The CARBY: An Excellent GameCube HDMI Adapter + Comparing to a $15 Upscaler

It's been a while since I talked about the CARBY. I've sort of "re-discovered" this amazing adapter, having used it for some of the recent Retro Boost Arcade Episodes (Mario Kart Double Dassh All Cup Tour with Action Replay and Metroid Prime 2 Multiplayer in the playlist linked below). So I'm going to talk about it again today! I'll go over the basics and show some examples of gameplay, using Line Doubling, 480p, and 480p w/Scanlines.

I'll also do a comparison against the AV2HDMI as well, to highlight the benefits of how the CARBY grabs onto the GCN's ability to output 480p (for the majority of the library) vs the standard 480i Composite experience.

Devices like the 2X Pro/5X Pro do a much better job with Composite though, keep that in mind. Plus the CARBY isn't the only way to get 480p from the GameCube; there other HDMI Adapters that also use the GC-Video DVI Project, or you could also use a Wii with Component Cables.

Remember that not all the GameCube’s library supports 480p, but the bulk of it seems to. Out all the games I own (toward 80 at the time of this video), only about 3 to 5 are 480i Only. For interlaced sources, the CARBY will apply line doubling, as seen in the Line Doubling Chapter in this video.

*Important Call-Out: YouTube's compression does takeaway a lot of detail that is seen in person that devices like RetroTINK, RAD2X, CARBY, and more output. Bear that in mind with any content containing capture footage from those devices. My commentary and opinions come from the Raw Capture Files and what it looks like on my TV, I can't account for what details are lost to compression until after the video is uploaded.

Related Content:

Retro Boost Arcade Playlist:    • Retro Boost Arcade - All (Oldest to N...  

RetroTINK Comparison Playlist:    • RetroTINK Comparisons and Side-By-Sides  

CARBY Playlist:    • CARBY  

RAD2X Playlist:    • RAD2X  

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Chapters:
Intro 00:00
Welcome! 00:12
Today's Objective 00:30
Channel Call Outs 01:00
The CARBY 02:12
The CARBY's OSD 05:00
Line Doubling Gameplay 08:54
480p Gameplay 09:50
480p Gameplay with Scanlines 11:04
Thoughts so Far 12:12
The AV2HDMI 13:40
CARBY 480p & AV2HDMI 1080p 16:18
Thoughts on the CARBY Experience 16:41
Some Alternatives 18:15
Channel Call Outs 18:30
The End! 20:35


Music from Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Have a suggestion for a product review, game we should play, or something else? Send a message to [email protected]!