Newer GBS-8200's not working

[mbob]

I bought a GBS-8200 off ebay a few months back and it works great for the cost. I was so satisfied I bought another from the same seller. The first board was marked 2014-03. The new board is from just a couple months ago and displays many artifacts and its dimmer. Overall it looks terrible. So I mentioned it to the seller who was great and sent me another. Same exact poor results. Something is different from the 2014 board that works great. Anyone come across this?

 

[Bryce]

As far as I know, they increased the speed of the RAM which is causing artifacts on the screen, PAL is worst, but NTSC isn't great either. I've one of them here and I'm working on a hack to improve them.

Bryce.

 

[mbob]

So its not me then, any idea when they cut over? I just found a late 2014 I bought on eBay and am crossing my fingers

 

[Bryce]

No, I bought mine pretty late and they had already "improved" it by then. There are already solutions released to solve the problem, but they involve permanently attaching a Raspberry Pi to it which is a bit over the top. I'm working on a smaller solution. You can read more about it here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/crappy-vga-image-quality/

Bryce.

 

[Retrograde]

Damn, too bad they messed with the 8200, I'm quite happy with it price/performance-wise, have an old version ofc.
Does the job both for my A1200 and the PS2.

Maybe there is a decent device that outputs HDMI directly? Something cheaper than a Framemeister.

 

[Bryce]

No idea. As I prefer to use 4:3 VGA LCD Monitors that don't have HDMI, it's enough for me (if it worked properly).

Bryce.

 

[mbob]

I have mine with a scan line generator on a 4:3 LCD and it looks great. That's the old version of course. I'm now up to 3 newer bad ones as I tried a late month 2014 which is the same. What a shame they ruined these

 

[mbob]

No, I bought mine pretty late and they had already "improved" it by then. There are already solutions released to solve the problem, but they involve permanently attaching a Raspberry Pi to it which is a bit over the top. I'm working on a smaller solution. You can read more about it here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/crappy-vga-image-quality/

Bryce.

Off to read up

 

[mbob]

I was lucky and scored the last few from a seller on Amazon all early 2014 models that are perfect for me. I have 3 of the 2015 models if anyone needs them. I'll sell $15 a piece plus actual shipping.