Question / Help Dropping Frames Recently For No Explainable Reason...

[ItZMuRdA]

Hi all,

Hoping some of you may be of assistance, although I'm fairly confident my issue is on my ISP's end and they fail to acknowledge it.

I've been streaming using OBS for over a year now with great success; only in the past few weeks have I started to have frame drop issues with no major changes to my settings to cause it. Some days (like yesterday), it is terrific. I streamed for many hours at 3k bitrate CBR with absolutely 0 dropped frames the entire time. Today, I couldn't even get my stream up at 3k, let alone 2k bitrate for more than 30 seconds before bitrate dropped so low into the red that it disconnected the stream. This happened three different times thereafter. I am currently streaming for testing purposes and about once a minute it will start dropping frames and the bitrate in the bottom right will flash yellow/red, then resume. I'm fairly certain my OBS settings are quite optimal, as I've got a lot of experience with the program and even wrote a guide for my viewers.

As I said, I stream at 3k bitrate, yet I currently get 37 upload speed according to speedtest.net. There should be no issue whatsoever on that front, as far as I know. I actually believe that somewhere in here may lie the problem. I originally paid extra with my ISP for 60down/8up, but they recently boosted our service even higher to about 100down/35up. I made sure to upgrade my router (Netgear R6300) firmware and even took their advice and replaced my modem with the newest one they offer. I also upgraded any LAN/ethernet-related drivers, got a new ethernet cable, tried streaming from both my gaming and streaming PC (obv. with different motherboards), tried both the NY and VA twitch servers, and just about anything you can think of on my end. My ISP says everything looks fine on their end, and I'm sure it does, as whenever I run SpeedTest I pass with flying colors.

If there is any additional info that I can provide, or if you have any questions, please let me know. As someone who streams for many hours every day on a growing Twitch channel (http://twitch.tv/itzmurda_tv), I am really quite bummed that I'm doing everything in my power to deliver my viewers the awesome experience they've come to love over the past year, yet still falling short due to something seemingly outside of my control.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

For reference, here's what happened back in July, around the time that I started experiencing these issues. I was paying for 50down/8up and got grandfathered into the upgrade to 100down/35up, which I'm very happy about, but for some reason I feel like something can't quite handle those levels. I never had a problem streaming at 3k bitrate when I had 8 upload, but all of a sudden I've got 35+ and it feels like overkill.

 

[dodgepong]

Can you post your log? http://obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Sure, my apologies for not doing so sooner. This is probably the best one to use (from a few hours ago), when I tried 3 times to stream at both 3k and 2k bitrate, as per usual, and eventually had so many dropped frames that the stream disconnected itself. If need be, I'm sure I can dig through other logs where it was an issue, and those where it wasn't as well.

-----------------

13:52:08: Open Broadcaster Software v0.554b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
13:52:08: -------------------------------
13:52:08: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         950  @ 3.07GHz
13:52:08: CPU Speed: 3461MHz
13:52:08: Physical Memory:  4095MB Total, 4095MB Free
13:52:08: stepping id: 5, model 10, family 6, type 0, extmodel 0, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 8, total cores 4
13:52:08: monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1440, 900}
13:52:08: Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
13:52:08: Aero is Disabled
13:52:08: -------------------------------
13:52:08: OBS Modules:
13:52:08: Base Address     Module
13:52:08: 01370000         OBS.exe
13:52:08: 737E0000         OBSApi.dll
13:52:08: 753E0000         DShowPlugin.dll
13:52:08: 75530000         GraphicsCapture.dll
13:52:08: 753A0000         NoiseGate.dll
13:52:08: 753C0000         PSVPlugin.dll
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Adapter 1
13:52:08:   Video Adapter: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
13:52:08:   Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 1058897920
13:52:08:   Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 3236003840
13:52:08: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-13, 13:52:08===============================================
13:52:08:   Multithreaded optimizations: On
13:52:08:   Base resolution: 1920x1080
13:52:08:   Output resolution: 1280x720
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Loading up D3D10 on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series...
13:52:08: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
13:52:08: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
13:52:08: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DownscaleLanczos6tapYUV.pShader.blob
13:52:08: Playback device Default
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (HD Webcam C615)
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Audio Encoding: AAC
13:52:08:     bitrate: 160
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08:     device: AVerMedia HD Capture C985 Bus 7,
13:52:08:     device id \\?\pci#ven_1af2&dev_a001&subsys_a0011af2&rev_00#4&3535ca1b&0&00e1#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\{957bd672-7934-4b55-b81a-3e22b14c679a},
13:52:08:     chosen type: YV12, usingFourCC: true, res: 1280x720 - 1280x720, frameIntervals: 166666-666666, fourCC: 'YV12'
13:52:08: 
13:52:08: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/plugins/DShowPlugin/shaders/YVUToRGB.pShader.blob
13:52:08:     device audio info - bits per sample: 16, channels: 2, samples per sec: 48000, block size: 4
13:52:08: Using directshow input
13:52:08: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: Video Encoding: x264
13:52:08:     fps: 60
13:52:08:     width: 1280, height: 720
13:52:08:     preset: veryfast
13:52:08:     CBR: yes
13:52:08:     CFR: yes
13:52:08:     max bitrate: 3000
13:52:08:     buffer size: 3000
13:52:08: ------------------------------------------
13:52:08: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)' is 352800, samples per sec is 44100
13:52:08: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Microphone (HD Webcam C615)' is 192000, samples per sec is 48000
13:52:10: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
13:52:10:   Server selection: rtmp://live-jfk.justin.tv/app
13:52:10:   Interface: Intel(R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection (ethernet, 1000 mbps)
13:52:11: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
13:52:11: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
13:53:56: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to FD_CLOSE, error 0
13:53:57: Total frames rendered: 6490, number of late frames: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
13:53:57: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 0 (0.00%)
13:53:57: Number of times waited to send: 13, Waited for a total of 49673 bytes
13:53:57: Number of b-frames dropped: 328 (5.2%), Number of p-frames dropped: 332 (5.3%), Total 660 (10%)
13:53:57: 
13:53:57: Profiler results:
13:53:57: 
13:53:57: ==============================================================
13:53:57: frame - [100%] [avg time: 2.67 ms (cpu time: avg 2.446 ms, total 15880.9 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.8%] [unaccounted: 0.187%]
13:53:57: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [53.3%] [avg time: 1.422 ms (cpu time: avg 1.326 ms, total 8611.26 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 43%] [unaccounted: 10.3%]
13:53:57: | | scene->Preprocess - [43%] [avg time: 1.148 ms (cpu time: avg 1.141 ms, total 7410.05 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:53:57: | video encoding and uploading - [46.6%] [avg time: 1.243 ms (cpu time: avg 1.117 ms, total 7254.04 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 45.8%] [unaccounted: 0.712%]
13:53:57: | | flush - [4.98%] [avg time: 0.133 ms (cpu time: avg 0.05 ms, total 327.603 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:53:57: | | CopyResource - [0.262%] [avg time: 0.007 ms (cpu time: avg 0.009 ms, total 62.401 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:53:57: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.187%] [avg time: 0.005 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:53:57: | | call to encoder - [39.7%] [avg time: 1.061 ms (cpu time: avg 1.026 ms, total 6661.24 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:53:57: | | sending stuff out - [0.674%] [avg time: 0.018 ms (cpu time: avg 0.012 ms, total 78.001 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:53:57: | Convert444Threads - [1.24e+003%] [avg time: 33.162 ms (cpu time: avg 1.348 ms, total 8751.66 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:53:57: ==============================================================
13:53:57: 
13:53:57: =====Stream End: 2013-09-13, 13:53:57=================================================
13:54:17: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-13, 13:54:17===============================================
13:54:17:   Multithreaded optimizations: On
13:54:17:   Base resolution: 1920x1080
13:54:17:   Output resolution: 1280x720
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: Loading up D3D10 on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series...
13:54:17: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
13:54:17: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
13:54:17: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DownscaleLanczos6tapYUV.pShader.blob
13:54:17: Playback device Default
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (HD Webcam C615)
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: Audio Encoding: AAC
13:54:17:     bitrate: 160
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17:     device: AVerMedia HD Capture C985 Bus 7,
13:54:17:     device id \\?\pci#ven_1af2&dev_a001&subsys_a0011af2&rev_00#4&3535ca1b&0&00e1#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\{957bd672-7934-4b55-b81a-3e22b14c679a},
13:54:17:     chosen type: YV12, usingFourCC: true, res: 1280x720 - 1280x720, frameIntervals: 166666-666666, fourCC: 'YV12'
13:54:17: 
13:54:17: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/plugins/DShowPlugin/shaders/YVUToRGB.pShader.blob
13:54:17:     device audio info - bits per sample: 16, channels: 2, samples per sec: 48000, block size: 4
13:54:17: Using directshow input
13:54:17: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: Video Encoding: x264
13:54:17:     fps: 60
13:54:17:     width: 1280, height: 720
13:54:17:     preset: veryfast
13:54:17:     CBR: yes
13:54:17:     CFR: yes
13:54:17:     max bitrate: 2000
13:54:17:     buffer size: 2000
13:54:17: ------------------------------------------
13:54:17: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)' is 352800, samples per sec is 44100
13:54:17: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Microphone (HD Webcam C615)' is 192000, samples per sec is 48000
13:54:19: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
13:54:19:   Server selection: rtmp://live-jfk.justin.tv/app
13:54:19:   Interface: Intel(R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection (ethernet, 1000 mbps)
13:54:22: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
13:54:22: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
13:54:47: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to FD_CLOSE, error 0
13:54:48: Total frames rendered: 1832, number of late frames: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
13:54:48: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 0 (0.00%)
13:54:49: Number of times waited to send: 7, Waited for a total of 21397 bytes
13:54:49: Number of b-frames dropped: 128 (8.2%), Number of p-frames dropped: 117 (7.5%), Total 245 (16%)
13:54:49: 
13:54:49: Profiler results:
13:54:49: 
13:54:49: ==============================================================
13:54:49: frame - [100%] [avg time: 2.732 ms (cpu time: avg 2.486 ms, total 4555.23 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.8%] [unaccounted: 0.183%]
13:54:49: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [53.1%] [avg time: 1.451 ms (cpu time: avg 1.37 ms, total 2511.61 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 42.2%] [unaccounted: 10.9%]
13:54:49: | | scene->Preprocess - [42.2%] [avg time: 1.153 ms (cpu time: avg 1.158 ms, total 2121.61 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:54:49: | video encoding and uploading - [46.7%] [avg time: 1.276 ms (cpu time: avg 1.115 ms, total 2043.62 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 45.7%] [unaccounted: 0.988%]
13:54:49: | | flush - [6.11%] [avg time: 0.167 ms (cpu time: avg 0.051 ms, total 93.602 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:54:49: | | CopyResource - [0.293%] [avg time: 0.008 ms (cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:54:49: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.183%] [avg time: 0.005 ms (cpu time: avg 0.008 ms, total 15.601 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:54:49: | | call to encoder - [38.6%] [avg time: 1.055 ms (cpu time: avg 0.97 ms, total 1778.41 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:54:49: | | sending stuff out - [0.512%] [avg time: 0.014 ms (cpu time: avg 0.042 ms, total 78 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:54:49: | Convert444Threads - [1.2e+003%] [avg time: 32.729 ms (cpu time: avg 1.396 ms, total 2558.42 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:54:49: ==============================================================
13:54:49: 
13:54:49: =====Stream End: 2013-09-13, 13:54:49=================================================
13:56:41: =====Stream Start: 2013-09-13, 13:56:41===============================================
13:56:41:   Multithreaded optimizations: On
13:56:41:   Base resolution: 1920x1080
13:56:41:   Output resolution: 1280x720
13:56:41: ------------------------------------------
13:56:41: Loading up D3D10 on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series...
13:56:41: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture.pShader.blob
13:56:41: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawSolid.pShader.blob
13:56:41: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DownscaleLanczos6tapYUV.pShader.blob
13:56:41: Playback device Default
13:56:41: ------------------------------------------
13:56:41: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
13:56:41: ------------------------------------------
13:56:41: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (HD Webcam C615)
13:56:41: ------------------------------------------
13:56:41: Audio Encoding: AAC
13:56:41:     bitrate: 160
13:56:41: ------------------------------------------
13:56:41:     device: AVerMedia HD Capture C985 Bus 7,
13:56:41:     device id \\?\pci#ven_1af2&dev_a001&subsys_a0011af2&rev_00#4&3535ca1b&0&00e1#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\{957bd672-7934-4b55-b81a-3e22b14c679a},
13:56:41:     chosen type: YV12, usingFourCC: true, res: 1280x720 - 1280x720, frameIntervals: 166666-666666, fourCC: 'YV12'
13:56:41: 
13:56:41: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/plugins/DShowPlugin/shaders/YVUToRGB.pShader.blob
13:56:41:     device audio info - bits per sample: 16, channels: 2, samples per sec: 48000, block size: 4
13:56:41: Using directshow input
13:56:41: C:/Users/-ItZMuRdA-/AppData/Roaming/OBS/shaderCache/shaders/DrawTexture_ColorAdjust.pShader.blob
13:56:42: ------------------------------------------
13:56:42: Video Encoding: x264
13:56:42:     fps: 60
13:56:42:     width: 1280, height: 720
13:56:42:     preset: veryfast
13:56:42:     CBR: yes
13:56:42:     CFR: yes
13:56:42:     max bitrate: 2000
13:56:42:     buffer size: 2000
13:56:42: ------------------------------------------
13:56:42: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)' is 352800, samples per sec is 44100
13:56:42: MMDeviceAudioSource: Frequency for device 'Microphone (HD Webcam C615)' is 192000, samples per sec is 48000
13:56:43: Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
13:56:43:   Server selection: rtmp://live-jfk.justin.tv/app
13:56:43:   Interface: Intel(R) 82567V-2 Gigabit Network Connection (ethernet, 1000 mbps)
13:56:44: SO_SNDBUF was at 8192
13:56:44: SO_SNDBUF is now 65536
13:56:49: RTMPPublisher::Socketloop: Increasing send buffer to ISB 131072 (buffer: 0 / 276480)
13:57:38: RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to FD_CLOSE, error 0
13:57:39: Total frames rendered: 3443, number of late frames: 0 (0.00%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
13:57:39: Total duplicated frames to ensure constant framerate: 0 (0.00%)
13:57:40: Number of times waited to send: 4, Waited for a total of 9148 bytes
13:57:40: Number of b-frames dropped: 94 (2.9%), Number of p-frames dropped: 95 (2.9%), Total 189 (5.8%)
13:57:40: 
13:57:40: Profiler results:
13:57:40: 
13:57:40: ==============================================================
13:57:40: frame - [100%] [avg time: 2.684 ms (cpu time: avg 2.501 ms, total 8611.26 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 99.8%] [unaccounted: 0.186%]
13:57:40: | frame preprocessing and rendering - [52.8%] [avg time: 1.417 ms (cpu time: avg 1.323 ms, total 4555.23 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 42.9%] [unaccounted: 9.91%]
13:57:40: | | scene->Preprocess - [42.9%] [avg time: 1.151 ms (cpu time: avg 1.15 ms, total 3962.43 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:57:40: | video encoding and uploading - [47%] [avg time: 1.262 ms (cpu time: avg 1.178 ms, total 4056.03 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 46.3%] [unaccounted: 0.671%]
13:57:40: | | flush - [4.92%] [avg time: 0.132 ms (cpu time: avg 0.077 ms, total 265.201 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:57:40: | | CopyResource - [0.261%] [avg time: 0.007 ms (cpu time: avg 0.004 ms, total 15.6 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:57:40: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.186%] [avg time: 0.005 ms (cpu time: avg 0.013 ms, total 46.801 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:57:40: | | call to encoder - [40.4%] [avg time: 1.084 ms (cpu time: avg 1.073 ms, total 3697.23 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:57:40: | | sending stuff out - [0.596%] [avg time: 0.016 ms (cpu time: avg 0.009 ms, total 31.2 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 0]
13:57:40: | Convert444Threads - [1.23e+003%] [avg time: 33.011 ms (cpu time: avg 1.413 ms, total 4867.23 ms)] [avg calls per frame: 1]
13:57:40: ==============================================================
13:57:40: 
13:57:40: =====Stream End: 2013-09-13, 13:57:40=================================================

 

[FerretBomb]

Dropped frames indicate a network issue, or one on the remote server end. Have you tried swapping to a different Twitch server?

Also, Speedtest.net/Ookla are useless when it comes to streaming. They're concerned with overall speed, not constant throughput (which a livestream requires). So if your connection is very speed-spiky, overall it will show as a given speed on speedtest, but may have a dramatically lower constant usable throughput.
I'd doubt that it'd be THAT much lower so as to impact a 2000kbps connection, but you never know... it could be a *very* dirty connection.

To rule that out, run a 6MB (or more) test at http://testmy.net/upload, which gives a much more realistic look at constant throughput available. I'd doubt it's this, but there's no reason to ignore a standard troubleshooting step.

Only other thought would be to, again, swap to a different Twitch server. The issue might be on their end, or something in the network routing between you and them dropping packets badly.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

I'm not sure if that tells you guys anything; but even a reaffirmation that everything is working properly on my end and I need to pester my ISP more would be great. If you actually have any suggested changes for a fix, that would be even better. :)

To note, I streamed successfully without changing a damn thing for the past 2 hours with 0 dropped frames at 3k bitrate, and just as I was going to break for dinner it started acting up again, dropping almost 1000 frames very quickly as I watched the bitrate go all the way down to 0 then back up and back down again.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Dropped frames indicate a network issue, or one on the remote server end. Have you tried swapping to a different Twitch server?

Also, Speedtest.net/Ookla are useless when it comes to streaming. They're concerned with overall speed, not constant throughput (which a livestream requires). So if your connection is very speed-spiky, overall it will show as a given speed on speedtest, but may have a dramatically lower constant usable throughput.
I'd doubt that it'd be THAT much lower so as to impact a 2000kbps connection, but you never know... it could be a *very* dirty connection.

To rule that out, run a 6MB (or more) test at http://testmy.net/upload, which gives a much more realistic look at constant throughput available. I'd doubt it's this, but there's no reason to ignore a standard troubleshooting step.

Only other thought would be to, again, swap to a different Twitch server. The issue might be on their end, or something in the network routing between you and them dropping packets badly.

Just saw your reply after I posted mine. I have used both NY and VA twitch servers which are the ones that give a decent ping. I also realize how unhelpful speedtest.net is, but was just using it to justify that it never reports any problems and that I'm getting the down/up speeds that my ISP quotes me as. I'll try the test you suggested as soon as I get back home just to make certain. Thanks for your help!

 

[ItZMuRdA]

I ran a quick test since I knew it was just acting up moments ago. Here's the results of a 12mb test.. does this tell me anything that I'm actually able to fix, or at least give to my ISP to fix, though?

http://testmy.net/db/DOPX9ed

I have to run out for an hour or so but I left the page up if you need any additional info. Thanks again.

 

[FerretBomb]

Yep, you're only getting 3.38mpbs (3380kbps) upload constant. A *ridiculously* far cry from the 37mbps reported by speedtest.
You may be subject to severe network fluctuations as well... you'll want to run that a few more times at various times of day. It looks like your connection has a MAJOR problem with constant throughput. I've actually never seen one quite that bad before (so much of a difference between speedtest and testmy), and would have to assume that there's something really, really wrong at your ISP.

Try it a few more times at various times of day, see if it changes significantly. If so, your ISP is being flaky and speeding up/slowing down erratically. You may also want to run ShaperProbe as well (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffpr ... probe.html) to see if they're running an active shaper on your connection.

But yes... your connection has some pretty bad issues, judging from that result. It shouldn't hit you at 2000kbps, but if it's MASSIVELY erratic, it could be dipping ridiculously low (lower than the tested result) at random points. Also, if you have anyone else sharing the connection, make sure they aren't doing anything like BitTorrenting... only thing I could think of that would DESTROY your upstream connection like it appears is happening.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Thanks for the reply. I was always under the impression that testmy and speedtest varied substantially, something about bits and bytes. Forgive my ignorance.

That said, thanks for confirming my suspicions... I'm just not sure how to get my ISP to acknowledge it. I will try running it at various times, just ran ShaperProbe and will paste results below. I do have someone sharing the connection, but I was the only one home today when I was having major issues, and they are pretty good about not hogging bandwidth or leaving things on while afk.

I usually stream at 3k, heck I used to stream at 4k without any issues, back when I actually got the 8mb upload that I paid for, but even at 2k today it would dip well below that during spikes, I'd see it read 0kbps in OBS for a moment or two, then go back up slightly.

Any other suggestions? I've been battling with this for a bit, yet the ISP is pretty insistent on everything being fine. I'm fairly sure it started as a result of their "upgraded" service in July. If no other suggestions that I can fix, anything I can tell my ISP to get them to locate the problem? Whenever I call, after I talk to the awful automated service, I get a guy who checks all the levels, sends a packet to my modem, etc. etc. and says everything is fine on their end. I even have him look back to times when I knew the upload was an issue, and he sees no issues. Just hoping I can point these guys in the right direction.

Thanks again.
--------------------------
DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 38.98.51.25.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 34699 Kbps.
Downstream: 67793 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 33674 Kbps.

Downstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 66490 Kbps.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

For what it's worth, did another testmy test and got 3.4 again to the default (Dallas) server, just changed it to Washington DC for closer proximity and got 5.3.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Another question if I may. Will running on a different CPU preset cause dropped frames? I have been back to running on veryfast for some time now, so as to not interfere with network troubleshooting, but I was just curious what means I have of determining what preset my streaming PC is capable of running at. Fast and even Medium in the past have seemed fine, but I was just wondering if I was looking in the wrong place.

A separate issue for sure, but hoping I would be able to at least temporarily increase quality via preset if I have to tone down my bitrate until the network issue gets fixed.

 

[ExitSign]

Although you said you can stream perfectly fine with your current settings and it is probably an ISP issue, You may want to check this:

When I stream planetside, I noticed that I have to DISABLE the 'minimize network impact' in the 'broadcast settings'.

With it enabled, I get huge frame drops when streaming ps2.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Thanks for the reply ExitSign.

I actually had that unchecked already, but have tried both ways. I get the issue even when just streaming a blank desktop, so I'm fairly certain it's upload-related. I just got off the phone after a 50 minute long call with my ISP who insists nothing is wrong on their end, even after thoroughly explaining the problem. A technician should be out here tomorrow, but I'm not sure what he can really do, especially if it's not "acting up" at the time.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Just following up since I always like to read success stories when I'm searching for posts like these and they just drop off and nobody ever comes back to tell what happened in the end.

Long story short... I arranged for a technician from my ISP to come out to my house, despite the fact that they weren't able to verify any problem remotely. He came and went, couldn't identify any issues locally at my house, however, someone back at "the department" was quickly able to find some serious ingress problems on the system.

Fast forward a week later and it seems as though my problems are fixed. I've been able to stream daily for the past week or so at 3k bitrate, all day long, 0 dropped frames or any sort of indicators of interruption in service. My speeds on testmy.net are not much different, but don't seem to have nearly as much variance as before. While they aren't the speeds that I am being quoted, they are certainly sufficient for my needs, and apparently there was an actual ingress problem somewhere on the system end that they were able to localize and fix.

While I'd love to see higher numbers, I can't really complain and am happy with the practical results of this "fix" so far. Thanks so much for the assistance on this forum.

 

[Lain]

Yea, sometimes it's a stability issue. The problem often isn't so much the speed itself that you have, but that streaming needs a "stable" connection at the bitrate you specify. So that may have been it. Glad to hear it's much better though.

 

[ItZMuRdA]

Yea, sometimes it's a stability issue. The problem often isn't so much the speed itself that you have, but that streaming needs a "stable" connection at the bitrate you specify. So that may have been it. Glad to hear it's much better though.

Thanks, Jim!

Great program you have here; I happily recommend it to others on a daily basis. Keep up the terrific work.