X-Y Vector Video Arcade Monitor Theory and Definition

What Is A Vector Monitor (taken from the Bally/Midway Omega Race manual) Welcome to the world of the X-Y monitor, an electronic device that strikes terror into the heart of many a technician. The main reason it is so intimidating is that the Vector, Quadrascan, or X-Y monitor is TOTALLY UNLIKE the Rasterscan monitor or T.V. set as you probably call it.

Vector or X-Y monitors are used because a regular Rasterscan monitor constructs the picture in a different way. For example, your T.V. set has 525 horizontal lines on the screen from top to bottom. Each line is a slice of the picture. If you stare real close at the edge of a picture of a curved object (a large ball) or an angular object (the peak of a roof) on the screen of your T.V., you will be able to see the individual slices that the objects edge is made up of. The edge of the curved or angular objects will not appear to be completely smooth but will look like they are stepped.

However, at normal viewing distance, these same curved or angular lines will appear to be smooth or straight and not stepped. To make sure that the pieces or slices of the picture stay together just like they were transmitted, T.V. sets have synchronization circuits. Vector monitors don’t use ANY of this. Here, the electron beam smoothly goes anywhere it is told to paint the picture. It DOES NOT go across the screen 525 times to paint the picture in slices. Because of this shortcut, the circuitry is less complex and the detail in the figures will appear smoother. One drawback is that the brightness level is intentionally designed to be at a level high enough to burn or etch right into the picture tube face.

Some of the most memorable arcade games from the 1980s are the hardest to emulate with modern raster-scan monitors. Smash hits like Asteroids, Tempest, Battlezone and one of my all time favorites Star Wars use vector graphics — straight lines and dots — to generate futuristic images that scroll smoothly across arcade displays. Here’s a brief look at a vector generator that brings these razor-sharp classics into the 21st century.

The old vector monitors (also referred to as X-Y monitors) are now very difficult to find if you have a classic video arcade cabinet as referred to above.

Here is a picture of Wells Gardner 19V2000 19” B&W Vector (X Y) Monitor for Video Arcades and Interactive Kiosk systems. Here is a great link for a technical vector monitor guide

There were more than 30 vector based games made in the 80’s. To acquire a collection that includes all these games would be a monumental feat. Just to find that many vector monitors alone would be no easy task, not to mention the cost!

Vector based arcade monitors haven’t been made in 20+ years, and you can’t simply use one vector monitor for all these games. Each monitor has different specs and runs at different speeds, making them incompatible between different gaming hardware.

The only way to reproduce these Video cabinets is through Mame cabinets such as DreamAuthentics manufactures.