Question / Help Webcam Quality Poor / Recording Uploads To YT Poor as well. /Confused

[ESRaistlin]

Thank you ahead of time for any feedback or suggestions!

I'm currently using an Elgato HD60S to record my PS4 Pro gameplay as well as livestream. I've been using Elgato's Game Capture software which has been decent. However, I've been frustrated that my webcam quality has been crappy even though I have (what I think) is a solid webcam and a solid 150/150 hardline connection. So I figured, why not try OBS?

I've read some other threads and some of the walkthroughs to tweak my settings but what I'm finding now is weird:

When in preview - my gameplay and webcam overlay are crystal clear. The recording itself has great quality gameplay, but the webcam overlay quality is similar to my webcam quality on my previous livestreams using Game Capture - slightly pixellated with jaggies. Then, when I upload that to my YT channel - the quality is horrible (considering its 720p 60FPS). I haven't livestreamed using OBS yet to test that out but if basic recordings aren't showing up good, I'm afraid to see what the stream quality would be.

Any feedback or assistance would be greatly appreciated! Here's what I'm working with: (Log to follow below as well)

Recording And Streaming At: 720P 60FPS
Webcam: Logitech C922
OS: Win 10 64Bit
Mobo: Gigabyte AB350
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3.2Ghz 6 Core
Graphics Card: Radeon RX 580
RAM: 8GB
Console: PS4 Pro
Mic: Blue Snowball
Last OBS Logfile: https://obsproject.com/logs/Dkh7ic652XOwgQMv

 

[Narcogen]

23:37:50.275: Windows Version: 10.0 Build 17134 (revision: 706; 64-bit)

Windows is out of date and game mode is on. See the link at the bottom for more info.

I would try switching to the CPU (x264) encoder at least for testing-- I have a feeling some of your settings are off but I'm not familiar with the AMF encoder settings and I don't have access to it to replicate.

If you're recording from a PS4, is there a reason you aren't capturing 1080p? If your machine can handle it, 1080p scaled down to 720 might look better than a 720p capture, unless that is the native resolution of your capture device or the game you're capturing.

You're also recording in 709 Full, when you should be recording in 709 Partial. Full color content won't look right on many displays; it will appear washed out.

 

[ESRaistlin]

Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it! Here's where we're at based on your feedback:

Windows Out Of Date: All updates completed.
Game Mode is On: Followed the link you provided and ensured Game Bar was turned off, Game DVR/Captures was turned off and Game Mode was turned off.
Switch to CPU x264 encoder under output --> Advanced mode --> recording tab --> Encoder: Switched from H264/AVC Encoder (AMD Advanced Media Framework) to x264. Changed bitrate to 40000. CPU Usage Preset - very fast.
Recording in 709 Full Under Advanced Settings: Switched to 709 Partial

I'll go give this a test, see how it comes out and then update this with the log. Thank you again for your insight!
------------------ EDIT #1
Alright - the recorded file comes out ok. However, when I upload to YT though my webcam footage is grainy or sometimes blurry / pixellated. - Here's the test outcome - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvE2YybeKns - its worse further into the match. Not sure why - it's not like I have a bad PC. I know I don't have a beast but I should at least be able to get clear footage uploaded.

Here's the Logfile: https://obsproject.com/logs/N0sAr1lYFfm4Qyk6

To answer your other question - why do I not capture in 1080p? I figured that my PC couldn't handle trying to capture in 1080p at 60fps. I'm open to trying though. How would I do that?

Thanks again!
----------------------------- EDIT #2
I figured I would run a test to see if the webcam overlay was causing it. Turns out it was the same situation where the gameplay is decent at times to blurry / pixelly. Here's the test video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-zM0CWEuMY
Here's the log: https://obsproject.com/logs/WMJutvN0lxrsiESZ

I don't know why the local file is coming through in great quality but as soon as I upload it, the quality significantly dips..... >_<

 

[Deleted member 121471]

I own the same graphics card and some of your chosen settings are a bit odd. Try changing the following settings:

Profile: High
Pre-pass Mode: Enabled
Coding Type: CALVC
Maximum reference frames: 3
QP range: Roughly 18-35, mess around with these until quality is acceptable (lower values = better quality at the cost of performance)
VBAQ: Enabled
Queue Size: 5

Every other setting should be fine. Also, narcogen has a good point about 1080p capture, your system is perfectly capable of doing so.

Go to OBS "Settings-->Video" then set "Base (Canvas) Resolution" to 1920x1080, "Output (Scaled) Resolution" to 1280x720 and FPS to 60. "Downscale filter" can be set to Bicubic or Lanczos, depending on personal preference. I'm not familiar with capture cards but I think you also have to set the Elgato source capture to 1080p@60FPS.

 

[ESRaistlin]

Thanks for your response! Here's where we're at:
Profile: Changed to high under Output--> Advanced --> Recording.
Pre-Pass Mode: Enabled under Output --> Advanced --> Streaming
Coding Type: Changed to CALVC.
Maximum Reference Frames: Dropped from 4 to 3.
QP Range: To start I switched it to minimum 18 and maximum 35 for now.
VBAQ: Found it. And changed it to enabled. I didn't know I had to switch the streaming tab from basic view mode to expert to open up new options.
Queue Size: Dropped from 8 down to 5.
Base Canvas Resolution: Changed to 1080p downscaled to 720p @ 60FPS. Updated the Elgato settings in Game Capture to match.

I'll run some tests tonight and share the results and the log(s). Thanks again for all of the assistance!

 

[ESRaistlin]

Apologies for the double post:

After completing the updates above - we're in a similar spot - the video recording looks good when watched locally on VLC. As soon as I upload to YT, my webcam gets blurry / pixellated and the gameplay quality goes down a bit as well once I start moving around. If only I could have the YT video quality as good as the local file quality when I watch it on VLC on my PC.

Here's the YT outcome: https://youtu.be/DSK5uSmnpFw

Here's the log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/R5xewr3AtO0-wWkv

Thank you again for any feedback / thoughts. Its frustrating that I can't at least have it looking clear once I upload it :(

 

[Narcogen]

Livestreaming is nearly always lower quality than high quality recording, and YT quality is always going to be lower than what you give them.

The optimal settings for both modes are different, so simultaneous recording and streaming either mean you're compromising one mode or the other, or putting a lot more load on your PC.

Specifically for high quality local recording you should either be using a simple mode with "indistinguishable quality" for best results, or advanced mode with CQP/CRF rate control and a quality setting between 15 and 23 (lower is better) and stream with CBR rate control and a bitrate as high as your service will allow (6000 for non-partnered Twitch, can be 10000 on Mixer or YouTube).

Your last log has no recording or streaming session in it, so I can't see what those settings are-- you need to start recording and/or streaming, run for a bit, and then stop for that data to be written to the log.

 

[ESRaistlin]

I'm not sure why the logs didn't show anything before. I had pulled them right after the game sessions. Sooo odd.

After multiple tests, some with having the webcam on and some off, the quality was still horrible. Current work around is I'm recording video at highest (lossless) quality. Unfortunately, Vegas, doesn't like AVI files (just my luck). Even Virtual Dub doesn't like these files which is really annoying. So I'm using a program called Any Video converter which is freeware with ads and a premium version (the basic does what I need) - and I use that to convert the video to mp4 so that Vegas can see it. Then, I'm doing the webcam / facecam recording on my laptop and I transfer that file over afterward and throw that into Vegas and put them all together.

The quality, while not perfect, is much better on the YT side of things. I just wish the perfect lossless quality video that I upload looked good on YT directly. I have no idea why it wouldn't.

All I can think of is that my PC isn't good enough or YT doesn't like how the videos are encoded coming out of OBS. Which sucks because this converts the recorded files SO much quicker than Game Capture.

 

[Narcogen]

Is there a reason why you're recording to AVI instead of MKV or FLV and then remuxing to MP4 before import?

 

[ESRaistlin]

When I'm recording at super high / lossless quality, I didn't see an option to do so. Under indistinguishable quality, large file size I can choose the format and encoder. When I choose Lossless quality, the option to choose the format and encoder go away :(

EDIT - It's been awhile since I changed anything with my editing software. I'm using Magix Movie Studio Platinum14 (Formerly Vegas). After checking some things out, this could be an issue with my render bitrate being low. I'm calling it a night now, but when I next am able, I'll capture at indistinguishable quality to .mkv - constant bitrate of 14000 - then I'll remux to Mp4. In Movie studio, I'll render at a bitrate of 20000 and see if the issue is more my render / export settings.

 

[Narcogen]

You should not use constant bitrate for recording, you should use CRF or CQP rate control and select a quality level (25 would be low, 15 would be fairly high, 0 would be lossless).

14000 is not a particularly high bitrate if you're trying to record in high quality, and using CBR (which is more suited for streaming because streaming platforms require it) will waste space on scenes that don't need it.

Recording in mkv and remuxing to mp4 is the way to go, because a crash would render an mp4 unrecoverable.

If you're seeing that option go away, it's because you're in Simple mode in the Output tab. Changed that to Advanced, then choose Type: Standard from the Recording tab.

You can now choose format, audio tracks, and encoder. With x264 as the selected encoder (or NVENC if you have it) you can choose rate control, cpu preset, profile and tune.

 

[ESRaistlin]

Thanks for the feedback Narc. I'l try that tonight (working at home so I can get this in during the day).
Currently for rate control I only have access to CQP. I don't see a CRF, so I'll go with the one I have.

Here's a screen shot of the settings I'll try later tonight. If anything is off base, let me know. Thanks again!

 

[Narcogen]

CRF is what you'll see as an option for Rate Control using the x264 software encoder.

CQP is what you'll see for NVENC.

 

[ESRaistlin]

We have progress! With the settings mentioned above, I was able to get a solid recording and it looks great on YT!

.....but the framerate is choppy as $hit hehe. I saw after I finished a match, my CPU usage in OBS had jumped to around 65% and then dropped immediately when I stopped the recording. So...my next test will be moving my CRF from 12 and 15 (which I tried with the same results as mentioned) up to 25 and CPU preset from slow to medium (not sure if that will do anything but worth a shot).

Is there any suggestions on what I should tweak now that I finally got the YT quality I wanted but now have choppy gameplay? The choppy gameplay is on both the local file on my PC and the YT upload. But the quality is so much better on the YT upload now.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Deleted member 121471]

The difference in image quality between "Slow" and "Medium" presets is marginal but the latter requires significantly lower resources.

This is likely where your biggest performance hit lies.

As far as CRF goes, 18-20 is the range I'd consider ideal for recording.

 

[ESRaistlin]

Alrighty so after trying the quality at 21 , 20 and 19 we're still getting my webcam footage coming across as kind of pixellated as well as text on the feed blurry as well on YT. I tried going down to 18 w/no webcam but the game quality was the same as 19 with webcam. All of these were done on medium presets. I'll try 17 tomorrow night and see if we can't get things a little clearer. Its tough not being able to get away with 12 or 15 because dayum those ones were nice and crisp.....