NVEnc Feedback thread (2014)

[BtbN]

The low-latency presets, for some weird reason, give a better visual quality at streaming bitrates.
And 2pass also significantly increases the visual quality. I have absolutely no idea what nvidia means with 2pass in this context, but that mode is intended for lower constant bitrates.
The nvidia ShadowPlay uses exactly this mode when you use it to stream to twitch, and so does the Automatic-Mode in OBS.


About Maxwell: Maxwell bringt no quality upgrades. The only thing that changed is that it got faster. So 1080p60 with the highest quality options might be possible there.

 

[Floatingthru]

The Maxwell GTX 970/980 can do 4k@60fps 130mpbs as the max for shadowplay recordings. In OBS I could only do 4k@30fps without the encoder lagging. The quality for low bitrate streams didn't increase, though.

 

[Boildown]

Which preset was being used for Shadowplay at 2160p60? Which preset were you using for NVEnc/OBS at 2160p30? Any log files?

 

[Floatingthru]

High quality for both presets. I am really impressed with my 970. It is a shame that if I upload a 4k@60fps video to youtube it will only show 1080p@60fps ;p

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/722e5c6de4765b9c1311
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLb_SzUlvnw
https://gist.github.com/2064f2c830c39e36e545
https://gist.github.com/2064f2c830c39e36e545
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGqLKATVrXE

 

[Boildown]

Looks like NVEnc kicked ass on HQ at 2160p30. Don't see any NVEnc 2160p60 attempts though. This is new info, I've never seen a log file for 4k encoding before, thanks for that.

 

[Floatingthru]

4k@60fps really chugs on OBS with lots of duplicated frames no matter what preset I use. Shadowplay does it very smooth!

 

[n3v3rm1nd]

Will there be any updates on the stuttering at 60fps and performance hit? using Shadowplay gives me butter smooth video with nearly no performance hit but the sound sucks.

Is it possible to get the same smoothness on obs??

 

[thedukey]

Is NVENC working for anyone? Keeps giving me encoder initialization failed.

 

[Boildown]

Yep, I use it practically every day. Make sure you have recent drivers installed and that you're using an NVEnc capable video card. I.e. GT630 series or later.

 

[sherzsod]

so i cant use gtx 580 ?

 

[Floatingthru]

so i cant use gtx 580 ?

No.

 

[kaellar]

I tried lots of different things but I still can't find out why NVENC stutters that much for me. Shadowplay records 50mbit/s 1080p/60 butter smoothly, while OBS can't even do 1080p/30 20mbit/s without being a laggy stuttering mess.

 

[n3v3rm1nd]

I tried lots of different things but I still can't find out why NVENC stutters that much for me. Shadowplay records 50mbit/s 1080p/60 butter smoothly, while OBS can't even do 1080p/30 20mbit/s without being a laggy stuttering mess.

Yeah the implementation is okay when using the low latency profiles, then you dont have such a big performance hit.

 

[enemy2k]

I've noticed a serious issue whenever I use OBS with NVENC, my memory on the GPU down clocks to 3,000 MHz, it should be at 4,000mhz. This downclock only happens when I start to stream or preview stream using NVENC. This is 1,000 MHz lower than what it should be. This down clock hurts my FPS by quite a bit and I am trying to figure out why it does this only with OBS. I have tested both "manual" and "shadow" modes with Shadowplay and they do not downclock. I have not tested the streaming functionality with Shadowplay yet.

I am using a GTX960 with the latest WHQL 347.52 drivers.
I also using the newest beta version of OBS x64.

 

[ezoray]

I just wanted to post this as I'm seeing different behavior from a few months ago.

I was able to record at High Quality with no issue previously but I've tried it again with the only change being the latest Nvidia driver and I'm dropping a lot of frames.

I've rolled back to driver 340.52 and am once again recording with no problems.

Graphics chip is a 750m.

 

[Kluvwen]

I've noticed a serious issue whenever I use OBS with NVENC, my memory on the GPU down clocks to 3,000 MHz, it should be at 4,000mhz. This downclock only happens when I start to stream or preview stream using NVENC. This is 1,000 MHz lower than what it should be. This down clock hurts my FPS by quite a bit and I am trying to figure out why it does this only with OBS. I have tested both "manual" and "shadow" modes with Shadowplay and they do not downclock. I have not tested the streaming functionality with Shadowplay yet.

I am using a GTX960 with the latest WHQL 347.52 drivers.
I also using the newest beta version of OBS x64.

I'm having a similar issue, ram on GTX 980 is downclocking ram to 3000 Mhz with driver 347.52.

 

[JG52Karaya]

Also had massive problems with NVENC and the latest Nvidia drivers. I am mostly using OBS for local recording at 1080p and 60fps onto a secondary hard drive. What driver do you people think is the latest one that's not causing issues with OBS & NVENC?

 

[enemy2k]

Got a reply from an Nvidia Rep ManuelG.

"CUDA is used in NVFBC. Because many of the use cases where an application uses CUDA, precision has a higher priority over speed. This is part of the reason why workstation CPUs and GPUs typically run at a lower clock speed than their consumer equivalents. We are developing an app profile system to catch cases where CUDA is used for consumer level applications (such as OBS) so that the memory clock speed will not clock."

 

[ZZMthesurand]

I usually record with Shadowplay, and I tried to use OBS with NVEnc, with the preset set to NVdefault, at 50mbit/s bitrate. I tried recording GTA: SA with mods on OBS, and the FPS tanked to 20-30 fps. When I tried to record it with Shadowplay @ 50mbit/s and 60fps, the FPS didn't drop any more.

 

[ball2hi]

For some reason I keep getting encoder initialization errors. Yes, I am using a recent driver 350.12 (Stable, unlike the newer drivers) and yes I have a capable card (GTX 760). Why the hell can't I use NVENC?