Virtual On: Live Monitor?

**MasterFygar** · 10-22-2011

I have an original, twin Virtual On sit-down cab... normally, each monitor displays a behind-the-back third person view of your Virtuaroid (robot), ditto for your opponent, leaving no good way for spectators to follow the battle. In many arcades in Japan, a "Live Monitor" akin to that of Virtua Racing could be attached to the machine as seen in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7WHE...eature=related) that gave an aerial, dynamic view to the battle on an external monitor or TV that was mounted on top of or around the cabinet.

Now, with Virtua Racing and any other Model 2 titles that utilize the Live Monitor setup, "Live Monitor" is an option on the test-menu, after "Master" and "Slave" options, and a third PCB is linked and then set to this option. The curiosity is that, with Virtual On, the option does not show up in the menu at all, though "Master" and "Slave" are selectable options. This is the case in both the Japanese and American ROMsets, so it isn't a regional feature.

I've scoured the Japanese and English sides of the web for information and I've found nothing more than confirmation that the monitor does, indeed, exist, and is emulatable in the PS2 port (which doesn't help me at all). There are no images of the setup itself, so I don't know if the monitor is truly just a monitor linked to the machine or if it has its own dedicated PCB. There is no mention in the manual of such a thing (or of the Live Monitor at all), though I have been unable to locate a Japanese manual. Does anyone have any insight as to how this may work, where I might locate such a device (or even images of such a device), or the Japanese manual? I've spent hours researching it and I'm at the end of my abilities. I would love to get a Live Monitor set up working so I could make a tutorial detailing the process for others with the machine, as nobody else I know in the arcade community with the cab had even heard of its existence. Any and all help or information would be deeply appreciated, as nobody at Oratan (the big Virtual On forum) or KLOV (arcade collecting community) has been able to solve it either.

**Jamtex** · 10-22-2011

As a question do you have 3 VO model 2 boardsets and daisy chained them up?

**MasterFygar** · 10-22-2011

I'm afraid not, mine is the standard, 2 VO Model 2 PCB configuration, one installed in each half of the unit.

**subbie** · 10-22-2011

Have you asked on arcadeotaku? There are a few big VO fans there.

(speaking in general)
Live monitors are so interesting but hard to come across at times (yet even when found, they don't fetch much money, so they become even harder to find).

**MasterFygar** · 10-22-2011

I have not asked there, thank you for the lead on that and I'll give them a try.

And yeah, I've noticed that Live Monitors are very elusive items. In general, do they have their own internal board, or are they easily emulated, so to speak, by any other monitor of the same type? I've never actually worked with one, or found pictures of the insides of one before, sadly.

**Jamtex** · 10-23-2011

Live monitors are generally just that, monitors but they do have the whole boardset, psu and connector cables. Although I can't confirm this, I spoke (via third person) to a guy at MAK Japan, who told me the VR was just another VR model 2 board, but you need to daisy chain the boards up so P1 TX goes to RX on P2, P2 TX goes to the third board, and RX on that, loops back to P1. You just need to set it to Slave and make sure all three boards have the Versus mode option set. When the two machines are playing the third will automaticlaly show you the live battle, although it was a long time ago so he can't gaurantee this but he was pretty sure.

**MasterFygar** · 10-23-2011

Originally Posted by Jamtex

Live monitors are generally just that, monitors but they do have the whole boardset, psu and connector cables. Although I can't confirm this, I spoke (via third person) to a guy at MAK Japan, who told me the VR was just another VR model 2 board, but you need to daisy chain the boards up so P1 TX goes to RX on P2, P2 TX goes to the third board, and RX on that, loops back to P1. You just need to set it to Slave and make sure all three boards have the Versus mode option set. When the two machines are playing the third will automaticlaly show you the live battle, although it was a long time ago so he can't gaurantee this but he was pretty sure.

That actually makes perfect sense and that's the only way I can see that it could work that way (I know that it changes what the options do depending on how many connections it has: the "Slave" option only appears after two boards are linked, so it seems logical that a third board that is daisy chained to the other two would work as the monitor setup). Thank you so much, you've finally solved this mystery (been on the case for two years!) and I know now which parts to keep a look out for. Very much appreciated! :-)