Question / Help Capture 720p/60FPS w/ Fullscreen Game *BEST WAY?*

[Timothy Cowan]

Let me begin by stating my system specs.

2PC Setup (Gaming PC / Streaming PC)

Gaming PC:
i7-6700k
GTX 1080
32GB Ram
ACER XB252q (240hz) <-- Yes, I game at 240hz and intend to use its maximum refresh rate

Streaming PC:
i7-3770
16gb RAM
Nvidia 550 ti I believe
Avermedia Live Gamer HD 2

OBS Settings:
720/60
x264 encoding @ 5500 bitrate
cbr
interval 2

My goal is to stream 720p/60fps while ONLY playing my games of choice in LEGIT FULLSCREEN MODE. Not borderless, not windowed, ONLY fullscreen mode. I hate how most games feel in borderless mode and I feel the performance hit in regards to frame fluidity. Moving on...

I'm trying to find the best way to accomplish the above so my stream is buttery smooth. I'm more concerned with smoothness rather than overall detail, hence the need for 60fps. The problem I run into is that my stream just seems a tad stuttery and not smooth as I feel it should be with 60fps.

The first method I tried is cloning my primary monitor's output to the video capture card. The problem with this of course is that if you run your game in fullscreen mode while capturing VIA OBS, you get these flickering large horiztonal bars across your screen which makes your stream unviewable and rather obnoxious to look at. Sure, I could switch to borderless, but since I'm cloning my monitor, my primary monitor's refresh rate automatically matches the video capture card's refresh rate of 60hz which is unacceptable with a 240hz monitor. The stream using this method looks great, but playing the actual game at 60hz on a 240hz monitor, not so great.

The second method I tried is using OBS preview and extending my desktop to the video capture card on my streaming rig. This works, but I feel like I'm not getting the full 60fps? I recall reading that preview is limited to 30fps? Anyways, I notice a slight stutter and choppiness (very faint) when viewing my stream using this setup.

The third method I've tried is using NDI which works great but I feel the quality is a tad better using my capture card. I'd like to get this working using my cap card rather than NDI.

Any suggestions on how to accomplish what I'm trying to do? Once again, I intend to game using the legit FULLSCREEN mode, and I want to stream at 720p/60fps using my streaming pc which has a capture card.

Apologies for the length of this post!

 

[SumDim]

If you are used to staring at a 240Hz monitor, everything else can look like crap. Realize, you are capturing output at 60fps, not 240. You are getting what is being delivered, outside any video rendering lag, networking frames being dropped and/or encoding loss. Perhaps your expectations are too high now given you are used to the nice 240Hz and judging everything else outside it as being crap?

 

[Timothy Cowan]

If you are used to staring at a 240Hz monitor, everything else can look like crap. Realize, you are capturing output at 60fps, not 240. You are getting what is being delivered, outside any video rendering lag, networking frames being dropped and/or encoding loss. Perhaps your expectations are too high now given you are used to the nice 240Hz and judging everything else outside it as being crap?

Sumdim,

I appreciate the reply.

Sure, I suppose this is a possibility but I've tried several different methods and received different results. For example, when I clone my gaming monitor with the capture card and play in borderless mode, I get a silky 60fps stream. As mentioned earlier, i don't want to play in borderless, I very much prefer playing in fullscreen mode. Now, when I extend my monitor and capture a preview from OBS on my gaming PC, the frames appear choppier. Mind you I'm not dropping any frames and my bitrate is a solid green.

What I'm trying to find out is if the above is normal... I find it strange that my stream would have to suffer because I want to play in fullscreen mode as opposed to borderless or windowed. Perhaps the means I'm using to capture in extended mode is flawed rather than a cloned monitor is flawed.