OBS doesn't detect UHD native resolution

OnkelTem

OnkelTem

New Member
I'm at a laptop with UHD display and of course I scale UI resolution down or I wouldn't be able to read tiny text.

So if the native res here is 3200x1800, I scale it down to 1600x900. Let's call them physical and logical ones.

The problem is that OBS doesn't detect my native screen resolution and there are only these 3 resolutions in the Base (canvas) Resolution box:
- 1280x720
- 1600x900 (the logical current one)
- 1920x1080

I do can change the value - fortunately the box is editable - and place the physical 3200x1800 one, but OBS doesn't memorize the value, doesn't add it to the list and I have to enter it manually again in the second box Output (scaled) Resolution.

Why OBS cannot detect the native physical resolution?

Btw, it really does matter, since both scaling of any kind (like physical > logical) or using logical resolution without scaling results to the quality degradation.

OS version: Kubuntu 20.04
OBS version: 26.0.2-0obsproject1~focal

xrandr output:

Code: 
$ xrandr --listactivemonitors
Monitors: 1
0: +*eDP-1 3200/294x1800/165+0+0 eDP-1

OBS Log output (after starting up and running a short recording): https://obsproject.com/logs/W4e_oO0gDenJpPMV
 
OnkelTem

OnkelTem

New Member
A little update.
Unfortunately (due to stange limitations of this forum on the edit time cooldown) I cannot edit the original post, although I've just discovered that I was wrong about the second field Output (scaled) Resolution. That it isn't updated according to the first field is not actually true. It gets really updated and lists a new values of scaling.

So the main question is still: why OBS doesn't detect the native resolution?
 
B

brianprice6

New Member
I am having the same issue. I have a 2K monitor (2560X1440) and OBS Studio's highest resolution available in the output base canvas drop down menu is 1920X1080p. I have seen this issue on multiple posts over a number of years and I've never seen an answer - or even any reply at all. What the heck? I guess given this situation we must just accept that limitation. I just created my first recording using the 1920x1080p, remuxed to MP4 and uploaded to YouTube and it looks horrible. Very blurry. - basically unusable. Don't know where to go from here. Maybe increasing the resolution won't make a difference.
 
T

TheKingOfPES

New Member
OnkelTem said:
A little update.
Unfortunately (due to stange limitations of this forum on the edit time cooldown) I cannot edit the original post, although I've just discovered that I was wrong about the second field Output (scaled) Resolution. That it isn't updated according to the first field is not actually true. It gets really updated and lists a new values of scaling.

So the main question is still: why OBS doesn't detect the native resolution?
Click to expand...
Yes this is actually true, I'm new to OBS, I've PS5, 4K TV, Elgato 4K 60 Pro & the only options I had available were 1920x1080 or 1280x720!
I was told to edit the canvas and the output manually to 3840x2160 but the recording quality was not actually 4K, the video was in 4K format but the quality was no where near 4K. I did some research and changed some settings in the source, which is the Elgato.. after following some steps the output of video settings actually changed and I had the 3840x2160 option available now, but still the base (canvas) option is limited to 1920x1080 altho I've seen some youtubers have the 3840x2160 option! I don't know what else should I change, I ran through all the settings even the bitrate, I maxed it out to 140 MB/Sand everything maxed out. I can edit it manually to 3840x2160 but I don't think it's really working and the quality of 4K capture utility is still way better than OBS :/
 
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rickykresslein

New Member
Hey, I registered just to reply to this because I was having the same issue and couldn't find the answer anywhere. It turns out in the drop-down box where you can select the different Output Resolutions, you can just type in whatever you want. So just manually type in 3840x2160 and you should be good to go.
 
M

mjimih

New Member
Hi regarding youtube 1080
i was uploading 1080 60fps to youtube and they looked worse no matter how much frequency i made with in Obs. I then learned the proper freq for YT, looked at it online and it looked horrible. After a while I decided to set obs to 2560x1440 no downscale manually, bc I figured more pixals would help? And it did. It occurred to me that I was making a 1080 vid and then sending it to YT who made another video in 1080 out of it. Where as if I send them a 1440 video with more pixals (and at the right freq for a YT video 25000kps @ 60fps) in it and then YT makes a 1080 out of it for the first time, it looked great online at 1080, the 1440 also looked even better. I was also told that if you can send a larger screen size video to YT there encoder is of higher quality settings than if you just send them a 1080 vid. So I guess it doesn't matter what your tv and or laptop is set to. I never stream, this is just for uploading to youtube.
 
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Ren4issance

New Member
I'm under MacOS, but I found this thread while looking for a solution to the same problem. And since this post helped me understand what happened in my case I thought I'd create an account to share what worked for me.

The native screen resolution of the monitor I want to screencap is 4k (3840x2160).

The setting in my Os for UI Scaling is 2560x1440 so OBS Recognizes this as my resolution when I create the source. (LG xxx : 2560x1440)

And then my settings in the video tab are :

  • 5120x2880 for base resolution (canvas) (notice its twice2560x1440)
  • 3840x2160 for Output Resolution (scaling).
This worked perfectly for me. I don't know why, so if anyone has a clue I'll stay tuned. And if it can help you, there you go.

I don't have time to investigate more. Please consider I literally installed OBS yesterday, thank you.
 
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