Arsenic
New Member
Hey, guys!
I have some questions / concerns about choosing the right system configuration for my project.
I do video recordings in a studio with 2 X NDI PTZ OPTICS cameras (maybe I will buy the third camera in the future). For the moment, I do only local recordings, but I want to do streaming also in the future (recording + streaming).
I record fitness programs / trainings. I have nothing to do with game recordings or stuff like this.
Now I use my old 2013 27 iMac with the base CPU, I5 3,2 GHZ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GT755. This system struggles with higher quality settings. I use 1920x1080 output, x264, CPU preset: Very Fast, FPS: 25, CRF: 23, VBR / CBR 40000KB. I played a lot with the settings and I found that these are the best settings, quality wise, without frames dropping.
Besides the iMac‘s monitor, I have 2 more external monitors attached to the system.
I use in the same time the following apps: OBS in studio mode with 2/3 output windows on my external displays, Word, some timer app, Microsoft teams / zoom / skype (not in the same time).
The CPU stays at 40% - 50% when recording, 0 skipped frames, 2-5% lagged frames due to render lag, about 32ms average time for render frame. When I share my output obs screen in a video conference with Microsoft teams and recording in the same time, the CPU goes to 90% - 100%.
So this is what I’ve done in couple of weeks, this is my whole experience in ‘streaming’ / recording / obs / NDI.
The problem is that I’m not in love with the video quality. If I kick those settings, I will have skipped frames. The recordings are poor in details, soft, laggy....
I’m thinking about upgrading my old iMac. A new apple computer for this project is too expensive, so I decided to go with a windows computer. I don’t want to build a machine from ground up, so I was looking for the following options (the order is random):
1. Intel NUC Hades Canyon - NUC8i7HNK2 (16 GB RAM, 512 SSD)
PROs:
- 900 EUR
- It has many ports (HDMIs, USBs, DisplayPorts, etc)
- Form factor
CONs:
- ATI RADEON RX VEGA M GL - I watched some benchmarks and it doesn’t look very...sturdy.
- Lack of ‘good’ hardware encoder in OBS. I read some threads about hardware encoder and everybody is talking about NVENC from NVIDIA and very few are talking about ATI encoder. So, I think is safe to go with an NVIDIA card.
- Not very upgradable
2. Lenovo Legion c530-19ICB (i7-9700 Coffee Lake, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA RTX 2060 6GB)
PROs:
- powerful graphic card
- powerful CPU
- upgradable in the future
- nice form factor
CONs:
- price - 1250 EUR (discounted, they say)
3. Lenovo Cube Y720 second hand (i7-7700, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 1070, SSD 250GB, HDD 2TB)
PROs:
- price - 730 eur
MIDDLEs:
- CPU not as good as second option
- GPU not as good as second option
CONs:
- it’s second hand
Questions:
1. What system do you recommend for what I do? (Recording, recording + streaming video content from NDI sources). I’m open to other suggestions.
2. The second option is overkill for what I do?
3. Now, I’m considering the third option. Is it powerful enough to obtain a great quality with it?
4. Is the first option...an option?
I read many threads / articles on the web but 99% of people are talking about game streaming / recording. Im not sure that I can compare an NDI video signal with a modern game but I also don’t want to risk buying a less powerful PC and upgrade it in couple of days.
I was considering the second option but I don’t want to buy an overkill system for what I need and yes, I’m looking at the budget too.
Thanks in advance!
I have some questions / concerns about choosing the right system configuration for my project.
I do video recordings in a studio with 2 X NDI PTZ OPTICS cameras (maybe I will buy the third camera in the future). For the moment, I do only local recordings, but I want to do streaming also in the future (recording + streaming).
I record fitness programs / trainings. I have nothing to do with game recordings or stuff like this.
Now I use my old 2013 27 iMac with the base CPU, I5 3,2 GHZ, 32GB RAM, GeForce GT755. This system struggles with higher quality settings. I use 1920x1080 output, x264, CPU preset: Very Fast, FPS: 25, CRF: 23, VBR / CBR 40000KB. I played a lot with the settings and I found that these are the best settings, quality wise, without frames dropping.
Besides the iMac‘s monitor, I have 2 more external monitors attached to the system.
I use in the same time the following apps: OBS in studio mode with 2/3 output windows on my external displays, Word, some timer app, Microsoft teams / zoom / skype (not in the same time).
The CPU stays at 40% - 50% when recording, 0 skipped frames, 2-5% lagged frames due to render lag, about 32ms average time for render frame. When I share my output obs screen in a video conference with Microsoft teams and recording in the same time, the CPU goes to 90% - 100%.
So this is what I’ve done in couple of weeks, this is my whole experience in ‘streaming’ / recording / obs / NDI.
The problem is that I’m not in love with the video quality. If I kick those settings, I will have skipped frames. The recordings are poor in details, soft, laggy....
I’m thinking about upgrading my old iMac. A new apple computer for this project is too expensive, so I decided to go with a windows computer. I don’t want to build a machine from ground up, so I was looking for the following options (the order is random):
1. Intel NUC Hades Canyon - NUC8i7HNK2 (16 GB RAM, 512 SSD)
PROs:
- 900 EUR
- It has many ports (HDMIs, USBs, DisplayPorts, etc)
- Form factor
CONs:
- ATI RADEON RX VEGA M GL - I watched some benchmarks and it doesn’t look very...sturdy.
- Lack of ‘good’ hardware encoder in OBS. I read some threads about hardware encoder and everybody is talking about NVENC from NVIDIA and very few are talking about ATI encoder. So, I think is safe to go with an NVIDIA card.
- Not very upgradable
2. Lenovo Legion c530-19ICB (i7-9700 Coffee Lake, 16GB RAM, 512 SSD, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA RTX 2060 6GB)
PROs:
- powerful graphic card
- powerful CPU
- upgradable in the future
- nice form factor
CONs:
- price - 1250 EUR (discounted, they say)
3. Lenovo Cube Y720 second hand (i7-7700, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 1070, SSD 250GB, HDD 2TB)
PROs:
- price - 730 eur
MIDDLEs:
- CPU not as good as second option
- GPU not as good as second option
CONs:
- it’s second hand
Questions:
1. What system do you recommend for what I do? (Recording, recording + streaming video content from NDI sources). I’m open to other suggestions.
2. The second option is overkill for what I do?
3. Now, I’m considering the third option. Is it powerful enough to obtain a great quality with it?
4. Is the first option...an option?
I read many threads / articles on the web but 99% of people are talking about game streaming / recording. Im not sure that I can compare an NDI video signal with a modern game but I also don’t want to risk buying a less powerful PC and upgrade it in couple of days.
I was considering the second option but I don’t want to buy an overkill system for what I need and yes, I’m looking at the budget too.
Thanks in advance!