Nvidia opened up CES 2024 with news of a new GPU series, but the biggest news for Twitch streamers and viewers may be a new feature as part of a partnership between the companies.
Nvidia, Twitch, and Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) will team up for a new feature called “Enhanced Broadcasting” that will allow streamers to encode up to five concurrent streams to Twitch at a variety of different resolutions.
Streamers often have to broadcast at lower resolutions to reach as many viewers as possible considering many viewers have lower internet speeds or weaker devices. This is frustrating, but the simple fact is that many viewers don’t have internet speeds capable of viewing streams at higher resolutions or framerates. Enhanced Broadcasting aims to alleviate the frustration.
Now with Enhanced Broadcasting, as shown in the example given above, a broadcaster can simultaneously stream at 480p and 30 frames per second all the way up to 4K resolution and 60 FPS, giving a variety of options for all sorts of viewers, speeds, and devices.
The new feature will harness the power of Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics cards to pull off the feat, which has already been met with praise from streamers who know the struggle of needing to stream at resolutions that are less than optimal. All RTX GPUs will support the feature once it goes fully live.
“Need transcodes?” Twitch’s site now says. “Already have an NVIDIA GPU? Join our beta! Participants will receive early access to a new version of OBS Studio that generates additional video qualities (similar to transcodes). Automatic stream configuration makes it easy to try.”
Beta sign-ups for the feature are available now at Twitch.tv/Broadcast, or the streamer’s dashboard page. The feature will go live “later this month,” according to GeForce senior VP Jeff Fisher.
