FAQ:Video

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Can I play MAME on an arcade monitor or on a TV screen?

Yes, MAME can be used with real arcade monitors, and using such a monitor will give you a much better arcade picture than a computer monitor. However, you need a video card that supports 15 kHz output, or in some cases 25 kHz if your monitor is medium res. Driving a 31-48 kHz VGA, SVGA, or XGA signal to an arcade monitor can damage it permanently. For more details and help on making this work, please see the Build Your Own Arcade Controls website and forums.

For the use of MAME on a TV screen, you need a video card that provides TV-out support. The picture quality will be lower than a monitor, however many people have reported good results because most raster games in MAME run at low resolutions. If you use a TV connection, using S-Video, Component, or RGB Scart inputs will often lead to better results than composite or RF inputs.

For some examples of what MAME looks on a computer monitor, an arcade monitor and a TV screen, see this monitor output comparison courtesy of Oscar Controls.

Can I play vector games on a vector monitor?

Indeed you can. With the Zektor's Vector Generator, you can use a special DOS-only version of MAME on a suitable vector monitor or Vectrex game console.