Amiga to VGA | GBS-8220 Review (CGA/EGA/YUV to VGA) 

Thank you for watching I hope this helps you with your purchasing decisions! Please see further links in the description of others findings and modifications, and I'll be sharing a mod episode very soon. Overall I'm impressed for the price, and we don't want to spend too much time or money on modding it as every £ closes the gap to the more expensive legitimate solutions out there. If you have an alternative method I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Neil - RMC

Awesome video! Glad to see the A500 getting the love it deserves and being kept running with up to date parts and peripherals. Please keep making these vids.

Great video. I bought one and couldn't figure out the pin-outs until I saw this video so thanks.

Awesome overview! I have the very same model and been *thinking* to try this with my Amiga and Atari. But never really got around. Now, you've done what I *thought* of and I see a very promising result and solutions to the artifacts too. Thank you very much :)

The picture here is so good. I love how the background is really colorful, but the center has a more mellow, low-CRI light that gives the items a warm, retro look.

Very informative, entertaining and technical video... as always! Thumbs up 👍!!!

Your videos are always of the highest quality and engrossing. Cheers from Iceland!

Excellent video, had one of these in the cupboard for years. Looking forward to the follow up video!

My dad was cleaning up in my parents storage unit and found a bunch of old computers. He turned into a kid and wanted me to check if it is possible to run these old systems. Thanks for the video!

Very informative as always, thanks!

Back in the old days, we used to use scan rate doubler circuits to bring the hsync up to 31khz. Worked a treat with CRT's & only took a few minutes to make.

Great video, learned a lot (again) :)

Happy to have been some assistance 😎

This is something I’d never have the need to use but I enjoyed watching all the same 👍🏼

I have the exact same Phillips crt that I use with my 600, sadly I two encountered the dying space invader sound only a few weekd ago! I look forward to your investigations into a fix. Love the channel as well.

Had one (monitor) just like it for my A500... Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Pretty interesting solution! And a great video! Thank you :)

Thanks for the link btw =D =D

Great video as always. I have the same Phillips CM8833-II with exactly the same problem as you demonstrated, so looking forward to see if you post a video on that repair. In the meantime have bought a GBS-8220 to hook up to an old 17" IIYAMA CRT monitor. CRT's are always better, even though I have an NEC MultiSync LCD1970NXp which will sync down to 15.6 KHz, but looks too dull. On Amiga 1200 by the way, currently using SCART on old 14" TV's. Keep up the great work. :)

I have one of these boards in an arcade machine that had the CRT replaced with an LCD monitor, the interference problem is terrible, especially on saturated colours. Much tweaking and settings experimentation didn't help much. Unfortunately higher quality scan converters are expensive! I was thinking of getting the Open Source Scan Converter. I didn't know about mods for the GBS board, I will look into that. Excellent video!

Looking forward to seeing how well you manage to get this working! I've been using a cheapy RGB scart cable to a TV with my amigas. Works, but not ideal. Cheers

That's a cool mod! I just picked up an Amiga 500, so this could come in real handy.

Very useful video, thanks.

I'm having a problem that I can't keep it to lock in the vertical sync. It keeps scrolling. Other than that the picture is clean

I LIKE YOUR VID I ALSO TRIED IAN STEDMAN WIRING FOR THE GB2 220 TO AMIGA 500 AND IT WORKED PERFECTELY THAANKS FOR VID ....

I love you Neil, in a purely platonic, awkwardly uncomfortable, man hug sort of way :-) Very much looking forward to part 2!

Sincerely hope you are doing a CM8833 II repair episode on that flyback transformer. Mine (a MKI, though) died a week ago - with the exact same symptoms. Just after I restored my old Amiga 500 with help of your "trash to treasure" episodes and upgrading it with a gotek. I since then use a SCART to HDMI converter. Works like a charm.

Superb video thanks for sharing :-)

Brilliant video RMC. Top quality production values as always and awesome info. It is really sad to see the CRT's go. I do everything possible to save mine. I just spent $250 getting my 1084 fixed, but I feel it was worth every penny. Nothing brings back the experience like a CRT, but it is amazing how you can get even better quality (with no flicker) out of these old machines with things like scan doublers. Personally, I skip the whole VGA route and just go HDMI because all of my modern monitors have Display Port or HDMI - no VGA. VGA is already feeling retro to me, but it is a good solution if you have the space for a VGA monitor to dedicate to your Amiga. BTW, I absolutely love that clear plastic monitor shelf you have there! AMIGA4EVER -- Bill

Thanks for the overview. Just started using my Amiga 1200 again. First thing is to recap it and then get this board.

There are a few known issues with the GBS board, as you've seen on Ian's blog. The PCB layout is less than ideal, and that causes sparkly dots on some boards, especially with a 50 Hz video input. My first board was quite bad, so I did the mod where you cut the trace for the SDRAM clock, the solder on a resistor and cap (RC filter), which fixed the dots problem completely. I think it might also work to reduce the SDRAM speed slightly as well (as you mentioned), but that involves modifying some register valus via I2C, so you have to have something like an Arduino permanently hooked up. There is another project on the shmups forum for connecting a Rasp Pi to do a similar thing, but also to enable a true 240p / 288p mode, as the GBS tends to try to deinterlace an already-progressive input signal, which can cause really bad artifacting with some systems. Using a Rasp Pi for configuring a few GBS registers is huge overkill tbh. An Arduino or ESP8266 would do the job fine. The GBS boards also have issues with sync, and requires an external LM1881 sync separator for some consoles. Also, the "arcade" style connector is likely adding to the noise, as there is only one ground path, and the RGB wires are obviously unshielded. So yeah, they can be quite good scaler boards for the money, but can take a lot of tweaking to get right. lol There is a version with HDMI output btw, but I haven't tested one, and imagine it might have similar issues on the input side unless they have tweaked the design already.

Yes ther information is given!

i'm really happy to be seeing your vid today as i've been thinking of buying such a board to have a better looking solution for my atari st. i have a low-sync compatible monitor on hand and a cable from the uk that converts the atari st connector to a vga + audio out, and it works, but my monitor isn't perfect and the horizontal resolution is squished no matter the adjustments!!!

thanks for the review.

I'm using a BenQ BL702A 17" 5:4 aspect monitor with a simple VGAAmiga RGB Adapter. Works perfectly with 15 Khz too! Silky smooth sideways scrolling and great colors (settings need to be tweaked and possibly differs between Amiga models(?) )

I know that sound that ur monitor was making, I used a hairdryer to preheat the monitor and after about 15 minutes then got it to start up. ... But I would rather have LCD anyday however anyways lol Excellent vid as always, TY.

Where did you source your acrylic monitor stand from?, struggling to find one with a suitable width for my 1200

Hello, Great video Retromancave. Question: why do you need 3.3V instead of 5V. As far I can see the pcb says 5V on your video.I bought also the gbs 8220 v3.0 and it says on the pcb 5V, too. So how did you find out to use 3.3V .

What is the best power supply to use for this with an Amiga 500?

Hi there. I have a question. I use a LG flatron 19" Screen. I have done all the steps you did but I get a purple screen. It seems to work but the color is totaly wrong. Any ideas what it could be? I have tryed to search for solution but none worked so far. Thanks :D

Could this be used with a Commodore 128 also? I'd like to hook my C128 to a regular PC VGA CRT for 80 column mode.

I'd love it if you also got a hold of an ST and used it in these scenarios as well - i know they weren't as popular but just as interesting.

I was wondering if you'd have any idea why my CD32 with SX32 which has a VGA out on the back doesn't work with my new VGA monitor I've also tried my S-VIDEO to VGA lead again, I just get a black screen, is it because they are incompatible?

Hi Neil, any chance you might update this video (again) for the GBS control modifications? Hooking old kit up to new monitors remains an ongoing - and sometimes - expensive headache - so diving a bit deeper into this solution a few years in would be awesome.

Thank you

Recently dug out my A1200. It started up once with a screen asking for the Workbench.... The screen went away and just became gray. Now I do not know if the monitor or the computer are at fault. To find out, I decided to try the fix you suggested. I got the board, had a 5 volt power supply. I could not find a DB23 plug, but my Amiga connected to the monitor via VGA cable through the VGA in and VGA out from the 8220 board and a Commodore 390682-01 RGB to VGA adapter to the computer. Well, at least there was a signal through the board and to the monitor, but just a green screen. Hmmm. Any advice? Is my Amiga kaput? Do I need to get that DB23 plug? I will appreciate your thoughts.

Interesting solution. Has some obvious issues, but it's cheap, and it works, so that's not too bad. I am amassing quite a lot of systems at this point that output 15 khz RGB, or at least one of the S-video predecessors. I don't have all the cabling for them, but more importantly I don't have the display for it. While I was in the UK I at least had a TV with RGB scart input, but I couldn't take it with me to Australia, and even though we used to have 'euro' connectors on plenty of televisions, (that's what SCART was called), nowadays I struggle to find anything that still has such a connector. The issues are obvious, but that it's a cheap, workable solution... Yeah... I mean, so far I have this problem with: -RGB output on SNES and Super Famicom. -RGB output on Mega Drive -The native s-video like output on my 800XL (even though the chroma output isn't wired up for some bizarre reason) -The RGB output that my 800XL will have once I fit the VBXL/VBXE module. And I would like to get an Amiga at some point, so that's also going to end up having this issue. Would be nice to get some kind of solution here, even if it's ultimately a stopgap or backup solution...

I have one of these in my SLG-in-a-box. I use it for games machine that use scart and component. Having it output with VGA to my 36 inch CRT.

is it ok to plug in the amiga db23 port using an adapter to the vga in on this board and then connect ths lcd monitor to the vga output of the board

Hey bud can you offer me some advise? I bought this board for cruzin the world. It worked fine , however the colors keep washing out after running. If you hit auto it's fine but continues to wash until it's so white you cant see

I was trying to figure out how nicely does deinterlacing perform through watching your video. Seems there is not that much combing. However, the mouser pointer seems to drag some square shape around which erases the background it is passing onto. Unless it is just a you tube replay artifact...

As this is now 6 years old, is there a refined /better option? I see lots of rgb to vga adaptors for the A500 now on ebay etc.... Do they do the job?

There's another smaller white cable that comes with the board, is this used? Hard to see on your video.

Hi, I am acquiring GBS 8220, same made connections, explained in the video, but it is the picture of the Friend dark, I was watching the light up but it is still the same, can be the monitor that I am using? It is a Samsung syncmaster 2233 to

I use the GBS to use old 80s word processors that require external displays. It’s a life saver at that price, mine’s in a 3D printed case and I use a small 5v adapter

Since I struggled with an A520 still in 2017, I got me the "small" GBS with only one VGA-output. It doesn't work ootb, since I have to mess around in the settings, until I get a picture, every time I connect the power supply. I use it on an older 15"-LCD-TV with VGA, where the A520 was connected before, and I'm very pleased with the output. I wonder if it's possible to make a VGA->Amiga cable to connect the GBS, instead of the provided harness!? I could then eventually put the GBS into the TV-housing, dremel the holes for the outputs of the board, since it seems big enough to fit a whole A500-board in there...

I'm wondering weather a capacitor would clean the noise out on screen. Hey it looks really good for a £20 fix I think it's money well spent Neil 😋😋....Kim

The bottom of the image is cut off when showing Nexus 7. Size should have been left at 50. When I did Amiga captures for a 2006 DVD, I used deluxepaint to create some test patterns for calibration; this worked way better than games. You might want to do the same for best results.

Would this board work with IBM XT? Could this be used for NES on LCD?

I would be suprised if it was a FBT failure just like that, I have repaired numerous of these monitors and not had to replace the FBT. Check the resistance across the large transistor connected to the FBT, 7512 also the diode 6517. Don't just replace them check the PSU voltage and capacitor 2517.

Great details but I am not clear on why you didn't need the vertical sync only the horizontal sync. Can you or someone explain that better?

how have you managed to keep your cases white? i have a A500 A600 and A1200 all of them have yellowed :(

I have the GBS-8200 and I get a lot of white and red speckles. In saying that I’m possibly running it at 800x600. I’ll drop the resolution and see if that helps. I see you tried the Syncmaster 710n too in the hope it has the right internals to sync to 15khz? I bought one recently for the same reason.

I like how subtle the music is, and the content is good. You gotta sub from me

That flyback transformer... is that what some techs call 'the frame?' I remember I had an old Philips TV and the picture collapsed into a horizontal bar across the screen. Speaking to the telly-tech, and watching what he was doing, he tapped a box that looked like a small transformer on one of the PCBs and said 'the frame' needed replacing. Just a thought....

Hi Neil, sorry not related I really like the perspex stand you have in this video does it fit the amiga 1200 underneath all the ones I seem to find are only 470mm and the 1200 is a good 500mm, where did you source yours? Thanks and great video as always!

Great video. Your monitor is a 17" model by the way

My Philips CRT Monitor just died on me today, and came across your video while researching on the internet. I have the exact problem. No video output, just a loud spinning noise. I left my monitor on last night and this morning I heard the noise. I tried powering off and on again, still the same. So right now I am looking at making or buying a RGB to VGA adapter.

RMC. I have the same scan doubler. I found that modifying a VGA cable or using a DB-15 to VGA adapter like Amiga Kit sells seems to help with the distortion. It seems you are lacking shielding.

OSSC is a more expensive option that will allow HDMI / DVI at scaled or line doubled/tripled resolutions.

I had that same PHILIPS / MAGNAVOX monitor back in the day on my Apple IIgs -- it was awesome. How did the capacitors look on the boards inside it when you took it apart? Failing capacitors can also give you a high pitched whine like that in some cases.

I have fixed many of these monitors over the years. The line output transformer does fail. It fails with a short between winding. Its a long time now since I did any and can't remember the place that made new transformers or if they are still doing them. Those transformer I never had one fail after replacing it unlike the originals. I think there must have been inter-winding stress that caused the insulation to breakdown over time. Another problem with the 500 power supplies which I fixed for a few people was that the pcb would crack across a corner resulting in the regulator not working and giving out 45 volts on the 5 volt line. When this happened there were two loud bangs, an electrolytic capacitor in the floppy drive and one on the main board. Amazingly, after these were replaced and the power supply fixed the Amiga still worked

The GBS is an interesting little board, but I haven't used mine since I got a better scaler for Component vido. I had tons of video quality issues, including color banding, distortion, and poor color, and I know there's a fix for some of those but I'm not the greatest at soldering. Perhaps sometime I'll go back, fix it, and sell it for a couple more dollars or keep it as a backup. Also 3:04 the YUV inputs are for Component video. YUV, even though it's different from YPbPr/Component, was sometimes used as a label for it which is technically incorrect.

I bet you could just add insulated wires to the cable instead to get rid of the noise, that fix always worked with composite video wires as the thinner ones gave a terrible image quality

Personally I have used an old VCR or a harddisk recording machine I had laying around. I connect the amiga on the video input (scart for example), and from the harddisk recorder over hdmi to my monitor.

RetroManCave. Question I am hoping you can answer? I have two Wells Gardner D9800 27" Arcade monitors that will eventually feature in a dedicated horizontal and vertical cabinet respectively. The monitor is capable of 15khz (My main reason to play MAME games at 15khz as they were mostly meant to) THe monitor also supports 25khz (Mortal Kombat) and 31khz. It has a VGA DB connector at back of the monitor as the only input...Could I run an Amiga on these monitors via that? Thanks in advance!

I got one of these a few years back and mine is awful there is a non stop shaking in the screen that give me awful head aches ive tried different things to fix it including a ferrite bead on the cable but to no avail. Watching this makes me want to get another one and see if it dos the same,great video.

I'm using the exact same VGA board with my NeoGeo MVS and I haven't encountered anything like that so I get the feeling this is probably something specific to the Amiga and other computers.

I've got a DVI port in my A1200 but I just purchased an A500 off ebay and thought how the hell am I going to run it because my 1084s has been sitting in the garage for years gathering dust so I don't think it would fire up anymore and I think I mite have an old analog TV that would work with the RF modulator but I would like to plug it into my current 27inch monitor so this option mite solve my problem

I had the same monitor with my atari 1040 stfm along with a sm124 mono high res monitor. hope you manage to sort it.

How update my old siemense crt monitor to new lcd

That plexy stand!

Hello friend, I love your tuto.. I'm a french guy. I follow your video with great interest but I have only ONE question: What about the YELLOW cable ? It's plugged on GBS, but the other side ?? Thanks.

I would guess that some kind of shielding would completely eliminate the interference

Parabéns pelos seus vídeos. Eles são ótimos e estão me incentivando a restaurar máquinas antigas para que eu possa fazer doações a pessoas simples e para vender algumas para quem gosta de nostalgia. Obrigado e um abraço!

I have bought a new TV a few weeks ago (in Germany). It has HDMI, WiFi, RU-vid and all the things you expect today. But it still has SCART! If you have the right cables it works with all those old computers/ consoles via RGB. Even 60 Hz (ntsc) modes work.

Use a flex with shielding. Use RF filters at both ends by the connectors.

Surprised we have not seen a Kickstarter yet for a 17" CRT monitor with a tonne of connection options to allow all devices from the 70s to the 90s to work at their best.

You could try using shielded cables and rf beads on both sides of the cable

Worth checking out the GBS-C mod to improve the GBS-C several fold.

That music takes me back...

Just for the feeling i build TFTs in old broken CRT monitors. TFTs are not curved and not glossy like CRTs but it looks okay. i can even integrate a Raspberry pi iand power supply nto the case of the CRT and make it a complete RetroPi or Linux PC... There are TFT controller boards available wich replace the electronic of a TFT and give a HDMI Composite SVideo and a analog RF Input... Thats very useful too. So many things are possible if you just try to make them possible :D I really like tinkering with retro stuff. Great Video as always.

Cool video, i'm using a GBS-8220. I dith a white sparks fix and I use a scan dubbler (scanline maker) it looks great. But some times the image a bit unstable, I need to fix that.

A cheaper alternative that may suit some people: I bought an Amiga RGB to SCART cable on ebay from retro computer shack. Works really well - far superior to the RF modulator. They also sell cables for the commodore 16, Plus/4 and C64 machines.

How long does it take to switch resolutions? Indy AGA Mk2cr takes about 2 seconds while Framemeister XRGB-mini takes up to 5 seconds. I'm missing lots of hires gfx in demos because of this. By the time XRGB-mini switches to hires, the demo switches back to lores and I'm waiting up to 10 seconds looking at the blank screen.

I'm still attempting to sort out hooking up a Commodore 128 via GBS to get 80 col on a VGA monitor, and same with an Apple IIgs Woz, and an Atari 520ST case that I put a 520STFM in with the extra RAM.

@RetroManCave I can't seem to find a DB23 plug, can I use a DB25, or will it not fit?

There are so many ways to connect a AMIGA. Got my AMIGA 500 to a BenQ BL702A 17 inch VGA monitor. With a Indivision ECS V1 with the Super Denise 8373. You must get the right settings with the monitor and the ScreenMode and Overscan. For my AMIGA games it’s perfect. For the AMIGA 1200 the BenQ BL912 19 inch monitor with a RGB/VGA adapter is great. I want the 50Hz PAL Laced 15.6KHz because i want the same as my deceased Commodore 1084S-P1 RGB CRT monitor.

try as I might with the gbs 8200 and gbs 8220 I can not get this solution working. I just get a rolling picture no mater what I do with the clamp or any other settings. If anybody out there has the solution please weigh in.

I got one of these a couple years ago. Cheap, works good enough but my only gripes is I couldn't get the colors to look as good as my NEC CRT monitor and If I get the image lined up nice on my LCD a resolution change would send the position way out of wack. So I ended up with a low res image that was to small on the screen to accommodate that. But considering how cheap the thing is I can easily over look that