Best OBS Recording Settings for Vegas Pro?

StealthStarSwag wrote on 5/8/2023, 7:14 PM

I have been using OBS more frequently to record gameplay videos and review-like vlogs. Although I have been able to import and edit OBS recordings in Vegas (particularly Movie Studio 17 Platinum, before having recently upgraded to Vegas Pro), I have often experienced frequent crashes. Is this problem less common in Vegas Pro, or is the issue a matter of settings within OBS and/or Vegas that I should change?

As far as my OBS settings are concerned, I often record .mkv files that I then remux to .mp4 files, since Vegas can read .mp4 files. The files are recorded in 1080p at 60 fps at a constant bit rate (CBR) of 40,000 Kbps. I have attached a photo of my advanced recording settings for reference.

If there is anyway I can optimize my recordings for compatibility with Vegas while preserving video quality, resolution, and frame rate, I would be especially grateful!

The computer I am using is the MSI GE75 Raider gaming laptop. It has 16 GB of RAM, a 10th generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card. The version of Windows 11 installed is 22H2 (OS Build 22621.1555). The version of Vegas Pro 19 installed is 19.0 (Build 651). The version of OBS installed is 29.1.0 (64 bit).

Comments

Former user wrote on 5/8/2023, 7:53 PM

These are my settings, The max B frames =1 making scrubbing the timeline faster and smoother, but you could have that at 2. I have OBS set to fragmented mp4, which Vegas can't read, however if you have auto remux on it's readable in Vegas. The reason to use fragmented mp4 is because it's as bulletproof as mkv if a crash were to happen, but unlike mkv, fragmented mp4 remuxed to mp4 will not created a variable frame rate like mkv does. It is said variable frame rate caused by the mkv to mp4 rewrap causes lagging.

I use a quality setting of 23 because it's a good compromise between quality and file size. if you love your quality you could keep to your CBR 40,000 setting, or change the quality settings to 21, or as low as 17. With version 402/403 VP20 recording at 1440P Vegas will still crash randomly with these settings, so maybe you can do better or it will work better for you. I did not have these crashes with earlier vp20's but also I had a different GPU, so don't know the real cause for certain.

john_dennis wrote on 5/8/2023, 8:04 PM

I use Apple Pro Res. Most of my recordings are relatively short, but I have lots of disk space available. Few video formats edit easier than Pro Res if your I/O system can sustain the data rate.

mark-y wrote on 5/8/2023, 8:33 PM

I have been using OBS more frequently to record gameplay videos and review-like vlogs.

  • Two different scenarios, two different OBS starting points. For the vlogs, you want the best quality possible, but you don't need the high frame rate during captures. For this, I use the x264 software encoder, optimized for clean playback and audio, maybe something like this (note the extra settings, YMMV):
  • For your gameplay, it's a whole different playing field. Use one of the harwdware encoders (Nvidia, AMD, Intel), and adjust your own settings for fewest drops and highest reasonable frame rate. You will need to balance that with capture quality, which can deteriorate rapidly at low capture bitrates. You are on your own there, too many individual factors to predict. But don't expect miracles.
RogerS wrote on 5/8/2023, 8:40 PM

Keyframe interval of 300 frames is high for editing in VEGAS and may trigger the media warning. Todd's settings of 2s worth of frames is more reasonable.

NickHope wrote on 5/8/2023, 11:39 PM

Note that you'll need OBS 29.1.0 to see "fragmented MP4" as a recording format option. 29.0.2 does not have it.

I tried using OBS mkv directly in VEGAS but support is still "experimental", and rightly so, because I got lengthy audio dropouts with a long recording yesterday (both VP17 and VP20 build 403) and had to rewrap to mp4 (with XMedia Recode). Might still be something I do in older versions of OBS (which I have sometimes have to use) to avoid the risk of losing a long recording.

NickHope wrote on 5/9/2023, 1:37 AM

Well, fragmented mp4 is a fail here for me I'm afraid. VLC and MPC-HC are happy with it but VP20 build 403 shows me the whole audio stream but just a few frames of video. I had to re-encode (in XMedia Recode) to be able to use it in VEGAS. Going back to plain mp4.

Former user wrote on 5/9/2023, 2:55 AM

@NickHope All my NLE's play the fragmented mp4, but not Vegas, but choosing to remux it manually using OBS or automatically works until they eventually make it compatible years later. It will only take 1 time recording with standard MP4 failing due to not closing correctly before you never use it again. That's why I changed to MKV, and now this segmented/chunked/fragmented mp4. Not compatible as you say but I"m so used to remuxing mkv not a big deal for me. Hate the inefficiency though. I keep both files due to some freak remuxing error that's never actually happened but potentially could.

NickHope wrote on 5/9/2023, 3:24 AM

@Former user Thanks. Hadn't spotted the auto remuxing. That's works, based on a short test.

StealthStarSwag wrote on 5/11/2023, 6:10 PM

Thank you so much everyone! I am going to experiment with some of your suggestions and see what changes/enhancements work best for me. I might follow up with a future post if I find certain settings to be especially optimal.