Question / Help Bitrate discrepancy

[thomrae]

My issue is a weird one. I noticed it with the recent changes to Twitch and with OBS 18.0.1 update. So I was trying to figure out what might be causing it.

I stream at 2500 kbps to Twitch with a CBR of the same amount. I expect some variability in the bitrate that comes from Twitch as a result. However, the issue is that Twitch is constantly reporting that the bitrate at source is lower than what I'm encoding. I'm still not to the point, but bear with me as this is a weird issue I'm having. So the video encoding of 2500 + audio encoding of 96 should equate to around 2600 bitrate as being reported by Twitch right? It's about 200 lower than that usually that's getting reported back for a still image. Once things start happening, it actually becomes a bit lower, so it'll spike between 2200-2400ish for the bitrate, as being reported by Twitch. There's very little in the way of fluctuations over the bitrate I have specified to be encoded at.

Here's the weird issue. If my Elgato HD60 Pro is active in any way. Either from their Game Capture software, it being activated because it was the first time I've opened up OBS Studio and I wasn't on a scene with it as a source, or it being an actual source, the bitrate being reported back by Twitch is 700 less than what I set as the encoding rate, which is 2500.

Why? This should not be possible as far as I know, but it's doing it and I cannot for the life of me understand what the hell is going on right now.

 

[RytoEX]

How are you checking your stream's bitrate? Your Twitch dashboard? The official Twitch Inspector? R1CH's Twitch Analyzer? The video stats in your stream's options (cog wheel)?

As always, posting a log may be helpful here.

 

[thomrae]

I would have posted the log if I felt it was relevant. There's nothing in the log file that's relevant to the situation as far as I see.

As for what I'm comparing, the playback rate as stated by the Twitch player under the gear. Twitch Dashboard and Twitch Inspector say that I'm connected and constantly uploading about 2400 kbps to their servers, no matter what. What I'm finding weird is exactly what I stated in the original post. Why is the playback rate 700-800 less when the Elgato comes on, regardless if it's actually being used on stream or not. Cause if Elgato's encoding software is overriding OBS Studio's encoding, that's a big issue.

 

[thomrae]

https://gist.github.com/firynth/14e339f6468b0e26e8595e2aec311581

Here's the log though of the last stream. Ignore the disconnects/reconnects. Twitch was having an ingest server issue.

 

[RytoEX]

Ah. From what I can tell, you've enabled the new network code and the new low latency mode. The new network code was labeled "experimental" in the release notes for OBS Studio 18.0.0.

• Added an option to advanced settings to enable new experimental network code

Have you tried to reproduce this behavior without those two advanced settings enabled, in any combination?

 

[thomrae]

Yes. I've done every test possible. It does the same thing in OBS Classic. With older version of Elgato software. With network code on, network code off. Low latency on/off etc.

The issue only happens when the Elgato is activated. It really bugs me you're looking for key words and not really reading the post and why I didn't want to post the log.

Here's the situation plain and simple:
Elgato deactivated/stable image - 2430 bitrate reported from Twitch player
Some activity/Elgato deactivated - 2200-2400 bitrate reported from Twitch player
Elgato activated regardless if I'm using it for the stream or not - 1700-1800 bitrate reported from Twitch player