Question / Help Unsure about video settings

[fastn]

Hi

I'm new to streaming and want to start streaming to Twitch. I'm going to be streaming CS:GO. I've managed to get everything working properly, but I'm a bit unsure about my video settings in OBS Studio.

Specs:
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700 3400 MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5
Memory: 16GB

Network: 100mbps/100mbps

Operating system: Windows 10

My desktop resolution is 1920x1080. In CS:GO I'm playing 800x600 (stretched). My video settings in OBS studio are as follows:

Base (Canvas) resolution: 1920x1080
Output (Scaled) Resolution: 1280x720
Downscale Filter: Bicubic (Sharpened scaling, 16 samples)
FPS: 60

Since I'm playing CS:GO semi-professionally I'd like my streaming to not be CPU intensive or affect my FPS remarkably. Basically I'm looking for the best settings given my setup.

 

[Fenrir]

720p@60fps isn't going to look great at 3500 (Twitch's recommended max), but it can work. If you're not partnered, I'd suggest throwing FPS down to 30. If you are partnered, you can start at 4000 for 720p 60fps and see how that works. All other settings should be left at defaults.

However, what's going to make the most difference is making sure you cap FPS in CS:GO at something reasonable (your monitor's refresh rate is reasonable, 200+ is not.) to avoid overloading your GPU.

 

[EBrito]

@Fenrir, FYI Twitch has raised limits for non partners. A freind of mine, non partner, is using 5000 Kbps.

But, @fastn, high bitrates can cause viewers constant buffering if they don´t have good connections.
Non partrner channels are not transcoded. Only when several viewers are watching the channle (maybe more than 30, not sure) you can select quality.

So, better 720p 30 FPS at 3500 Kbps

 

[Fenrir]

@Fenrir, FYI Twitch has raised limits for non partners. A freind of mine, non partner, is using 5000 Kbps.

Do you have a source on that? You've always been able to use more, but going above their recommendations has caused issues. Until Twitch releases an update stating so, going outside their recommendations is going to be asking for trouble.

 

[EBrito]

In this case, my friend´s ISP is Movistar (Spain)
Movistar had a lot of criticism because there were a lot of problems watching any Twitch channel.
Indeed this friend I´m talking about could stream fine at 2700 Kbps in that time but he could not watch his own stream.

They have made specific routing for Twitch.
So, my friend has a fluid connection without issues.

But, no, I don´t have any official statement. Only "backoffice info"

 

[EBrito]

For now, this is the official bitrate
https://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/1253460-broadcast-requirements

 

[fastn]

@Fenrir @EBrito thanks for the input! I've made the proper adjustments now. I'm still a bit confused about what the difference is between Base (Canvas) resolution and Output (Scaled) Resolution and how it relates to the resolution ingame.

So my canvas resolution should be 1920x1080 even though I play in 800x600 (stretched)? And the output resolution should be 1280x720 due to Twitch recommendations? Sorry for asking these questions, but I really want to understand how it all relates.

 

[Fenrir]

@Fenrir @EBrito thanks for the input! I've made the proper adjustments now. I'm still a bit confused about what the difference is between Base (Canvas) resolution and Output (Scaled) Resolution and how it relates to the resolution ingame.

So my canvas resolution should be 1920x1080 even though I play in 800x600 (stretched)? And the output resolution should be 1280x720 due to Twitch recommendations? Sorry for asking these questions, but I really want to understand how it all relates.

Base (Canvas) Resolution is how much space you have to work with for placing your sources. You generally want this to be whatever size your largest source is. In your case, you can probably set it to 1280x720 as well, since you're only putting the 800x600 source in there.

Output (Scaled) Resolution is the size that gets sent out to your stream/recording.

The checkbox in Settings -> Output for scale is primarily for if you want to stream at a different resolution than your recording.