Question / Help Maximizing Quality is with Low Bitrate

A

Aerotheiceman

New Member
So my delima is trying to get the best looking picture for high action games that I play online. I'm talking about really low bit rate around 300 kbps max. My computer specs goes as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2320 @ 3.00GHz
RAM: 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 676MHz (9-9-9-24)
GPU: 1024MB GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUStek Computer Inc)
Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio
Resolution: 1920x1080

Any help with this?
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Frankly? Change ISPs.

You MIGHT be able to get a 240p stream at 10fps out of that, but it's still going to look like crap, because it's a 240p stream. High action only makes things worse; the more movement onscreen, the higher the bitrate needed. Online game? Worse still, because some of your throughput needs to be 'saved' for the game's network communications.
 
A

Aerotheiceman

New Member
Well I stream at about 480p-360p and I get good frames it's just the quality, but I know what you mean. Hopefully I'll get an upgrade soon.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Think of your bitrate like currency.
You need to spend it in three or four areas:
-Sound (this is kind of taken off the top, before video is considered)
-Resolution (1080, 720, 480, 360, 240)
-Fluidity (framerate, how fluid the motion is)
-Image Clarity (picture quality, non-blockiness, non-pixellation) Everything not eaten by one of the other three goes here.

So you can drop your resolution and framerate, and the picture clarity will increase due to the bandwidth being freed up for the encoder to use on a clearer image. But you still have to work within your bandwidth budget... in your case, which is very, very low.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Lower your audio bitrate. Drop your resolution to 240/320p. Lower your framerate to 10-15fps. Really all you can do.
If you have a TON of spare CPU cycles laying around, you can try going to the Faster preset instead of Veryfast; gives better image fidelity in less bandwidth, but the processing load increase is significant, as compared to the quality increase (minor).
 
A

Aerotheiceman

New Member
Ok thanks. :) Does the X264 CPU affect anything when it goes lower? I have it set on very fast. Also I have my Quality Balance on CBR any recommendations for that? (I didn't lose as many frames with that which is why I switched)
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
x264 CPU preset will slightly increase visual quality at a given bitrate while significantly increasing CPU load, as you set it slower. Generally speaking, it isn't worth it. Veryfast is the best parity/compromise point between load and clarity. Give it a whirl at Faster though if you're at ~60% CPU utilization while streaming. Try not to go over 80% though (allow some margin for processing spikes).

CBR doesn't use the Quality dropdown, as far as I'm aware. It's a constant bit rate stream. Only VBR would need/use that (unless the CBR implementation is a hybrid setup or something).
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
For quality you should switch ISPs. It's really not going to matter, with only 300kbps.
I would stick with CBR though, as it's less 'spikey' and will be less likely to drop frames/exceed the 300kbps limit as much/impact gameplay.
 
A

Aerotheiceman

New Member
Well yea I'm trying to get that upgrade soon but it'll still only be about double what I have now. XD Also thanks for the help. I really like OBS and I'm trying to get everyone else to hear of this wonderful thing. :3
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top