monitor tweaking (low res arcade pots question)

I have a recapped monitor for a low res cab of mine. After getting a brand new monitor in my Vampire Savior machine, I notice each pixel. It's wonderful. On my older monitor, the picture's very nice...however, I can't help but think the colors are a bit too bright, perhaps. When the screen goes dark, you can see each pixel of every character, but when the screen turns back to full brightness (say, after a round is over, the game goes black, then on again) the pixels wash out a bit. I've messed with the small controls on the front inside of the machine, but it's just brightness and contrast. If I mess with them, I don't any real better affect.

So, I have to use the cut offs and drives on the back of the actual monitor, I guess? Anyone have a website that shows how to tweak a monitor to make it look it's best? Do I turn down the drives? Turn up cut offs? No idea what I want to do to get that sharp pixely look without the colors being too dominant. Thanks,

When the screen is totally black and you see the screen is lit up a bit and is kinda grey instead of black, you need to back off the "screen" adjustment just a bit.

It's on the back of the flyback transformer (a.k.a. the high voltage transformer) - you'll see two controls on most of 'em. One is Focus and the other is Screen.

The Focus adjustment will help some on sharpness but not all. Sometimes you just need to realign the color guns on the monitor. This is something you pay an experienced TV tech to do unless you really love pain.

If you adjust the screen control and you still don't get the desired picture, look for a "black level" adjustement. (not found on all monitors)

RJ