Question / Help Encoding Overload On Very Low Settings

templewulf

templewulf

New Member
Hi! I'm absolutely baffled at why the encoder is overloaded with my combination of settings and hardware.

I set up a 2.5 year old laptop as a streaming machine. I'm running a 2 PC setup and capturing with an Avermedia Extremecap U3 over USB3.0. The laptop has i7-4700HQ (Haswell gen), 8GB RAM, GTX850M.

I ran auto-config for streaming, and it suggests ludicrously high settings at 1080p, 60fps, 6000 bitrate, NVENC encoder.

Using 1080 downscaled to 720, bicubic downscale filter, 60fps, 3500 bitrate, x264 encoder, it's so overloaded that the video is more frozen screenshots than motion. I had to crank it all the way down to 720@30fps, with 2500 bitrate to get something barely acceptable.
  • It's not network issues; I'm getting these problems in recordings too.
  • It's not the capture device. It actually captures so well on USB 3 that I can play near-realtime looking at OBS.
  • I set all other sources to hidden, so it's just the External Source capture and my USB mic capture in this one scene.
  • CPU usage never goes over 50%. Windows says RAM usage is at 4.2/7.9GB.
  • Recording with Game Capture (running game & OBS on just laptop) instead of External Capture actually results in a mostly fine video. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/162606237
What about my setup could possibly make it so unwatchable?
 
Sorry, I meant to, but the wife wanted the HTPC :D

Here's the log from two different tests. One with the 1080 feed transform stretched to fit a 720 scene and another with a full 1080 scene downscaled in video settings:
11:00:36.765: ---------------------------------
11:00:36.765: video settings reset:
11:00:36.765: base resolution: 1280x720
11:00:36.765: output resolution: 1280x720
11:00:36.765: downscale filter: Bilinear
11:00:36.765: fps: 30/1
11:00:36.765: format: NV12
11:00:36.804: Switched to profile '720@30 x264' (72030_x264)
11:00:36.804: ------------------------------------------------
11:00:47.583: ---------------------------------
11:00:47.583: [DShow Device: 'Avermedia U3'] settings updated:
11:00:47.583: video device: AVerMedia U3 Video Capture
11:00:47.583: video path: \\?\usb#vid_07ca&pid_0710#200970000026#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\{a12a43aa-fea3-49a4-9d56-2bdd989be299}
11:00:47.583: resolution: 1920x1080
11:00:47.583: fps: 60.00 (interval: 166666)
11:00:47.583: format: YUY2
11:00:47.584: using video device audio: yes
11:00:47.584: sample rate: 48000
11:00:47.584: channels: 2
11:00:47.584: audio type: Capture
11:01:22.951: ---------------------------------
11:01:22.951: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] preset: veryfast
11:01:22.951: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] settings:
11:01:22.951: rate_control: CBR
11:01:22.951: bitrate: 2500
11:01:22.951: buffer size: 2500
11:01:22.951: crf: 0
11:01:22.951: fps_num: 30
11:01:22.951: fps_den: 1
11:01:22.951: width: 1280
11:01:22.951: height: 720
11:01:22.951: keyint: 250
11:01:22.951: vfr: off
11:01:22.951:
11:01:22.962: [Media Foundation AAC: 'Capture']: encoder created
11:01:22.962: bitrate: 128
11:01:22.962: channels: 2
11:01:22.962: sample rate: 48000
11:01:22.962: bits-per-sample: 16
11:01:22.962:
11:01:22.973: ==== Recording Start ===============================================
11:01:22.973: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Writing file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-01-22.flv'...
11:02:37.394: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Output of file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-01-22.flv' stopped
11:02:37.394: Output 'adv_file_output': stopping
11:02:37.394: Output 'adv_file_output': Total encoded frames: 2231
11:02:37.394: Output 'adv_file_output': Total drawn frames: 2232
11:02:37.395: ==== Recording Stop ================================================
11:02:59.000: ---------------------------------
11:02:59.000: video settings reset:
11:02:59.000: base resolution: 1280x720
11:02:59.000: output resolution: 1280x720
11:02:59.000: downscale filter: Bilinear
11:02:59.000: fps: 60/1
11:02:59.000: format: NV12
11:02:59.026: Settings changed (video)
11:02:59.026: ------------------------------------------------
11:04:34.816: ---------------------------------
11:04:34.816: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] preset: veryfast
11:04:34.816: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] settings:
11:04:34.816: rate_control: CBR
11:04:34.816: bitrate: 2500
11:04:34.816: buffer size: 2500
11:04:34.816: crf: 0
11:04:34.816: fps_num: 60
11:04:34.816: fps_den: 1
11:04:34.816: width: 1280
11:04:34.816: height: 720
11:04:34.816: keyint: 250
11:04:34.816: vfr: off
11:04:34.816:
11:04:34.825: [Media Foundation AAC: 'Capture']: encoder created
11:04:34.825: bitrate: 128
11:04:34.825: channels: 2
11:04:34.825: sample rate: 48000
11:04:34.825: bits-per-sample: 16
11:04:34.825:
11:04:34.841: ==== Recording Start ===============================================
11:04:34.841: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Writing file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-04-34.flv'...
11:04:51.518: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Output of file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-04-34.flv' stopped
11:04:51.519: Output 'adv_file_output': stopping
11:04:51.519: Output 'adv_file_output': Total encoded frames: 981
11:04:51.519: Output 'adv_file_output': Total drawn frames: 1000
11:04:51.519: Output 'adv_file_output': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 135 (13.5%)
11:04:51.519: ==== Recording Stop ================================================
11:04:51.664: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 645/990 (65.2%)
11:06:14.452: ---------------------------------
11:06:14.452: video settings reset:
11:06:14.452: base resolution: 1920x1080
11:06:14.452: output resolution: 1280x720
11:06:14.452: downscale filter: Bilinear
11:06:14.452: fps: 60/1
11:06:14.452: format: NV12
11:06:14.491: Settings changed (outputs, video)
11:06:14.491: ------------------------------------------------
11:06:55.751: ---------------------------------
11:06:55.751: [DShow Device: 'Avermedia U3'] settings updated:
11:06:55.751: video device: AVerMedia U3 Video Capture
11:06:55.751: video path: \\?\usb#vid_07ca&pid_0710#200970000026#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\{a12a43aa-fea3-49a4-9d56-2bdd989be299}
11:06:55.751: resolution: 1920x1080
11:06:55.751: fps: 60.00 (interval: 166666)
11:06:55.751: format: YUY2
11:06:55.752: using video device audio: yes
11:06:55.752: sample rate: 48000
11:06:55.752: channels: 2
11:06:55.752: audio type: Capture
11:07:00.606: ---------------------------------
11:07:00.606: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] preset: veryfast
11:07:00.606: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] settings:
11:07:00.606: rate_control: CBR
11:07:00.606: bitrate: 2500
11:07:00.606: buffer size: 2500
11:07:00.606: crf: 0
11:07:00.606: fps_num: 60
11:07:00.606: fps_den: 1
11:07:00.606: width: 1280
11:07:00.606: height: 720
11:07:00.606: keyint: 250
11:07:00.606: vfr: off
11:07:00.606:
11:07:00.626: [Media Foundation AAC: 'Capture']: encoder created
11:07:00.626: bitrate: 128
11:07:00.626: channels: 2
11:07:00.626: sample rate: 48000
11:07:00.626: bits-per-sample: 16
11:07:00.626:
11:07:00.649: ==== Recording Start ===============================================
11:07:00.649: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Writing file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-07-00.flv'...
11:07:42.631: [ffmpeg muxer: 'adv_file_output'] Output of file 'D:/Projects/Videography/Capture/2017-07-31 11-07-00.flv' stopped
11:07:42.631: Output 'adv_file_output': stopping
11:07:42.631: Output 'adv_file_output': Total encoded frames: 2500
11:07:42.631: Output 'adv_file_output': Total drawn frames: 2519
11:07:42.631: Output 'adv_file_output': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 485 (19.3%)
11:07:42.633: ==== Recording Stop ================================================
11:07:42.652: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 1850/2504 (73.9%)
 
As a point of comparison, I have a simple scene with a background image, some social media icons, and the Rainwave widget, and OBS is reporting FPS of 32. Without even a video or audio feed.
 
Last edited:
I'm bumping to also add that it seems to work reasonably well with NVENC.

I'd still like to know if there's some way to use x264, because it generally looks better at the lower bitrates you'd use for streaming.
 
How's this?

21:57:14.968: CPU Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700HQ CPU @ 2.40GHz
21:57:14.968: CPU Speed: 2394MHz
21:57:14.968: Physical Cores: 4, Logical Cores: 8
21:57:14.968: Physical Memory: 8075MB Total, 2375MB Free
21:57:14.968: Windows Version: 10.0 Build 15063 (revision: 296; 64-bit)
21:57:14.968: Running as administrator: false
21:57:14.968: Aero is Enabled (Aero is always on for windows 8 and above)
21:57:14.968: Portable mode: false
21:57:14.989: OBS 19.0.3 (64bit, windows)
21:57:14.989: ---------------------------------
21:57:14.989: ---------------------------------
21:57:14.990: audio settings reset:
21:57:14.990: samples per sec: 44100
21:57:14.990: speakers: 2
21:57:14.991: ---------------------------------
21:57:14.991: Initializing D3D11...
21:57:14.991: Available Video Adapters:
21:57:14.994: Adapter 1: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
21:57:14.994: Dedicated VRAM: 117964800
21:57:14.994: Shared VRAM: 2147483648
21:57:14.994: output 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}, attached=true
21:57:14.994: Adapter 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
21:57:14.994: Dedicated VRAM: 2116943872
21:57:14.994: Shared VRAM: 4233652224
21:57:14.996: Loading up D3D11 on adapter Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 (0)
21:57:15.001: D3D11 loaded successfully, feature level used: 45056
21:57:15.831: ---------------------------------
21:57:15.831: video settings reset:
21:57:15.831: base resolution: 1920x1080
21:57:15.831: output resolution: 1280x720
21:57:15.831: downscale filter: Bilinear
21:57:15.831: fps: 60/1
21:57:15.831: format: NV12
21:57:15.832: Audio monitoring device:
21:57:15.832: name: Default
21:57:15.832: id: default
21:57:15.832: ---------------------------------
21:57:15.833: Required module function 'obs_module_load' in module '../../obs-plugins/64bit/chrome_elf.dll' not found, loading of module failed
21:57:15.838: [CoreAudio encoder]: CoreAudio AAC encoder not installed on the system or couldn't be loaded
21:57:15.851: [AMF] Encountered Exception during AMF initialization: Unable to load 'amfrt64.dll', error code 126.
21:57:15.851: Failed to initialize module 'enc-amf.dll'
21:57:15.871: Required module function 'obs_module_load' in module '../../obs-plugins/64bit/libcef.dll' not found, loading of module failed
21:57:15.873: Required module function 'obs_module_load' in module '../../obs-plugins/64bit/libEGL.dll' not found, loading of module failed
21:57:15.875: Required module function 'obs_module_load' in module '../../obs-plugins/64bit/libGLESv2.dll' not found, loading of module failed
21:57:15.877: Failed to load 'en-US' text for module: 'obs-browser.dll'
21:57:15.877: [browser_source: 'Version: 1.29.0']
21:57:15.884: NVENC supported
21:57:15.950: Couldn't find VLC installation, VLC video source disabled
21:57:15.967: No blackmagic support
21:57:16.270: ---------------------------------
21:57:16.270: Loaded Modules:
21:57:16.270: win-wasapi.dll
21:57:16.270: win-mf.dll
21:57:16.270: win-dshow.dll
21:57:16.270: win-decklink.dll
21:57:16.270: win-capture.dll
21:57:16.270: vlc-video.dll
21:57:16.270: text-freetype2.dll
21:57:16.270: rtmp-services.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-x264.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-vst.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-transitions.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-text.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-qsv11.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-outputs.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-filters.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-ffmpeg.dll
21:57:16.270: obs-browser.dll
21:57:16.270: image-source.dll
21:57:16.270: frontend-tools.dll
21:57:16.270: enc-amf.dll
21:57:16.270: coreaudio-encoder.dll
21:57:16.270: ==== Startup complete ===============================================
21:57:16.309: All scene data cleared
21:57:16.309: ------------------------------------------------
21:57:17.331: [WASAPISource::TryInitialize]:[Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)] Failed to activate client context: 88890004
21:57:17.331: [WASAPISource::WASAPISource] Device '{0.0.1.00000000}.{04fdb692-1143-4bf3-b391-a3ee41409dd1}' not found. Waiting for device
21:57:17.437: Avermedia U3: data.GetDevice failed
21:57:17.437: Avermedia U3: Video configuration failed
21:57:17.441: Switched to scene 'Live + Chat'
21:57:17.442: ------------------------------------------------
21:57:17.442: Loaded scenes:
21:57:17.442: - scene 'External Capture':
21:57:17.442: - source: 'bg_lifestream3' (image_source)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Partial Scene - Alerts Overlay' (scene)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Avermedia U3' (dshow_input)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Blue Yeti Mic' (wasapi_input_capture)
21:57:17.442: - filter: 'Noise Suppression' (noise_suppress_filter)
21:57:17.442: - filter: 'Noise Gate' (noise_gate_filter)
21:57:17.442: - filter: 'Gain' (gain_filter)
21:57:17.442: - filter: 'Compressor' (compressor_filter)
21:57:17.442: - scene 'Game Capture':
21:57:17.442: - source: 'bg_lifestream3' (image_source)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Capture - Game' (game_capture)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Partial Scene - Alerts Overlay' (scene)
21:57:17.442: - scene 'Window Capture':
21:57:17.442: - source: 'bg_lifestream3' (image_source)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Capture - Window' (window_capture)
21:57:17.442: - source: 'Partial Scene - Alerts Overlay' (scene)
21:57:17.442: - scene 'Live + Chat':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'bg_lifestream3' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'KapChat' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'StreamLabsChat' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'IS LIVE' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_logo' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Social' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Rainwave' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Alerts Overlay' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Blue Yeti Mic' (wasapi_input_capture)
21:57:17.443: - filter: 'Noise Suppression' (noise_suppress_filter)
21:57:17.443: - filter: 'Noise Gate' (noise_gate_filter)
21:57:17.443: - filter: 'Gain' (gain_filter)
21:57:17.443: - filter: 'Compressor' (compressor_filter)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'BRB':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'bg_lifestream1' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Rainwave' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Social' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Will BRB' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_logo' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - filter: 'Scaling/Aspect Ratio' (scale_filter)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'Thanks':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'bg_lifestream3' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'thanks_you' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_logo' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Social' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Rainwave' (scene)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Text (GDI+)' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'Partial Scene - Alerts Overlay':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'StreamLabs_Twitch_Alerts' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'TipJar_BrowserSource' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'StreamLabs_EventList_BrowserSource' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'Partial Scene - Rainwave':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'OCR Rainwave Widget' (browser_source)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'Partial Scene - Social':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'YT_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'YT_badge' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Twitter_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Twitter_logo' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Twitch_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Twitch_badge' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - scene 'Offline':
21:57:17.443: - source: 'bg_lifestream1' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Please Follow' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Is Offline' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_name' (text_gdiplus)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'FPS_logo' (image_source)
21:57:17.443: - source: 'Partial Scene - Social' (scene)
21:57:17.443: ------------------------------------------------
 
Wow, switching the NVIDIA Control Panel settings to use "High-peformance NVIDIA processor" instead of "Integrated graphics" made the biggest difference in quality of anything else I've tried.

I still don't know why I had to change that now when I never did before, but I'm glad to know it.

Edit: Some other threads suggested that Windows 10 might be the issue, especially with Overwatch, but it made no difference to me on my 2 PC setup.
 
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