We tested both for retro gaming, VHS digitization, tape remastering, and creative production workflows. Here’s the full breakdown.
If you’ve only heard of retro scalers in the context of playing old games on modern monitors, you’re missing half the story. These devices are legitimate production tools, and we use them that way: digitizing tape archives, feeding clean signals into AverMedia capture cards, and deliberately introducing analog artifacts into film projects for creative effect.
We ran both the RetroScaler GBSC Pro and the RetroScaler 2x through every workflow we have. Here’s what we found.
What Problem Do These Devices Actually Solve?
Both are analog-to-digital signal converters. The core issue: modern displays and capture cards speak a high-resolution digital language, and analog sources such as retro game consoles, VHS decks, Betamax cameras, and legacy broadcast gear speak something entirely different.
A standard definition signal runs at roughly 15.7 kHz horizontal sync, outputting 240 lines of video at 60 frames per second. Modern TVs and monitors frequently misidentify these signals, apply incorrect processing, and output a blurry, laggy, artifact-heavy mess. A retroscaler intercepts the analog signal, handles the conversion properly, and delivers something your display or capture card can actually work with cleanly.
The two devices just go about this very differently.
RetroScaler GBSC Pro: The Swiss Army Knife
The GBSC Pro is built on the open-source GBS-Control project, one of the more impressive community-driven hardware developments in recent memory. The original concept took an inexpensive arcade video converter (the GBS-8200) and rewrote its firmware by attaching an ESP8266 microcontroller to it. The Pro version ships with this already implemented, plus hardware upgrades: a better Si5351 clock generator, a cleaner input suite, and an OLED display with a physical control knob.
Input support: RGB SCART, Component (YPbPr), S-Video, Composite, and VGA. That VGA input is significant if you’re running a Dreamcast or any device with a native 480p 31kHz output, allowing you to bypass lower-quality outputs entirely and work with the cleanest signal available.
Maximum output: 1080p. When feeding a capture card, handing it a full HD signal rather than a 480p signal it has to upscale itself (often badly) makes a meaningful difference to output quality.
Deinterlacing: Motion-adaptive. For tape digitization, the difference between motion-adaptive and basic Bob deinterlacing is the difference between clean archive footage and material that flickers noticeably on static elements like titles and lower-thirds. This is the GBSC Pro’s most important production feature.
Sync cleaning: Hardware LM1881 sync stripper built in. This eliminates the jailbar interference that appears in composite sync signals and plagues budget converters. For tape work this is not a minor consideration.
WiFi control: Full web UI accessible from a phone or browser in real time. Adjustable RGB gain, sharpening, scanline intensity, and filtering, all saveable as profiles. We maintain separate profiles for VHS digitization, S-Video game capture, and our deliberate analog artifact workflow.
Downscaling: The GBSC Pro can convert a 1080p HDMI signal back down to 240p analog output. For CRT use or for projects requiring authentic analog degradation, this is a capability no other device in this price range offers.
Honest drawbacks: First setup requires reading. It is not plug-and-play. Certain output resolutions, particularly 960p, are incompatible with some monitors and may require resetting and trying an alternative setting. The connectors on the AliExpress hardware build are on the delicate side and should be handled carefully.
Buy the RetroScaler GBSC Pro (EUR 89.39)
RetroScaler 2x: The Zero-Lag Workhorse
The RetroScaler 2x is a line-doubler. It takes an incoming 240p signal and outputs each line twice in rapid succession, doubling the horizontal sync frequency from 15.7 kHz to 31.4 kHz and producing a 480p signal that modern displays and capture cards understand natively.
Because there is no frame buffer, latency is measured in microseconds. Effectively zero.
For gaming, particularly anything requiring precise timing such as fighting games, platformers, and rhythm games, this is the device you want. The GBSC Pro’s one-frame buffer (approximately 16.7ms) is not a problem for most users but is a consideration for competitive or timing-critical play.
For production work, we use the 2x primarily for tape digitization where we are doing real-time capture and prioritising throughput over maximum quality. When pulling hours of archival VHS content that will be colour-graded and processed downstream, the 2x is faster to set up, simpler to operate, and produces clean enough output for the purpose.
Smoothing mode (FIL): Applies a bilinear filter that helps mask the dithered textures and noise inherent in analog tape sources. Whether this is desirable depends entirely on the project, because sometimes the tape texture is the point.
Form factor: Powers via Micro-USB and is small enough to velcro behind a rack panel. We have one semi-permanently wired into a capture chain for grab-and-go tape jobs.
Honest drawbacks: Bob deinterlacing only. For 480i content this introduces vertical flicker on static material, which is fatiguing over long sessions and problematic for clean title card capture. No VGA input, so the Dreamcast’s best output mode is unavailable. Maximum output of 480p means downstream upscaling is delegated to the capture card if the workflow requires HD input, with variable results depending on the card.
Buy the RetroScaler 2x (EUR 35.02)
The Creative Workflow: Shooting on Tape, Scaling Back Up
This is the workflow that generates the most questions when we explain it, but it is legitimate post-production technique.
When a scene requires the authentic look of archival footage, home video, news broadcast material, or surveillance footage, some directors shoot on actual VHS or Betamax cameras rather than applying filters in post. The challenge is getting that footage into a digital timeline cleanly.
Our chain: shoot on VHS or Betamax, play back through a RetroScaler, capture via AverMedia to PC, then edit and splice into the main project.
The GBSC Pro gives more control over this import. Adjustable gain, optional sharpening, and 1080p output that integrates cleanly into an HD timeline. The resulting footage carries genuine analog texture (noise, colour bleed, soft edges) without the capture artifacts that come from cheap converters or software simulation.
The 2x works for this workflow too, but you are coming into the capture card at 480p, which means upscaling happens somewhere in the chain. Better to control where that happens than to leave it to the capture card.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Feature | GBSC Pro | RetroScaler 2x |
|---|---|---|
| Max output resolution | 1080p | 480p |
| Input lag | ~16.7ms (1 frame) | Under 1ms |
| Deinterlacing | Motion-adaptive | Bob only |
| RGB SCART input | Yes | No (needs transcoder) |
| VGA input | Yes | No |
| Component / S-Video / Composite | Yes | Yes |
| WiFi web UI | Yes (saveable profiles) | No |
| Downscaling to 240p | Yes | No |
| Sync stripper (LM1881) | Yes | No |
| Setup complexity | Moderate | Very simple |
| Price | EUR 89.39 | EUR 35.02 |
Verdict: Which One Do You Need?
Buy the RetroScaler 2x if: You primarily play 8-bit and 16-bit consoles, you need zero-lag performance for timing-critical games, and you want something that works immediately with no configuration. It does exactly what it says and is nearly impossible to misconfigure.
Buy the RetroScaler GBSC Pro if: You have a PlayStation 2, a Dreamcast, a tape archive to digitize, or any production workflow involving analog signals and modern capture hardware. The motion-adaptive deinterlacing alone justifies the price premium for 480i work, and the input suite flexibility means it grows with your needs rather than becoming a single-purpose tool.
Buy both if: You run a mixed workflow. The 2x is fast and grab-and-go for simple jobs. The GBSC Pro is what you reach for when quality matters. At these prices, owning both is a reasonable call.
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