diff --git a/_guides/obs/high-quality-streaming/nvenc.html b/_guides/obs/high-quality-streaming/nvenc.html index d5a8a26..2f2bf47 100644 --- a/_guides/obs/high-quality-streaming/nvenc.html +++ b/_guides/obs/high-quality-streaming/nvenc.html @@ -17,155 +17,180 @@ StreamFX v0.11.1 and OBS Studio 27.2{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph. {% capture content %}Modern OBS Studio has two ways to achieve the expected quality: the built-in NVENC H.264 (new) and the addition from StreamFX called NVIDIA NVENC H.264/AVC (via FFmpeg). Both Options can achieve similar quality to x264 medium, but the latter is able to exceed that and rival x264 medium/slow in various situations. Whichever you pick, both of them support zero-copy encoding, and they’re both valid options for streaming.{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %} {% capture content %}Built-In: OBS Studio NVENC H.264 (new){% endcapture %}{% include blocks/heading.liquid content=content level=2 %} -{% capture content %}The built-in NVENC option in OBS Studio is by far the simplest option and will give you almost identical quality on Maxwell, Pascal, Turing and Ampere, though Turing and Ampere will make use of the new improvements of the NVENC chip. Maxwell and Pascal users can expect to reach x264 veryfast/faster-like quality, while Turing and Ampere users can expect to hit fast/medium-like quality. Below are the settings you need to set:{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %} +{% capture content %}The simplest option is the built-in NVENC encoders which offer less flexibility, but get you started on the path of quality quicker. Depending on which GPU generation you own, you will be able to reach different peak quality levels: Kepler may reach up to x264 superfast, Maxwell and Pascal may reach up to x264 veryfast, Volta may reach up to x264 faster, and Turing and Ampere may reach up to x264 fast.{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %} {% capture content %} Option - Kepler, Maxwell & Pascal - Turing & Ampere + Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal, Volta, Turing, Ampere Preset - Quality or Max Quality + Quality or Max Quality Profile - high + high Look-ahead - Enabled/Checked + Enabled/Checked Psycho-Visual Tuning - Enabled/Checked + Enabled/Checked Max B-Frames - 2 to 4 (Use less for action packed games) + 2 to 4 (Use less for action packed games) -{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="Best built-in NVENC settings." %} +{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="For empty columns, look at the columns left of it." %} {% capture content %}StreamFX: NVIDIA NVENC H.264/AVC (via FFmpeg){% endcapture %}{% include blocks/heading.liquid content=content level=2 %} -{% capture content %}If you’re new to StreamFX’s NVENC integration, it will most likely overwhelm you with the settings it offers. But thanks to all those settings, you can actually go above the default quality by quite a significant amount. Note that I will only cover critical settings, as other settings like Bitrate, Buffer Size and Key Frame Interval are explained elsewhere. {% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %} +{% capture content %}With StreamFX's NVENC integration it is possible to edge out a lot of additional quality out of NVIDIA NVENC in many situations. This however comes with a hefty cost in complexity, and requires much deeper understanding of both the H.264 specification and NVIDIA NVENC. Most GPU generations can expect to reach a peak quality two x264 presets higher than with the built-in NVIDIA NVENC encoder. As this option is aimed at people with deeper knowledge of both the standard and NVIDIA NVENC, non-critical settings are omitted.{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %} {% capture content %} - Option - Kepler, Maxwell - Pascal, Volta - Turing & Ampere + Option + Kepler + Maxwell + Pascal + Volta + Turing + Ampere Preset - Medium (P4) or slower + + Medium (P4) up to Slowest (P7)
+ As with all encoders, higher presets have diminishing returns for much harsher performance impact. + Tune - High Quality + + High Quality or Low Latency or Ultra Low Latency
+ Choose between focusing Quality or (much) lower encoding Latency. + - H264 + H264 Profile - High + + High or Main
+ High enables additional codec features that improve quality. + Level - Automatic + + Automatic
+ Some problematic Driver versions require you to manually set the H.264 Profile Level. + - Rate Control Options + Rate Control Options Mode - Constant Bitrate + Constant Bitrate Multi-Pass - Two Pass at Quarter Resolution - Two Pass at Quarter Resolution
or: Two Pass at Full Resolution + + Quarter Resolution or Full Resolution
+ May improve spatial quality. In some cases full resolution multi-pass can improve quality further. + Look Ahead - 8 frames or more - 16 frames or more + + at least 8 frames
+ Enables adaptive functionality and may improve temporal quality. Has diminishing returns. + Adaptive I-Frames - Enabled + + Enabled or Disabled
+ Improves quality in many games, but may not work with all streaming services. Requires at least 2 frames of Look Ahead + Adaptive B-Frames - Enabled + + Enabled
+ Requires at least (1 + Number of B-Frames) frames of Look Ahead. + - Limits - - - Target Bitrate - Any - - - Buffer Size - 0 kbit - - - Adaptive Quantization + Adaptive Quantization Spatial Adaptive Quantization - Enabled + + Enabled
+ May improve perceptual quality in some situations with the correct strength setting. + Spatial Adaptive Quantization Strength - Between 1 (Weakest) and 15 (Strongest). Strong Spatial Adaptive Quantization will allocate more bitrate towards visually complex areas, and starve other areas of necessary bitrate. + + 1 (favor Smooth) between 15 (favor Textured)
+ Adjusts the strength of adaptive quantization to either favor smooth or textured surfaces. + Temporal Adaptive Quantization - Enabled + Enabled - Other Options + Other Options Maximum B-Frames - 1 to 2 - 2 to 3 - 2 to 4 + + 0 to4
+ Very situational, as too many can reduce quality significantly. Real world content can use as much as 4 all the time, while gaming may only make use of 1. Adaptive B-Frames should always be enabled for more intelligent B-Frame placement. + B-Frame Reference Mode - Any except Disabled + + "Each B-Frame" or "Only B-Frames/2"
+ Situational, more references may actually reduce quality significantly as more reference slots are used. + Zero Latency - Default + Default Weighted Prediction - Default + Default Non-reference P-Frames - Enabled + Enabled Reference Frames - -1 frames + + -1 frames
+ May improve quality at higher values, but also drastically reduces device compatibility. + Low Delay Key-Frame Scale - -1 + + -1
+ When Low Latency or Ultra Low Latency tune is used, should either be left at -1 or manually adjusted. Can drastically affect quality and latency. + -{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="Ideal settings for StreamFX's NVENC integration." %} +{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="For empty columns, look at the columns left of it." %} {% capture list %} -
  • Adaptive I-Frames may not work well with certain platforms and must be turned off if you encounter issues.
    • -
  • Stronger Spatial Adaptive Quantization will focus more bitrate towards visually complex areas, but may starve smoother areas of the bitrate it needs.
  • The old presets were deprecated by NVIDIA and now map to the new P1-P7 presets, which come with massive performance or quality boosts. High Quality is now Medium (P4), while High Performance is closer to Faster (P2).
    • -
  • When Maximum B-Frames is set to 4 and B-Frame Reference Mode is set to Each, it may be necessary to manually increase the Reference Frames or a Driver crash may be observed..
    • -
  • Increasing the Reference Frames can improve quality significantly, but will require more powerful decoders, and at times can hurt quality.
    • {% endcapture %}{% include blocks/list.liquid content=list %} {% capture content %}Matching your Resolution and FPS with your Bitrate{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/heading.liquid content=content level=1 %} @@ -202,7 +227,7 @@ StreamFX v0.11.1 and OBS Studio 27.2{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph. 84.0764 87.0543 -{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="Average VMAF scores with no enhancement gain over many different files at NVENCs best configuration.
    For desktop viewing, a score of 70+ is 'Acceptable Quality', 80+ is 'High Quality', 90+ is 'Indistinguishable', 95+ is 'Effectively Lossless'.
    For mobile viewing a score of 60+ is 'Acceptable Quality', 75+ is 'High Quality', 85+ is 'Indistinguishable'." %} +{% endcapture %}{% include blocks/table.liquid content=content caption="Average VMAF scores with no enhancement gain over many different files at NVENCs best configuration.
    For desktop viewing, a score of 70+ is 'Acceptable Quality', 80+ is 'High Quality', 90+ is 'Indistinguishable', 95+ is 'Effectively Lossless'.
    For mobile viewing a score of 60+ is 'Acceptable Quality', 75+ is 'High Quality', 85+ is 'Indistinguishable'." %} {% capture content %}We can made an okay educated guess at the maximum resolution for each bitrate with the above table. For 3.5mbit the maximum resolution is 960x540, for 6.0mbit the maximum resolution is 1280x720, and for 8.5mbit the maximum resolution is 1920x1080. For some more action packed content it is best to reduce the resolution slightly in order to maintain decent quality, while slower or rarely moving content can sometimes increase the resolution slightly. {% endcapture %}{% include blocks/paragraph.liquid content=content %}