GBS-8219 RGB to VGA Converter

by Charles Hett, January 2016

For a long time I have been seeking a suitable scan The package arrived in excellent condition and
converter to allow the display of Z-100 RGB video on included:
a more modern VGA capable display. The old CRT
RGB digital interface monitors for the Z-100 are - The converter
becoming unreliable and unavailable. LCD displays are - 1 each 9 pin D male and female connector
readily available, cheap used, and use less power and - Cable with 9 pin D male connector attached
have less weight. (for connecting the computer to the adapter).
You have to add the appropriate sex 9 pin D
A scan converter is needed because the Z-100 connector on the other end.
horizontal scan rate is about 15.2 kHz where the VGA - 12VDC power adapter
rate is about 31kHz. Analog and Digital interfaces also - Instruction manual
come into play. I think I have found a suitable
converter at an acceptable (but not exactly cheap)
price. It is the GBS-8219 VGA scan converter.

Search

I searched for any DIY articles about building scan

converters, but all I found used obsolete parts in their
design and would probably be difficult to build and get
to work. So I abandoned the idea of building my own.

I found the Ambery 15KHz RGB CGA to VGA

RGBHV Converter Scaler, AV-1M, at
www.ambery.com for $89.00 (+ $10.50 for cable)
(Prices still good as of January 2016). There was no
specification for TTL digital input voltages (only 0.7v
75 ohm) so I thought that it might not work with Z100.
Installation
I also found a few of the cheap (about $30) adapters
that were available on eBay. However, they did not
The GBS-2819 has a row of BNC connectors and a
advertise a TTL interface either.
RUN light on the right side and female 9-pin and 15-
pin connectors, power socket, and three menu buttons
In 2014 I found the GBS-8219 converter. The internet
on the left side.
information on this unit said all the right things –
separate H/V or composite H/V sync, 15 kHz
frequency, digital TTL input, could handle interlace,
and could adjust horizontal and vertical height.

It was available on Amazon.com for $225, but several

different vendors on eBay had it for much less. So I
paid about $150 for one and received it less than two
weeks after ordering – shipped from China. The price
varied considerably depending on the seller and time.

Note: BNC connectors are not used with the Z-100.

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After checking the Z-100 color monitor jack pin I also tried it on my Toshiba 32" 16:9 high defination
assignments, I determined that a straight through 9-pin television, but could not find a suitable combination of
D connector cable was required with male pins on both settings that gave a totally acceptable picture. The
ends. I attempted to install the male connector on the converter horizontal and vertical menu settings were
provided 9-pin cable, but this did not go well. not adequate to do the job. It did “work”, however,
with this big display and was quite impressive in some
The insulation on the cable wires was very thin and respects. Maybe with more time, I could have found a
melted easily when soldered. The connector insulation good setting.
melted at a very low temperature. Also, the shield of
the provided cable was aluminum and not solderable. Go with what you have or can get cheaply, but I don’t
recommend going larger than 17”. While a high
After a couple of attempts, I was able to complete the definition monitor or TV with a VGA interface would
cable assembly. I tucked the shield under the backshell work, it isn’t necessary and probably won’t visibly
strain relief to make that connection. improve things.

Because of the relatively low resolution of the Z-100

video system, I think this is a case of smaller is better
for the monitor.

I also recommend trying to locate an LCD monitor. In

addition to the smaller space used, using an LCD
monitor with the converter, you don’t see the raster
lines between rows of pixels in graphics mode like
you do on a CRT. It is just a solid field of color. Very
cool.

To connect the VGA monitor just plug it in to the 15-

pin output connector on the adapter. No VGA cable is
If you don't have good tools and a steady hand, I provided with the adapter.
recommend that you use a commercially made 9-pin to
15-pin cable. What you would need is a male-to-male
cable wired pin-for-pin for this application. Power

From there it is a simple matter of connecting the 9-pin The product comes with a wall wart style power
cable from the Z-100 video connector to the adapter. supply rated at 12vdc, 1a. I believe it is a switching
type. It connects to the adapter with a standard
I tried the 9-pin cable that I had been using with my connector.
CRT color monitor. But, I had to use a gender changer
adapter to end up with a cable that had male connectors I suggest plugging the Z-100, the monitor and the
on both ends. The cable is wired pin-for-pin and end- adapter into a power strip and simultaneously
to-end, so this arrangement worked fine also. powering all three devices simultaneously. I found that
extraneous pixels would be displayed beyond the
desired display area if the computer were turned on
Choice of VGA monitor first before the converter and there was no way to
clear them short of re-powering the adapter. Even that
My first system turn on was with a 17” Dell E171FPb did not always work.
LCD SVGA monitor with 4:3 aspect ratio and a
resolution of 1280 x 1024. While turning on the converter first is OK, because the
converter does not have its own power switch, it is
I also tried a 15.1" Zenith L15V26C LCD 4:3 aspect easier to use the power strip to turn on everything.
ratio television that had a PC input. The resolution was Also, while some say that power strip on/off switches
stated as 1024 x 768. It worked with the converter, but aren’t meant to be switched with a load applied, power
not quite as well as the Dell monitor, possibly because strips are easier to replace than on/off switches in the
of the lower resolution. Z-100s and monitors.

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Setup and menu

Configuring the Z-100 Video Logic Board Jumpers

First, I suggest trying the setup without changing any

jumpers. It turns out that the jumper settings I ended up
with was the default shown in Pictorial 4-1 in the Video
Logic Board section of the Z-100 Technical Manual.
The jumpers of concern are:

J301 Sets ‘-‘ polarity of vertical sync

(The converter works either way)
J302 H polarity of horizontal sync for
external RGB (converter works either way)
J303 V (The converter requires this)
J304 VC polarity of sync selected by J303
(converter works either way)

I tried interlaced operation, setting the Z100 and the

Adapter setup converter for interlaced mode but the results were not
satisfactory – too much flicker and poor looking
Menu operation characters.
To access the menu, press the Menu button. The menu How I Chose the Values
will be displayed with the H_Position line selected and
the value displayed in white. To access a different line, To start with, just boot the Z100 and use the basic
press the Up or Down buttons to advance to the desired boot screen to get things working. You can also use
line. the Color Bar entry to test that the colors are wired
correctly.
To change the selected value, press the Menu button
while on that line and the selected value will be Now you can begin the serious adjustment of the
displayed in red. Then press the Up or Down buttons to display.
select the desired value. When the value has been
selected, press the Menu button again. The selected It turns out that, due to aliasing effects, selections are
value will now be displayed in white and you can go to fairly critical and some iteration may be needed to get
the next value for selection. the best looking characters. Some trade-off may also
be needed between an exact aspect ratio for properly
displayed graphics objects such as circles and crisp
When all values are selected, you can go down to the characters.
Exit&Save line and press the Menu button to exit and
save the selections. If no buttons are pressed for about I chose to optimize for good looking characters. If
15 seconds, the selections will be saved automatically proper aspect graphics is important, you could
and the menu will be exited and extinguished. temporarily re-adjust vertical and/or horizontal height
to get what you want at the expense of slightly poorer
characters.
Menu settings I found that I obtained the best displayed characters if
I selected values somewhat less than the maximum
The values I have chosen are displayed in the table on available on the display.
the next page. These settings yield a horizontal width of
about 10.5” and a vertical height of about 8.0” on my
Dell monitor which is pretty close to an aspect ratio of
4:3. The top margin is about 0.8” and the display is
approximately centered horizontally with left and right
margins of about 1.4”.
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Menu Line My selections Range

H_Position -01 -99 +99

Width -44 -99 +99

V_Position 0 0 +99
Height +53 0 +99
Phase 00 -16 +15
Style RGB(A) RGB(A), RGB(D), YUV It seems odd that
RGB(D) doesn't work*
Sync Separate(HV) Separate, Composite, SOG (Sync on Green)
Resistance 75ohm 750 ohm
Scanning Progressive Progressive or Interlaced
Resolution 800*600 640*480 or 800*600
ExitSave Note that the menu also displays the horizontal and
exits the menu vertical scan input frequencies.

*Selecting RGB(A) forces resistance to 75 ohm. Can be overridden.

Selecting RGB(D) forces resistance to 750 ohm. Can be overridden.

To aid in making the selections, you can use a program Using the converter menu again, adjust the display
such as the crosshatch BASIC program described in settings for optimum character appearance keeping in
Z100 Lifeline #42. I added four lines to draw a mind that you will be affecting the graphic geometry if
CIRCLE the height of, and centered on, the crosshatch. you change the height or width. A difference of one
number on horizontal or vertical size or position can
make a difference in the quality of the characters but it
10 'crosshatch can also goof up the graphics geometry. Play with it
20 CLS until you are satisfied that you have obtained the best
25 X=315 overall performance.
26 Y=112
27 Z=225 I close with a photo of the Jayhawk from my school to
28 CIRCLE (X,Y),Z show you how he looks on an LCD screen. Good luck!
30 FOR I=0 TO 640 STEP 30
40 LINE (I,0)-(I,240),7
50 NEXT I
60 FOR I=0 TO 250 STEP 15
70 LINE (0,I)-(630,I),7
80 NEXT I
90 GOTO 90
100 END

When run, you should get a circle display. Then adjust

the display height and width to get a perfectly round
circle.

After making that adjustment, exit BASIC and simply

type a string of upper case 'M's and lower case 'm's that
span the entire display and repeat over several lines,
filling a large portion of the display with characters.

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