Question / Help Please help with Twitch/stream Quality!

J

Jay Ellis

New Member
Hey guys,

I've been tweaking with my OBS Studio settings for about a week now. Everything was fine and I was even streaming the new DOOM quite easily and my viewers did not once complain about my quality.

But now, it is atrocious. No matter what I do with my settings, I've tried EVERYTHING.

Here are my PC specs, now I know they're not the best, but obviously I was streaming DOOM and other demanding games very well.

Windows 10
ASM100
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
8GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce NVIDIA GTX860m 2GB

I've also attached a short stream I tested earlier. It's not as choppy as it has been but it's pretty bad quality;
https://www.twitch.tv/beardedbritgames/v/69919765

And here are my settings...

Output:
x264
CBR - 2250
CRF - 20
CPU Usage - superfast

Video:
1360x768 (both)
Downscale Filter - Bicubic
Common FPS Values - 30

I hope this is enough information!
Thank you so much guys.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Your log file doesn't contain a streaming/recording attempt. Restart OBS, stream/record for a few minutes with the settings you'd like us to look at, then choose the option to upload your current log file and link it here.

Edit: The VOD you linked was streamed at 480p and 800 Kbps, so the quality looks about right for those settings.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
That's not correct though. The settings I wrote in my original message were the settings I used when streaming.
Is there any reason why it's making it 480p when I'm setting it to 720p? With atleast 2000 bit rate?
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
I will record now for a couple minutes and log it for you. I won't stream as I tend to get a lot of viewers nowadays so I don't want to waste their time thinking I'm online.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
No, it was correct, I just didn't realize you had transcoding options available and I was watching at medium quality. ;)

The source quality does look about right for 1366x768, 2250 Kbps and the superfast preset though. GTAV is also far more demanding CPU-wise than Doom 4, so it makes sense that you would be more limited in the encoding settings you can use and the performance you can get while streaming it.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
Ah right okay. It seems to do with it with a lot of games nowadays though, including Town Of Salem, which is essentially a flash game.

Is there any solution to this?
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Increase the bitrate and/or downscale to a lower stream resolution. As far as GTAV is concerned it looks like you're pretty much at the limits of your hardware, so better compression (i.e. using a better preset like veryfast) isn't really viable.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
What bitrate and resolution would you suggest? I assumed turning the resolution down would make it worse haha

Okay, so would upgrading my CPU help me out a lot here and in the future? Does my graphics card even come into play here?
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
Make some test recordings using different downscale resolutions and see what you thin; 1024x576 would probably be a passable compromise.

I doubt you have any relevant upgrade options with a laptop. Generally speaking a more powerful CPU pretty much always helps for streaming. A more powerful GPU would let you run the game with better graphics settings but wouldn't affect stream performance in a meaningful way as long as your current GPU isn't being completely maxed out.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
Okay thank you.
So all the other settings are pretty good? What about the bitrate?

It isn't a laptop, it's a desktop. So I could upgrade it. In terms of how the games look, they look stunning when I'm playing them, just not when I watch them back haha
So I guess a new/better CPU can help a lot.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
It's one of those Alienware Alpha's. One of the high end ones, I have a store card (like a credit card) and the store does not sell individual PC parts so that was the best choice. With the Alienware Alpha's, you can upgrade everything apart from the graphics card.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
But yeah, what about the questions above dude?
I know it's like 20 questions but as my fan/follower base is growing, I need to make sure my stream is atleast good quality!
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Forum Moderator
If your channel has transcoding available or you're unconcerned about viewer buffering you may as well top out the bitrate at 3500. The other settings are about as good as you can do given your hardware and the game you're trying to stream.
 
J

Jay Ellis

New Member
Okay no worries, thank you for that!
Will try the bitrate. So it will improve the quality but with viewers with not so good connection, it may buffer?
 
K

KingMehkaga

New Member
Hello,

I would like to know if I can stream, and what would my quality be.
These are my performances or whatever...

Internet:
Download: 4.32 Mbps
Upload: 0,48 Mbps

Processor: Intel Core i3-4160, 3,60 GHz
RAM: 4 GB

Graphics Card: NVidia GeForce GT730, approx. total memory: 2965 MB

Current Display Mode: 1366x768

Thank you in advance!!
 
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