Question / Help Best OBS Settings for me

[Daan de Vries]

Hello everyone...

I'm streaming since a few months now, but I notice some problems.
When I compare my stream to someone else's stream, the quality isn't really "perfect".
You can watch back some of my streams at http://www.twitch.tv/daandevries1995/profile/past_broadcasts.

I will give an example.
At this video:
http://www.twitch.tv/daandevries1995/b/568976716 at 57:20 I put all settings at max and it starts to be blurry...

My upload speed varies between 10 and 25 (Because I'm using homelpugs) but usually it's 20 - 25

My computer is;
-Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
-AMD FX-8320
-ASRock 970 Extreme3
-8 GB RAM.

What settings would you recommand? (720p would be enough I think? Unless you recommand 1080p)

---

And also, some of my viewers complain about they get an error saying "Cannot load video"
Is this a problem at my side or theirs?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Daan de Vries]

PS:

I tried to use the https://obsproject.com/estimator
But it gave as output:
CPU Advice

• Set FPS to 25

Isn't that a little bit low?



and I don't really understand what they mean with:

• Use game capture if possible for maximum performance.
• Use window capture with Aero enabled if game capture is unavailable.

Could anyone explain?

 

[CritVV]

You should try
1280x720
Lanczos filter
2000 bitrate (maximum bitrate recommended for non-partners, if you are a partner, you can go up to 3500 though)
30 FPS (your cpu is kinda weak, even though it's an 8-core, so don't try to go above that, you also dont have the bitrate for it since it requires 3000-3500 bitrate for a nice 720p 60 fps stream and you are limited by the 2000 bitrate recommendation)

25 FPS is not low for a stream at all, it might be more stuttery and less fluent than 60 fps, but it's definitely watchable.

About your question from the two capture methods:

When you are seting up scenes, you have the choice of four capture methods: Monitor capture, game capture, window capture and video capture.

Most of the time, you will be using game capture for games, unless the game doesn't support directx, openGL or any software it uses to hook to it, in the last case, you use window capture. Monitor capture can be used for capturing anything you do on your desktop, but it's the slowest method, especially on windows 7 with aero enabled. That's why they suggest you to use window capture and mostly game capture for games.

Although aero doesn't work that well for monitor capture, it works very well for window capture, which speeds up the performance.

 

[Daan de Vries]

Thanks for quick answer.

1. The game I try to play is not in the "Game Capture" list.

I'm just stuck with one problem:
When I change my game reso to 1280 x 720 and the OBS Video settings too (no downscale) it only records/streams a part of my screen.

Do I need to change my monitor resolution too?

 

[CritVV]

No you don't have too. When you change your resolution, you can fit/stretch it to your whole screen. You can do this by:

1. Go to the scenes you have created.
2. Right click monitorcapture/gamecapture/windowcapture (whatever you are using)
3. Go to position/size
4. Then press "Fit to screen"

You have to do this with all your scenes/capture methods, because setting this to one scene, doesn't count for the others.

And I have no idea what you mean with the game not being in your game capture list, could you try to explain that?

If you need any more information on how to record/capture/stream games, go on youtube and search for "How to stream games using OBS". You will find a lot of usefull guides there!

Greets,

Crit

 

[Daan de Vries]

Thanks a lot for your answer about fit the whole game into my stream.

About the "The game I try to play is not in the "Game Capture" list" problem.

I add a new Scene. within this "Scene" I add an source.
I choose Game Capture. then you can choose a name for the Source.
After that you can to choose an "Application" from the drop-down list. I assume this is to "Select" the game you want to stream.
My game is not in this list (yes I am running the game). Also, when I run OBS as Administrator is does not show up in that list.

 

[CritVV]

Thanks a lot for your answer about fit the whole game into my stream.

About the "The game I try to play is not in the "Game Capture" list" problem.

I add a new Scene. within this "Scene" I add an source.
I choose Game Capture. then you can choose a name for the Source.
After that you can to choose an "Application" from the drop-down list. I assume this is to "Select" the game you want to stream.
My game is not in this list (yes I am running the game). Also, when I run OBS as Administrator is does not show up in that list.

Ooh I understand what you mean. I always use GameCapture by using a hotkey to make game capture record my games. Try using it too, and see if it helps. If that doesn't help, the only way to record your game then, is by running your game windowed (not fullscreen) and then use window capture to capture your games.

Goodluck

 

[sendblink23]

OP, random question can you handle local testing changing your x264 CPU Preset to "faster" or "fast" as in not getting any drops(bottom red status text) in obs? If you can then that will definitely improve the quality.

Also I would suggest since you have 20 uploading speed to use around 3000 bitrate, I doubt currently right now Twitch actually cares of 1k over the suggested for non-partners - browsing right now on Twitch through various streams I am seeing tons of non-partnered users using over 3500.

Ignore the BS he wrote "30 FPS your cpu is kinda weak, even though it's an 8-core", clearly your example shows perfectly stable 60 fps stream... so your cpu is not weak at all for streaming - if it were weak we would be seeing fps/stream drops all over the place in which I didn't see any on that video.

 

[CritVV]

OP, random question can you handle local testing changing your x264 CPU Preset to "faster" or "fast" as in not getting any drops(bottom red status text) in obs? If you can then that will definitely improve the quality.

Also I would suggest since you have 20 uploading speed to use around 3000 bitrate, I doubt currently right now Twitch actually cares of 1k over the suggested for non-partners - browsing right now on Twitch through various streams I am seeing tons of non-partnered users using over 3500.

Ignore the BS he wrote "30 FPS your cpu is kinda weak, even though it's an 8-core", clearly your example shows perfectly stable 60 fps stream... so your cpu is not weak at all for streaming - if it were weak we would be seeing fps/stream drops all over the place in which I didn't see any on that video.

Many people have had MANY performance issues with obs with this 8 core cpu.... There is a reason the obs estimator only recommends 25 FPS. It's an 8 core, yes, but it's core-core performance isn't sufficient, those 8 core's aint even REAL 8 cores. Maybe if you overclock the thing, it will suffice to do 720p 60 FPS, but you clearly overestimate the power of this processor. Doing 720p 60 FPS and then also expecting to do it at a faster/fast preset? no way sir.

 

[CritVV]

And btw, the reason 2000 bitrate is the recommended max for non-partners, is because you have no transcoding options, so people with slow internet won't be able to watch it (worlds average internet speed is 3.8 mbit/sec, so yeah....) and also, twitch can be very slow sometimes...making a 3000 bitrate stream buffer a lot for viewers, and even causing them to leave.

720p @ 30 FPS will look decent enough for any viewer to watch, and will not cause people with low internet speeds to leave. 720p @ 60 FPS is totally overrated, and 720p @ 30 fps @ 3000 bitrate is overkill.

 

[sendblink23]

Many people have had MANY performance issues with obs with this 8 core cpu.... There is a reason the obs estimator only recommends 25 FPS. It's an 8 core, yes, but it's core-core performance isn't sufficient, those 8 core's aint even REAL 8 cores. Maybe if you overclock the thing, it will suffice to do 720p 60 FPS, but you clearly overestimate the power of this processor. Doing 720p 60 FPS and then also expecting to do it at a faster/fast preset? no way sir.

And btw, the reason 2000 bitrate is the recommended max for non-partners, is because you have no transcoding options, so people with slow internet won't be able to watch it (worlds average internet speed is 3.8 mbit/sec, so yeah....) and also, twitch can be very slow sometimes...making a 3000 bitrate stream buffer a lot for viewers, and even causing them to leave.

720p @ 30 FPS will look decent enough for any viewer to watch, and will not cause people with low internet speeds to leave. 720p @ 60 FPS is totally overrated, and 720p @ 30 fps @ 3000 bitrate is overkill.

Clearly what I posted is referring to what he is streaming and its fairly 100% the piledriver FX flies here on this case for that game. Also the estimator on that part is not exactly correct(seems outdated), it was based on the Bulldozer 6 core FX chips.. not the Piledriver 8 core FX chips. An FX 8 Core Piledriver CPU is on par with an i5 intel. That means his chip falls on the 1st category.

Of course I know about the 2k limit, you don't have to explain it - but its a fact now a days people are using more than it - go watch several random twitch channels and you will know for sure just by looking at it on quality that they are running above 3k bitrates. And no staff is complaining about them in Twitch. To my post what I suggested was for him to continues using the 60fps, he would need the 3k bitrate for extra improvement besides the CPU preset change.

Yes the suggested is 2k for non partnered(no quality options for viewers watching you) and 3.5k+ for partnered(optional quality options for viewers watching the stream) - for viewers to have a fluid experience watching your stream.

 

[CritVV]

Clearly what I posted is referring to what he is streaming and its fairly 100% the piledriver FX flies here on this case for that game. Also the estimator on that part is not exactly correct(seems outdated), it was based on the Bulldozer 6 core FX chips.. not the Piledriver 8 core FX chips. An FX 8 Core Piledriver CPU is on par with an i5 intel. That means his chip falls on the 1st category.

Of course I know about the 2k limit, you don't have to explain it - but its a fact now a days people are using more than it - go watch several random twitch channels and you will know for sure just by looking at it on quality that they are running above 3k bitrates. And no staff is complaining about them in Twitch. To my post what I suggested was for him to continues using the 60fps, he would need the 3k bitrate for extra improvement besides the CPU preset change.

Yes the suggested is 2k for non partnered(no quality options for viewers watching you) and 3.5k+ for partnered(optional quality options for viewers watching the stream) - for viewers to have a fluid experience watching your stream.

I understand what you said. But most people streaming on twitch have very little knowledge about the obs software/streaming. They just put in whatever the obs estimator recommends them, so taking them as an example is kinda bad. They don't think about people's and twitch's bandwidth limitations. The bulldozer 8 core definitely is on par with an i5 when comparing them at streaming, but also the i5 isn't recommended to run 720p@60 FPS with a faster or even fast preset.

Streaming 720p @ 60 FPS is definitely handable for that cpu for most applications, but will the extra strain on the cpu and other people's bandwidth be worth it? not really. Besides, if he's gonna run extreme applications like battlefield, he will notice extreme laggspikes in game when also encoding 720p@60 FPS realtime. Not good....

Until you get partnered, 720p@30 FPS at 2000 bitrate is recommended. But doing 720p@45 FPS at 2500 bitrate can be considered.

 

[Daan de Vries]

First off, thanks a lot for the huge imformation and responses given.

@CritVV, What do you mean by "Hotkey"?

@sendblink23

I will try out the preset "Fast" and "Faster" next time when I stream!
I'll let know the results.

 

[CritVV]

First off, thanks a lot for the huge imformation and responses given.

@CritVV, What do you mean by "Hotkey"?

@sendblink23

I will try out the preset "Fast" and "Faster" next time when I stream!
I'll let know the results.

With Hotkey, I mean , that you can bind a hotkey to your keyboard with gamecapture in the options. So I can put "TAB" as a hotkey to use for streaming, when I press TAB, gamecapture will start recording, if you know what I mean.

 

[Daan de Vries]

@CritVV
Ah, yes I get it. Thanks

 

[Daan de Vries]

OP, random question can you handle local testing changing your x264 CPU Preset to "faster" or "fast" as in not getting any drops(bottom red status text) in obs? If you can then that will definitely improve the quality.

Hi.

I can stream with "Fast" without having this red text saying that red text.
But I don't really see a huge different between Fast and Very Fast.