Grainy image recording in OBS with a Logitech Brio.

[SNiXmusic]

Hi.

I’m struggling. Every result from a recording is grainy and not very smooth tracking on movements. I use a Logitech Brio. On HD 1080 with 25 fps. 50 hz PAL (Europe).
10000 kb, no profile, 2 seconds interval, cpu preset Faster. CBR and X264 encoder.
What goes wrong here?
See the video:
(Front cam, not from the angle, which is also bad, but that’s just a bad cam)

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Thanks

 

[AaronD]

Lighting?

Electronic camera sensors have very similar problems and artifacts as film does. Except you can electronically change how the same sensor works, instead of physically changing the film.

Setting it for low light - whether manually or automatically - produces grain, because it's adding up over a larger area.

Slow shutter produces bad motion, because it's adding up over more time. Unlike film, you can have a longer electronic shutter than the frame rate would normally allow, and that looks *really* bad! But it does technically give you a moving image.

 

[SNiXmusic]

That might be an issue indeed. Although it wasn’t very dark. But the webcam has a small sensor I presume.
Can you state that the bigger the sensor the better the results in low light situations?

 

[AaronD]

...it wasn’t very dark...

It can be surprising, sometimes. I've done some live sound gigs where I could see just fine, but my phone camera was almost blind.

Can you state that the bigger the sensor the better the results in low light situations?

Generally, yes. And a bigger lens too. Look at the cameras used to broadcast professional sports games...

 

[SNiXmusic]

I understand. What camera or webcam would you suggest?

 

[AaronD]

What camera or webcam would you suggest?

Lighting is probably cheaper. I've had some good results with a 500W halogen shop light from a big-box home improvement store, overhead and out of frame, aimed at the white ceiling above the camera. (lots of indirect light)

Also block the direct light from hitting the camera lens, to avoid "lens flare", even if it *is* out of frame. The metal tray from a toaster oven did the job for me. I thought about a cardboard box, but it was close enough to a high-power hot thing that I didn't trust it to not catch fire.

If it's a real incandescent bulb, or an LED that does a good imitation of one (some don't), set the camera to manual white balance, incandescent, and it should come out right.

 

[SNiXmusic]

Thanks Aaron. Very helpful