Here is the video as promised. I put links to the components in the video description.
A couple of things to note:
First, sorry about my froggy voice and being forgetful. I'm coming down with a cold and I'm hopped up on Nyquil and beer in the video.
Second- I start the video with just some simple video of the different playfields being projected (a few while being played), zooming in on each. Please watch that portion to see what different playfields (modern vs classic) look like on the system.
Third, The price I give for the conversion box is what I paid for it (Around $90), but it HAS COME DOWN! And right now, it's even on sale at $42. Snatch them up at that price!

Hope everyone gets some good info out of the video, and remember if you use this system at your arcade, please share pics and videos of it in this thread. Would love to see what others come up with!

I take the time to show people how to set up a gallery monitor system, and THAT's what you took away from it? Aight...
Anyway, a screw hole doesn't bother me at all, as I have never gotten on a ladder to see if there are any screw holes in the top of a backbox when purchasing a machine, or when visiting an arcade. Like I said in the video, it ain't for everybody. And you can always come up with a different mounting solution.

Yup. I put a lot of time into restoring these machines (some say too much for a machine going out for public play). I don't mind replacing inserts or fixing graphics on the playfield to make them look and play as good as I can get them, but at the end of the day they are still going out to be enjoyed by the public (and make me a few dollars). As long as the cabinet is structurally sound, I don't even repaint them or touch them up. Every scratch and scar on that machine is evidence of it's past use in an arcade somewhere.

Duly noted, and I really hope this doesn't become a whole discussion about "to screw hole or not to screw hole" (which as I'm quickly discovering is the M.O. of Pinside), the idea I'm trying to put forth is something that has helped foster competitive play at my arcade. That's what this is about. If you are collector and never want to modify your pin with a couple of screw holes in the top of your cabinet, hey, that's cool. But this is not at an expo type tournament setup, it's a permanent solution.

Thanks Ron! I got it at a great deal from a respectable seller.

Sure! They are the cheapest 32” Visio 720P you can buy at Sam’s ($144). My local Sam’s always has a bunch of them in the bin. Don’t know the model number off hand, sorry.

Sometimes you WILL get some vibration in the image if the player is gunching the shit out of the machine. But it’s pretty minimal. Not bothersome at all.

If you can figure out a way to convert the cam signal (TVI etc) this would be easy to pull a feed. The box has a pass through for the original signal (you can see it in the video).

I’ve found 32” to be perfect for our space. Keep in mind that by the time you’re down to the last few in the tournament and you’ve got 20 or so people standing back at the bar watching the final match, they usually know the machine and they don’t need to see every detail. They just need to be able to track the ball and watch the score. It makes for some exciting finishes to our Friday Night tourneys.

The only thing you could really “improve” would be the TV resolution and/or size, but unless the space is just huge, the tradeoff isn’t worth the cost. It’s a 1080P signal going into a 720P TV currently, so there is some loss there.

We are in a small town with no good high speed internet access. Don’t think we have the bandwidth for a decent stream.

Hahahaah! Nice! As long as it don’t let loose and you’ve got a camera crashing down on your PF glass.

Thanks Mr. Gentry! And if I was rude at any point during that weekend, allow me to apologize! I know I can go trailing off in the middle of a conversation during those times. I get really scatterbrained when I’m trying to get ready to run a large tournament and trying to follow my thoughts is like trying to read graffiti on a passing train. If that makes any sense.

It’s kinda vague: here are two examples, one taken from Roger Sharpe’s 1977 book “Pinball!” and the other from the web. It seems it can mean “nudging” as well. At the arcade when someone yells “GUNCH IT!” Everybody takes that to mean “get rough with it.” It just sounds that way, ya know?50B55127-6ECD-46ED-BA7D-0A66F65EBAAB (resized).jpeg
E1DBCB09-E979-472E-BB70-2308045C64E5 (resized).jpeg

$20 cheapo mounts from Amazon, then just mount the TV to them in the portrait mode (VESA mount for a smaller tv has the mount holes in a square pattern so you can mount it in whatever orientation you desire). You can even find mounts that come with a 10 foot HDMI cable. Two birds, one stone.

$129? Damn! What’s it made out of, printer ink?

Camera link is in description of vid on YouTube.

I think as long as it’s VESA compliant it’ll be fine.

Thanks! We’re just getting started! Got a few things in the works so I hope to keep improving for years to come.

This is great. It’ll make me proud if others start using my setup. Always nice to be able to contribute something positive to our wonderful hobby.

Had to come to Sam’s today. Surprise! The TV’s I used are on sale right now. EAF88DC8-5449-4968-B9E5-15FBD8771AB6 (resized).jpeg

Thanks for bringing the cable and power supply up. I should've mentioned it. I ordered the cables and power supply in bulk so I kind of forgot about those. As far as mounting, I didn't need anything other than what came in the box and a few wood screw to mount the camera directly to the bottom of the plank.

So has anyone set up a rig yet? Would love to see images of what you came up with!

Been a little over a year since I posted this and, while I can't say any of it was a direct result of my system setup or the how-to video in any way, I've been happy to see more and more pictures of public arcades with gallery monitors mounted over entire banks of pins. I just hope that others have discovered the simple joy of having the monitors there during tournament play.

Yopp