I apologize if this is not the correct forum but I'm trying to get into some streaming and having some issues. I am on a Mac and I use OBS to stream and it all works but the output is all pixelated and hard to watch. I've tried messing with the settings but nothing I do seems to fix this. I'm livestreaming to youtube, I've also tried just doing a local recording and it comes out grainy too. Advice?
Check your bitrate is high enough for the resolution you're trying to stream at, and OBS isn't doing any weird compression stuff (definitely check compression - I've seen OBS do some VERY funky things on default settings). You could use the formula for calculating bitrate from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/4500yv/pixelated_when_looking_around_need_help_with_obs/ (although make sure you have enough bandwidth to handle whatever bitrate you use, and that you don't exceed YouTube's maximum). Not sure if OBS on Mac supports it, but if you have the ability to insert the game feed directly (rather than just screen capturing the area), make sure you use that too.
On OBS I use "Video Capture Device" and "Display Capture" with the "Display Capture" being the source for the game. I tried some of the other options for this and it didn't appear to work for me. Which input source do you use?
I use XSplit, which works slightly differently. It looks like OBS for Mac doesn't actually support capturing the game directly, so Window Capture is probably your best best - although Display Capture should be okay enough. Here's YouTube's recommended bitrates: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en
Are you using OBS Studio or OBS Classic? By the way, the title was misleading to me. I thought you were looking for suggestions for what games to stream, which is why I hadn't checked out this thread before.
Well I'm definitely using a free version of OBS. I'm willing to try out other programs as long as they work on a Mac and are free. I changed up some of the settings and it definitely got less pixelated but it's not crystal clear like I see on some other streamers feeds. Could this have anything to do with my internet connection or is it all based on the settings?
OBS Classic is simply the outdated version of OBS Studio. Does the window say 'Open Broadcaster Software (64-bit)' or 'OBS Studio'? Secondly: does it matter whether you stream, or record? If you record to hard drive or SSD, internet won't matter.
It's potentially to do with your internet, but if the same pixelation shows up on a local recording, it's likely to be a setting.
It just says OBS version 20.0.1. I'll try out a local recording and see what it looks like, that's a good idea.
