should really go for something which has a 1080p panel?

IMO rule #1 with any LCDs is that the source matches the native resolution of the monitor. You don't want the monitor to perform any scaling operations on the video data coming in as it generally does it poorly and slow. Taito Type X2 looks great on the Vewlix monitor because it supports the native 1360x768 resolution... If you want your PS4 to look it's best on that monitor, make sure it's set to output at that exact resolution.

This is also why classic games designed around 320P resolutions look like dog shit on an LCD because the LCD doesn't scale them properly to it's native resolution.

As bad as scaling up 15Khz resolution to 1360x786, scaling down 1920x1080 to 1360x768 also looks worse than just feeding it native 1360x768

 

[notsonic]

You can just run a 20-pin connector off of the UFB like you would in a fightstick. Direct to buttons/stick. If your use case is consoles and PC, there's no need to bother with the existing wiring and you can just leave it all to the side inside. I guess you could argue it's not drop-in, but it's under 10 minutes worth of work, which is about what it takes to install that console io anyway.

That's true. It's hard to gauge what's easy or hard for someone new to it.

Taking one of these https://www.amazon.com/Brook-Fighting-20-pin-Joystick-Harness/dp/B083JX5H2B and running it straight to the stick and buttons is probably easiest if you never need to change it.

I used to use test leads like this to go from the 20 pin on the brook board to the cabinet harness: https://www.amazon.com/Plated-Flexible-Silicone-Electrical-Testing/dp/B09YNCVRFK

 

[Everblue]

Thank you everyone for the input! So far I am having a hard time finding a Vewlix in the EU which is within my budget. Looks like I *may* get lucky with a Chewlix, it is cheaper and comes with a 1080p monitor and a 2 player panel which is nice to have out of the gate. Will see how it goes.

 

[Everblue]

I have one more question
Initially I want to put a PS4 in the arcade cabinet, and further down the line replace with a PC. Considering I need at least one extra button to access the PS4 home menu (Home Button), using something like a Brook device, can I set it up in a way that I assign pressing 2 simultaneous buttons to trigger home menu?

For example, playing START 1 and START 2 = home.

Thank you!

 

[notsonic]

I have one more question
Initially I want to put a PS4 in the arcade cabinet, and further down the line replace with a PC. Considering I need at least one extra button to access the PS4 home menu (Home Button), using something like a Brook device, can I set it up in a way that I assign pressing 2 simultaneous buttons to trigger home menu?

For example, playing START 1 and START 2 = home.

Thank you!

I don't think the UFB supports macros. https://www.brookaccessory.com/detail/06960737/

Also 1P start and 2P start would be on different controllers so pressing both and expecting them to work together wouldn't really make sense.

I recommend searching for "vewlix extra buttons panel"
I think there's a few members here who make them and there's plenty of options out there as well. I like the look of these best but they're sold out at the moment. https://www.heartcade.com/product/vewlix-cpx

You can also use test leads like I suggested to connect the UFB to the cabinet harness for the Test, Service, and Coin switches.

 

[Everblue]

Thanks! One last thing, I really wanted to put the PS4 inside the cabinet. Is there a way to turn it on with a wired connection? It seems it is only possible by pressing the on button on the console or with a wireless controller. Kinda a deal breaker.

 

[Metal Slug]

Thank you everyone for the input! So far I am having a hard time finding a Vewlix in the EU which is within my budget. Looks like I *may* get lucky with a Chewlix, it is cheaper and comes with a 1080p monitor and a 2 player panel which is nice to have out of the gate. Will see how it goes.

Many Chewlixes are a nice alternative to a genuine Vewlix, but I would be cautious of the newest variation coming out of china. The previous design Chewlix was a mostly faithful reproduction where many after market or even genuine Vewlix parts would work, but the newest version being sold changed many parts and people are finding that they are not compatible (like the control panel.)

I would ask extra questions and/or examine it to make sure it is the better older design. The easiest way to tell is is if there are no seams around the monitor (it is all one piece, so monitor rotation is impossible) or if the panels above the control panel are one piece, and the move-strip space seems extra small, it is the newer less desirable clone.

(here is a pic of a new version after doing a quick search, it is not my pic: https://media.karousell.com/media/p...price_neg_1650429903_4e671fc8_progressive.jpg )

 

[notsonic]

Thanks! One last thing, I really wanted to put the PS4 inside the cabinet. Is there a way to turn it on with a wired connection? It seems it is only possible by pressing the on button on the console or with a wireless controller. Kinda a deal breaker.

I'm not positive but I think that's one of the limitations of the UFB. I also don't think you can make a PS4 auto turn on when power is restored, like a PC.

 

[nem]

I'm not sure why anyone would want to get a Chewlix over a genuine Vewlix. The price difference is negligible.

5. Step down: From what I understand Vewlix cabinets come with a 100v PSU. In my country we use 220/240v. Is there a way I can convert or setup down while having any additional power supplies inside the cabinet itself?

Yes, there is.

If you get a F or a C you need to replace two power supplies (12V and 24V). If you get a later Vewlix model (L or Diamond), you should** be able to get away with just replacing the 12V power supply. The Mean Well LPS-75-12 is a drop in replacement that accepts 100-240V.

(should** because I haven't personally seen all the different models, but the ones I have seen have 100-240V compatible monitors)

 

[Everblue]

I'm not positive but I think that's one of the limitations of the UFB. I also don't think you can make a PS4 auto turn on when power is restored, like a PC.

In that case I will get a PC in there, I was thinking a Minis Forums PC. How would I set it up to switch on when I switch on the Vewlix? Is it a bios setting?

 

[Everblue]

If you get a F or a C you need to replace two power supplies (12V and 24V). If you get anything later than that, you should** get away with just replacing the 12V power supply. The Mean Well LPS-75-12 is a drop in replacement that accepts 100-240V.

I will be using a normal PC in the arcade cabinet, so I guess I will only need the PSU used by the monitor. Would that be 12V or 24V? Thanks!

 

[notsonic]

In that case I will get a PC in there, I was thinking a Minis Forums PC. How would I set it up to switch on when I switch on the Vewlix? Is it a bios setting?

Yes it's a bios setting. It's usually called something like "restore on ac power loss".

I will be using a normal PC in the arcade cabinet, so I guess I will only need the PSU used by the monitor. Would that be 12V or 24V? Thanks!

The monitor is the 24v psu. The 12v psu powers the marquee light and sound amp.


I suggest you just actually "take the plunge" instead of getting stuck in the trap of asking so many questions. Once you have things in your hands you will have context.