Question / Help Help - Steam drops to low quality during combat

[Ryainor]

Hi,
Recently started streaming.
PC Specs are the following

CPU = Intel I7 4770
RAM = 16GB
GFX = AMD R9 290
Game = Elder Scrolls Online

Here is a screen shot of my internet speed ( 107mb download / 6 mb upload )
http://www.speedtest.net/result/3549059692.png

OBS is the latest version
1920 x 1080 (No downscaling) @ 30 fps
Buffer and bitrate set at 4000 (Seems to give slightly better quality than 3500)
Ticked Use CBR and CBR Padding
Very Fast CPU Preset ( Tried different options here with no difference in quality )
London Twitch Server (Closest to me)


My stream is good quality when there is not much action going on, but whenever lots of movement and combat happens my stream goes very low quality. I've tried all different settings and am struggling to make my stream any better. Can anyone assist in this? I've seen other ESO streams that don't have this issue so I think it must be my settings.

Here is a link to a past broadcast where you can see the quality is fine until combat (Can't read numbers and low quality)
http://www.twitch.tv/lunalumie/b/536264680

 

[BtbN]

That's how video encoding works. If there is a lot of motion, the bitrate either goes up in VBR mode, or the quality drops in CBR mode. 3.5Mbps is the maximum allowed bitrate on twitch, more can get you banned.
Your only option is to stream at 720p, as 3.5Mbps is barely enough for low motion 1080p.

 

[Ryainor]

Thanks.

How do others manage it then? I've spoke to other streams who stream ESO at 1080p with 3500 - 4000 and 30 fps and there stream in combat is much better.
Is there nothing I can do to improve the quality? I tried 720p and again it's fine out of combat (looks worse than 1080p obviously) but in combat it looks bad again

 

[BtbN]

Without a log that's all i can tell you. 720p at 30fps should not show any noticable motion artefacts at 2.5Mbps+

 

[Ryainor]

Here's a log for you

 

[BtbN]

The only thing you could try is setting the profile from main to high, but that likely won't change much.
You are simply expecting too much from a streaming bitrate.

 

[Ryainor]

Ok thanks I will try this.
I just thought it could be better since others manager it with OBS and the same game.
Surly if they manage it so can I

 

[BtbN]

x264 is the best h264 encoder in existence, your log shows no problems with it. There is no way anyone else has a secret magic encoder. They are most likely just streaming 720p with a high bitrate.