Screen Capture - How is affected by monitor resolution

[InnerMusic]

Hello,
I've been taking screenshots with Streamlabs for my YouTube videos and I'm not very satisfied with the quality.
I thought that changing the graphics card would be enough but that was not the case.
Does the resolution of the monitors also influence?
I have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, a Lenovo 2580 AF1 and an LG 22M47VQ.
With the latter, the captures have a little more quality but not what I'm looking for.
Is my card quality enough? And the LG monitor?

[Swedaniel]

The hardware look nice on the first glimce! Maybe it will help to change the resolution to an "more cool looking" one! The graphics card software should have some settings to get some resolutions going that might not be of the standard version/supported ones by your screen but it can temporarily make things look a lil bit flashier for screenshots!

Edit: You might want to prepare with an extra video cable in case you dont get any image displayed after going wild in there with the settings (ie. this blue old rgb cable or an extra hdmi/dvi etc)

Ellse worse case, when you dont get any image displayed, you might need to remove the graphics card, boot the computer, and then turn of the computer and put the graphics card back, sometimes you might need to use the built in graphics card to change back the settings before putting the graphics card back!

Solution: Bring an screwdriver allso!

[usually_quiet]

Hello,
I've been taking screenshots with Streamlabs for my YouTube videos and I'm not very satisfied with the quality.
I thought that changing the graphics card would be enough but that was not the case.
Does the resolution of the monitors also influence?
I have an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, a Lenovo 2580 AF1 and an LG 22M47VQ.
With the latter, the captures have a little more quality but not what I'm looking for.
Is my card quality enough? And the LG monitor?

Long story short, your LG monitor has a higher native resolution than your Lenovo monitor, and the LG monitor's native resolution matches a standard video resolution. I'm guessing that is why the quality is better when you screen record using the LG monitor. The LG monitor has a native resolution of 1920x1080 and its refresh rate is 60Hz, which matches a standard video resolution 1080p60. Your Lenovo monitor has a native resolution of 1366x768, which is a non-standard resolution for video although it is commonly used for 16:9 TV and monitor panels with a nominal 720p resolution. The closest standard video resolution is 720p. Getting 720p video requires down-scaling the 1366x768 video from your video card and getting 1080p video requires upscaling it.

My guess is your recording settings need to be tweaked but I don't know enough to give you useful advice on that subject. An NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 should be good enough to record 1080p60 video. It supports NVENC and so does Streamlabs. However, I don't know the maximum bitrate that is supported by this combination of hardware and software using whichever codec that you are using to record at 1080p60.

[InnerMusic]

But, can I record in 4k with these two monitors?
Or would I have to buy a 4k monitor?

[usually_quiet]

But, can I record in 4k with these two monitors?
Or would I have to buy a 4k monitor?

No, you can't record in 4K with the two monitors that you have. Your video card outputs video at 1920x1080 for one of them and at 1366x768 for the other. Screen recording in 4K resolution requires the graphics card to output 3,840 x 2160 to a single monitor.

To record in 4K, you need a 2160p monitor or a 1080p monitor that accepts 2160p input, such as a Dell S2718HN/NX.

[InnerMusic]

Wow, thank you very much for your response.
The first thing I deduce from your comment is that the resolution is distributed between the two monitors, right?
In that case, if when capturing video, I deactivate the one with the lowest resolution (Lenovo), and configure the screens so that only one works (LG), will I be able to obtain a higher capture resolution?
And in any case, if I want 4K resolution, will I have to buy a 4K monitor?

What do you think of the 27UL500W monitor?
Would you buy it before the Dell you mentioned?

[Cornucopia]

re: Screen caps/recording...

The best NATIVE resolution you can get will match what your screen & video card have negotiated as optimal. This usually amounts to the max native rez of the monitor (assuming the vid card offers a variety of common rez options, up to and probably beyond the rez of the monitor, which most cards do).
You can, depending on the screen cap/recording app, record lower rez settings. And occasionally, you can record higher rez, BUT that higher rez is only an extrapolated & resized version, so it isn't giving you any REAL additional resolution, and actually is less detailed, because of the resizing.


Scott

[InnerMusic]

So, I have to upgrade the monitor, right?
The LG 27UL500W that I mentioned previously, do you see it as suitable?

[usually_quiet]

Wow, thank you very much for your response.
The first thing I deduce from your comment is that the resolution is distributed between the two monitors, right?

Yes. To be honest, I don't recall that I ever tried taking a screenshot of an extended desktop or recording the screen. However, taking a screenshot or recording a screen with only the two monitors you have can't produce a 4K result. There are not enough pixels. Plus, there would be scaling issues since the two monitors have different resolutions. You would need four 1080p monitors in a 2x2 arrangement to have a 4K extended desktop.

In that case, if when capturing video, I deactivate the one with the lowest resolution (Lenovo), and configure the screens so that only one works (LG), will I be able to obtain a higher capture resolution?

You can get a 1080p recording with the LG monitor.

And in any case, if I want 4K resolution, will I have to buy a 4K monitor?

Yes, unless you can get a 1080p monitor like the Dell S2718HN/NX that accepts 4K video, although I don't know if there are other monitors that can do that.

What do you think of the 27UL500W monitor? Would you buy it before the Dell you mentioned?

The LG 27UL500W monitor looks OK for the price and I would choose it over the Dell S2718HN/NX. The LG probably has an 8-bit panel like the Dell and like the Dell, simulates HDR using tone mapping but the LG is a 2160p monitor. On sale, the LG 27UL500W doesn't cost much more than the price of a Dell S2718HN/NX monitor when new and not on sale a few years ago.

I have a Dell S2718HN/NX monitor. Although it has a 1920x1080p 8-bit panel, it has a 4K HDR mode and a 1080p mode for its lone HDMI port. The 4K resolution mode isn't set automatically for 4K input. It has to be set manually. The monitor itself downscales the 4K input to 1920x1080 and applies tone mapping to simulate HDR. However, if I take a screenshot when the PC is set up to output 4K video and the monitor is in 4K HDR mode I get a 4K picture.

[Edit] I forgot to say that the LG 27UL500W monitor does not support high refresh rates for gaming (if that is what you want to use it for), only 50-60 Hz. However, the Dell S2718HN/NX doesn't support higher refresh rates than 50-60Hz either.

Here is a link to a screenshot I made some time ago while using my Dell S2718HN/NX monitor https://forum.videohelp.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44162&d=1514325637