# Multiple resolutions/frame rates outputs etc



## welshdemon (Sep 18, 2015)

Hi. I know this is being considered. Can I ask is it likely to be any time soon? I have spent weeks and weeks / late nights, no sleep, headache, stress, trying to get my streaming project running how I want/would like it.

I have tried wowza, red5, nimble

streaming CDNs, cloudfront, all sorts

xsplit, camsplit, obs, fmle, etc

and a huge problem is that I need downscaled resolutions etc for lower bitrate options. Preferably without using wowza as it is such a headache and complicated to learn, the documentation is for more advanced users. I just want a simple happy stress free life. 

Xsplit is poor quality picture compared to obs despite using the same X264 settings etc, not sure why. and of course they have subscription fees etc.

My PC manages 720p,480p,360p all different resolution and bitrates fine with Xsplit, and that can be a CPU hog at times. 

It would solve many problems if OBS had this multiple resolution/bitrates option. 

Thank you


----------



## dodgepong (Sep 18, 2015)

So you're trying to offer your viewers a choice of resolution within a single web player?

What you're asking for requires a fair bit of knowledge, and is not friendly to basic users.


----------



## welshdemon (Sep 18, 2015)

This is something that is almost industry standard. XSplit does it, wowza and other streaming software / servers of course. Having multiple bitrates for adaptive streams is becoming fairly widespread. MPEG Dash, ABR HLS, SMIL files, etc etc. Just wondering what's the prognosis on it being added to OBS, as if it isn't _too_ far away I may hold out and make do with whatever, for now, as opposed to going to great lengths to find a permanent solution in other ways.


----------



## dodgepong (Sep 18, 2015)

Well, you didn't really answer my question, and I can't help but think you don't quite understand what you're asking for. You're mixing several different concepts into one idea.

Since you didn't answer the question, I'm going to assume you want to be able to serve your viewers a web-based video player that will let them select a resolution from within the player itself, and the player will load the appropriate transcode.

This is something that is accomplished between the web player (the client program) and the server (Wowza, nginx RTMP, what-have-you). It is not something the encoder does (OBS, Xsplit, etc.) unless you want to produce all the streams at the same time from the origin, which sounds like a bad idea. Instead, a better solution is to ingest a single stream from your encoder on the server and then transcode it using something like FFmpeg and serve those transcodes seprately. Then your you send down with your web player everything that it needs to know about reading those different streams, and let it switch between them all.

Long story short, what you're asking for is not a thing that needs to be added to OBS in order for you to do it.

Having said that, multiple stream outputs is planned to be added to OBS, which will support streaming at different resolutions and bit rates (but probably not different frame rates).


----------



## welshdemon (Sep 18, 2015)

This was my question.
"Multiple resolutions/frame rates outputs etc. I know this is being considered. Can I ask is it likely to be any time soon?"

Your first reply was not much help so no, I didnt answer your question. All I wanted was a reply to my initial query of whether this feature was coming soon or not.

Thanks for the erm....help....

err back to square one. I gather from the final parapraph in your long winded 2nd reply, this means it is not to be implemented imminently....np, I can move on.


----------



## dodgepong (Sep 21, 2015)

If the question is just "Will OBS support streaming at different resolutions in the future," the simple answer is "Yes, eventually."

But when it comes to doing support, there's a problem known as the XY Problem, which basically refers to when people have a problem and think they know of a solution to that problem, but have an issue implementing that solution and then seek help, where what they really need is to find the right solution to their original problem.

Your problem isn't that you need OBS to stream at multiple resolutions. Your problem is that you need your viewers to be able to view multiple resolutions (at least I believe that to be your problem, but you left it ambiguous), and are mistakenly assuming that the solution to that is to make OBS stream multiple resolutions. It is not. The solution is to implement a transcoder on your streaming server that takes a single high-quality stream from OBS and generates the lower-quality streams, and then serve those transcodes.

So in the end, to solve the problem you're _actually_ having, OBS does not need to change. You just need to know the right solution.

I'm just trying to help you find the actual solution to your actual problem, not help you implement a hacky solution to the wrong problem.


----------



## welshdemon (Sep 21, 2015)

red5 media server does not transcode. 
nimble streamer does not transcode.

2 popular ones.

I dont want to have to pay £60 per month for wowza when I dont need to.

I successfully used xsplit to transcode stream from 720p 50fps 3MBps, to a 480p 40fps 2Mbps, and a 360p 30fps 1Mbps, all with different x264 settings if need be. Xsplit sends to as many custom RTMP accounts as I set up (3 in this case) 
and send to my red5

However lack of security and support for red5 meant I had to move to nimble, _nimble also does not transcode._

Xsplit is subscription based software.
xpslit picture quality is worse than OBS. 

I was hoping OBS would support transcoding some time soon.


----------



## GillyMoMo (Sep 21, 2015)

What you are looking for is completely separated and completely different than what OBS does. You are looking for something to transcode? Your best bet is nginx-rtmp. It has a web interface (nginx is a server app) and can transcode (linux only) with ffmpeg. I did an update on the linux VM with a windows share so that it would easier to edit the nginx.conf file from a windows share. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_HjA2Dr2X4QWlVXSnhjaFhEZ3M


----------



## welshdemon (Sep 21, 2015)

Thanks, but I don't really want to add another software hence asking about this.

Xsplit does this all in one, captures, trasncodes, pushes to unlimited amount of RTMP servers/streams etc, all without a transcoding "middle man" software.

I would stick with Xsplit only I noticed OBS picture quality is noticably better when I had 2 streams of same settings and compared them. My Xsplit 1Mb stream was much more blurry/soft, probably as OBS uses better filter  filter options for downscaling....Xsplit doesnt have any options for this.


----------



## GillyMoMo (Sep 21, 2015)

I wouldn't expect that feature anytime soon, I am sure in future developments this will change. Be patient and things will come. Trust me I have a need for this feature too, but until this my nginx implementation will have to do. Upside is it does run on other hardware and encoding with transcoding is pretty CPU heavy (if using H264).


----------



## dodgepong (Sep 21, 2015)

Red5 does support transcoding. I don't know how to do it myself, but it definitely is supported.

What you're doing with Xsplit is not transcoding, strictly speaking. What you're doing is simultaneously making several individual encodings. It's not the same thing.

But if you're set on outputting multiple encodings as your solution, well, I've already given you your answer.


----------



## welshdemon (Sep 24, 2015)

Red5 is a complete PITA to use (security, limiting streams, other features you generally need)  unless you're good with Java, it also has a lack of documentation. Try transmuxing from rtmp to HLS with it. Wow, nightmare. Had to compile my own crap on linux to get it working, then it didn't work properly. Loads of headaches, weeks of reading, going round in circles.

I can give another massive reason I need this feature. I use a CDN which supports RTMP live streams. They also transmux it to HLS which is awesome. I need to provide the individual streams for this (eg low & high bitrates). Again, just a pain to have to run my OBS stream through nginx / red5 / wowza and more config things to worry about, complications, security etc.

I dont want arguements against this feature not being needed. It is, in my situation. Ive done my research, Ive spent many days (sleepless nights) and weeks learning, trying new setups, softwares, servers. I really need this feature. 

Xsplit didn't work with my CDN due to lack of authentication options, but I just read the new release supports basic auth....fingers crossed, am about to try it now.

All that remains is working out why the image quality from Xsplit is worse, their support team are willing to help diagnose that. Then I can live with $25 for 3 months or whatever it is, for stress free, easy mode streaming.


----------

