- In this video, I will show you how
to set up Streamlabs OBS
to record smooth, high
quality gaming footage
for your montages,
commentaries, et cetera.
(light music)
What's up everyone, Jelle
here with The Video Nerd,
and welcome to this
Streamlabs OBS master course.
Setting up Streamlabs
OBS for recording is not
as difficult as setting
it up for streaming.
First of all, you will need
to download Streamlabs OBS
if you haven't already.
So go to the link in the description
to download Streamlabs OBS.
Just download it, install
it, and then let's start.
So right here we are in Streamlabs OBS
and for those who are not
familiar with the program,
a really quick overview.
On the left we have the scenes
and they work like folders
that hold these sources in the middle.
Now on the right, we have
all the audio settings,
but for just recording gaming footage,
the audio is very easy,
it's just your PC audio.
So let's do that first,
click on the settings icon
then go to Audio, and then right there
as your Desktop Audio Device 1,
you should just select Default
and then your gaming
sound will be imported
into Streamlabs OBS.
Now, if you're on Discord for
example, with your friends
and you're talking to them too
and you want that to be
recorded, then you can do that,
and the Discord friends will
automatically be recorded
because they are PC audio.
You are hearing them so
it's the audio from your PC
and that's coming in into Streamlabs OBS
through the default setting right here.
The only thing you will not be recording
is you talking to them,
so to do that just select
your microphone, right here
as your Mic/Auxiliary Device 1.
Right now my headset isn't
connected so I can't find it
but your microphone should be right here,
okay, click on Done.
And before going to the
actual visual settings,
we will first make sure
that we can see our game.
So in these scenes let's make a new scene
and then just call it Recording, okay.
And then right here in the
middle of these sources,
we will import our gaming footage
so let's click on the plus icon
and click on Game Capture.
And then it asks me to
add new source instead.
Now if you don't get this
option, don't bother,
if you get this option, just enable it
and make a new one for now.
Okay, so let's just call it game capture.
Okay, click on Add Source,
and then right, here we get the option
to capture any full screen application.
Now if the game that you are
recording isn't full screen
or you just want to add a specific game
and you do not want to capture
other games accidentally
for some reason, then you can just click
on Capture specific window
and then you can choose
your game right here.
So I will just select Overwatch,
it's not visible because I have to scroll
and sometimes it's not that clear
so make sure if you don't find your game
to scroll a bit.
And then right here it is, Overwatch.
Okay, let's click on Done,
and then right here, I
did import Overwatch.
Now let's right-click it right here
or in the sources, it doesn't matter.
Then go to Transform and
then click Fit to Screen.
So right here it is, it's
ready to be recorded.
And on the right, and
you make sure you can see
that my desktop audio is moving
because that's my gaming sound
so everything is working.
Now let's click on the
gear icon right hear
to go into the settings
and then first all let's
go to the Video tab.
Right here, your Base Canvas Resolution,
here, you should select
the native resolution
of your monitor.
For me it's 1440p, maybe
1080p for you, I don't know,
select your highest right here.
Then as your Output Scaled Resolution,
you can choose right here,
it's probably safe to just record in 1080p
but if you have a higher quality monitor
with a higher resolution
and you want really crisp game recordings,
then you can select a higher
resolution right here.
I can select 1440p, but for this tutorial,
I'll just select 1080p
because that's what most
people will be using.
Then as your Downscale
filter, just select Lanczos,
no discussion about that.
As your FPS type, Common FPS Values
and then you can choose
your FPS right here,
and I highly recommend you to select 60
because for gaming it's much smoother
and I mean, 30 FPS when
gaming looks really bad,
so select 60 right here.
Then the most important
tab is the Output tab,
right here you get the options streaming,
recording, audio, et cetera.
Make sure you are in the
advanced mode right here on top,
and then click on Recording.
First of all you can
select a recording path,
so just click on Browse,
choose wherever you wanna save it,
select map and it's okay.
Then generate file name without space,
this is useful in some scenarios
for compatibility with
certain programs, et cetera,
but, you can just enable this.
Then the recording format
here, you should select mp4.
Now right here, you have
the option to select
or de-select certain audio tracks
and for this I need to
explain something else
that's very useful, so do not skip this.
Click on Done, then click on
the gear icon next to the mixer
and right here you see
all your audio sources
and here you see all the channels.
So right now if everything is selected,
you will just have all your
audio sent to all the channels
but if you want to edit
your footage afterwards
and you want to cut the voice
or cut the gaming sound,
if you want to edit them separately,
you need to send them
to different channels
so desktop audio is my gaming footage
so I can just de-select
everything except channel one,
and then right here for my microphone,
there are two that are connected,
but let's say I'm using
my headset microphone
which is the third one,
I can just send that one to channel two,
and then I'm not using this
Microphone High Definition
so I can delete it
or I can just de-select
everything like this
so it will be sent to no channel.
So now my gaming sound
is sent to channel one
and the audio from my headphones
is sent to channel two.
So in your editing program,
underneath your video, you
will also see two channels,
one for your gaming
footage, one for your voice,
so that's very easy to work with.
Let's close this and go
back to the settings.
Okay, the Output tab, then go
to the Recording tab again.
If you have your desktop audio on one
and your microphone on
two, de-select everything,
because otherwise if you're importing this
into your editing program,
it will add seven audio tracks
on the bottom of your clip.
You can just delete them,
but for ease of use,
you don't need the other ones,
so select only the ones
that are active right here.
And then the next option right
here is an important one.
If you have an NVIDIA graphics card,
go for Hardware NVENC (New),
it will be the best one in most scenarios.
If you don't have the option,
if you don't have an NVIDIA graphics card
or it's a very old one,
then you can go for software x264.
When selecting Software x264
you are using your processor
to do all the encoding of the video.
If you are selecting Hardware
NVENC if it's available,
then your graphics card will
be handling the encoding
and that will be much more efficient.
So since most people will
be using Hardware NVENC,
I will be explaining that one first
and afterwards I will go over
the software x264 settings
because they are not much different.
Okay, let's scroll a bit down
and then right here the Rate Control,
we should set this to CQP.
When selecting CBR, which
stands for constant bit rate,
you will be recording a set
amount of data each second.
Now, this is used when streaming
so you can control the about of data
that's being sent to
your stream each second.
Now, for recording, it
doesn't matter that much
so we can choose CQP.
This allows us to set a certain
quality level to record in
and then the whole video will
be in the exact same quality
and Streamlabs OBS will adjust
how much data it records each second
according to how much data is needed
to reach the certain quality.
So when you're streaming
games with little movement
like board games,
your data per second
will be lower compared
to when you would be streaming
first person shooters.
Now the recommended quality setting
to set up right here is between 15 and 25,
I advise you to select, for example 17,
then set up all the other settings,
start your game and see if
your PC cam handle that.
If it can't handle it, go to 18, 19, 20
because the higher you go,
the lower the quality will be,
the lower you go, the higher the quality.
So let's set this to 17
and then afterwards you can adjust this.
Now the next option is
the KeyFrame Interval,
and it's pretty complicated to explain
so I will not bother you with
that, you can just select zero
and Streamlabs OBS will
select it automatically.
Then the next thing,
the Preset right here,
you should select Quality or Max Quality.
This is pretty efficient
so you probably can select Max Quality
but if you run into performance issues,
you should make this higher
and maybe set this to Quality,
okay, so I will set it to Max Quality.
And then the Profile, you
can just set this to High,
then you disable Look ahead,
enable Psycho Visual Tuning,
set your GPU to zero, and
set your Max B Frames to two.
now, let's click on Done.
And right now you have to analyze
if all these settings are
good for your computer,
if your computer can handle it.
Now to do that, click on
Control + Shift + Escape,
and then click on Performance right here,
which is the second tab.
And then right here,
you can see your processing
power and your GPU.
Now, while this window is
open, just go to Streamlabs OBS
click on record, go to your game,
game a bit, and then just Alt + Tab out,
disable the recording, and
then just go back to here
and then you can analyze
how everything went,
how high your CPU usage
was, your GPU usage.
If your CPU usage was like 90 or 100
or you even felt lags,
you can go back to the output settings,
and then, okay, first
go to the Recording tab
and then right here, you
can make this number higher,
to 20 for example and maybe set
this Max Quality to Quality,
and then do the same thing again
'til your system is stable.
Okay, a quick note, I did
forget to record something
so I'm recording it right now.
For those who don't have
an NVIDIA graphics card
or the ones who have a really old card
and do not have Hardware NVENC,
then you should select
software x264 right here
and a few of the setting are different.
So the rate control, you
should set this to CRF,
and this is the same as the CQP setting
which we used in the
Hardware NVENC setting,
so right here it's called CRF
and you should also select
a quality right here
between 15 and 25.
15 being a pretty high quality recording,
and 25 being a pretty
low quality recording.
So let's just set this to 17
and I will come back to this later
So the next, the KeyFrame Interval,
you can just leave it at
zero to make it automatic.
Then the CPU Usage Preset,
this is also very important one.
Now, right here let's click on it
and we see it goes from ultrafast
to very slow and then placebo.
Okay, so the slower you go right here
so the more to the bottom,
the higher the CPU usage will be.
The faster we select right here,
so ultrafast being the fastest option,
this is the lowest quality recordings
so I recommend you set to Very Fast, okay,
then the CRF to 17, set up everything,
and then start your game.
If your game is lagging,
your PC can't handle it,
then you can make this
CRF setting higher to,
for example 20, test it again,
if it still doesn't
work, set it to Very Fast
to Super Fast, et cetera, you get it.
Play with these 2 settings,
the CRF setting and the CPU usage setting.
You should play with these to adjust it
to how strong your computer is.
So for me it will be
something like Very Fast
17 right here, maybe
I could select Faster,
but Very Fast is okay.
Then for the Profile you
should select High, right here.
The Tune, you should not change this,
and then this should also be empty.
Now the recordings will automatically go
to the folder which you selected
right here in the output
recording, right here on this path.
So let's click on Done
and go to that folder.
Okay, and right here is the last recording
which is the game.
So you see, this was the game recording
and it's pretty good.
So that's everything.
If you want more guides
about setting up your stream,
making it better and growing
as an online content creator,
then make sure to subscribe to the channel
because this channel will
be just perfect for you.
And if you want to engage
with like-minded people,
you can join the Discord,
which I will link on
top of this description
because I'm building up the
TV and Discord community.
Everyone is friendly,
everyone is willing to help each other,
so make sure to check it out.
I have nothing left to say.
Thanks for watching, and I
will see you in my next video.
Have a good day.
