Question / Help Downscale quality?

[Gradus]

Hi guys,

Please advise which configuration below would provide a better visual experience for FPS game for Twitch viewers without considering bitrate?

1) 1920x1080 game resolution at 1080p streaming without downscaling?
2) 2560x1440 game resolution at 1080p streaming using Lanczos or Bicubic with downscaling?

Thanks!

 

[FerretBomb]

No downscaling will always be highest quality. Any downscale will incur quality loss, and if possible should be avoided.

Second-best to no downscaling is full-integer downscaling; so in your example, 1440p to 720p instead; it's a divisor of 2. One reason 4K monitors are an excellent choice for livestreaming, as they offer full-integer downscales to both 720p and 1080p. 1440... not so much. They go to 720p okay, but are too high res to stream native, and don't downscale well to 1080. They're also a niche resolution primarily being sold to gamers as a stopgap that will very likely die out (and hopefully very soon) once 4K with good framerates is a more common realization.

Worst is non-integer downscaling (1080p to 720p, 1440p to 1080p, pretty much anything to 900p). Which downscale method you use to minimize the quality loss varies based on the content being used. Normally, bicubic is the way to go, but for full-motion camera video, Lanczos can help.

 

[Gradus]

Many thanks for your comments. Do you have any recommendations for filtering (Lanczos vs. Bicubic) for FPS games? Which one would provide less pixelation and less blurry at high motion scene?

 

[R1CH]

With high motion you're unlikely to notice any difference between them. Bitrate by far makes the biggest difference here.

 

[Gradus]

Many thanks Rich!