GBS 8200/8220 CFW Project

[rama]

Looks like an entirely different design, one with analog front end chip + FPGA.
It's probably optimized more towards industrial use.

Spoiler

[fernan1234]

Looks like an entirely different design, one with analog front end chip + FPGA.
It's probably optimized more towards industrial use.

Spoiler

I do like that it has BNC connectors. In terms of performance I wonder how it compares to the stock GBS8220. How do these handle interlaced signals?

[rama]

I don't think you'll find people that have used these here.
These have nothing to do with the GBS8200, as I said.
So your best bet to even see one is probably Youtube.

Just from the look of that pcb though, don't expect your money's worth :p

[fernan1234]

I do see on Amazon there is a Prime option, whose very flexible returns I'm not shy to abuse... I mean, take legitimate advantage of. Maybe I'll take a look a it for a couple of days.

[rama]

The GBS 8219 won't be worth it. We can't modify it and no one would buy it at that price.

Get an OSSC for the money. Also frontend + FPGA, but actually good and well supported.

[rama]

rememberizer:
It'd be great if you could test your CPS3 game with the latest version.
I'm working on covering a much wider range of input timings, and I think your gear is an edge case for this.

[Iraito]

I never asked this before, but is the copper tape still recommended for GBS control ? i noticed that 480p sources show some horizontal sparkly noise, should i apply the tape ?

[Iraito]

Well i did the shielding and damn, it's 100% noise free, i guess this is still a needed procedure because of how the hardware is designed.

[rama]

The FIFO and memory timings are optimized visually on the boards I can test with.
I just have to hope that they work for all the boards out there.

If they're slightly wrong for a board, it will look like random sparkles and glitches.
Adding shielding will skew the timings a little, so the data good window is larger.
This is why it fixed the problem, but this doesn't mean that each GBS needs it.

[tiochico27]

Hello!

I've just "builded" my GBS-Control. Tested with my Mega Drive (PAL 60Hz, Brazil) via Scart cable and my Playstation 2 with component cables and works like a charm, but i have a doubt about PlayStation 2's VGA mode that run over component cables. How it works? I've enabled the VGA mode in Matrix Infinity Menu, but the image doesn't sync at all. Is that the right way to do that?

Regards,
William

[Ryoandr]

I managed to get lended a CPS3 (SF3 2i), and can confirm image was unstable with whatever previous version, using VGA with a PC CRT. Board works fine with a 15khz JVC video monitor.
Updated with lastest version (did full flash erase and reset+default in UI) and no change. However I noticed log info being written so here it is (tried to change to 1280x1024 as you can see).
https://pastebin.com/nxQLzb1s

I hope it's useful, but if you need to setup some remote debuging, I'll be happy to do so.

[rama]

Okay, I think I'm closing in on the matter.
I think it's really just a window size misconfiguration, where I simply can't use fixed values, as I used to.

Could you do me a favor and find this line in your sketch copy:
https://github.com/ramapcsx2/gbs-contro ... .ino#L4033
Please change it to say

Code: Select all

uint16_t ignoreLength = hPeriod * 0.18f;

upload and test whether it helps.

You'll notice the debug logs will show a shorter sync pulse ignore window, and with some luck, it may be stable.
And if it's not helping, a Teamviewer session would be great

[rama]

Again a very successful Teamviewer session!
CPS3 should be fixed with the next update

Edit:
Update is out.
And I really hope I didn't break NoAffinity's Genesis! (Mine still works :p)

[Iraito]

Rama this may be a stupid question but is it possible to move the picture in passthough mode ?

[rama]

It's possible but difficult to move the sync pulse positions.
In fact, I wish it was possible to *not* have to do that.
There seem to be some complex rules to it, but of course nothing is documented.

Try fiddling with the web ui > development controls.
I can't remember whether I've already hooked up some of them for bypass mode, but I may have.

[Iraito]

I fiddled, the only option that moved the pictures is "oversampling" it actually helped a bit, is there any way to have more control ?

[NoAffinity]

Tested and confirmed, it still works great with my one edge case Contra Hard Corps on Sega Genesis.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[NoAffinity]

I gave a quick test to Neo Geo MVS. Jamma output is going through a Vile Tim AV Driver. I intend to make an adapter to be able to test pure JAMMA output into the GBS, but just haven't had the time.

At any rate, it appears to handle the MVS well. I do get some printouts on the UI, which I don't believe I normally see. It's intermittent, and doesn't seem to correspond with any glitching or weirdness.

Spoiler

h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:424242 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:c723 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-65
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:444444 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:8080 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-65
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:464646 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:010e m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-65
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:484848 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:1100 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:4a4a4a S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:0101 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 180 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:4c4c4c S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:0000 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:4e4e4e S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:0004 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:7 A:505050 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:cf00 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:525252 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:8000 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:545454 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:0000 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:565656 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:dd00 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 180 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:585858 S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:0077 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 430 v: 527 PLL:8 A:5a5a5a S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:7a00 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:5c5c5c S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:7a00 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64
h: 431 v: 527 PLL:8 A:5e5e5e S:8f.10.00 H- I:00 D:7a00 m:1 ht:2345 vt: 261 hpw: 181 u: 0 s:ff S:13 W:-64

In the video, I cycle through each available preset, starting with 1280x960 and going to the right withi the web ui. Whenever you see a No Signal, and then see the screen go black momentarily, its in the next resolution in line. The GBS output is non-scaled on a 1920x1080 canvas within OBS. The only exception to this is when I get to pass thru, due to my capture card treats 240p as 720x240p. You will notice the abnormal ratio once I get to pass-thru. For that one, I stretched it to fit the 1920x1080 canvas (OBS handling the scaling) then re-centered it. No audio, sorry...simply a matter of a couple minutes time saving on a busy day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FER2MwM ... e=youtu.be

[rama]

Cheers!

I can see where the capture card / software don't like all that resolution switching, and also that in one preset,
it auto adjusts the sampling clock / phase (as a TFT with VGA input typically would do).
Nothing out of the ordinary there. I expect a regular TV will fill the canvas by itself, most of the time / preset dependent.

But there are very brief sync losses when the guy throws a grenade and the screen should go full white (I assume).
I wonder whether the SOG slicer level is just slightly off.
If you want to, you could try the "SOG level" (or some such) button in the web ui > development.
Try to set the level to something about 16, and again at about 8, see if any of those fix it

Iraito:
Oversampling isn't the option to use for this. Try the "Move Picture (memory blank, HS)" controls.
But they may not do anything yet. I haven't hooked up everything for the special modes.

[Iraito]

Yeah that's the first option i tried, it doesn't work in passtrough, then i tried everything and oversampling moved it somehow.

[Ryoandr]

After live fixing, tried latest version and confirmed CPS3 (SF3 2i) is working stable.

[rama]

Great, that helped me understand the problem a little better

[rama]

So I have a new main TFT and it finally works okay with gbscontrol.
First thing I've noticed is a severely horizontally shifted 1280x960 NTSC display.
This preset is my main one for 60Hz sources so that's a bummer.
The problem? My display doesn't know that 1280x960 exists. It knows about 1280x1024 or 1600x900.
I mean, it can be manually corrected and a custom preset can be made, but it's a far from ideal out of the box experience.

So that's a new problem to work out.
What are the most supported resolutions across several TV, and how to fit 240p into them nicely?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS ... ed_by_VESA
I think 1280x1024 is my best bet now.
640x480 is probably even more supported, but it's hard to get a nice quality out of it.
1024x768 is available, but the vertical just isn't good.

[maxtherabbit]

So I have a new main TFT and it finally works okay with gbscontrol.
First thing I've noticed is a severely horizontally shifted 1280x960 NTSC display.
This preset is my main one for 60Hz sources so that's a bummer.
The problem? My display doesn't know that 1280x960 exists. It knows about 1280x1024 or 1600x900.
I mean, it can be manually corrected and a custom preset can be made, but it's a far from ideal out of the box experience.

So that's a new problem to work out.
What are the most supported resolutions across several TV, and how to fit 240p into them nicely?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS ... ed_by_VESA
I think 1280x1024 is my best bet now.
640x480 is probably even more supported, but it's hard to get a nice quality out of it.
1024x768 is available, but the vertical just isn't good.

The DTV standard resolutions are going to be your best bet. After those I'd say 1024x768 as you mentioned and then don't forget about 1600x1200. 1280x1024 is pretty much the wrong AR for everything so I'd avoid it

[AndehX]

If you're talking about LCD displays, you should ideally aim for their native resolutions. Which is going to be either 1920x1080, 1280x720 or something along those lines. I'd say the majority of affordable consumer TV's will mostly be 1920x1080.
a 4x scale for 240p looks pretty good at 1080p. If users really want, they can use overscan features on their TV to stretch it further.

[rama]

Well, 1920x1080 is already in and maxed out in what it can do.
It's a good mode, but it requires the maximum pixel clock and high frequencies overall, adding some jailbars.

1280x720 works well.
It looks like the vertical scaling engine falls onto even dividers so scanlines are alias free.
So this is a mode I'll focus more on.

But both formats have the 16:9 assumption issue with many TVs, where they won't allow 4:3 mode.

1280x1024 should be supported by most displays, and it will be recognized as a PC format, allowing 4:3.
Scaling for 240p content isn't ideal right now, but I've changed this locally and like the results.

So maybe 1024x768 next, or 1600x900.
1600x1200 is probably not a good idea, since it requires even more resources than 1080p.
The GBS pcb just isn't made for that.

[AndehX]

would it not be possible to have the 1280x720 preset automatically scale the image horizontally to 4:3? Then you wouldn't need to rely on the TV's ability to apply the correct aspect ratio...

[maxtherabbit]

would it not be possible to have the 1280x720 preset automatically scale the image horizontally to 4:3? Then you wouldn't need to rely on the TV's ability to apply the correct aspect ratio...

I'm guessing you mean have the scaling engine add blank pixels on either side of the output frame for pillarboxing right? That's what I was going to suggest

[AndehX]

would it not be possible to have the 1280x720 preset automatically scale the image horizontally to 4:3? Then you wouldn't need to rely on the TV's ability to apply the correct aspect ratio...

I'm guessing you mean have the scaling engine add blank pixels on either side of the output frame for pillarboxing right? That's what I was going to suggest

pretty much yeah. I mean nobody likes being forced into playing a retro game in 16:9 unless you're a masochist

[rama]

Right, I forgot about that option :p

To get good quality with the smaller horizontal area, it's probably best to disable the output stage horizontal scaler.
The aspect ratio can be dialed in using the output pixel clock and a matching "as high as possible" input sampling clock.

A quick test with 720p looked very promising