Question / Help 720p low quality and general help needed

[nekoangel]

hi guys

ive just started to stream some footage of me playing turn based and RTS games and im having trouble with stream quality and downscaling.

simply put i can stream at 1080p at 30fps fine but it stresses my cpu to 70-90 percent on load ( in lol for instances) but if i downscale to 720p the image isnt good quality anymore.

according to obs i should stream at 480p but thats even worse.

i have 17000+ kbps upload btw so i know thats fine

my machine is:

phenom x2 955 BE OC to 3.6
8gb of OC 1666 ram
SSD for OS, lol client and obs
6670 GPU

so i was wondering if there was a way to get crisp quality at lower resolutions or is it just a thing i have to put up with?

im not fussed about streaming at 1080p i just want a nice clear 720p to stream.

http://www.twitch.tv/nekoangeldesigns thats my twitch and on it are videos of both resolutions and the setting used as each title, if you need any other info please let me know.

 

[dorgol]

streaming is very CPU intensive and your current processor simply isn't enough for streaming in higher resolutions. You could try and lower your framerate to something like 24 fps or lower at 720p but that will give your viewers a less fluid experience ofc (but it might be ok for your turn based games and such). You might also wanna try to set your x264 CPU preset in the advanced options to superfast or ultrafast. Also twitch doesn't allow more than 3500 kpbs anymore, if you go higher than that they might see it as a violation. Good luck!

 

[nekoangel]

can the cpu affect the quality at downscale though as i have already seen that my cpu apparently isnt enough but i think its doing a pretty good job tbh.

i would get an fx 8 core if i could but is that really going to help the quality of downscale?

 

[flavored]

I checked your 720p LOL stress test highlight and must say, that the image is of the normal quality and there is nothing really wrong with it. If you want some sharper detail you might want to use a different filter.

Quality judgements are often subjective, in your case, there is really nothing out of ordinary or poor looking.

 

[nekoangel]

thanks for the feedback =) i was hoping there was a way to get the 1080p quality at 720p the sharpness and clarity etc.

i have the lanczos filter on for this although none of the filters seem to differ it for me.

would anyone else recommend or highlight anything wrong in my tests? im more surprised than anything that the cpu is performing as well as it seems to be.

if i can carry on at 1080p without maxing the cpu would you all recommend i keep streaming at that rate?

 

[flavored]

not sure if there is anything else to say :) but maybe someone will notice something, good luck with streaming!

 

[nekoangel]

hi again guys i just wanted to add a log for a lol stream i just did and if anyone can check it over that would be great as i cant read them all that well.

Spoiler

14:43:33: Open Broadcaster Software v0.554b - 64bit (　^ω^)
14:43:33: -------------------------------
14:43:33: CPU Name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955 Processor
14:43:33: CPU Speed: 3616MHz
14:43:33: Physical Memory: 8190MB Total, 4308MB Free
14:43:33: stepping id: 3, model 4, family 15, type 0, extmodel 8, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 4
14:43:33: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}
14:43:33: monitor 2: pos={1920, 0}, size={1600, 1200}
14:43:33: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
14:43:33: Aero is Disabled
14:43:33: -------------------------------
14:43:33: OBS Modules:
14:43:33: Base Address Module
14:43:33: 000000003F6E0000 OBS.exe
14:43:33: 00000000ED360000 OBSApi.dll
14:43:33: 00000000F9C90000 DShowPlugin.dll
14:43:33: 00000000F9F60000 GraphicsCapture.dll
14:43:33: 00000000FB100000 NoiseGate.dll
14:43:33: 00000000F9FA0000 PSVPlugin.dll
14:43:33: 00000000F8E70000 scenesw.dll
14:43:33: ------------------------------------------
14:43:33: Adapter 1
14:43:33: Video Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 6670
14:43:33: Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 2134601728
14:43:33: Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 4025544704
14:43:33: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-26, 14:43:33===============================================
14:43:33: Multithreaded optimizations: On
14:43:33: Base resolution: 1920x1080
14:43:33: Output resolution: 1920x1080
14:43:33: ------------------------------------------
14:43:33: Loading up D3D10 on AMD Radeon HD 6670...
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawYUVTexture.pShader.blob
14:43:33: Playback device {0.0.0.00000000}.{3fa5f946-27af-4ed9-a78c-649c1cbf91db}
14:43:33: ------------------------------------------
14:43:33: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)
14:43:33: Using quad speaker setup
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/ColorKey_RGB.pShader.blob
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/AlphaIgnore.pShader.blob
14:43:33: Using bitmap image
14:43:33: Using graphics capture
14:43:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
14:43:33: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)' is 768000, samples per sec is 48000
14:43:39: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
14:43:39: New Scene
14:43:39: Using graphics capture
14:43:39: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
14:43:39: SharedTexCapture hooked
14:43:47: Total frames rendered: 355, number of late frames: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
14:43:47: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 0 (0.00%)
14:43:47:
14:43:47: Profiler results:
14:43:47:
14:43:47: ==============================================================
14:43:47: frame - [100%] [avg time: 0.474 ms (cpu time: avg 0.043 ms, total 15.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.2%] [unaccounted: 0.844%]
14:43:47: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [97.9%] [avg time: 0.464 ms (cpu time: avg 0.043 ms, total 15.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.211%] [unaccounted: 97.7%]
14:43:47: | | scene->Preprocess - [0.211%] [avg time: 0.001 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:43:47: | video encoding and uploading - [1.27%] [avg time: 0.006 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.844%] [unaccounted: 0.422%]
14:43:47: | | flush - [0.844%] [avg time: 0.004 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:43:47: ==============================================================
14:43:47:
14:43:47: =====Stream End: 2013-09-26, 14:43:47=================================================
14:44:01: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-26, 14:44:01===============================================
14:44:01: Multithreaded optimizations: On
14:44:01: Base resolution: 1920x1080
14:44:01: Output resolution: 1920x1080
14:44:01: ------------------------------------------
14:44:01: Loading up D3D10 on AMD Radeon HD 6670...
14:44:01: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
14:44:01: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
14:44:01: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawYUVTexture.pShader.blob
14:44:01: Playback device {0.0.0.00000000}.{3fa5f946-27af-4ed9-a78c-649c1cbf91db}
14:44:01: ------------------------------------------
14:44:01: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)
14:44:01: Using quad speaker setup
14:44:01: Using graphics capture
14:44:01: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
14:44:01: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)' is 768000, samples per sec is 48000
14:44:03: SharedTexCapture hooked
14:44:27: Total frames rendered: 655, number of late frames: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
14:44:27: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 0 (0.00%)
14:44:27:
14:44:27: Profiler results:
14:44:27:
14:44:27: ==============================================================
14:44:27: frame - [100%] [avg time: 0.827 ms (cpu time: avg 0.142 ms, total 93.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.6%] [unaccounted: 0.363%]
14:44:27: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [99%] [avg time: 0.819 ms (cpu time: avg 0.142 ms, total 93.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0%] [unaccounted: 99%]
14:44:27: | | scene->Preprocess - [0%] [avg time: 0 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:44:27: | video encoding and uploading - [0.605%] [avg time: 0.005 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.363%] [unaccounted: 0.242%]
14:44:27: | | flush - [0.363%] [avg time: 0.003 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
14:44:27: ==============================================================
14:44:27:
14:44:27: =====Stream End: 2013-09-26, 14:44:27=================================================
14:44:28: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-26, 14:44:28===============================================
14:44:28: Multithreaded optimizations: On
14:44:28: Base resolution: 1920x1080
14:44:28: Output resolution: 1920x1080
14:44:28: ------------------------------------------
14:44:28: Loading up D3D10 on AMD Radeon HD 6670...
14:44:28: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
14:44:28: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
14:44:28: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawYUVTexture.pShader.blob
14:44:28: Playback device {0.0.0.00000000}.{3fa5f946-27af-4ed9-a78c-649c1cbf91db}
14:44:28: ------------------------------------------
14:44:28: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)
14:44:28: Using quad speaker setup
14:44:28: ------------------------------------------
14:44:28: Audio Encoding: AAC
14:44:28: bitrate: 160
14:44:28: Using graphics capture
14:44:28: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
14:44:28: Using custom x264 settings: "keyint=50"
14:44:28: ------------------------------------------
14:44:28: Video Encoding: x264
14:44:28: fps: 25
14:44:28: width: 1920, height: 1080
14:44:28: preset: superfast
14:44:28: CBR: yes
14:44:28: CFR: yes
14:44:28: max bitrate: 3200
14:44:28: buffer size: 3200
14:44:28: ------------------------------------------
14:44:28: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio)' is 768000, samples per sec is 48000
14:44:30: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
14:44:30: Server selection: rtmp://live-lhr.justin.tv/app
14:44:30: Interface: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (ethernet, 100 mbps)
14:44:31: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
14:44:31: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
14:44:42: SharedTexCapture hooked
14:44:43: RTMPPublisher::Socketloop: Increasing send buffer to ISB 131072 (buffer: 15 / 430080)
14:44:44: RTMPPublisher::Socketloop: Increasing send buffer to ISB 262144 (buffer: 0 / 430080)
14:47:32: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
14:47:32: New Scene
14:47:32: Using graphics capture
14:47:33: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
14:47:41: SharedTexCapture hooked
15:18:36: RTMPPublisher::Socketloop: Increasing send buffer to ISB 524288 (buffer: 0 / 430080)
15:31:36: Exit signal received, terminating capture
15:31:36: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
15:31:36: New Scene
15:31:36: Using graphics capture
15:31:36: C:/Users/Nekoangel/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
15:31:36: SharedTexCapture hooked
15:32:46: Total frames rendered: 72398, number of late frames: 154 (0.21%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
15:32:46: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 2024 (2.80%)
15:32:46: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Graceful loop exit
15:32:47: Number of times waited to send: 0, Waited for a total of 0 bytes
15:32:47: Number of b-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Number of p-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Total 0 (0%)
15:32:47:
15:32:47: Profiler results:
15:32:47:
15:32:47: ==============================================================
15:32:47: frame - [100%] [avg time: 8.466 ms (cpu time: avg 5.369 ms, total 388755 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.9%] [unaccounted: 0.0827%]
15:32:47: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [9.2%] [avg time: 0.779 ms (cpu time: avg 0.314 ms, total 22744.9 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 0.0236%] [unaccounted: 9.18%]
15:32:47: | | scene->Preprocess - [0.0236%] [avg time: 0.002 ms (cpu time: avg 0.003 ms, total 234 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:32:47: | video encoding and uploading - [90.7%] [avg time: 7.68 ms (cpu time: avg 5.052 ms, total 365760 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 87.6%] [unaccounted: 3.09%]
15:32:47: | | flush - [18.7%] [avg time: 1.586 ms (cpu time: avg 0.079 ms, total 5772.03 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:32:47: | | CopyResource - [0.177%] [avg time: 0.015 ms (cpu time: avg 0.013 ms, total 982.803 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
15:32:47: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.118%] [avg time: 0.01 ms (cpu time: avg 0.006 ms, total 436.801 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
15:32:47: | | call to encoder - [65.3%] [avg time: 5.529 ms (cpu time: avg 4.882 ms, total 353514 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:32:47: | | sending stuff out - [3.28%] [avg time: 0.278 ms (cpu time: avg 0.051 ms, total 3697.23 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:32:47: | Convert444Threads - [945%] [avg time: 80.02 ms (cpu time: avg 5.485 ms, total 397147 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:32:47: ==============================================================
15:32:47:
15:32:47: =====Stream End: 2013-09-26, 15:32:47=================================================


Last game capture log:
2013-09-26, 14:47:33: we're booting up:
14:47:33: D3D9 Present
14:47:33: DXGI Present
14:47:33: NV Capture available
14:47:33: FBO available
14:47:33: GL Present
14:47:33: (half life scientist) everything.. seems to be in order
14:47:41: D3D9EndScene called
14:47:41: D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS {
14:47:41: BackBufferWidth: 1920
14:47:41: BackBufferHeight: 1080
14:47:41: BackBufferFormat: D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8
14:47:41: BackBufferCount: 1
14:47:41: MultiSampleType: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE
14:47:41: MultiSampleQuality: 0
14:47:41: SwapEffect: D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD
14:47:41: hDeviceWindow: 1449014
14:47:41: Windowed: true
14:47:41: EnableAutoDepthStencil: true
14:47:41: AutoDepthStencilFormat: D3DFMT_D24S8
14:47:41: Flags: D3DPRESENTFLAG_DISCARD_DEPTHSTENCIL
14:47:41: FullScreen_RefreshRateInHz: 0
14:47:41: PresentationInterval: 0
14:47:41: };
14:47:41: successfully set up d3d9 hooks
14:47:41: D3D9Present called
14:47:41: DoD3D9GPUHook: success
14:47:41: D3DSURFACE_DESC {
14:47:41: Format: D3DFMT_X8R8G8B8
14:47:41: Type: D3DRTYPE_SURFACE
14:47:41: Usage: D3DUSAGE_RENDERTARGET
14:47:41: Pool: D3DPOOL_DEFAULT
14:47:41: MultiSampleType: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE
14:47:41: MultiSampleQuality: 0
14:47:41: Width: 1920
14:47:41: Height: 1080
14:47:41: };
14:47:41: successfully capturing d3d9 frames via GPU

15:35:24: Memory Leaks Were Detected.
15:35:24:

 

[Xphome]

You don't need the custom x264 parameter keyint anymore, also there is a new OBS version out that I recommend you download.

 

[nekoangel]

ahhh ok ill remove that.
yeah it updated shortly after i made that recording lol
i havent recorded under the new obs yet but ill test lower qualities again i think.