I am having an issue with my livestream disconnecting, and dropping many frames 'due to network'. I have done a lot of research as to what are the ideal settings for streaming and I'll list them below. I stream for a church on Sunday morning, and I'll have a flawless stream for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and then suddenly in the stats window in OBS, I see and increasing number of dropped frames due to network, and the bitrate in the bottom right corner is low to 0kbps. On the YouTube end, it just shows no data, and is indefinitely loading for the viewers. This problem is really frustrating me, as there will sometimes be weeks where this will go well, and other times when it will disconnect and never reconnect.
I have tried streaming directly on YouTube on Chrome, and things are smooth. (This is my main backup at the moment for when the stream from OBS crashes, then I direct the viewers to the new stream). But this is far from a good live-streaming experience, and I would like to use the many features OBS has to offer.
Here are the important computer specs:
- Intel i7-1065g7
- 16 gb of ram
- I don't use the graphics card because its a basic one that comes with the laptop.
Internet speed test after many tests:
- consistently 11.7 mbps upload speed
- around 90 mbps download speed
Important OBS settings:
- Resolution 1080p 30fps
- Video bitrate: 4500kbps
- Keyframe interval: 2 sec
- Video codec: x264 (using the CPU)
- Rate control: CBR
- Audio bitrate: 128kbps
- 44.1 kHz sample rate
Keep in mind that OBS is the only program running on the laptop at the time of streaming, and windows defender automatic full scan is disabled so it won't eat up the CPU processing power.
Also keep in mind that I have done many tests during the weekdays (with all the above settings), and they all turn out perfect, sometimes without a single dropped frame. I've even bumped the bitrate up to 8000kbps for a test and things went perfect, but for weekly use I still use 4500kbps. (I know my limit for this internet would theoretically be 11000kbps, but I'm not going there). Also note that there are no other devices using the internet except for on some weeks, a YouTube video played from a TV in another room, and occasionally some light smartphone internet browsing.
I do keep my eye on Windows Task Manager during a stream with OBS, and the usage stays at about 60% give or take 5%. I know the computer is not specifically designed or built for livestreaming, but from what I see in the task manager leads me to believe that the computer is having no problems encoding video just on the CPU. Also, in the stats window of OBS, I never see dropped frames due to encoding lag, only dropped frames due to network.
Believe it or not, I used to use a 2017 MacBook Air with a dual core i5 processor and 8gb of ram to stream. I got OK results, as I was forced to lower the bitrate to 1500kbps and the resolution to 720p, BUT, note that the livestream didn't crash and there weren't any significant dropped frames due to network then. This was all on the same router as mentioned in the first post.
What I strongly suspect is that on Sunday morning when many churches are streaming to YouTube, the primary ingest server is overloaded, and connection is lost. I know that router has no problems (it is a TP-link Archer A7, a recommended router for live-streaming), because I can google something or reload a tab while OBS is disconnecting and it will still load. The thing is, I don't know what to do about this. I would try Facebook, but many churches also use Facebook on Sunday morning so I don't know how this would change things.
So, my main questions are,
- Is there anything at all that I need to change about my settings that would fix this problem? (Keep in mind I have never had a dropped frame due to encoding lag, so I know the CPU is not struggling to encode video)
- How can I ensure a good connection to a YouTube server on Sunday morning? Should I use the backup server that is that other option in OBS? Does that work the same as the primary ingest server.
- Would a different streaming software work better? If it's the connection to the server that's the issue, I would think another software wouldn't do much better than OBS.
- I also want to specifically ask does lowering bitrate make it easier on the data transfer from the computer to YouTube's primary ingest server, therefore making the livestream more reliable than if I used a higher bitrate?
I am relatively new to streaming with OBS (since September), and am trying to do everything right. I would like to think OBS is a good encoder, if I need to fix anything on my end for it all to work out smoothly, I would surely like to know what.
I have tried streaming directly on YouTube on Chrome, and things are smooth. (This is my main backup at the moment for when the stream from OBS crashes, then I direct the viewers to the new stream). But this is far from a good live-streaming experience, and I would like to use the many features OBS has to offer.
Here are the important computer specs:
- Intel i7-1065g7
- 16 gb of ram
- I don't use the graphics card because its a basic one that comes with the laptop.
Internet speed test after many tests:
- consistently 11.7 mbps upload speed
- around 90 mbps download speed
Important OBS settings:
- Resolution 1080p 30fps
- Video bitrate: 4500kbps
- Keyframe interval: 2 sec
- Video codec: x264 (using the CPU)
- Rate control: CBR
- Audio bitrate: 128kbps
- 44.1 kHz sample rate
Keep in mind that OBS is the only program running on the laptop at the time of streaming, and windows defender automatic full scan is disabled so it won't eat up the CPU processing power.
Also keep in mind that I have done many tests during the weekdays (with all the above settings), and they all turn out perfect, sometimes without a single dropped frame. I've even bumped the bitrate up to 8000kbps for a test and things went perfect, but for weekly use I still use 4500kbps. (I know my limit for this internet would theoretically be 11000kbps, but I'm not going there). Also note that there are no other devices using the internet except for on some weeks, a YouTube video played from a TV in another room, and occasionally some light smartphone internet browsing.
I do keep my eye on Windows Task Manager during a stream with OBS, and the usage stays at about 60% give or take 5%. I know the computer is not specifically designed or built for livestreaming, but from what I see in the task manager leads me to believe that the computer is having no problems encoding video just on the CPU. Also, in the stats window of OBS, I never see dropped frames due to encoding lag, only dropped frames due to network.
Believe it or not, I used to use a 2017 MacBook Air with a dual core i5 processor and 8gb of ram to stream. I got OK results, as I was forced to lower the bitrate to 1500kbps and the resolution to 720p, BUT, note that the livestream didn't crash and there weren't any significant dropped frames due to network then. This was all on the same router as mentioned in the first post.
What I strongly suspect is that on Sunday morning when many churches are streaming to YouTube, the primary ingest server is overloaded, and connection is lost. I know that router has no problems (it is a TP-link Archer A7, a recommended router for live-streaming), because I can google something or reload a tab while OBS is disconnecting and it will still load. The thing is, I don't know what to do about this. I would try Facebook, but many churches also use Facebook on Sunday morning so I don't know how this would change things.
So, my main questions are,
- Is there anything at all that I need to change about my settings that would fix this problem? (Keep in mind I have never had a dropped frame due to encoding lag, so I know the CPU is not struggling to encode video)
- How can I ensure a good connection to a YouTube server on Sunday morning? Should I use the backup server that is that other option in OBS? Does that work the same as the primary ingest server.
- Would a different streaming software work better? If it's the connection to the server that's the issue, I would think another software wouldn't do much better than OBS.
- I also want to specifically ask does lowering bitrate make it easier on the data transfer from the computer to YouTube's primary ingest server, therefore making the livestream more reliable than if I used a higher bitrate?
I am relatively new to streaming with OBS (since September), and am trying to do everything right. I would like to think OBS is a good encoder, if I need to fix anything on my end for it all to work out smoothly, I would surely like to know what.