Question / Help Base Canvas Resolution 900p or scale down from 1080p?

[GrippeD]

I Have a two PC Setup

My stream PC:
Ryzen 7 2700x
1660TI
16gb Ram
el gato 60 Pro



I stream using "new" NVENC in 1080p currently. Quality is shit due to limited Bitrate on Facebook Gaming, therefore, I want to drop down to 900p.

Should I change my base canvas res to 1600x900 or should I use downscale with the Lanczos filter?

Could you explain why or link to videos or explanations on what I should do?

Also, do you think I should use the h264 encoder over the 1660TI New NVENC?

Any input appreciated

 

[koala]

If you have 1 source and strictly streaming this source, it's irrelevant if you set both canvas and output resolution to the downscaled resolution, or if you set canvas to your native resolution and downscale with output resolution. The result looks exactly the same. However, both set to the output resolution requires a bit less resources, because OBS has to handle a smaller canvas.

But if you compose your scene(s) with additional sources, in addition to your game or whatever you stream mainly, then it is relevant. Keep in mind that downscaling makes text and sharp edges a bit blurry. If you add additional sources, everything should probably appear with the same blurriness for aesthetic reasons.

If you set canvas and output resolution the same, the game is downscaled through the source and not through output resolution, thus appearing a bit blurry, and other sources, perhaps some overlay, are probably not downscaled but show 1:1 and appear not blurry. If your game has UI text such as damage numbers or character names, they appear blurry, while text from your other sources doesn't appear blurry, because they aren't downscaled. This difference might be desired or undesired, so it is your choice how you set the resolutions.

If you set your canvas to the native game resolution and downscale with a lower output resolution, everything appears equally blurry, so it probably looks better.

Often you design your overlays/added sources according to the size of ingame objects such as chat window, compass or skill bar. It is usually more easy to design the overlay around the native game resolution and not to some downscaled resolution, because the native resolution is higher. And you are independent from the actual output resolution. If you stream 720p today, you just have to change output resolution to 1080p to stream with 1080p, without rearranging, resizing or redesigning your other elements.