Question / Help Bitrate Fluctuation While Streaming

[FacialBlast]

Hello!

I have been a user of OBS for many months now, and have had this issue from time to time, mostly since the incarnation of Twitch.tv's mandatory "CBR/Settings" update. Occasionally when I attempt to stream, I will have an issue with my bitrate fluctuating wildly- from around its set 2500 kb/s, down to 0, and spiking as high as 6000 kb/s.

This often causes the stream to eventually 'lag out' and disconnect. I streamed for nearly 7 hours Christmas eve into Christmas morning, with not a single issue of lag/fluctuation or frame drop, but when I tried today, I encountered my issue again.

Some info on my settings-

My upload is 10 mb/s

I stream to the LA Twitch server- I have also tried the San Francisco server.

I have tried resetting modem, router, and PC.

I have tried lowering the bitrate to 2000

I enabled 'minimize network impact' which did not seem to help

I have also tried ipconfig /release /renew, and /flushdns

Attached/linked is a log file from today when I was having the issue.

http://pastebin.com/SNzrK52r

Thank you for you time and help, I love using this program, but cannot seem to resolve or find a cause/solution to this problem of mine.

-FacialBlast

 

[Lain]

The spike you see is actually a misconception, it's not actually sending that much at once and causing that, instead it's sort of reporting that number after you begin to have network issues. I really need to figure out a way to make that bitrate text a bit more reliable.

Network issues can honestly be caused by almost anything, it's very difficult to really diagnose very easily. I've seen network issues that happen due to third party software (usually firewall and network utilities), routers, routing points to server, the ISP, the connection of the cables in the area where one lives, the servers. Sometimes people use wireless connections which is even worse. It's quite difficult to deal with.

There is a sticky thread on this topic: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8870

The first thing I would do is that shaper probe test, sometimes that's more indicative of your stable rate, and tells you whether your bandwidth is being throttled at all.

Generally, if you don't think it's caused by any software on your computer, or any of your hardware, the two suggestions I make to people when having frame drops are just to find the best server you can, and lower bitrate in increments until frame dropping stops.

 

[FacialBlast]

Thank you for your reply, Jim.

I understand what you are saying about network issues- there's just so many variables to take into account, its difficult to sniff out the source.

I ran ShaperProbe and here are my results, which I think look normal for my 10 mb/s upload, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at:

"DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 38.107.216.47.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 15721 Kbps.
Downstream: 88994 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: Burst size: 3044-3219 KB;
Shaping rate: 10677 Kbps.

Downstream: Burst size: 20937-21699 KB;
Shaping rate: 53237 Kbps."

Thank you again for your help!

p.s.

Just an interesting note about shaping-

I've actually ran ShaperProbe in the past and found my ISP (Cox San Diego) was shaping my 5 mb/s upload to just under 2 mb/s, after 1 minute of use. I would start my stream, and almost like clockwork at the 1-minute mark, my stream would lag terribly if my bitrate was set above 2000 kb/s. If set the bitrate below (like 1800 kb/s, for instance) it wouldn't trigger the throttle, and I could stream indefinitely (at least, this was my understanding of it. And this is after I upgraded from 5 mb/s to 10 mb/s upload service).

I called them up and went back-and-forth until spoke with higher-ups and requested a tech to come out and inspect. Shortly after that convo, I tested my stream and suddenly found my network capable of streaming 3000 kb/s with no issues at all. Can't explain it...