Question / Help Fixing quality of stream

[Kendjin]

Hello,

I seem to find that my stream quality in an FPS seems to be blocky.

Example: http://www.twitch.tv/kendjin/b/512714587
Testmy Upload: http://testmy.net/db/bYWi978 http://testmy.net/bYWi978.png
Log file: http://pastebin.com/Y36CsXH2

I cannot for the life of me work out where I am going wrong. Any help would be great.

Thank you very much.

 

[Floatingthru]

Since you are using NVENC and you tried 720p30 3500 bitrate that is the best its going to look for streaming at least. x264 is superior to NVENC in just about every way. Hardware encoders aren't there quite yet. So either just deal with it or take the CPU hit. I noticed you used 1080p at the start which is also going to not look very pretty.

 

[Kendjin]

Ah I wasn't aware that NVENC wasn't as nice, I will try going back to x264 and giving that a try. Thank has been really helpful.

I would use higher bitrate, but since I was streaming to twitch and not partnered and EU I can't really go higher.

 

[Videophile]

You arent going wrong anywhere.

What you could and should change is moving from NVENC to X264

Hardware encoders look bad in comparison to software encoders at the same bit rate. Try changing over from NVENC to X264 using the veryfast preset. if

*Note: This will reduce FPS as it is using your CPU to encode, not the GPU

Hope this helps,

-Shrimp

 

[Kendjin]

Switched to x264

Seems to be looking a bit better, not seeing as many blocks

http://www.twitch.tv/kendjin/b/512729997

Thanks again.

Also I assume the reason my CPU usage greatly increases if I have my stream playing on my pc at the same time is because it needs to render the playback?

 

[Floatingthru]

CPU usage increases because x264 encodes by using CPU powerrrrr, there is a reason why NVENC is "free" encoding for the quality it produces.

 

[Kendjin]

I assume that bandwidth would be the limiting factor in doing 1080p30, I am only using 46% cpu with x264 atm.

 

[Floatingthru]

Well it all depends on the game of course. I generally tell people to just stream in 720p30 at around 2500 bitrate give or take 500. 1080p for streaming isn't really that feasible now due to bitrate limitations, and flash being sucky not giving a smooth stream.

 

[Kendjin]

Thanks for that feedback. One final point, I have my bitrate set to 3500, is this really too high for what I am streaming?

 

[Floatingthru]

A lot of people will have buffering/lagging issues when they try to watch. 2000 bitrate is generally the highest "safe" point if you will. On average at least here in the States 2mbps is the most people can stream stuff. If people start to complain just lower the bitrate. Keep in mind you don't and won't have a perfect looking stream without pixelation using any reasonable settings.

 

[Kendjin]

I'm in EU, so I think I'll drop it down a bit then, we don't have the super US servers :D

 

[Videophile]

Ohh yea, dont stream at 1080p30. Downscale to 720p30 and ue a bit rate of 2000kbps. If your CPU usage is low and you feel like it, try changing the preset to faster and even fast.

-Shrimp