streaming optimization help

#1

RaxaTF2

0 Frags – +

Hello,

Right now I'm using OBS and Game Capture to stream on twitch.

I have an upload rate of about 1.50 mb/s, so I set my quality to 7, bitrate to 1000.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2855647138

I've been told that my stream is smooth FPS-wise but really pixelated and looks like minecraft at times.

I have the base resolution recording at 1600x900, and scaled down to 1280x720.

What would be the "best" settings in my case? I've experimented with a few different numbers but it still turns out terrible, what causes the pixelation?

Here's an example:
http://www.twitch.tv/raxatf2/b/434833839

It gets pixelated when I move, but is very clear when still.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
raxa

Hello,

Right now I'm using OBS and Game Capture to stream on twitch.

I have an upload rate of about 1.50 mb/s, so I set my quality to 7, bitrate to 1000.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2855647138

I've been told that my stream is smooth FPS-wise but really pixelated and looks like minecraft at times.

I have the base resolution recording at 1600x900, and scaled down to 1280x720.

What would be the "best" settings in my case? I've experimented with a few different numbers but it still turns out terrible, what causes the pixelation?

Here's an example:
http://www.twitch.tv/raxatf2/b/434833839

It gets pixelated when I move, but is very clear when still.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
raxa

#2

mathsad

0 Frags – +

see lange's post below, my info was wrong

#3

Lange

11 Frags – +

#2, that is misinformation

6-7 is actually desirable for FPS. "Quality" is a misleading name for that parameter, it's actually "Quality Balance between static and motion scenes". Setting it to "10" will fully favor static scenes, while "1" fully favors motion scenes. 8-10 is great for low-motion games like League, Dota, and SC2, where as 6-7 is better for FPS games.

Lowering your quality to 6 may reduce the "pixelation" and blockiness you see during motion.

EDIT:

R1CHQuality Balance

This controls the CRF parameter in x264. Combined with the VBV system, this generally controls the CRF with which static scenes are encoded at. If you specify quality 10, static scenes will look better, but leave less buffer space available if there is sudden motion, resulting in pixelation. Using a quality of 5 or 6 will make static scenes slightly worse, but in the case of motion, quality will be improved. Experiment with this depending on your input, for FPS games and other high activity scenes you probably want this lower than 10. For fairly static games like MTG, FTL, turn based strategy, etc, you can stick with 10 without a problem.

Recommended: Varies, 5-10 depending on source.

Source

#2, that is misinformation

6-7 is actually desirable for FPS. "Quality" is a misleading name for that parameter, it's actually "Quality Balance between static and motion scenes". Setting it to "10" will fully favor static scenes, while "1" fully favors motion scenes. 8-10 is great for low-motion games like League, Dota, and SC2, where as 6-7 is better for FPS games.

Lowering your quality to 6 may reduce the "pixelation" and blockiness you see during motion.

EDIT:
[quote=R1CH][b]Quality Balance[/b]

This controls the CRF parameter in x264. Combined with the VBV system, this generally controls the CRF with which static scenes are encoded at. If you specify quality 10, static scenes will look better, but leave less buffer space available if there is sudden motion, resulting in pixelation. Using a quality of 5 or 6 will make static scenes slightly worse, but in the case of motion, quality will be improved. Experiment with this depending on your input, for FPS games and other high activity scenes you probably want this lower than 10. For fairly static games like MTG, FTL, turn based strategy, etc, you can stick with 10 without a problem.

Recommended: Varies, 5-10 depending on source.[/quote]

[url=obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=642]Source[/url]

#4

lexs

0 Frags – +

whats your cpu preset? also downscaling doesnt really make sense, set your base resolution to 1280x720 if you are streaming with that resolution

edit: regarding quality, if you use CBR (constant bitrate), which is desired, that setting gets disabled

whats your cpu preset? also downscaling doesnt really make sense, set your base resolution to 1280x720 if you are streaming with that resolution

edit: regarding quality, if you use CBR (constant bitrate), which is desired, that setting gets disabled

#5

Lange

5 Frags – +

lexswhats your cpu preset? also downscaling doesnt really make sense, set your base resolution to 1280x720 if you are streaming with that resolution

Downscaling performs better than manually specifying a custom stream resolution. I couldn't give you the technical specifics as to why, but that's what Jim (the main author of OBS) has said. (Unfortunately I don't have a link to an exact quote at the moment)

EDIT:

OBS JimDownscaling will always be better performance. The reason is because the downscaling process in OBS costs almost nothing. The output image is much smaller, requires less throughput, and requires less encoding time as well because it's smaller.DodgepongTo expand a bit on what Jim is saying: downscaling in the Video settings uses a special downscaling algorithm that results in high-quality downscales rather than just resizing it in the frame, and it's faster. The downside is that it can only downscale by certain increments.

Source

[quote=lexs]whats your cpu preset? also downscaling doesnt really make sense, set your base resolution to 1280x720 if you are streaming with that resolution[/quote]

Downscaling performs better than manually specifying a custom stream resolution. I couldn't give you the technical specifics as to why, but that's what Jim (the main author of OBS) has said. (Unfortunately I don't have a link to an exact quote at the moment)

EDIT:
[quote=OBS Jim]Downscaling will always be better performance. The reason is because the downscaling process in OBS costs almost nothing. The output image is much smaller, requires less throughput, and requires less encoding time as well because it's smaller.[/quote]

[quote=Dodgepong]To expand a bit on what Jim is saying: downscaling in the Video settings uses a special downscaling algorithm that results in high-quality downscales rather than just resizing it in the frame, and it's faster. The downside is that it can only downscale by certain increments.[/quote]

[url=http://obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1601&p=9477&hilit=downscaling#p9477]Source[/url]

#6

wareya

0 Frags – +

What is "x264 CPU Preset" set to?

EDIT: massive ninjas

Anyways, I had terrible blockage on really basic games with everything else going really high until I turned the CPU preset down to about veryfast.

What is "x264 CPU Preset" set to?

EDIT: massive ninjas

Anyways, I had terrible blockage on really basic games with everything else going really high until I turned the CPU preset down to about veryfast.

#7

lexs

0 Frags – +

LangeUnfortunately I don't have a link to an exact quote at the moment

thats a shame cause I heard the exact opposite from someone who claimed direct sources too :/

[quote=Lange]Unfortunately I don't have a link to an exact quote at the moment[/quote]
thats a shame cause I heard the exact opposite from someone who claimed direct sources too :/

#8

wareya

-1 Frags – +

How could the opposite possibly be true? If that were the case they would just use the same system as the resolution has going on, only using the scale factor to calculate the resolution they want.

#9

raiku

1 Frags – +

That is internet is kind of low for streaming, but should be do-able.

Like lexs said, what's the preset ?

Also what's your CPU?

That is internet is kind of low for streaming, but should be do-able.

Like lexs said, what's the preset ?

Also what's your CPU?

#10

RaxaTF2

0 Frags – +

Thanks for all the replies, and thank you for explaining the quality setting Lange.

x264 CPU Preset is left at default, which is veryfast.

Here is a Speccy of my CPU:
http://puu.sh/3J6zn

It's overclocked to 4.4.

I'm running fullscreen at 1600x900 with chris's highfps config at -dxlevel 91.

Thanks for all the replies, and thank you for explaining the quality setting Lange.

x264 CPU Preset is left at default, which is veryfast.

Here is a Speccy of my CPU:
http://puu.sh/3J6zn

It's overclocked to 4.4.

I'm running fullscreen at 1600x900 with chris's highfps config at -dxlevel 91.

#11

mathsad

0 Frags – +

Lange#2, that is misinformation

6-7 is actually desirable for FPS. "Quality" is a misleading name for that parameter, it's actually "Quality Balance between static and motion scenes". Setting it to "10" will fully favor static scenes, while "1" fully favors motion scenes. 8-10 is great for low-motion games like League, Dota, and SC2, where as 6-7 is better for FPS games.

Lowering your quality to 6 may reduce the "pixelation" and blockiness you see during motion.

ah my bad. thanks for the informative post.

[quote=Lange]#2, that is misinformation

6-7 is actually desirable for FPS. "Quality" is a misleading name for that parameter, it's actually "Quality Balance between static and motion scenes". Setting it to "10" will fully favor static scenes, while "1" fully favors motion scenes. 8-10 is great for low-motion games like League, Dota, and SC2, where as 6-7 is better for FPS games.

Lowering your quality to 6 may reduce the "pixelation" and blockiness you see during motion.[/quote]
ah my bad. thanks for the informative post.

#12

Lange

0 Frags – +

Might want to try CBR, Raxa. I previously thought CBR was silly, but apparently it's kinda neato. Not advisable if you have a low data cap though.

#13

RaxaTF2

0 Frags – +

Hm I'll try CBR in a bit. Seems like it should help consistency, sometimes I get random lag spikes and I'll raise 20 ping or even 100.

#14

Lange

1 Frags – +

Also, make sure that you're streaming to a good Twitch ingest server for you.

This plugin will give you some idea of what servers may be good.

Also, make sure that you're streaming to a good Twitch ingest server for you.

[url=http://obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3226]This plugin[/url] will give you some idea of what servers may be good.

#15

RaxaTF2

0 Frags – +

I'll definitely take a look at that, seems very helpful.

#16

MR_SLIN

1 Frags – +

One thing to keep in mind is that in many situations it's preferable to have a lower resolution but less "blocky" or "pixelation" than it is to have a higher resolution that gets blurry at times.

720p is a pretty high resolution -- there's plenty of wiggle room for you to lower it if you need to.

One thing to keep in mind is that in many situations it's preferable to have a lower resolution but less "blocky" or "pixelation" than it is to have a higher resolution that gets blurry at times.

720p is a pretty high resolution -- there's plenty of wiggle room for you to lower it if you need to.

#17

Turin

1 Frags – +

Don't mean to hijack thread, but we're already talking about OBS and the net. I have amazing internet, 10mb/s+, but my computer is not the most powerful beast. Is there a way to stream but not make it eat up all your resources? I know there probably isn't but its always worth asking. I believe that if I OC my stuff I could stream but right now it's very stressful on my processor.

#18

wareya

0 Frags – +

640p woop

#19

alosec

0 Frags – +

I have a similar problem.. When streaming using 'Game Source' my stream is really choppy, but I get no input lag. When I use window capture/monitor capture I get horrible input lag but my stream looks fine. How do I fix one or the other? I'm not using windows aero btw

edit: Wow, shout out to Danerdz. I made all the settings I was streaming with BETTER, I turned up the bitrate, resolution, and framerate... and it looks great. Thanks man.

I have a similar problem.. When streaming using 'Game Source' my stream is really choppy, but I get no input lag. When I use window capture/monitor capture I get horrible input lag but my stream looks fine. How do I fix one or the other? I'm not using windows aero btw

edit: Wow, shout out to Danerdz. I made all the settings I was streaming with BETTER, I turned up the bitrate, resolution, and framerate... and it looks great. Thanks man.

#20

hooky

0 Frags – +

Gonna hijack this thread...

When I first started streaming, I set my quality to 360p. I had someone check it, and they said it was too blurry. Upping the quality to 720p fixed that problem, so I stuck with 720 since then. However, my stream still looks horrible. It's probably because I stream at 800 kbps (I have 1.5 up but anything above 800 seems to kill my internet), but maybe it's also my resolution? Would it be a good idea to switch to 540p or 480p?

Also, it may have had something to do with the server I was using. I was using San Antonio, but next time I stream I'll be using Chicago since it's closer.

Gonna hijack this thread...

When I first started streaming, I set my quality to 360p. I had someone check it, and they said it was too blurry. Upping the quality to 720p fixed that problem, so I stuck with 720 since then. However, my stream still looks horrible. It's probably because I stream at 800 kbps (I have 1.5 up but anything above 800 seems to kill my internet), but maybe it's also my resolution? Would it be a good idea to switch to 540p or 480p?

Also, it may have had something to do with the server I was using. I was using San Antonio, but next time I stream I'll be using Chicago since it's closer.

#21

wareya

0 Frags – +

>(I have 1.5 up but anything above 800 seems to kill my internet)
Try CBR encoding? It keeps the bandwidth from going above the max average (by definition) and getting bandwidth spikes might be what's killing your net.

#22

jp_

0 Frags – +

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

insert into advanced settings.

CPU: i5 3570k stock, 852x480, 700kbps (fuck w/e going on @ encoding's "quality balance")

crf=5 me=umh deblock=2:-2 trellis=1 merange=24 bframes=16 b-adapt=1 psy-rd=0.1:0.4 aq-strength=0.5 qcomp=0.2 cplxblur=0 qblur=0 subme=9 nr=1000

imo, this is close to using the "slow" preset.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=148149

You'll have to mess around with the values for your resolution/crf value/max bitrate/cpu constraints. The example ^ is flaky. I used local recordings to get to my result, results might be different with the flash decoder though.

http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

insert into advanced settings.

CPU: i5 3570k stock, 852x480, 700kbps (fuck w/e going on @ encoding's "quality balance")
[code]crf=5 me=umh deblock=2:-2 trellis=1 merange=24 bframes=16 b-adapt=1 psy-rd=0.1:0.4 aq-strength=0.5 qcomp=0.2 cplxblur=0 qblur=0 subme=9 nr=1000[/code]
imo, this is close to using the "slow" preset.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=148149

You'll have to mess around with the values for your resolution/crf value/max bitrate/cpu constraints. The example ^ is flaky. I used local recordings to get to my result, results might be different with the flash decoder though.