Gonbes HD-Converter (GBS-8220) Review

[Blaine]

A few months ago I ordered an RGB to VGA converter off the internet. The board arrived DOA.


What I paid for... RGBS to VGA

After some back and forth with the seller, I returned it and he agreed to send me a newer version of the board. What I got was kinda surprising for $50.00.

What I got...Much more

I purchased the board from Arcademvs.com. The board came directly from China. My contact at Arcademvs was obviously not a native english speaker, but seemed to communicate well enough. According to the paperwork that came with the board it's the Gonbes HD-Converter (GBS-8220). Although you'd never know that by looking at the board itself. The package included the board, two wired header connectors for power and video and a 3 page 'manual'.

The quick low down on the selling points:

-RGBS, RGBHV and Component input
-640x480, 800x600, 1027x768, 1360x768 output
-RGB at 15k, 24k and 31k
-Component at 480i, 576i, 720i, 1080i, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080p
-On Screen Controls
-2 VGA Outputs

Initial Thoughts:
A much, much nicer package than the first board I received. While the first board advertised YUV support, there was only one header to connect a video signal in. Which meant if I wanted to use component and RGB, I was going to be doing a lot of wiring. The new board has a 15 pin D-Sub input for RGBSHV, as well as a 15 pin inline Header. To the left of that you'll find burly RGBs posts. And to the right you'll find a standard RCA-style input for your component... but... for whatever reason, my board has Red, Yellow and White jacks!! It looks like a composite input. However, the board itself assures me that it's YPbPr, with Yellow being my Luminance, Red being blue diff and Yellow being the red diff. Not exactly sure what the hell is up with that, but... moving right along.

The newer board, instead of having an awkward 7 switches in a row, is now controlled by 4 switches in a cross hair shape. The Onscreen controls are nice... Chinese but nice. It only took me 20 seconds or so to turn it into English, so, not a big deal. You get a full range of video and geometry controls as well as the ability to switch between your three inputs (although the board will auto scan to find a signal).

The two VGA outputs really caught me by surprise. My first thought was one was a VGA pass through, but, not the case. Both connectors output the same video signal. Not entirely sure what benefit this is... but I guess it'd be hard to complain about such a thing. Just like the video inputs, the video outputs also have 15 pin headers for those who like to hack. Ditto for the power input, you have a standard DC jack and a 2 pin header.

The one thing I really get the impression from the board design is it's tailored towards people who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. While you have on-screen video controls, you also have trimmer pots for adjusting your RGB the way god intended.

Also, although the board has RGBS and RGBHV as two distinct 'inputs', you can actually run RGBS into both the large binder poles or into the 15 pin header. And the board will properly recognize it as such. So in that case, you can actually have TWO arcade boards hooked up and toggle between the two with a single button press.

Lastly there are a set of what appear to be serial or usb headers on the board for updating firmware. Which is a comforting thought.

Like so much in life, we have the good with the bad. The bad would be... I suppose the video. Oh, the irony! Such a DIY friendly structure. It could easily have been the gateway to a DIY XRGB! But the video output is merely 'okay'. It's not horrible mind you. It's just sorta middle of the road. My testing hardware was one of my MVS motherboards and Samurai Shodown. Overall the picture had a sorta 'soft' quality that isn't to my tastes. It certainly performs at all of the resolutions promised, but at the lowest res there was the occasional flicker, crawl and bleed.

It's certainly not going to be a replacement for your $300+ upscaler.

That said, for $50... that's a good little feature package. The board seems to be built with care, the video chip has a good sized heat sink, the voltage regulator appears to be properly installed (so the rear of the board gets a little warm to the touch, but that's a good thing), it appears that the software on the board itself can be updated.

I'm hopeful that playing around with the settings, I'll be able to improve the picture... maybe try it on my CRT instead of my LCD... The quest for the cheap XRGB continues! But I've certainly seen a lot worse for a lot more money.

**UPDATE**

Moving over to my CRT monitor, a good portion of the 'softness' has been removed. There is still a little flicker and crawl when the whole screen changes quickly, however. It's really noticeable where there is static text over top of scrolling text. For my MVS it seems like having the settings at 640x480 or 1024x768 are the most stable results. 800x600 has more noticeable bleed and flicker for whatever reasons. I have yet to hook up my Saturn to it (I need to get some female SCART connectors), but so far it's a pretty good video solution for a Supergun.

[Computolio]

    Wait a second- This thing will actually double or pass through a VGA(31 KHZ) signal over the same inputs used for RGB(15 KHZ)? Because that would be totally rad.

[Blaine]

Over the same inputs? I'm not sure I follow.

It'll double a 15khz signal to 31khz. But it won't turn a 31khz signal into 15khz, if that's what you're asking.

I also confirmed that the RCA inputs are component and not composite (although they look like composite jacks) - I had to dig around to find a set of component cables . Looks pretty good. I'll probably be using it instead of my Wii VGA cable. While it's slightly more hassle because it requires an external powersource and my VDigi cable doesn't - it will upscan 480i, which the VDigi won't. Which is nice because Octomania, Okami, Crazy Climber, etc. are only 480i.

Drop it in a project box, wire up the left button to an external button (change the source when more than 1 is present) and call it good for now. The project box I have really doesn't fit the board, I can only get one mounting screw in place so... I didn't spend a whole lot of effort on the cutting since it's a temporary fit. Front looks okay, back... not as much... I do like the chrome buttons I picked up from MPJA.

[Fudoh]

nice little review - thanks ! Would you mind taking a photo of one of the onscreen menus ?

The deinterlacing & scaling chip - by the way - is the same as used in the HDBoxPro and other boxes since spring 2008. The big plus of this PCB over any other boxed solution (with the same chip) is the dual input for RGB and Component Video.

[Computolio]

    Well, some systems will normally display 31khz, but jump to 15khz in certain cases. I'm wondering if the device will handle 31khz over the RGB input port.

[kendrick]

If somebody grabs one of these and happens to run a Model 2 board's video through it, I'd appreciate knowing if it can handle the medium-resolution 24 kHz signal as well. I've been making myself frustrated on and off, trying to find a retail monitor that will take my Virtua Fighter 2 output.

[ken_cinder]

Why not contact the seller? He's fairly quick to answer your questions.

It's obvious he doesn't speak English well, but you can understand what he tells you enough that he'll cover your question enough.

But if you look at Blaine's first picture, the chip label sports "24k" on it. Not sure if it's the same chip(s) on the other board, but if it is.....it should.

The other (newer) board supports EGA, which is 24khz isn't it?

[Blaine]

If somebody grabs one of these and happens to run a Model 2 board's video through it, I'd appreciate knowing if it can handle the medium-resolution 24 kHz signal as well. I've been making myself frustrated on and off, trying to find a retail monitor that will take my Virtua Fighter 2 output.

According to the documentation it will convert 15khz, 24khz and 31khz into VGA. If I can find anything with a medium res I'll test it. Because although it's in the documentiona.....Also important note for anyone considering purchasing:

The board REQUIRES 5volts. And I mean 5volts I have a 4.9 volt adapter I hacked together to get it to run (before I was using an arcade power supply). My multimeter showed it ran between 4.8 and 5.1 volts. Documentation says +/-.5 volts.

Well, it wouldn't work with my homemade adapter. I thought I fried the board or something, for shits and gigs I hooked up the power supply... and viola. Unless it requires more than 1 amp....

OH! Scratch that. It does! ha ha ha...ah... great.

[Holering]

Hey blaine was wondering specifically what the power supply needed for this thing is...

Does it require a positive polarity DC power supply adaptor or what? I'd really like to be specific as I don't wanna fry mine. I'll be playing with mine once I'm back in the states sometime after wednesday... I may send you a pm later.

Happy new year!

[Blaine]

Hey blaine was wondering specifically what the power supply needed for this thing is...

Does it require a positive polarity DC power supply adaptor or what? I'd really like to be specific as I don't wanna fry mine. I'll be playing with mine once I'm back in the states sometime after wednesday... I may send you a pm later.

Happy new year!

Right now I'm using an arcade power supply. 15 Amps @ +5 volts. I just ran it straight into the headers at first, then I tried to hack together a wall wart but over looked the 2 Amp requirement - so I finally re-hacked the wall wart and have it going directly into the arcade power supply (which is such overkill).

So long as you get 5 volts, 2 amps, DC you'll be fine. The nice thing about the board is it's very well labeled.

[extreme]

If I use the computer supply or even the main wall 5v DC adaptor , I have no more than 0.7 A. How do you get 2 Amp ?

[Blaine]

If I use the computer supply or even the main wall 5v DC adaptor , I have no more than 0.7 A. How do you get 2 Amp ?

Currently using an arcade power supply.

*edit*

Interestingly enough, one of my electronics catalogs came today with a 5v @2A mini power supply board (about 2.5" x 1.5"), so I ordered one of them and we'll see how that goes. I'm not sure if it'll fit in my enclosure but, I'll give it a whirl.