Need some help, Noobie

S

Saridious

New Member
Hey all.

I'm happy to be joining the OBS community. Just a newbie question to see if something is possible. So I'm thinking of starting a youtube channel and have all the things I need, capture card(Elgato hd60s+), etc. I want to record different consoles with different resolutions and different OBS settings. So for instance a PS5 at 4k 60 and a Nintendo switch at 1080p. So my question? Is there a way I can have different sources for two different consoles without having to reset the resolution and settings each time I switch between them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
You should ask yourself a slightly different question first: "In what resolution should I do my recordings in?"

Do you intend to stream? In this case, you will probably stream in 1080p or 720p, and this is what you will configure as output resolution in OBS. You will force any input resolution into the output resolution. The correct canvas resolution in this case is the same as the output resolution or 1080p, whatever is higher. So for streaming you need one configuration for everything. Create one profile (see the OBS menu profile) with your streaming settings and use this for everything.

If you intend to record and upload, you can either also force everything into some given resolution as in my streaming recommendation. In this case you also need one profile.
Or record with the native resolution of the source you intend to record next. In this case, create separate profiles for every possible source resolution and set canvas+output resolution accordingly. If you switch to a source with a different source resolution, switch to the profile with the same output resolution.

If you intend to create overlays and intros, keep in mind you probably need different resolutions and overlay layouts, so they match the current canvas resolution. You can scale, but a scaled overlay doesn't look as good as an overlay exactly matching the canvas resolution.

Keep in mind, Youtube will recode everything to one of the standard 16:9 resolutions: 4k, 2k, 1080p, 720p, etc. For best results, try to play and record your games in one of these resolutions, so it will not get rescaled by Youtube.

The last thing to think about is for higher resolution videos (1080p and above). Always think about how your viewers will watch your stuff. The vast majority of users have a 1080p monitor or 1366x768 (cheaper laptops). They will either watch fullscreen or windowed, so the video will probably scaled down. They may watch your videos on a 10" tablet. Make your overlay so text is still readable while scaled down to these resolutions. If you record 4k, a game UI scaled down to 1080p will appear tiny, if not unreadable. To check, upload test videos and watch these on a device with these resolutions to see how your videos will look on the devices of your viewers.
 
Thank you for your detailed answer. I had not considered the UI scaling and will certainly keep that in mind. I won't be streaming just recording footage editing and uploading. I think what you mentioned about profiles is what I'm looking for, I was not aware of these. Thank you again I'll hopefully be able to work out from here. :)
 
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