OBS Deinterlacing Guide for Retro Console Capture

Capturing retro video game consoles using OBS Studio often results in jagged, blurry lines during fast-moving gameplay. This article explains the purpose of the “Deinterlacing” settings menu in OBS Studio, how interlaced video signals from older consoles cause visual artifacts on modern displays, and how to configure these settings to achieve a clean, smooth, and authentic visual output for your streams or recordings.

Understanding Interlaced Video and Retro Consoles

Older television standards (like NTSC and PAL) utilized interlaced video to save broadcast bandwidth. Consoles from the PlayStation 2, original Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube eras frequently outputted signals in 480i or 576i (“i” standing for interlaced).

In an interlaced signal, the console sends video in alternating fields: first the odd-numbered horizontal lines of the image, then the even-numbered lines. Old CRT televisions displayed these fields so quickly that the human eye perceived them as a single, continuous image.

The Problem on Modern Displays: Combing Artifacts

Modern computer monitors, TVs, and capture cards operate on progressive scan (“p”), meaning they draw every line of the image simultaneously. When a capture card receives an interlaced signal (like 480i) and sends it to OBS, the software displays both the odd and even fields at the same time.

Because game objects move between the time the odd field and the even field are drawn, this causes a visual glitch known as combing. Combing appears as jagged, horizontal, zipper-like lines cutting through any moving object on the screen.

The Purpose of OBS Deinterlacing

The Deinterlacing menu in OBS Studio exists to eliminate these combing artifacts. When enabled, OBS uses real-time processing algorithms to combine, discard, or interpolate the alternating fields of the video signal into a clean, progressive frame.

Without deinterlacing enabled, fast-paced action games will look highly distorted and pixelated during movement. Enabling deinterlacing restores image clarity and prevents viewer eye strain.

Recommended OBS Deinterlacing Settings

To access these settings, right-click your capture card source in OBS, navigate to Deinterlacing, and configure the following options:

• Deinterlacing Method:
  • Yadif 2x: This is the highly recommended setting for retro gaming. The “2x” indicates that it doubles the frame rate by turning every individual interlaced field into a full progressive frame. This converts a 30fps interlaced signal (which contains 60 fields per second of motion data) into a fluid, true 60fps progressive output.
  • Yadif: This merges the fields into a 30fps progressive output. While it removes combing, it cuts the motion smoothness of the gameplay in half.
  • Retro / Discard: These methods discard half of the fields. They are lightweight on system resources but result in a loss of vertical resolution.
• Deinterlacing Order:
  • Set this to Top Field First or Bottom Field First. If the movement in your capture looks stuttery or jittery (as if frames are playing out of order), switch to the opposite option.

When to Turn Deinterlacing Off

Deinterlacing should only be enabled when capturing an interlaced signal (like 480i or 576i).

If you are playing older 8-bit or 16-bit consoles (like the NES, Genesis, or SNES) that output in 240p, or newer retro consoles utilizing progressive scan (like the Wii or Dreamcast running at 480p), you must turn deinterlacing Off. Applying deinterlacing to a progressive signal will unnecessarily degrade the image quality, causing unwanted blurriness and input lag.