Question / Help My Stream is constantly freezy and stutter, but my specs are great...whats wrong?
- Thread starter infernouk
- Start date
FerretBomb
Active Member
Unless you are a Twitch Partner, exceeding 2000kbps is not advised. The widest viewerbase can watch at 2000kbps smoothly. Going over this means increasing the amount of buffering/stuttering your viewers will get; most people will just leave if a stream buffers a lot for them, to find one that they can watch smoothly.
If you are a non-Partner, the 'golden point' is 720p@30fps, 2000kbps, x264 Veryfast (or slower). Start out there and go down one preset step at a time, testing for 20 minutes of actual streaming and gameplay, while monitoring CPU load, temperatures, and throttling/parked cores. Generally I shoot for around 80% utilization, but up to 90% can work (but risks game performance impact).
You should NOT be using a custom buffer size without a good reason. Remove it. Likewise, if you followed a 'best settings guide', I'd advise reverting your settings to default. Most out there are full of misinformation or bad/parroted information with terrible advice from people who don't actually understand what the settings do, and are going off things they've heard from others (custom buffer sizes are usually a flag of one of these being used; they're scarcely ever needed, and only for some specific problems).
The delay is there due to Twitch using HLS. With a proper setup, you can shave the delay down to 9-12 seconds minimum. This depends on helping to ensure your viewers don't buffer (buffering = increased delay as the player will want to have more video ready to ensure smooth playback), and that you don't drop/skip/dupe/late frames due to over-loading. It's no RTMP (3-6 second delay) like Twitch used to have, but it's fairly livable.
If you are a non-Partner, the 'golden point' is 720p@30fps, 2000kbps, x264 Veryfast (or slower). Start out there and go down one preset step at a time, testing for 20 minutes of actual streaming and gameplay, while monitoring CPU load, temperatures, and throttling/parked cores. Generally I shoot for around 80% utilization, but up to 90% can work (but risks game performance impact).
You should NOT be using a custom buffer size without a good reason. Remove it. Likewise, if you followed a 'best settings guide', I'd advise reverting your settings to default. Most out there are full of misinformation or bad/parroted information with terrible advice from people who don't actually understand what the settings do, and are going off things they've heard from others (custom buffer sizes are usually a flag of one of these being used; they're scarcely ever needed, and only for some specific problems).
The delay is there due to Twitch using HLS. With a proper setup, you can shave the delay down to 9-12 seconds minimum. This depends on helping to ensure your viewers don't buffer (buffering = increased delay as the player will want to have more video ready to ensure smooth playback), and that you don't drop/skip/dupe/late frames due to over-loading. It's no RTMP (3-6 second delay) like Twitch used to have, but it's fairly livable.
Thanks ill implement all of this and see how i go!
FerretBomb
Active Member
No. You're still using a custom buffer. Uncheck that and/or set it to 2000 as well.
I'd set the Process Priority class to 'Above Normal', but that's mostly personal preference. Ensures that the video encoder will be less likely to choke during peak loads, without 'drowning' other processes at a higher setting.
Unless you plan to edit the video later with Sony Vegas, uncheck 'Use CFR'. Twitch needs CBR, not CFR.
The new default for Scene Buffering Time is 700ms. Probably won't hurt anything at 400, but to be thorough, bumping it up to the new default could be a good idea.
Slower x264 preset = more CPU used = better compression used = better your stream will look at a given bitrate. It's not a magic bullet, but it helps noticeably. Especially as a non-partner, to use your bitrate most effectively.
I'd also recommend doing test recordings both with the Lanczos downscaler AND the Bilinear; as you're running a straight 2.0 downscale, bilinear may result in a better end quality as it can just go on quads (as opposed to downscaling 1080p to 720p, which is a 1.5 downscale).
For absolute best quality, you have to stream native-resolution, with no downscale. Including not squashing or stretching anything in the preview window, or 'fit to screen'. If you're willing to game at 1280x720 on your monitor, with all of your overlays/art assets pre-resized down, and your cam running in the appropriate resolution as well, it will look *great* on your stream. But most aren't willing to do that. Might actually be an option for you though, again thanks to the 1440p doublesize, allowing each 720p pixel to map to four real pixels on your display, so it won't look *as* bad.
Not many will opt for this as it's a pain in the butt and eyes. But it really makes a difference, if you're willing to jump through the hoops, and suffer the low resolution on your end.
I'd set the Process Priority class to 'Above Normal', but that's mostly personal preference. Ensures that the video encoder will be less likely to choke during peak loads, without 'drowning' other processes at a higher setting.
Unless you plan to edit the video later with Sony Vegas, uncheck 'Use CFR'. Twitch needs CBR, not CFR.
The new default for Scene Buffering Time is 700ms. Probably won't hurt anything at 400, but to be thorough, bumping it up to the new default could be a good idea.
Slower x264 preset = more CPU used = better compression used = better your stream will look at a given bitrate. It's not a magic bullet, but it helps noticeably. Especially as a non-partner, to use your bitrate most effectively.
I'd also recommend doing test recordings both with the Lanczos downscaler AND the Bilinear; as you're running a straight 2.0 downscale, bilinear may result in a better end quality as it can just go on quads (as opposed to downscaling 1080p to 720p, which is a 1.5 downscale).
For absolute best quality, you have to stream native-resolution, with no downscale. Including not squashing or stretching anything in the preview window, or 'fit to screen'. If you're willing to game at 1280x720 on your monitor, with all of your overlays/art assets pre-resized down, and your cam running in the appropriate resolution as well, it will look *great* on your stream. But most aren't willing to do that. Might actually be an option for you though, again thanks to the 1440p doublesize, allowing each 720p pixel to map to four real pixels on your display, so it won't look *as* bad.
Not many will opt for this as it's a pain in the butt and eyes. But it really makes a difference, if you're willing to jump through the hoops, and suffer the low resolution on your end.
great thanks i have made the changes you highlighted so its inline with your recommendations.
ill consider trying playing at 720 but i dont think i can handle that, im on a 3440x1440 monitor as it is and its painful having to downgrade for viewers! so 2560x1440 is my compromise so im in the correct aspect ratio.
ill consider trying playing at 720 but i dont think i can handle that, im on a 3440x1440 monitor as it is and its painful having to downgrade for viewers! so 2560x1440 is my compromise so im in the correct aspect ratio.