Question / Help Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for streaming

V

Vykromond

New Member
Hi all,

I've been streaming Dota 2 on a fairly consistent basis and OBS has been an invaluable asset to me. OBS creator(s) and maintainers, there can't be enough gratitude sent your way for making a great, responsive and easy-to-use freeware streaming software.

I've had a few issues with my stream that I'm not totally happy with, which are most likely not the fault of the program but still something I could use input on:
  • Periodic strong "artifacting" effects on the stream output only where the stream gets highly pixelated, more frequently in motion scenes, but only occurring sometimes with no clarity on my end as to why. The locally stored MP4 files have no issues. (Example: http://www.twitch.tv/netolictv/b/387561176 , scroll to somewhere in the middle) This is a high priority issue for me.
  • Choppy performance overall both on my end and the stream output. This is a medium priority issue for me as I suspect it's somewhat less tractable without bigger changes.

I have put a number of OBS log files from the last week or so on http://www.vykromond.com/dota/OBS_logs/ . From a cursory examination and eyeballing the VODs of the streams from the same day and time, it seems to me that the larger filesize logs correspond to days with greater instances of issue 1 (artifacting). Maybe this is meaningful or maybe it's not.

The main things I'm wondering are:
  • What is the cause of issue 1?
    How can I avoid recurrences of issue 1?
    Are there things I can change about my OBS streaming settings to address issue 1?
    Are there things I can change about my OBS streaming settings to address issue 2?
    If issue 2 persists with optimal OBS settings, where can I best apply money to the problem? (I.E. what parts of my system are limiting OBS's performance?)

Thanks in advance for anyone's input.
 
V

Vykromond

New Member
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

dodgepong said:
Do you think you could post your log? viewtopic.php?f=6&t=97
Click to expand...

Yes- I posted a number of logs at http://www.vykromond.com/dota/OBS_logs/ .

A long one (lots of artifacting): http://pastebin.com/ukuTgbBF
A short one (not much artifacting): http://pastebin.com/7uhnZYPY

Short one below, as the long one breaks the maximum post length:

Code: 
Open Broadcaster Software v0.472b - 32bit (´・ω・｀)
-------------------------------
CPU Name: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 945 Processor
CPU Speed: 3013MHz
Physical Memory:  4094MB Total, 2672MB Free
stepping id: 2, model 4, family 15, type 0, extmodel 8, extfamily 0, HTT 1, logical cores 4, total cores 4
monitor 1: pos={0, 0}, size={1920, 1080}
monitor 2: pos={1920, 0}, size={1280, 1024}
Windows Version: 6.1 Build 7601 S
Aero is Disabled
------------------------------------------
Adapter 1
  Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
  Video Adapter Dedicated Video Memory: 1025179648
  Video Adapter Shared System Memory: 1878257664
=====Stream Start=====================================================================
  Multithreaded optimizations: On
  Base resolution: 1920x1080
  Output resolution: 1280x720
------------------------------------------
Loading up D3D10...
Playback device Default
------------------------------------------
Using desktop audio input: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
------------------------------------------
Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (Blue Snowball)
------------------------------------------
Audio Encoding: AAC
    bitrate: 192
Using text output
Using text output
Using text output
Using text output
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
Using text output
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
x264: using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast FastShuffle SSEMisalign LZCNT
x264: profile High, level 3.1
------------------------------------------
Video Encoding: x264
    fps: 30
    width: 1280, height: 720
    preset: veryfast
    CBR: yes
    CFR: no
    max bitrate: 4900
------------------------------------------
Using RTMP service: Twitch / Justin.tv
  Server selection: rtmp://live-3c.justin.tv/app
bufferTime: 1619, outputRateWindowTime: 1000, dropThreshold: 2119
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  New Scene
Using text output
Using text output
Using text output
Using Monitor Capture
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (648669 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (648669 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (649388 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Increasing socket send buffer to ISB 131072
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (649388 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (650067 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
RTMPPublisher::BufferedSend: Socket buffer is full (650067 / 651264 bytes), waiting to send 4097 bytes
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  New Scene
Using text output
Using text output
Using text output
Using text output
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
Using text output
Using bitmap image
Using Window Capture
Total frames rendered: 225806, number of frames that lagged: 23584 (10.44%) (it's okay for some frames to lag)
RTMPPublisher::SocketLoop: Aborting due to loop exit
librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10035 (79 bytes)
librtmp error: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
Number of b-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Number of p-frames dropped: 0 (0%), Total 0 (0%)
x264: frame I:921   Avg QP: 7.38  size:222455
x264: frame P:74473 Avg QP: 5.12  size: 31277
x264: frame B:150374 Avg QP: 6.89  size: 15761
x264: consecutive B-frames: 10.2%  1.8%  3.8% 84.2%
x264: mb I  I16..4: 33.9%  6.8% 59.3%
x264: mb P  I16..4:  0.6%  0.6%  1.2%  P16..4: 24.6%  3.6%  3.8%  0.0%  0.0%    skip:65.7%
x264: mb B  I16..4:  0.1%  0.0%  0.0%  B16..8:  4.7%  1.8%  0.8%  direct: 6.7%  skip:85.8%  L0:29.7% L1:46.1% BI:24.2%
x264: 8x8 transform intra:18.2% inter:18.3%
x264: coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 80.3% 76.1% 66.1% inter: 9.4% 7.9% 5.4%
x264: i16 v,h,dc,p: 51% 27% 19%  4%
x264: i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 12% 22% 33%  3%  7%  4%  6%  5%  9%
x264: i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 19% 24% 20%  4%  9%  5%  6%  5%  8%
x264: i8c dc,h,v,p: 52% 25% 14%  8%
x264: Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0%
x264: kb/s:4899.91
=====Stream End=======================================================================
 
Profiler results:
 
==============================================================
frame - [100%] [avg time: 19.988 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 93.8%] [unaccounted: 6.16%]
| scene->Preprocess - [62.5%] [avg time: 12.489 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
| video encoding and uploading - [31.4%] [avg time: 6.267 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1] [children: 19.3%] [unaccounted: 12.1%]
| | CopyResource - [0.485%] [avg time: 0.097 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
| | conversion to 4:2:0 - [0.685%] [avg time: 0.137 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
| | call to encoder - [16.9%] [avg time: 3.372 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
| | sending stuff out - [1.23%] [avg time: 0.245 ms] [avg calls per frame: 0]
==============================================================
 
R

R1CH

Forum Admin
Developer
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

Pick a nearby twitch server instead of letting it random, your connection isn't good enough to whichever server you're streaming to so you're dropping frames.
 
V

Vykromond

New Member
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

R1CH said:
Pick a nearby twitch server instead of letting it random, your connection isn't good enough to whichever server you're streaming to so you're dropping frames.
Click to expand...

Thanks- I'll be sure to try that. Any input on more broad performance improvements I could be applying?

dodgepong said:
Oh, sorry, my bad...I often read these threads quickly and look for pastebin links or code blocks. I didn't see that link there. :|
Click to expand...

No problem at all, I appreciate you even reading the thread & I could have been more clear in the original post. I just wanted to provide more than a couple logs in case it would be more helpful.
 
G

Grimio

Member
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

I've seen from the logs that you're using 4900 kbit/s, this seems like a lot for the type of game you're streaming.
While the quality will be amazing, you are pretty much guaranteed that a lot of people will have problems watching your stream.
I recommend you try a bitrate somewhere around 2500 - 3000 for a good quality/userbase tradeoff.
 
V

Vykromond

New Member
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

Grimio said:
I've seen from the logs that you're using 4900 kbit/s, this seems like a lot for the type of game you're streaming.
While the quality will be amazing, you are pretty much guaranteed that a lot of people will have problems watching your stream.
I recommend you try a bitrate somewhere around 2500 - 3000 for a good quality/userbase tradeoff.
Click to expand...

Thanks- I'll turn it down tonight and see how it affects the stream performance. Will report back with a new log.
 
Krazy

Krazy

Town drunk
Re: Help with optimizing settings and/or hardware for stream

Yeah, most of your issues will likely be solved by doing a more reasonable bitrate and choosing a proper ingest server. You may also consider giving the latest test version a try. It may not have a big impact on your particular issue, but there are a number of improvements that may help with performance and such.
 
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