CES 2024 is finally here, and hardware announcements are in full swing. The company announced a number of streaming features and Twitch integrations that will be rolled out in the new Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting beta as part of Nvidia's special presentation today.

Currently, Twitch prioritizes server-side transcoding for high-performing channels, allowing Twitch partners and some affiliates to stream to a wide range of different quality settings for their viewers, while ordinary users are often limited in their transcoding choices.

This will change for streamers with Nvidia GPUs participating in the Twitch beta, which launches later this month; with the Enhanced Broadcasting update, RTX and GTX card owners will be able to use high-quality NVENC hardware encoder to broadcast up to three resolutions simultaneously at up to 1080p.

There are also several new codecs available to try, including the latest generation of AV1 for RTX 40 series owners, while those using older cards can take advantage of good old H.264 and HEVC.

Enhanced Broadcasting also aims to greatly reduce the hassle of stream setup with OBS integration. The beta version will enable the ability to automatically configure OBS encoder settings via server-side algorithms, which Nvidia says will return optimal settings to the OBS studio based on the streamer's setup. However, it remains to be seen how well this will work in practice.

Still, if it saves me the headache of streaming and recording high-resolution game captures, it sounds like good news to me, who remembers the old days of fiddling with Fraps and turning my Unreal Tournament moves into choppy 20fps video files. I remember the old days when I used to tinker with Fraps to make my Unreal Tournament moves into choppy 20fps video files. Game capture has come a long way since then, and hopefully these new encoder options and software integrations will make the process easier for everyone.

Those who want to take advantage of these new features will need to sign up for the beta at twitch.tv/broadcast. So you will probably need to be very early in the process to participate.

Still, as companies continue to roll out new microphones, streaming-friendly webcams, and other products to serve the growing streaming market, new encoding options and streamer-friendly integrations will evolve, and nasty streaming shenanigans will be a thing of the past. It's only natural to hope that the pesky streaming shenanigans will become a thing of the past.

_____________________________________ PC Gamer's CES 2024 coverage is courtesy of Asus Republic of Gamers.