# Isn't it too much of a size?



## Paka14 (Sep 29, 2020)

Hi,

I'm facing a problem with recording games (R6 Siege) with OBS.

So currently I've been testing a lot of presets and settings. I have 1080p, Lanczos and 60 fps set, currently h264 (as using AMD Radeon RX 570) over x264.

So in conclusion:

-CBR, no matter what bitrate (whether 5000, 8000, 10000 or 15000) makes a recording so choppy and not smooth at all (talking specifically about Rainbow Six, for example Far Cry 4 and Gmod work with CBR well). I don't know what's the deal tho.

-For some time now I'm trying CQP, currently set to 22, with fast preset (as balanced and best quality seem freezing frames and laggy). The recording finally looks good to me, however the file size for 1 min replay is something around 600mb!



So now my questions-

• Isn't it a little bit too much for such a small recording?

• Is it ok if I stay with h264 instead of x264 or maybe CPU encoding will work better for me?

• Is there anything else I can try to make it look good and smooth in CBR as it seems to be the smallest in size? Or I should try something else?



Thanks in advance, I know I probably didn't write enough info so feel free to ask me anything which can help with the investigation ;P

LOG FILE: https://obsproject.com/logs/4iaG7WhM-Dn7Sss8


----------



## InteractiveDNA (Sep 29, 2020)

Always use GPU for recording videos.  Also make sure record to a SSD. Match all frame rates. The less compress the file is the less the CPU/GPU has to work. Find a file that works best. Try different file formats. In my case, I always record as .mov format and my OBS CPU runs 3% vs 50% on other formats. Now, in your case you are worried about big files. Just find a format that will encode what you want and the file sizes small. 

You could record a big file with the hight quality and encode the video to H265 later.


----------



## Deleted member 121471 (Sep 29, 2020)

Logfile is missing a recording session.






						Please post a log with your issue! Here's how...
					

OBS Studio creates a log file each time you run it which contains very useful diagnostic information. Without a log file, it's much harder for any support volunteers to figure out problems and your post may be ignored.  To upload a log file, go to the Help menu > Log Files > Upload Last Log...




					obsproject.com


----------



## Paka14 (Sep 29, 2020)

Now I changed to VBR, cause CQP actually was like 70000 kbs so the file was so big.




			https://obsproject.com/logs/QJHaGuEO5rm0xSnu


----------



## Paka14 (Sep 29, 2020)

Ok, so when I set CBR with balanced quality preset on 8,000 bitrate it looks pixelized but smooth. My friend uses it on his nvidia card and it works well and not pixelized (not sure why in some cases 8,000 is good and in some it's not). So I tried in 20,000 kbs and it looked quite good, but when I actually saw 3 min clip I noticed- a few first seconds were excellent, then it started being laggy, and later on it was getting worse and worse, like at the end it was like slideshow, meaning 1 slide per 10 sec. Any idea?

Edit: My logfile https://obsproject.com/logs/KwzEBvPguUmKMsHD


----------



## qhobbes (Sep 29, 2020)

Try changing your Output Resolution to 1280x720 and your Common FPS to 30. If that doesn't help, try using x264 as your encoder.


----------



## FerretBomb (Sep 30, 2020)

You should never use CBR for local recordings. CQP/CRF is the way to go, even if it means the output files may be rather large, they'll be a good quality capture.
Using a more efficient encoder will bring the file sizes down (the encoder will compensate for a poor encode with more bitrate, to maintain image quality), but you can always just go into your recordings after you're done with the capture, and run them through a much higher quality non-realtime re-encode with something like Handbrake to keep the full image quality, while making the video file smaller.

Video data is generally pretty big though, especially at time of creation. Downloaded movies and whatnot generally aren't the first-capture encode, they're tweaked A LOT to get the filesize small while keeping the quality decent. You don't get that with a one-and-done recording.


----------



## Paka14 (Sep 30, 2020)

qhobbes said:


> Try changing your Output Resolution to 1280x720 and your Common FPS to 30. If that doesn't help, try using x264 as your encoder.


didn't help unfortunately


----------



## qhobbes (Sep 30, 2020)

Please post a new log.


----------



## Paka14 (Sep 30, 2020)

FerretBomb said:


> You should never use CBR for local recordings. CQP/CRF is the way to go, even if it means the output files may be rather large, they'll be a good quality capture.
> Using a more efficient encoder will bring the file sizes down (the encoder will compensate for a poor encode with more bitrate, to maintain image quality), but you can always just go into your recordings after you're done with the capture, and run them through a much higher quality non-realtime re-encode with something like Handbrake to keep the full image quality, while making the video file smaller.
> 
> Video data is generally pretty big though, especially at time of creation. Downloaded movies and whatnot generally aren't the first-capture encode, they're tweaked A LOT to get the filesize small while keeping the quality decent. You don't get that with a one-and-done recording.



Ok, so after some testing- First of all x264 (the CPU one) can't work as it makes even game laggy. Secondly, CQP seems the best, but it gives me something around 75.000 kbs for each clip, which is ridiculous. And CBR with 30.000kbs is looking kinda bad too. Don't know what is best


----------



## Paka14 (Sep 30, 2020)

qhobbes said:


> Please post a new log.



which one? with cbr or cqp? or x264


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 4, 2020)

https://obsproject.com/logs/LtUMHkrgijbYcwX_
		


That's what's happening with cbr 25.000 and Quality preset, the video gets laggy more and more every 10 seconds. This problem doesn't occur when using Balanced preset.


----------



## qhobbes (Oct 4, 2020)

1. If available via Windows Update, update to Windows 10 2004 per https://obsproject.com/blog/five-simple-tips-for-new-streamers
2. Run OBS as admin
3. Your log contains no recording or streaming session. Results of this log analysis are limited. Please post a link to a clean log file. 
To make a clean log file, please follow these steps:

1) Restart OBS as admin.
2) Start your stream/recording for about 30 seconds. Make sure you replicate any issues as best you can, which means having any games/apps open and captured, etc.
3) Stop your stream/recording.
4) Select Help > Log Files > Upload Current Log File. Send that link via this troubleshooting tool or whichever support chat you are using.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 5, 2020)

I won't update to 2004 as I did it already earlier and it caused a lot of problems with sound, display etc. and had to roll back to make system work normally. Other steps I'll try tomorrow or in 2 days and will let u know.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 9, 2020)

Ok, so here's my CBR 40000 log: 


			https://obsproject.com/logs/j4bP15g85iGTgu3J
		

And CQP: 


			https://obsproject.com/logs/-m0N3ghjxdN4dQM0
		


And by the way- yesterday when I closed OBS after some testing on CBR it showed a crash error (don't know if it helps in any way but I'm attaching the crash log below)


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 12, 2020)

qhobbes said:


> 1. If available via Windows Update, update to Windows 10 2004 per https://obsproject.com/blog/five-simple-tips-for-new-streamers
> 2. Run OBS as admin
> 3. Your log contains no recording or streaming session. Results of this log analysis are limited. Please post a link to a clean log file.
> To make a clean log file, please follow these steps:
> ...


Any idea what now?


----------



## qhobbes (Oct 13, 2020)

1. Update OBS
2. Set your monitor to 60 Hz and cap your games at 60 FPS.
3. Record to FLV or MKV. If you record to MP4 or MOV and the recording is interrupted, the file will be corrupted and unrecoverable.

If you require MP4 files for some other purpose like editing, remux them afterwards by selecting File > Remux Recordings in the main OBS Studio window or enable Auto remux in the advanced settings.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 16, 2020)

Ok, but would you suggest recording via CBR or CQP in my case?


----------



## FerretBomb (Oct 16, 2020)

CQP for local recording. Always.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 20, 2020)

Even though the CBR 40.000 seems pretty good quality and CQP is like always setting 80.000 or even 100.000 which means very big files?


----------



## koala (Oct 20, 2020)

You vary the actual bitrate of CQP indirectly with the quality parameter. If you increase the CQ value, the file size shrinks. CBR uses the same given bitrate for every material, which is inappropriate for very fast and very slow motion. For slow motion, you need much less bitrate, for fast motion you need much more bitrate. CQP accommodates this perfectly, while CBR tunes down the quality for fast motion and wastes disk space for slow motion.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 21, 2020)

koala said:


> You vary the actual bitrate of CQP indirectly with the quality parameter. If you increase the CQ value, the file size shrinks. CBR uses the same given bitrate for every material, which is inappropriate for very fast and very slow motion. For slow motion, you need much less bitrate, for fast motion you need much more bitrate. CQP accommodates this perfectly, while CBR tunes down the quality for fast motion and wastes disk space for slow motion.



Yep, I understand that sir, the thing is- I ain't some big YT-er or anything, and currently let's say I have 20 CQP, if I wanted to go any higher (f.e. 24 or so) the quality is crap, and if I go lower- it's just almost the same quality but bigger size (obvious). So 20 is let's say a sweet spot. But the thing I noticed is that if I set CQP 25 for example, the bitrate is like 60k or 70k or so, but recording looks bad (with more size than CBR 40k, which is good quality). So my point is- I'm not sure if in my case CQP is the way to go if CBR 40k seems good quality on my device to me. Is my thinking a'ight or no?


----------



## koala (Oct 21, 2020)

I'm unable to tell some fixed value. It depends on the material you're recording, the resolution and fps, and your personal perception. I, personally, record with CQP=18 and in postprocessing, I cut and recode this with x264 with crf=20 or 21 (don't remember, it's some time I revised my settings). This results in about half to a quarter the file size with no visual impact, and it's independent of resolution or fps. Bitrate isn't independent of resolution or fps: if you increase one of these, you need to increase the bitrate as well to give the more data more space.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 21, 2020)

koala said:


> I'm unable to tell some fixed value. It depends on the material you're recording, the resolution and fps, and your personal perception. I, personally, record with CQP=18 and in postprocessing, I cut and recode this with x264 with crf=20 or 21 (don't remember, it's some time I revised my settings). This results in about half to a quarter the file size with no visual impact, and it's independent of resolution or fps. Bitrate isn't independent of resolution or fps: if you increase one of these, you need to increase the bitrate as well to give the more data more space.



Have u used Handbrake for encoding or OBS has some option for it?


----------



## koala (Oct 21, 2020)

For simple cutting of slack with no real postprocessing for archiving, I use Avidemux, since it exposes the full ffmpeg x264 encoder for encoding or just cutting without recoding. Handbrake is only able to convert/recode. As of now, I avoid recoding, because I have plenty of disk space - with today's hard disks, it's actually unlimited.


----------



## Paka14 (Oct 21, 2020)

Yeah, sure, thanks all for your help :P


----------

