Bitrate Keeps Dropping

[mucks]

hello, i'm trying to figure out why the bitrate keeps dropping everytime i stream; cant tell it's either the settings i have or due to internet usage by my family. it's getting really annoying everytime my stream looks like pixels instead of clearness.

here's the log:

https://obsproject.com/logs/6_tHO51lsFq14dzD

any settings recommendations would be awesome

 

[FerretBomb]

Unfortunately, your log does not contain a streaming session so has no diagnostic data.
If you're using Adaptive Bitrate and the bitrate drops, it's because your connection cannot keep up with the rate specified for whatever reason.

If you're streaming over wifi, stop it. Run a cable. Wifi is not a replacement for cables, especially in minimum-throughput-critical applications like livestreaming.
If you're streaming to Twitch, use R1ch's Twitch Test tool to check your connection to your chosen ingest. You want a Quality score of 100. Lower than 100 means your connection has stability and/or packet loss issues.

 

[mucks]

Unfortunately, your log does not contain a streaming session so has no diagnostic data.
If you're using Adaptive Bitrate and the bitrate drops, it's because your connection cannot keep up with the rate specified for whatever reason.

If you're streaming over wifi, stop it. Run a cable. Wifi is not a replacement for cables, especially in minimum-throughput-critical applications like livestreaming.
If you're streaming to Twitch, use R1ch's Twitch Test tool to check your connection to your chosen ingest. You want a Quality score of 100. Lower than 100 means your connection has stability and/or packet loss issues.

thank you for letting me know about this tool; it helped me out what server to pick. ive been runnin cable for awhile now so that's not a problem pretty much. i dont see any adaptive bitrate setting, but i am using dynamic bitrate; which is reducing the quality of the stream instead of skipping frames when it drops.

here's the log of me testing out the bandwidth:

https://obsproject.com/logs/-jD3jX3U1NI0HOhj

it's still dropping frames for some reason

 

[FerretBomb]

16:36:17.080: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate decreased to: 3100
16:36:18.112: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate decreased to: 2600
16:36:38.213: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate decreased to: 2300
16:37:08.230: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate increased to: 2750, waiting
16:37:10.091: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate decreased to: 2500
16:37:10.908: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] bitrate decreased to: 1700
16:37:29.363: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] User stopped the stream

Your connection can't even run at 2500kbps smoothly. It's dropping frames because your connection is extremely unstable. Make sure when you run the Twitch Test tool, you also run a Long test; the Short is just for getting a general idea. Again, anything below 100 Quality is a problem, and will lead to dropped frames eventually. You need to contact your ISP to figure out what's going on and get it sorted out.

 

[mucks]

Your connection can't even run at 2500kbps smoothly. It's dropping frames because your connection is extremely unstable. Make sure when you run the Twitch Test tool, you also run a Long test; the Short is just for getting a general idea. Again, anything below 100 Quality is a problem, and will lead to dropped frames eventually. You need to contact your ISP to figure out what's going on and get it sorted out.

aahhh i see; thank you for the info. what should i tell them specifically? im having issues everytime i stream?

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

hello, i'm trying to figure out why the bitrate keeps dropping everytime i stream; cant tell it's either the settings i have or due to internet usage by my family. it's getting really annoying everytime my stream looks like pixels instead of clearness.

You only have so much Upload bandwidth (and even downloading will use some Upload capacity with TCP reply packets). So, it is possible that your family is causing the traffic congestion. However, there is nothing typically on your PC which will tell you that specifically is happening vs other traffic congestion causes. The common method would be to set up monitoring on your WAN (Internet) access device (typically a router/firewall). However, there isn't a single metric to monitor. You first need to figure out what your average and sustained upload bandwidth rates are. Then compare actual upload traffic vs those metrics at the time of livestream impact (ie totally doable, but not something most people familiar with doing).
One dirty (as not completely authoritative/definitive) way to test would be to kick every other user/device off your LAN, turn router WiFi off, etc such that ONLY your OBC PC is connected and on your home network, and try livestreaming then. Note: other devices (smartphones, game consoles, streaming TV smart boxes, etc that are on & connected, but not running something in the foreground does NOT count, due to background processes that can communicate. Oh, and try streaming to different targets, not just Twitch. For example, an optional test target would be a large (multi GB) file upload to OneDrive, Amazon, Google Drive, etc [though beware some of those have upload limits themselves].

 

[FerretBomb]

You'd want to install something like PingPlotter (they have a free version) and point it at your ingest server while you stream. Watch it for a node with a number in the PL (packet loss) column. Note it down and if it's in your ISP's intranet, you can tell them that node is showing packet loss, and your connection is unstable.

As a note, the last hop will always be 100% PL as Twitch have their ingests set to ignore ICMP traffic. This is normal.

 

[mucks]

You'd want to install something like PingPlotter (they have a free version) and point it at your ingest server while you stream. Watch it for a node with a number in the PL (packet loss) column. Note it down and if it's in your ISP's intranet, you can tell them that node is showing packet loss, and your connection is unstable.

As a note, the last hop will always be 100% PL as Twitch have their ingests set to ignore ICMP traffic. This is normal.

i downloaded and checked to see if it's the isp, but everything seems fine and there were no packet loss; which is very odd. also the qualities on the twitch test tool was between 83 - 88

 

[FerretBomb]

Make sure you run the Long test (or longer setting), Short is just for quick-scanning.
As far as PingPlotter goes, make sure you're streaming normally while it's running. If the connection is only lightly loaded, it may not present the issue.

 

[mucks]

Make sure you run the Long test (or longer setting), Short is just for quick-scanning.
As far as PingPlotter goes, make sure you're streaming normally while it's running. If the connection is only lightly loaded, it may not present the issue.

should i target the stream server im using or my ip on the pingplotter?

 

[FerretBomb]

The stream server.