Question / Help Bad Live Stream Quality With CPU Preset: Slow and Bitrate 6000 on a Dual PC Stream Setup With Elgato 4k60 PRO and HD60s.

[geneinabottle]

Hello Friends. I'm just another guy without another live stream problem.

I am not sure if this is an OBS or Elgato problem so if anyone can help me out, I would highly appreciate it. I have been searching online (reddit, youtube, forums, etc and I have not found a solution or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places).

Since I've been testing out a dual-PC stream setup the past month, I've been running into a lot of issues related to bad video quality (fuzzy, blurry,) and inconsistent frame rate while streaming on Twitch and using Restream.io. I don't understand this because I have tested a single PC stream (OBS game capture) with my streaming PC with the same exact settings, and it looked great.

What is also weird is that OBS' Preview is capturing the image quality and FPS perfectly fine and the CPU usage ranges anywhere between 15% -30% while streaming. CPU Temps are fine - I have not seen it go beyond 60-70c.

The reason why I want to do a dual-PC is so I don't have to experience performance drop while playing games at 1440p. If anything, I just really need some kind of answer so I can stop stressing out about this and make a decision to either drop or keep a dual-PC setup. Thank you in advance for any responses. :]

Here are my settings and setup:

OBS Settings:
Encoder - x264
Rate Control: CBR
Bitrate: 6000
Custom buffer: unchecked
Keyframe Interval: 2
CPU Preset: Slow
Profile: High
Tune: None (also tested with animation, no difference)
x264 options: it is blank
Video: 1080p 60fps
Downscale Filter: Lanzcos
Video Capture Device selected: Game Capture 4kPRO Video 01
Process Priority: High
Renderer: Dx3D 11
Color Format: NV12
YUV Color Space 709, Color Range: Full

Streaming PC:
CPU: AMD Threadripper 1950X OC to 4ghz
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 3000mhz
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
GDDR5
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 250 GB.
Chipset and BIOS are updated to the latest version.

Capture Card:
Tested both on Elgato 4kPRO and HD60s (both result in bad image quality)
4kPRO is installed on a PCI-e x16 slot. Also using HDMI 2.0 cables.
Elgato 4kPRO Driver version. 1.1.0.179.6. Firmare: 30.62.30.62, 2018.03.06.
Video Decoder: NTSC_M. Lines detected 525

Gaming PC:
CPU: Intel 6700k @ 4ghz
Memory: Corsair 16 GB 3200mhz
Graphics Card: Asus Strix GTX 1080
SSD: Samsung 850 PRO 500 GB

Internet
Download: 100 mbps
Upload: 10 mbps
Router: Asus RT-AC66U_B1
Both PCs are both connected WIRED to the router.

Here is an example of the 4k60 Pro stream test (log file: https://hastebin.com/ibunapaduq)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/263569879

And here is an example of game capture with OBS on a single PC stream which you can see that the image quality looks a bit better, but also much smoother)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/262266248

 

[Boildown]

Close out of OBS so that the log file is completely written to disk. I don't see any actual recording or streaming attempts in that log.

Start with easy presets and move your way down. Don't start with Slow preset. Get a success on Very Fast, then move on to Faster, then Fast, then Medium, etc. If you can't get your system to work on Very Fast preset, then something else is probably wrong. But if you can't get Slow preset to work, you haven't narrowed down your possible causes of failures.

Decide on your base resolution and your streaming resolution. It appears that your base resolution is set to 1080p but then your captured input is at 1440p. Set your base to 1440p and use a downscale, instead.

For that matter, set your gaming PC to 1080p and get that to work before messing with 1440p.

Video Decoder: NTSC_M. Lines detected 525

This doesn't make any sense to me, or is a red herring. NTSC is not a high def format, its what was broadcasted over TVs and VCRs in the US prior to the days of HD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC#Lines_and_refresh_rate

 

[Videophile]

The video decoder line can be ignored.