Author Topic: C128 Video DAC thread (Read 9336 times)

mdripley · « **Reply #25 on:** October 13, 2011, 10:37 AM »

Has anything new developed with the STV908 board you mentioned as possibly being used in a future batch? as I am really looking for one solution for my C128
but would like to use my C64 as well.

Regards
Mike

Richard42 · « **Reply #26 on:** October 16, 2011, 01:51 PM »

Unfortunately not. The Uniworks rep hasn't written back in a few days.. Those guys may only be interested in doing business with large customers. It's just as well. The AD8044 op-amps chips that I got cheap off of 2 alibaba suppliers in China turned out to be fake. I'll have to raise the price of the last 10 boards by $4 to cover the higher digi-key price for that part.

mdripley · « **Reply #27 on:** October 17, 2011, 12:09 AM »

No problem with the price increase, I am really just looking for a one source solution for my C64 & C128

Richard42 · « **Reply #28 on:** October 17, 2011, 04:51 AM »

OK everyone, time for the last round of converters. I just ordered parts from digi-key to build up the boards and am now taking orders again. I also discovered today that Silver Circuits (www.custompcb.com) gave me 30 boards though I only ordered 25. Those guys are great. So the last batch will be 15, not 10. About half of these are already reserved. Unfortunately the prices are $4 higher than for the first batch, since digi-key charges that much more for the AD8044 chip, and my original supplier is out. Here is the pricing for the new batch:

2. Board
Contains: populated PCB
What you need to do: Connect with your own CGA->VGA converter and power supply.

3. System
Contains: populated PCB, GBS-8220, power supply
What you need to do: Plug in your VGA cable

edit 11/26: all sold out

RobertB · « **Reply #29 on:** October 17, 2011, 03:24 PM »

I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of mine.

Back from the TOGA and FCUG meetings,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org

hoss48458 · « **Reply #30 on:** October 18, 2011, 06:04 AM »

sending funds today, great project idea, look forward to getting and using it.

Dirk Vroomen · « **Reply #31 on:** October 20, 2011, 06:13 AM »

Hi Richard,

received my board today. Works absolutely perfect. Thank you very much!
I have tried several solutions, but this one is really impressive!!

my configuration:

German flat C128 (PAL)
64KB VDC-RAM
GBS-8220
TFT Vision Magic T17A

All modes - including interlaced - are displayed without any problems. Didn't expect this on a flat PAL C128.

I have attached tokras reference ;-)

Best regards,

Dirk

texz71 · « **Reply #32 on:** October 20, 2011, 12:07 PM »

any "kits" still available? I'd be interested in one.

Richard42 · « **Reply #33 on:** October 20, 2011, 01:53 PM »

Quote from: texz71 on October 20, 2011, 12:07 PM

any "kits" still available? I'd be interested in one.

Yes, I still have boards available.

dabone · « **Reply #34 on:** October 20, 2011, 07:28 PM »

Money sent.

Later,
dabone

tokra · « **Reply #35 on:** October 21, 2011, 08:27 AM »

Hooray, got mine today as well, I ordered a system together with the GBS-8220 and a board to go with my AV-1 (for 50 Hz). Interestingly the GBS-8220 I got does the 50 Hz PAL mode as well, although sometimes it will put a few wrong lines at the very bottom of the picture after a some minutes. The AV-1 picture is okay as well, if a bit bright. The AV-1 has no dials to adjust this at all. However all 16 colors including brown are clearly distinguishable. So the AV-1 is a workable solution as well. I had an old GBS-8220 at home, but was unable to get a stable picture with this one at all. Very strange, it just would not sync. So I suppose there may be different batches of the GBS-8220 around or the old one I have is somehow faulty. Good thing I ordered a tested sytstem ;-)

I got some interference (wavy lines) when I first tried the GBS-8220-device on an old VGA-monitor, and later this evening connected it to the VGA-input of my projector, which gave a rock-solid picture, so the system I ordered is fine and it must be some VGA-cable or the monitor causing the interference. This is just to say: If it does not work perfectly at first, don't despair, after a little fiddling and tweaking you will be able to get a fantastic picture out of the C128. See some pictures I took of my projection wall in VDC-IHFLI mode at http://www.tokra.de/c128/vdc-ihfli/gbs8220/ - there is no interlace flicker visible at all - the devices seem to merge the 2 half-pictures into one non-flickering on - NICE!. In one picture you can see the geometry-settings I set the GBS-8220 to. Only when I expanded the width up to 98 the aspect ratio would finally be right. By default this is set to 50 and you will get a vertically squeezed looking picture. Another plus for the GBS-8220, since the AV-1 does not have the option to strech and squeeze the picture as well.

Thanks, Richard42 for a creating this great adapter for the C128!

mdripley · « **Reply #36 on:** October 21, 2011, 11:37 AM »

Money sent, I am eagerly awaiting for my system

dabone · « **Reply #37 on:** October 21, 2011, 08:46 PM »

I've got 3 different LCD monitors here that do 15k. I can't wait to try it on them.

Later,
dabone

RobertB · « **Reply #38 on:** October 22, 2011, 01:28 AM »

Quote from: tokra on October 21, 2011, 08:27 AM

Hooray, got mine today as well...

Mine was mailed out on Tuesday, and I received it yesterday. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, because I've been prepping for the Amiwest Show this weekend. But after this weekend...

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

wte · « **Reply #39 on:** October 27, 2011, 07:59 AM »

I've got mine today

Thank's a lot!

WTE

dabone · « **Reply #40 on:** November 11, 2011, 01:17 PM »

I finally got around to building mine last week, and after a brain fart. (I blame the hangover), I got it to display today.
I'm running a NEC AccuSync LCD71v with it and watching Risen From Oblivion in glorious 16 colors!
Great piece of hardware, I also dug out the Tandy 1000sx and gave it a try, it works great on it, Thexder looks and plays fine.
You have another market of users to sell to.
(Maybe get enough interest to do yet another run.)

Later,
dabone

Richard42 · « **Reply #41 on:** November 13, 2011, 08:37 AM »

I just built up the last 5 boards, so there are no more kits left. Anyone who's been sitting on the fence about ordering a C128 Video DAC: order soon because they'll be gone.

duerg · « **Reply #42 on:** November 13, 2011, 12:16 PM »

Dear Richard,

I would like to have one of the last

You got a PM

Best regards Duerg

dabone · « **Reply #43 on:** November 14, 2011, 12:36 AM »

Would you sell a tested gb-8220 alone?

Later,
dabone

Richard42 · « **Reply #44 on:** November 14, 2011, 03:50 AM »

dabone,

I've been buying them from this guy on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/260798423788

hoss48458 · « **Reply #45 on:** November 18, 2011, 10:03 AM »

Mine arrived last week, excellent product richard42, thank you for doing this project.
Hooked it up to a PC moniter and after changing the lanuage to english (no big thing), it looked great.
looked to my tv, no moniter input available, so i starrted looking for a new moniter, found the price of moniter to be kinda high, so i looked fo a vga to hdmi convertor, and found this for $45.00 on-line and orded one, got it and hooked it up between the gbs-8220 vga output and the hdmi input on the tv, and had to set the gbs-8220 to 800x640 for it to work properly, but there it was on the tv, here the link to the product in case if you want to look at it...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812141001&Tpk=biostar%20vga%20to%20hdmi

personally i am going to change the usb power connector to a regular power pack in near future, othe than the 800x640 setting it works excellently
just thought i would let others know about this product combination.
when you first power up the commodore it takes about 3-4 seconds for the video to get to the tv during power up, after that it there is no video delay at all.

RobertB · « **Reply #46 on:** November 22, 2011, 08:41 AM »

We had a preliminary presentation of the C128 Video DAC at yesterday's FCUG meeting. Though not a full presentation, the Video DAC worked well with colored text when used with the club's flat C128 and a Sony Trinitron tube-type VGA monitor.

Next time a colored game in 80-columns,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

Richard42 · « **Reply #47 on:** November 26, 2011, 03:12 AM »

Robert,

Thanks for presenting this to your club. I only have 2 boards left now, so they're almost gone.

RobertB · « **Reply #48 on:** November 26, 2011, 04:22 PM »

Quote from: Richard42 on November 26, 2011, 03:12 AM

I only have 2 boards left now, so they're almost gone.

i would have spread the news of your C128 Video DAC farther, but because you had such a limited production run (my assumption), I didn't do it.

A few hours before I leave Portland, Oregon,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

ajacocks · « **Reply #49 on:** November 27, 2011, 02:20 PM »

Just a quick note to say that the quality of the video board is excellent! I'm using a GBS-8220, here, and the video quality in 80 column mode is better than what I'm getting, in 40 column mode, via svideo.

Has anyone looked for a project box for the video board, or for a GBS-8220? I'm looking, but not finding much, so far.

Thanks again, Richard!

- Alex