OBS Help!

[Monkeymatthew78]

I recently started streaming and I don't know what are my best setting for streaming with OBS. 

 

Specs:

i7 4790k

gigabyte gtx 770

corsair h100i

 

I don't think any of the other specs matter. 

I'm not sure if I should stream at 720p 60fps or maybe 1080p. Idk

 

Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I didn't know where to put this.

Please help decide what bitrate, fps, and resoultion I should use.

 

[thekeemo]

you could probably get 1080p

[Monkeymatthew78]

I know I can but will I have enough room to play games without worry.

 

Also, i have 12 mbps upload speed

[Semper]

Bandwidth limitations?

[Monkeymatthew78]

I know I can but will I have enough room to play games without worry.

 

Also, i have 12 mbps upload speed

 

you could probably get 1080p

 

[Deletive]

what games? if they are not demanding you could probably use NVEC do most of the work with the GPU. if it is demanding yeah I would say you could do 1080p either way.

[thekeemo]

 

I know I can but will I have enough room to play games without worry.

 

Also, i have 12 mbps upload speed

 

 

then stick with 720p

[EChondo]

Also, i have 12 mbps upload speed

https://obsproject.com/estimator

 

[Monkeymatthew78]

What do you think my bitrate, resolution, and fps should be?

 

https://obsproject.com/estimator

 

 

what games? if they are not demanding you could probably use NVEC do most of the work with the GPU. if it is demanding yeah I would say you could do 1080p either way.

 

then stick with 720p

 

Bandwidth limitations?

[mikeangeles 75]

My setup is similar to yours except that I have a 3770K and an ASUS GTX 770. (I play BF4 most of the time on low/med settings)

 

- I use 3500 bitrate and buffer size with CBR and CBR padding.

- Downscaled to 720p and 60FPS w/Lanczos Filter.

- x264 CPU preset at veryfast and CFR is checked.

 

These are the settings I use and I've had no problems so far (started test streaming around 3 weeks ago).

[Monkeymatthew78]

what does Lanczos filter affect?

 

My setup is similar to yours except that I have a 3770K and an ASUS GTX 770. (I play BF4 most of the time on low/med settings)

 

- I use 3500 bitrate and buffer size with CBR and CBR padding.

- Downscaled to 720p and 60FPS w/Lanczos Filter.

- x264 CPU preset at veryfast and CFR is checked.

 

These are the settings I use and I've had no problems so far (started test streaming around 3 weeks ago).

[mikeangeles 75]

what does Lanczos filter affect?

I don't really know... (based if off the descriptions)

 

But it won't really affect your performance whichever filter you pick.

[D2ultima]

If you're not a partner, you shouldn't go above 2500-2600 bitrate or people will not be able to watch easily (on twitch; unsure if hitbox has these issues). You can fiddle with your compression at 720p 60fps with that i7. It's pretty good for streaming. I'd suggest at least "faster" with 2500 bitrate or so for 720p 60fps when streaming. Make sure you use CBR and CBR padding.

 

The downscale filters dictate how sharp the downscale is. Bilinear is blurry, but will work well with less bitrate. Bicubic is a bit sharper, but lacking bitrate will cause your stream to have "white blocks" or get extra pixellated in fast motion or deep black areas. Lanczos is a sharper version of Bicubic, but again needs more bitrate. It's also game dependent; Hearthstone won't care about bilinear or lanczos, but CoD might want bilinear to be able to see better.

 

If you want SERIOUSLY in-depth explanations about everything OBS-related I can do it, but you'd have to pay me for my time (I don't expect you to do this, and I expect to be flamed for saying this, but whatever).

[LogicalDrm]

I get nice sharp 720p quality with following settings:

x264 encoder (use QuickSync if you have single monitor setup), CBR, Qaulity 8, bitrate 2700-3200 (lower if you drop frames), Buffer same as bitrate, Audio AAC 160kbs. Video is downscaled, filter bilinear and fps 30. In advanced I have enabled multithreading, set profile to above normal and using x264 veryfast.

[VG Docs]

-Snipe-

I don't know what that other guy was thinking with his response, but your setup is more than enough for 1080p60. Do keep in mind that with better quality (Resolution, FPS, bitrate/buffer size), it requires a a better rig on the audience's part. Some people simply can't watch 1080p60 streaming, especially if the bit rate is high. I think 720p60 is probably your best bet on that front, even though your rig can easily handle greater. 

 

The first thing you want to do (if you haven't already done it) is download JTVPing, and see which area has the lowest (Greenest) numbers for you. Then, in the settings of OBS, change the location connection to that area. 

Bit rate and Buffer size (I think) should be the same. It works for me, but then again I don't see any difference when the numbers aren't matched. 

The actual rate of the two should be anywhere between 2500 and 3500 kbps. 3500 being better in quality, but requiring the users watching to have a higher download speed, where the vice versa is true with 2500. 12mbps connection can handle both well. I don't recommend going above 3500 though, it tends to be unwatchable for people with low end rigs, and is totally unnecessary unless you're a partner. 

With encoding, x264 is your best bet. Quick sync is useful if you have a low end or mid range intel CPU, but it's unnecessary if you have a 4670k or better. The profile should either be very fast, or faster. If you think your CPU can handle it, then you may be able to go lower for slightly better quality.

 

As for final settings, I'll tell you what mine are (same upload speed, but worse components otherwise), and recommend you a couple of different things.

 

Encoder: x264

Use CBR, enable CBR padding, and use custom buffer size are all checked.

Max bitrate and buffer size: 2750 kbps each

Audio: I left everything on default

Minimize Network Impact is checked, although I admit that I don't know if I should have it checked or not.

I personally save my streams to a file, but that's entirely up to you.

I have the base resolution as 1080p, but I downscale to 720p with the Lanczos filter, mainly for those who can't handle watching at 1080p

I have multithreaded optimizations checked and recommend it. Process priority is set to normal, however if you ever find yourself using ~90-100% of your CPU, I'd recommend changing the x264 CPU preset to a higher setting, and if that doesn't work - then have the process priority class higher.

My CPU preset is veryfast. Sometimes I try out the "faster" option, but the CPU usage gets somewhat out of hand for me at times (then again I do live stream a CPU intensive game). You may want to test this option out first, the lower the setting, the better quality - but also the higher CPU usage.

Enable "Use CFR" if it's unchecked.

 

Here's an example of my settings in use. Since I don't have the CPU preset on a lower option, I downscale the resolution, and my bit rate is 2750, the quality isn't very good, but with Twitch (unless you're a partner) you've got to make some sacrifices in order for it to be watchable for many people. Also, the settings are on ultra, and in a CPU intensive area of an already CPU intensive game. Since my rig's worse than yours, you should be able to pull off better quality than me quite significantly in most games you play.