Question / Help Quality

[Smoshi]

I'm trying to stream 720p@30fps (want to go up to 60 eventually) but the stream is sort of fuzzy.
I know another streamer that streams 720p and his looks crisp.

Here's also;
http://www.twitch.tv/xsmoshi/b/473731550

 

[XeiZ]

Dont use quicksync then. No way to change the quality except upgrading to a new cpu or upping the bitrate A LOT.

 

[Smoshi]

Well, I don't think Quick Sync should make it that bad.
I tried with and without Quick Sync and honestly did not notice a difference.

Also, Twitch only allows 3500 max bitrate, yeah?
I'm at 3000, but could go 3500 I guess

 

[FerretBomb]

The problem is QuickSync. As noted in the last thread about this, your CPU is very, very weak... the i3 series is the bargain/'economy' chip, and doesn't have the horsepower to really handle real-time encoding of video. QSV is a workaround option, but it provides poorer-quality encodes, as you've noticed; somewhere between Superfast and Ultrafast. The tradeoff being that it uses almost no CPU. This is actually better than most AVerMedia streams.

All of that said, 3000kbps for a 720p@30fps stream is ridiculous. You shouldn't need more than 1500 to get decent quality. 3K is enough for an ok-quality 1080 stream. The problem here is that your CPU is very, very, VERY weak... using QSV is a workaround to allow you to stream at that rate at all.

If you want quality, you will need to upgrade your hardware to at least an i5 (if not an i7 while you're already upgrading), so you can stop using QSV and switch to at least Veryfast without dropping frames all over the place as that i3 will.

 

[z0rz]

What FerretBomb said. QSV requires a ton of bitrate to produce a super high quality stream, but high bitrates aren't really a viable option because A) Twitch doesn't want you to go above 3500 and B) users with slow download won't be able to watch anyway, even if Twitch was okay with it.

I don't think your stream looks bad at all though. Visual quality obviously matters, but livestreaming is more about interaction with the broadcaster/viewers and providing an interesting experience. If you're more concerned about the visual quality of your gameplay than anything else, you should just do high quality local recordings and upload them somewhere.

 

[Smoshi]

I was leaning more toward a Xeon (probably a xeon 1240)
The reason is, I can't overclock on my mobo and I'm not ready to put out 500$+ on a new mobo and cpu.
So a Xeon is basically an i7 without the igpu and overclocking capability.

I hope it's a good investment. If not, return is always an option.