Question / Help Hardware h264 vs x264

[Mike Zubik]

Hello guys! Need help with right configuring live stream on mac.

My setup is two logitech 9200 cameras connected to Macbook Air late 2014. Everything work stable with x264 encoder in 1280 x 720 with 30 fps on 5000 bitrate. But i don't like quality. During stream session it's really no good, and video looks good only after Youtube finish with processing and publish it on channel.

In searching to improve quality i tried a lot. Unfortunately my mac and x264 can't work with two cameras and output in 1920x1080. Then i tried Apple Hardware h264 and it works well with excellent quality. But seems that my mac are not powerful enough to process two cameras and output in 1080, stream goes well but problem with audio and video sync when both cameras on. In 720 audio sync well.

He-he, i was happy with hardware h264 decoder until i discovered a critical problem. No matter which resolution or bitrate i use, after 10-20 min from start the connection in OBS rapidly falls to zero and i need to stop and start again stream to restore. The problem is not in internet connection because when i switch to x264 everything works fine with 5000 bitrate for 2 hours and more.

Does anybody know how to solve this? Is there any chance to fix that problem with apple hardware h264 decoder? Still hope to level up the quality of my video during live streams.

Thanks!

 

[Chidorin]

apple hardware h264 is basically gpu encoder so if your mac supports egpu you can improve encoder by using gpu with newer encoder version. Also, imho, I recommend using 720p cause it's standard now (not all devices even capable of decoding 1080p), some big streamers use 900p but they are using second streaming machine to encode

 

[keybounce]

... Everything work stable with x264 encoder in 1280 x 720 with 30 fps on 5000 bitrate. But i don't like quality. During stream session it's really no good, and video looks good only after Youtube finish with processing and publish it on channel.

This is an oddity. Normally, YouTube lowers quality down -- it has a desired max bitrate for a given quality.

The best recommendation for quality is not to use a bitrate, but a quality factor.

If you do need a bitrate, try using "Veryfast" if your machine can support it. x.264, on Ultra fast (position 0) or super fast (position 1) are significantly bigger raterates for a given quality in my testing.

(My setup: I record at Q19, 576p, and send that through an editor. If you are not going through an editor, you can probably be fine with Q21. Note that if you use 265, you need lower numbers (start at Q16).