OBS Studio (Almost) Lossless local recoding using OBS-Studio

[ElliotLi]

ElliotLi submitted a new resource:

(Almost) Lossless local recoding using OBS-mp - Settings for high quality local recording in YUV 4:4:4 color space.

Thanks to Sapiens' help, I've put up the following method for making (almost) lossless local recordings using x264 lossless encoding. It is useful for making high quality screen recordings that can be edited/transcoded later offline using a slower codec.

It is made possible by the OBS-mp release since 0.10.0, where YUV 4:4:4 and RGB color space support are added. It is almost lossless because the conversion from RGB to YUV 4:4:4 is not truly lossless (you can't get back bitwise identical...

Read more about this resource...

 

[Radorod]

Thanks for this guide ElliotLi. May I ask why your reason for recording this way? Do the resulting lightly compressed files work better in your NLE, for example, or is it for some other reason?

 

[SciLog1c]

Cool, soory for lame question, but I dont understand what is

Advanced:

• Video Color Format: I444
• YUV Color Space: 709
• YUV Color Range: Partial

Where should I set it?
http://i.imgur.com/7nTDrjT.png

I got a problem of bad quality of local recording, no matter what bitrade or quality I set in OBS. Its not THAT MUCH bad, but kinda...

 

[Radorod]

SciLog1c, your settings screenshot looks fine for regular OBS.

Can you show me your 'Encoding' settings screen, please?

 

[SciLog1c]

SciLog1c, your settings screenshot looks fine for regular OBS (I use Main instead of High for the Encoding Profile, but I don't think that's your reason...).

Can you show me your 'Encoding' settings screen, please?

Hello, I use these, bitrate doesnt really matter.
http://i.imgur.com/95pJpux.png
http://i.imgur.com/JeNiH0t.png
http://i.imgur.com/NKGF5aQ.png

If I use buffer=0, Custom x264 parameters: crf=X(lower = better), as mentioned in nearby thread, It works just fine, BUT filesize becomes incredibly huge, so no option for me, Shadowplay works way better in this case, but I wanna use OBS, because SP crashes some games sometimes, not an option.

 

[Radorod]

Thanks. Trying this may help:

• 'Use CBR' should be not checked (letting it float gives higher quality for a given bitrate as long as your 'Max bitrate' is high enough).
  
• put a 'Max bitrate' of 10000 - 20000 kb/s (don't worry, you're actual average will be quite a bit lower)
• leave 'use Custom buffer size' not checked, like you've shown.

Leave all the other settings like you've shown in your screenshots, and see if that helps.

 

[GameGuysandCompany]

For lossless local recording uncheck use cbr change quality balance to 10 set max bit rate at 3000k (for 720p plus) and set buffer size to 0 this will allow truelossless recording if your computer can handle it (I have a laptop gtx860m no problems)

 

[Radorod]

I don't think that's accurate. You're not getting lossless like this.
Make sure 'use custom buffer size' is also checked'.
I've read that this triggers OBS to ignore the max bit rate setting and instead adjust itself based on the quality setting.

Correct?

 

[SciLog1c]

Thanks. Trying this may help:

• 'Use CBR' should be not checked (letting it float gives higher quality for a given bitrate as long as your 'Max bitrate' is high enough).
  
• put a 'Max bitrate' of 10000 - 20000 kb/s (don't worry, you're actual average will be quite a bit lower)
• leave 'use Custom buffer size' not checked, like you've shown.

Leave all the other settings like you've shown in your screenshots, and see if that helps.

I did just that, looks blurry anyway
https://youtu.be/QY9C0ASpV10

 

[Schauerland]

Hey,
what would be the best near lossles recording settings with NVENC?
Basicly what effects quality and size setting QP P/I/B Frame and Max/Min QP? When using CQP
Or ist fixes max bitrate recommended?

thanks

 

[thender]

How are you getting libx264 to work with the i444 setting without a green screen for half of the display?

 

[Roboserg]

What is the CPU usage with 1080/60 on your machine? Did you try to use NVENC encoder if you happen to have the nvidia graphics card?

 

[MartianRobonaut]

Hello, I'm reading this post after a year of when you made this. I was wondering if these settings still work in obs studio 0.16.6? There are a few addons to the software which I would like to clarify in terms of recording locally.