Question / Help 1080p monitor? can I use 720p base resolution?

[EpicReset]

I'm looking to stream my games using 720p60... I've optimized how to do it with consoles, but as for native pc games... my windows resolution is 1080p... can I just set the base resolution to 720p and just full screen my games with 720p ingame resolution... then make the game capture "fit to screen"?

 

[dodgepong]

Sure, you could do that. Alternatively, you could just play the games at 1080p and downscale to 720p in OBS.

 

[FerretBomb]

Yeah, but if you cast 'native' as he was asking, text will actually be clearer, and the game will look much sharper and overall better. Just the down side to downscaling. It looks... pretty bad, even at the best downscale method.

 

[dodgepong]

To each his own. There are some downsides to streaming at a lower native resolution, too. Just depends on the game and what you're trying to do, and what resolution you want to play at.

 

[EpicReset]

i don't mind gaming at 720p... i just want the smoothest performance while gaming and streaming at the same time. how much resources does it take to downscale in real time... games look better in 1080p but i'm not a graphics whore and it's rare that viewers can even tell what resolution or quality i'm playing at because a lot is masked through the stream since it's in 3500kbps. the only thing i hate about gaming in native 1080p and downscaling is that if i choose a base res of 720p... and game in 1080p... the "fit to screen" doesn't work and the fitment box is a lot smaller than the game window itself so that it makes it hard to scale the window to fit the stream. if i select 1080p and downscale 1.5x then i seem to take a performance hit while gaming at max settings...

 

[FerretBomb]

The downscale has almost no 'cost' on a semi-modern computer (eg: it'll only matter if you're trying to cast from a Core2Duo paperweight).

If you're going to game at 1080p, set your OBS base resolution to 1080p as well and use the downscale. Stretching the game source down in the preview window will give a very poor quality downscale.
Gaming at 1080p will be harder on your system, so if you have an older graphics card, dropping to 1280x720 will definitely be easier on your GPU. Most of the CPU demands are the same.

I'd definitely say that 3500kbps is SEVERE overkill for a 720p stream; and remind you that the recommended maximum bitrate on Twitch for non-partnered streamers is 2000 (if you're partnered, disregard). 2000 is more than enough for a good-quality 720p@30fps stream though.

 

[EpicReset]

The downscale has almost no 'cost' on a semi-modern computer (eg: it'll only matter if you're trying to cast from a Core2Duo paperweight).

If you're going to game at 1080p, set your OBS base resolution to 1080p as well and use the downscale. Stretching the game source down in the preview window will give a very poor quality downscale.
Gaming at 1080p will be harder on your system, so if you have an older graphics card, dropping to 1280x720 will definitely be easier on your GPU. Most of the CPU demands are the same.

I'd definitely say that 3500kbps is SEVERE overkill for a 720p stream; and remind you that the recommended maximum bitrate on Twitch for non-partnered streamers is 2000 (if you're partnered, disregard). 2000 is more than enough for a good-quality 720p@30fps stream though.

ok so setting base resolution to 1080 and downscale 1.5 is better... btw is there a document or page of recommended bitrates from twitch? i've been streaming @ 3.5k for a while... seems to give me the best output on twitch.

 

[FerretBomb]

Higher bitrates are going to help your image quality, but if you're not a partnered streamer, will increase the amount of 'buffering' your viewers will tend to receive, increase your delay, and in some cases aren't needed.

5000kbps+ - 1080p@60fps. Do not use, for a wide variety of reasons it doesn't work well.
3500kbps - ABSOLUTE MAX recommended by Twitch. Higher than this will cause the ingest servers to start having problems. Good for 1080p@30fps, or extreme quality 720p@60fps.
3000kbps - 1080@30 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at good quality
2500kbps - 720@60 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at excellent quality
2000kbps - 720@60 at very poor quality,720@30 at good quality
1500kbps - 720@30 at acceptable quality, 540@30 at good quality
Less - not tested, but 1000kbps is about as low as I'd go, possibly a 480p stream.

The recommended maximum for NON-PARTNERED streamers is 2000kbps. 1500 is sometimes required, if buffering is still significant. 3500 will give you excellent visual quality, but will likely be an unwatchable buffer-fest for most of your viewers unless you are partnered and get access to transcodes, the alternate CDNs, higher prioritization, and so on.

 

[ErrAddict]

Higher bitrates are going to help your image quality, but if you're not a partnered streamer, will increase the amount of 'buffering' your viewers will tend to receive, increase your delay, and in some cases aren't needed.

3500kbps - ABSOLUTE MAX recommended by Twitch. Higher than this will cause the ingest servers to start having problems. Good for 1080p@30fps, or extreme quality 720p@60fps.
3000kbps - 1080@30 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at good quality
2500kbps - 720@60 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at excellent quality
2000kbps - 720@60 at very poor quality,720@30 at good quality
1500kbps - 720@30 at acceptable quality, 540@30 at good quality
Less - not tested, but 1000kbps is about as low as I'd go, possibly a 480p stream.

The recommended maximum for NON-PARTNERED streamers is 2000kbps. 1500 is sometimes required, if buffering is still significant. 3500 will give you excellent visual quality, but will likely be an unwatchable buffer-fest for most of your viewers unless you are partnered and get access to transcodes, the alternate CDNs, higher prioritization, and so on.

Wow, this is really helpful information! I'll have to adjust my upload speeds then, I'm uploading at 4500kb/s and I'm not partnered. Such a waste! Since I'm not 'partnered' with Twitch, I'll have to settle for 2000kb/s, I guess.. :(

 

[EpicReset]

Higher bitrates are going to help your image quality, but if you're not a partnered streamer, will increase the amount of 'buffering' your viewers will tend to receive, increase your delay, and in some cases aren't needed.

5000kbps+ - 1080p@60fps. Do not use, for a wide variety of reasons it doesn't work well.
3500kbps - ABSOLUTE MAX recommended by Twitch. Higher than this will cause the ingest servers to start having problems. Good for 1080p@30fps, or extreme quality 720p@60fps.
3000kbps - 1080@30 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at good quality
2500kbps - 720@60 at acceptable quality, 720@30 at excellent quality
2000kbps - 720@60 at very poor quality,720@30 at good quality
1500kbps - 720@30 at acceptable quality, 540@30 at good quality
Less - not tested, but 1000kbps is about as low as I'd go, possibly a 480p stream.

The recommended maximum for NON-PARTNERED streamers is 2000kbps. 1500 is sometimes required, if buffering is still significant. 3500 will give you excellent visual quality, but will likely be an unwatchable buffer-fest for most of your viewers unless you are partnered and get access to transcodes, the alternate CDNs, higher prioritization, and so on.

Thanks for the info man. I never thought that it would cause my viewers buffering problems... I don't seem to have too many complaints... but I'm going to sacrifice 1500kbps of quality for better perfomance for my viewers... 2000kbps it is..