Need Help Improving YouTube Stream Quality (Looks Like 720p Even at 1440p Settings)

[BlackyBLK]

Hi everyone,

I’m having issues with the visual quality of my YouTube streams and I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Even though I’m using very good hardware and I’m streaming at 1440p (while my monitor is 1080p), the final stream on YouTube still looks blurry, almost like 720p. What’s strange is that this only happens with modern, fast-paced games (racers, shooters, etc.). Older or slow-paced games with simpler textures look perfectly fine. I disable motion blur in all games, so that shouldn’t be the cause. I lock the FPS to all my games to 120 (if it's possible) and I make sure to sometimes even reduce the settings to the graphics (if needed) to make sure it stays intact to 120 FPS. The performance is no issue, games run really smooth.

I’ve tried various OBS settings, but nothing seems to improve the clarity in fast-motion (paced) games. Are there any specific encoder presets, bitrate settings, or output configurations that could help reduce the blurriness? Should I adjust something related to keyframes, rate control, or rescaling?

Here are my PC specs and my OBS settings:

PC Specs:
- CPU : Intel Core i9-13900KS
- GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 5070 Ti
- RAM: 64 GB
- I have a main monitor with 144 Hz (that I've set to 120 Hz from the settings) and a secondary 60Hz that I usually keep the OBS on and the live chat from YouTube

OBS Settings:
a) Video:
- Base Resolution: 1920x1080
- Output Resolution: 2560x1440
- Downscale filter: Lanczos
- Fps: 60

b) Output:
- Stream Encoder: Nvidia Nvenc AV1 (I tried the other 2 encoders H264 and 265 (Hevc) and it looks the same)
- Rate Control : CBR
- Bitrate: 30000 Kbps (I have 950 Mbps upload so I should be able to run at any bitrate)
- Keyframe Interval: 2s
- Preset: P6
- Tuning: High Quality
- Multipass: Two Passes (Full Resolution)
- Profile: Main (no High option on AV1)
- Look Ahead and AQ : ON (I tried with Look Ahead Off as well but no improvements)
- B-Frames: 3 (I tried with 2 as well and even with 4)
- B-Frame as Reference: Disabled
- Split Encode: Auto

c) Advanced:
- Process Priority: High
- Color Format: NV12 (8-bit, 4:2:0, 2 planes)
- Color Space: Rec. 709
- Color Range: Full
- SDR White Level: 300 nits


Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[qhobbes]

1. Don't upscale your content unless you're using a hardware upscaler such as mClassic or 4K Gamer Pro and capture device. It's better to provide a high quality 1080p steam and let the user's device upscale it than a trashy 1440p stream.
2. B-frames 2, b-frame as reference: middle b-frame only. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en
3. set the color range to partial
4. For 1080p, 60 FPS, AV1, set the bitrate to 10000.

 

[BlackyBLK]

1. Don't upscale your content unless you're using a hardware upscaler such as mClassic or 4K Gamer Pro and capture device. It's better to provide a high quality 1080p steam and let the user's device upscale it than a trashy 1440p stream.
2. B-frames 2, b-frame as reference: middle b-frame only. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en
3. set the color range to partial
4. For 1080p, 60 FPS, AV1, set the bitrate to 10000.

Thank you very much for the help with the details. I have reverted and matched my base and output resolution to be the same (1080p) and applied your settings, but even like that it still looks blurry (like 720p on fast-paced games).

I did stream a short 2 minutes footage to show you the proof on a fast-paced game (F1 25 in this case) . Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/live/Q-JkQEnyuZ8?si=9b7w9p7DnsxUNaKj

When I record, it looks cristal clear and great performance too. When I stream it (the case for the footage from the link above), only the performance is perfect, the quality still looks like 720 p for fast-paced games.

You can find the settings I applied in the description (along with the changes you told me).
Is there anything else I should change or look into to improve the quality when I stream?