Feedback Appreciated for My Current Settings (Recording for Upload to YouTube)

R

ReadyToLearn

New Member
Greetings! I am totally new to OBS and would be grateful for any feedback/advice folks care to offer regarding my below questions and recommended settings for my intended usage. I am planning to do HD (1920 x 1080) recordings of myself (ie, talking head recordings of me sitting at my desk, looking into my webcam) for a YouTube channel. I have no plans for streaming or screen capture, and definitely nothing video game related -- just me talking on camera about various topics. :)

Originally I was trying out Logitech Capture, but I kept running into delay/sync issues with the audio/video. So far OBS has not manifested any issues, thankfully, and my internet research has indicated that delay/sync issues are common with Logitech Capture, apparently.

My Hardware/Software

Custom Built computer (Puget Comptuers, who I highly recommend), 2013
Motherboard: Asus P9D WS
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 V3 3.4GHz Quad Core 8MB 84W
Ram: 2x Kingston DDR3-1600 8GB ECC
Video Card: Onboard Video
Sound Card: Onboard Sound
Hard Drive (OS): Samsung 850 EVO SSD
Hard Drive (for recordings): Seagate ST3500418AS

Monitor Max Resolution: 1680x1050

Windows 10 Pro x64

Webcam: Logitech c920 (max resolution: 1920 x 1080)
Microphone: Blue Yeti X
OBS Settings

->Output->Recording:
Type: Standard

Recording Settings:
Recording Format: mkv
Audio Track: 1
Encoder: QuickSync H.264

Encoder Settings:
Target Usage: quality
Profile: high
Keyframe Interval: 3 s
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 2500 Kbps
Latency: normal
B Frames: 3

->Video:
Base (Canvas) Resolution: 1920x1080
Output (Scaled) Resolution: 1920x1080
Common FPS Values: 30

->Properties for c920
Device: HD Pro Webcam C920
Resolution/FPS Type: Custom
Resolution: 1920x1080
FPS: Match Output FPS
Buffering: Auto-Detect
Use hardware decoding when available: Checked
Use custom audio device: Checked
Audio Device: Microphone (Yeti X)
My Priorities

1920x1080 output at 30 fps for YouTube. Probably not a lot of movement, but if I am gesturing with my hands, or laughing, or if I get up to perhaps demonstrate something I would ideally like for the video to not get choppy. And obviously I want the audio/video to always stay in sync.

I want the video I am seeing on the screen as I am recording to fill as much of the screen as possible, ideally so that I am looking directly at myself in a similar way to when I am on a video/Zoom call with someone and looking at them. I have my webcam positioned so that it is just above my eye position on the screen. I have learned how to float the docs in OBS and turn off the ones (and other things) I don't need to see.

I had some issues initially with getting my resulting videos to be the full resolution, I think in part because OBS made some assumptions based on my monitor resolution (which is lower than the output I am wanting to record). I managed to get things working the way I want by messing around, but now I don't know for certain if I changed anything that I ought not to have for other reasons.
My Questions
  1. Anything that folks recommend I tweak/change in the above settings? I have done video recordings up to 5 minutes long and so far everything seems to be working good, but I don't know/understand enough about OBS and all the settings to know if I might run into issues later with longer recordings. Are there any setting changes that would further improve the quality of my recordings, or is there anything that stands out to anyone as worth considering changing?

  2. Is it better to do my Audio as a Custom Audio Device for the Webcam (how I currently have it) or more directly as an audio source in the Mixer? I set it to be via the webcam initially only because of the audio/video sync issues I was having with Logitech Capture.

  3. Is there anyway to turn on grid-lines in OBS (for me to see -- not for the final recorded output)? That was something I really appreciated about Logitech Capture.

  4. Any other comments or advice that folks feel inclined to offer is welcome!

Thanks much in advance for everyone's time!
:)
 
R

ReadyToLearn

New Member
I would still love any responses/feedback that anyone is up for offering. I have started doing some recordings that I will probably be uploading to YouTube (ie, these are more natural, real-world recordings than my prior tests in terms of length, audio cadence and on-screen movement), and I am noticing occasional little hitches or stutters in the audio and sometimes the video. I don't think it is what I would understand audio clipping to be (like from my gain being too high) -- rather it feels more like maybe my computer isn't quite keeping up with the work of recording at my set quality level (or something like that). It is not currently bad enough to warrant doing these initial videos over, but it is noticeable enough to warrant further investigation.

My first thought is to change the output directory to be on the SSD, just to remove the slower, mechanical hard drive from the equation as a potential bottleneck. But if anyone notices anything glaring in my above settings that I could tweak while still maintaining my output resolution that would be welcome.

Thanks!
:)
 
R

ReadyToLearn

New Member
JohnPee said:
OBS is essentially designed as software for streaming to the Internet it can also be used to record video, which is how you seem to be using it. To enable an analysis of your system when it's recording you need to provide a log which will show in detail elements of the system.

https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/please-post-a-log-with-your-issue-heres-how.23074/
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, my apologies for omitting the log -- I should know better (from experiences in other forums/contexts). Thank you for that prompt and link!

And yes, I am using it only for recording, not for streaming.

And here is my log:

:)
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
In settings - output, change the output mode back to simple, then change the recording quality to indistinguishable.
Try the encoders available until you get one that has the desired amount of system performance impact (or the closest to your desired amount of impact)
 
L

Lawrence_SoCal

Active Member
Yes, I'd recommend recording to the SSD vs HDD unless you know that Disk I/O is sufficient and never interrupted by antivirus or other software. Then move the recording to the HDD once recording is complete?? Or set your AV software to exclude scanning a dedicated recording target folder

And using an almost 10 year old CPU for the computationally demanding task of real-time video encoding, especially without a dedicated GPU with encoding offload... doable at 1080p, but likely to mean significant OS optimization as well as following above advice on OBS settings.
As for OBS, that also means probably not using Studio mode which involves 2X rendering. Also, beware OBS plugins that are CPU intensive.

other random thoughts/observations
- CBR is used for streaming, and generally not recommended for recording. I'm not sure if switching to Simple Output mode will 'override/correct' that. Lots of threads on this forum regarding recording optimized rate control options... not my area of expertise, and I don't know if QuickSync favors (or requires) one approach over another.
- I'd follow @Harold's advice first. Though I'd advise against spending money on a 10 yr old system, one option, as GPU prices come back to somewhat reasonable is getting a nVidia GPU with NVENC which would offload some processing from CPU to GPU. Using one online retailer as a guide, with small price premium for a new RTX 2060 over a GTX 1650 Super, I'd go with the newer Ampere-based RTX 20xx series.

Regardless, I recommend monitoring hardware resource (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O, etc) utilization [for ex. using Task manager’s Performance tab and/or Resource Monitor] to see if your system is being maxed out with your settings
 
R

ReadyToLearn

New Member
Thank you so much @Harold and @Lawrence_SoCal -- that's all super-helpful!

I'm going to start with switching to saving to my SSD and see if I still notice the issues, and then follow the above advice to tweak things further.

For the two recordings in the above log file where I am noticing a few minor hitches I was not paying attention to my resource usage, but in my prior testing I was not seeing anything big as far as CPU goes (I always have Process Explorer running in my system tray). Even though my CPU is old, it is fairly powerful (I think) so it hopefully will not be too much of a bottleneck. Though maybe using the onboard GPU and QuickSync could be?? Gonna do some research on that, and maybe experiment with x264 (which then will probably see my CPU usage increase).

Is there any way to have the Canvas be smaller than the Output? My monitor is only 1680x1050 so I only need to see that resolution on my screen, but I want to Record and Output 1920x1080. But unless I am missing something, OBS will not let me set my Output to be larger/bigger than my Canvas (which there are probably all sorts of logical reasons for).
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
You're going to introduce picture distortion and severe quality loss if you try to upscale (smaller canvas vs output resolution)
Also, 1680x1050 is a different aspect ratio compared to 1920x1080, you will NOT get a clean scale between the two resolutions no matter what you do.
 
R

ReadyToLearn

New Member
Harold said:
You're going to introduce picture distortion and severe quality loss if you try to upscale (smaller canvas vs output resolution)
Also, 1680x1050 is a different aspect ratio compared to 1920x1080, you will NOT get a clean scale between the two resolutions no matter what you do.
Click to expand...
Okay, that makes sense. The way I'm treating the Canvas I don't need to see the full resolution (I just want it to fill the screen as much as possible), but it sounds like that the way the software is designed for its various uses the Canvas is what determines everything else. So I'll just stick with what I currently have, which is 1920x1080 for both Canvas and Output.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top