i thought i had fixed all the issues with my stream... i was wrong...

[tiff Studios]

i've been having lots of dropped frame issues and my bitrate has been fluctuating wildly for short bursts. tonight, i made sure to hardline the internet and made some other changes to my OBS setup. the first few hours, it seemed like it was working well, but then the bitrate alerts/warnings started and continued and continued some more. they lasted for 10 or so minutes during which, the framerate stayed relatively stable. viewers were not buffering, but they were getting jumps in the video. bitrate returned to normal for awhile, but then the issue returned with a vengance. this time the bitrate drops caused multiple buffering issues with the stream.

i've included the log file and i hope someone can help me spot the cause of the issue.

thanks in advance!

 

[qhobbes]

In my experience, the fluctuations were always caused by something else on the local network using upload bandwidth, but that never lead to jumps or buffering. The quality was lower but all the frames were still there. That was to FB, YT, Twitch and X.

You got 3 options:
1. Stream at 6000 with a high probability of dropped frames.
2. Stream at 900 with a lower probability of dropped frames.
3. Stream at 6000 with Dynamic Bitrate for no dropped frames like you do now.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

You have audio sources are differently sampling rates between Mic and Speakers. never a good idea. possibly (probably) a non-issue for you... but maybe worth fixing regardless??

As for troubleshooting
1. real-time monitoring of your WAN/ISP link (to see if WAN upload bandwidth contention is your issue) [ie, monitor for what qhobbes mentioned)
2. real-time monitoring of your PC to make sure something like a browser session or other isn't overloading your PC in the background
3. Check ISP provided bandwidth to see if it itself is fluctuating (this can be quite tricky to test, and well outside the scope of this forum)
Cellular ISPs commonly have variable bandwidth. Some neighborhood Coax (cable modem) networks were know for over-subscription, and would have bandwidth contention issues when kids got home from school/adults from work, etc. I mention this as same variability in available bandwidth from consumer/residential ISP is common. large variability much less common, but still possible, depending on network.