Question / Help Can I record at a higher resolution than I stream?

[ThatSourMelon]

My internet can’t handle streaming at more than 720p 45hz (but I have it set to 30hz). I have a pretty nice gaming computer that can handle 1440p 155hz. I always set my games to 720p before streaming, because I heard that helps the stream, but does it really? I like to have obs also record my streams so I can archive them, If I have my game set to a higher resolution will it decrease the quality of the stream? I want to have OBS record at a higher resolution than the stream, is there a setting for that or do I have to use another software to record?

 

[koala]

It's possible to record with a different resolution than to stream, but not with different fps. But your computer may not be powerful enough to handle the 2 different data streams.
Suppose you want to record 1920x1080 and stream with 1280x720. Then do this:

• in settings->video->base resolution set the resolution you play your game in
• in settings->video->output resolution set 1920x1080
• in settings->output->streaming set encoder to x264 if your machine is very powerful, otherwise to nvenc if you have a nvidia gpu. Check "rescale output" and enter 1280x720 as resolution. You can only use nvenc or x264 but not nvenc (new), because rescaling isn't available for nvenc (new), only for nvenc or x264.
• in settings->output->recording set encoder to nvenc (new) if you have a nvidia gpu or some other hardware encoder. Running x264 for both streaming and recording will not work - its cpu requirement is too high. Set rate control to CQP and CQ level to 18-23 (lower values mean higher quality)
• start streaming and recording with their respective buttons.

 

[peter98]

It's possible to record with a different resolution than to stream, but not with different fps. But your computer may not be powerful enough to handle the 2 different data streams.
Suppose you want to record 1920x1080 and stream with 1280x720. Then do this:

• in settings->video->base resolution set the resolution you play your game in
• in settings->video->output resolution set 1920x1080
• in settings->output->streaming set encoder to x264 if your machine is very powerful, otherwise to nvenc if you have a nvidia gpu. Check "rescale output" and enter 1280x720 as resolution. You can only use nvenc or x264 but not nvenc (new), because rescaling isn't available for nvenc (new), only for nvenc or x264.
• in settings->output->recording set encoder to nvenc (new) if you have a nvidia gpu or some other hardware encoder. Running x264 for both streaming and recording will not work - its cpu requirement is too high. Set rate control to CQP and CQ level to 18-23 (lower values mean higher quality)
• start streaming and recording with their respective buttons.

Hello koala,

You wrote this: "Running x264 for both streaming and recording will not work - its cpu requirement is too high"

What is the case with running nvenc for both streaming and recording? For example:

- in settings->video: same as in your writing
- in settings->output->streaming: the encoder is set to nvenc (old, bacause new can't rescale output) and "rescale output" is set to 1280x720
- in settings->output->recording: the encoder is set to nvenc new (bacause here we don't need rescale the output)

Thanks.

 

[FerretBomb]

You have to make sure you have Shadowplay disabled; consumer-grade nVidia cards are limited to two NVENC streams at a time. So yes, you absolutely CAN use NVENC for both. But if it errors out when you try, it may be that something else is using the second encoder stream (Shadowplay, FRAPS, GameDVR, a few others I can't recall right now).

For recording though, you can easily set it to x264 Low-CPU if NVENC is causing a problem; so long as you're using a CQP or CRF target rather than a bitrate, it will just 'throw' more bitrate at the problem while keeping CPU usage low. It'll cause pretty large filesizes as a result, but once the recording is done, you can easily re-encode the poor-quality-encoder+large-filesize video output with something like Handbrake to use more efficient encoding and bring the filesize down. Irrelevant if you can just use NVENC, so if that works then go with that.