Question / Help High Resolution Recordings?

[euler010]

Hello. I was experimenting with the OBS software by recording some drawings (on Google Jamboard). The recording was much lower resolution and 'pixelated' than the actual display was. Is there a way for the recording to match the original? I tried a number of settings and I didn't have much luck. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[euler010]

My recordings were pixelated, like this: https://youtu.be/52ZlXsFJULI?t=29

I was hoping to create a recording with quality like this: https://youtu.be/tuVd355R-OQ?t=56

 

[rockbottom]

Don't use your graphics card to encode, x264 will give you much better results.

Try the auto configuration & start from there.

 

[euler010]

Thanks, I'll try that. I'm doing the drawing on an attached Drawing Tablet. A friend suggested I try to up the resolution on the tablet to match the resolution of the primary display (which is much higher). That might help too.

 

[rockbottom]

Set the base canvas in OBS to match your monitor.

 

[euler010]

Thanks, I set both displays to the same resolution ('Duplicate' display), and it wasn't much better. Is there a file format which will yield the best quality? I tried .mp4 and another (I forget), and they were about the same.

 

[rockbottom]

It's also good to match the fps of your monitor to OBS prevent tearing & since your going to record HD, change the color space to 709.

 

[rockbottom]

Recommended to record to mkv in case OBS crashes, you won't lose your recording too. You can re-mux with OBS if you need an mp4.

 

[rockbottom]

Is the tablet connected as the second monitor?

 

[euler010]

Yes, it's a second monitor. I'll try your other suggestions.

 

[rockbottom]

Set the tablet back to it's native resolution.

 

[rockbottom]

Are you going to record in 1080p?

 

[euler010]

I recorded at both 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 (and a third lower res). All were about the same quality.

Maybe the program is designed to not record at full resolution to avoid very large file sizes? Thanks for your help. If this is the best I can get, it'll be fine.

 

[rockbottom]

Try these settings, I have a 6700k & really can't get past the very fast preset with it but I think your 9700k should be OK. If the encoder overloads go to the "Faster" preset. If the file is too large raise the CRF, if you want more quality lower it. Also set the Keyframe Interval to 2.

 

[koala]

It seems you scaled up the source that provides your drawing. A scaled up window is still the original source resolution, just magnified, so it is less quality than if it were the native resolution.

You say you use Google Jamboard, and I see a browser source in your sources, so I assume you're recording the Jamboard through the browser source. How big is the resolution of the browser source? The default is 800x600. If you keep this and scale this up to match your canvas of 1920x1080, you have just a magnified version of a 800x600 source, not a native 1920x1080 source. Change the resolution of the browser source to 1920x1080 and reset any transform (right-click the browser source->Transform->Reset transform). Don't do any fit or stretch operation. You can use this to make bigger sources fit a smaller canvas, but quality gets worse if you make smaller sources fill a bigger canvas.

 

[euler010]

I just discovered that too. The default display resolution when I select a video source is 800x600. I didn't even notice that until I deleted my input and created a new one. Then it worked! I feel dumb now. Thanks for all your help, and sorry for wasting your time.