A question on base resolution vs output resolution and what's best for me.

[knowyou22]

Hi,
I am setting up to stream on twitch, my webcam can do 1080p @ 30fps or 720p @60fps, at the moment i have it set to 1080p.
My monitor is 2560x1400p
I have set this as my base (canvas).
Now my question is what do i set my output (scaled) to?
I have read to set output it at 1080p as that's a good quality for twitch, but i have also read that i should i set the output to 720p as because that is half of my monitors resolution there will be no quality loss.
I'm new to this so any help would be great.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

There are others far more knowledgeable than on I on this topic. so if a true SME comments, follow their advice over mine
with that said
- I'd leave base canvas and output at same resolution, so you aren't dealing with re-scaling.
There are re-scaling options, each with their own pro's & con's - and I'm not expert in them, just pointing out there are higher quality options, at cost of extra computational load.

Now, the question I have for you is whether you plan to use your webcam at native resolution (ie fill a 1080p window) OR, are you doing a small picture-in-picture with the webcam (which obviously requires resizing (ie re-scaling) already)?
*if* you are re-scaling the webcam feed, then I wouldn't try to match base canvas to webcam native resolution, as webcam resolution isn't that relevant. What resolution do you plan to game play at? IF you are planning on using your full monitor @1400p, then that should be your base canvas (I'd think, I'm not a gamer). If you want to stream at 1080p, then create a 1080p window and game play in that (if possible/practical vs full screen)
- And then you have to ask yourself if you are going to record locally. If yes, and assuming adequate compute power in your system (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O, etc) then I'd keep Base canvas, out, and record all at same resolution (no re-scaling). This requires adequate bandwidth if you wish to stream at 1400p. [I don't use Twitch so can't comment on resolutions for that CDN]. You can record at 1400p and stream at 1080p, though that requires encoding for 2 streams, effectively [1 to disk, 1 to Twitch], so requires encode power for that. ymmv

I have read to set output it at 1080p as that's a good quality for twitch, but i have also read that i should i set the output to 720p as because that is half of my monitors resolution there will be no quality loss.

That comment doesn't make any sense to me, as stated. of course using 1/2 (50%) of resolution your are capturing will involve quality loss. That said, Even multiple tend to be easier computationally, therefore maybe less lossy, than non-even amounts. but it depends. (I think)

I'm sure there are considerations I'm not thinking of, as a non-gamer, but hopefully this helps point your research

 

[knowyou22]

Thanks for the reply and insight.

Now, the question I have for you is whether you plan to use your webcam at native resolution (ie fill a 1080p window) OR, are you doing a small picture-in-picture with the webcam

I'm just going to do picture in picture for the most part, but thinking of adding a scene to go to a bigger webcam frame so i.e 1080,
I imagine your asking this as if I'm only doing picture in picture, i could run webcam at 720p@60fps as that would suit small webcam frame?

What resolution do you plan to game play at? IF you are planning on using your full monitor @1400p, then that should be your base canvas (I'd think, I'm not a gamer). If you want to stream at 1080p, then create a 1080p window and game play in that (if possible/practical vs full screen)

I play the game at 1400p, hence why setting the base to this, now this is where i get confused,
twitch recommends the output be set no higher than 1080p for the main reason that most of the people watching the stream can watch at 1080p as opposed to say 1440p or 4k etc.
And yes the half resolution doesn't make sense to me either , i thought half the resolution would be twice as bad quality.

- And then you have to ask yourself if you are going to record locally.

For the moment im not going to record locally as i have twitch setup to auto save any streams i do on there end.

 

[koala]

You should use the lowest possible resolution for your webcam, to keep resource utilization low. Look how big your biggest view of your webcam picture is, then choose the next bigger resolution in the webcam configuration. To find out how big a source is, right-click your source->Transform->Edit transform. The current size is in the 3rd row.
For example, if your picture in picture is 421x423, choose 640x480 as webcam resolution.

 

[knowyou22]

Awesome cheers
I would never found that hiding in transform :P

 

[knowyou22]

So i had a look and my biggest webcam picture is in edit transform 1433x806 so i set my webcam in the cam settings to 1920x1080.