Question / Help Question....what is the proper upload bitrate for OBS for 20MbUp?

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isamu

New Member
Guys, TWC just upgraded my speeds here in Los Angeles and now I get up to 20Mb upload rate. However, OBS still suggests I keep my uploaded bitrate at 3500. Why is it recommending this bitrate when mine is much higher? What bitrate do YOU guys suggest I set in OBS? 20000? 19000? 15000?
 
Depends on where you're streaming to.

Twitch (for example) recommends a maximum of 3500kbps, and if you exceed it by too much your stream will be considered a denial-of-service (as it'll potentially cause problems on the ingest server for OTHER people trying to stream) and your account can be banned.

Then there's the fact that anyone WATCHING your stream will need to download at the rate at which you upload... meaning anyone on a moderate or poor connection will not be able to watch your feed. Again using Twitch as an example, 2000kbps is the recommended maximum for non-partnered streams, just as it's less likely to send most of your viewers into buffering-hell, as anything higher definitely can. If you aren't a partner, you don't have quality transcoding options to let them just go to a lower-rate version and still watch.
No one will really come TO your stream for crystal-clear video, but people will definitely leave if they constantly get stuck in a buffer-loop.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. So basically, Twitch should be kept at 3500 maximum, otherwise I could potentially get in trouble? Will my vid be smooth and clear at 1080p at that rate?
 
Do any of you guys with fast internet stream with higher upload speed than the recommended 3500 for Twitch? If so what upload speed do you use in OBS?
 
Generally you don't want to be anywhere NEAR 3500 unless you're a contracted Twitch Partner.

Some partners DO risk higher bitrates (a Twitch Staffer said that 6mbps is the 'borderline DoS' point for a potential ban), but for a non-partner it will make your stream almost un-watchable to any viewers, as they'll be stuck constantly buffering.

No, 3500 is just barely enough for decently-watchable 1080p@30fps video on the Veryfast encoder preset.

Again, the 'sweet spot' for non-partners is 2000kbps, 720p, 30fps. Bumping your rate to try to run 1080p as a non-partner will just lose you potential viewers.
 
FerretBomb said:
Generally you don't want to be anywhere NEAR 3500 unless you're a contracted Twitch Partner.

Some partners DO risk higher bitrates (a Twitch Staffer said that 6mbps is the 'borderline DoS' point for a potential ban), but for a non-partner it will make your stream almost un-watchable to any viewers, as they'll be stuck constantly buffering.

No, 3500 is just barely enough for decently-watchable 1080p@30fps video on the Veryfast encoder preset.

Again, the 'sweet spot' for non-partners is 2000kbps, 720p, 30fps. Bumping your rate to try to run 1080p as a non-partner will just lose you potential viewers.
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Well then I guess I'm done Twitch. I've got 20Mb upload speed and Twitch still wants me to stream at only 2000-3000kbps? Fuck that. I'll go to Hitbox.... which I hear has no such restrictions.I care about quality and framerate, not viewers.

One important point I forgot to mention to you FerretBomb.....I'm not out to get a whole lot of viewers. I only stream so my personal friend can watch. He has decent download speed at around 15Mb and is about to get upgraded to 50Mb. My friend is only a dozen miles away and is usually the only one who watches my stream and that's all I care about. Is there an alternative streaming client besides Twitch or Hitbox, that is more for one on one streaming between two people? If so, can you tell me about it?

Too bad OBS doesn't support direct 1-on-1 broadcasting between two people.
 
I've got ~18Mbps upload and I've streamed to YouTube live at 5000 bitrate. Don't know about Hitbox but YouTube transcodes into lower resolutions that users on slower connections can use if they want. Also YouTube being massive have probably the biggest infrastructure behind them.
 
what is the maximum amount of upload bitrate Youtube allows you to set? I wonder if they allow 20000 bitrate?
 
isamu said:
what is the maximum amount of upload bitrate Youtube allows you to set? I wonder if they allow 20000 bitrate?
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It is capped at 6mbit. If you don't care about viewers, why not just do local recordings? Nobody will be able/care to watch your stream at 20mbit/sec
 
Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Even once your friend updates his internet, its likely you'll still have problems using such high bitrates, ISPs can rarely deliver the full upload and download speeds they quote without a CIR (and I haven't had a CIR since I had 384/128 DSL back in the 90s). Quality-wise, 6k with half-way decent encoding should be enough to make a very nice quality video, no need for the 20k you're talking about.

You might also check to see if Jack0r has any guides for streaming to one computer, it seems like something he may have done: http://www.helping-squad.com/wp .
 
Actually, Hitbox still does have limitations. And even if your friend has 15mbps downstream, there's no guarantee that he'll be able to download at that rate from their servers anyway. I'm on 50mbps, and regularly will get buffering and stutter trying to watch a 3mbps stream. Twitch, Hitbox, Youtube, doesn't matter. In fact, YT is probably the worst out of the three.

Good luck though man, it definitely sounds like you're going to need it.
 
Youtube is actually very good. If only it wasn't so troublesome to setup a stream everytime, I'd always stream to YT. Great transcoding, stable upload everytime at 6mbps and I can make some cash off the streams without shitty twitch partnership. So no, don't ever claim YT is worst.
 
Great discussion and thanks guys. Duly noted. Gonna experiment with some Youtube and see how that fares. Gonna play with Hitbox a bit as well.
 
Oh and by the way....I'd like your honest and objective thoughts on the following question please:

Which gives overall better performance and stability between OBS and Nvidia's Shadowplay?
 
There is next to no performance difference between shadowplay software and obs (encoding is done with the gpu, software just issues instructions once, pretty much). That being said, shadowplay is in raw beta and is pretty buggy -> will only work in fullscreen ganes, has limited number or bitrates and framerates, and sometimes will refuse streaming to twitch.
 
Also, Shadowplay's encoding quality is quite poor by comparison. So it'll look worse/more pixellated than a standard x264 stream at comparable bitrates.
 
FerretBomb said:
Also, Shadowplay's encoding quality is quite poor by comparison. So it'll look worse/more pixellated than a standard x264 stream at comparable bitrates.
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Encoding is done by the GPU, shadowplay has nothing to do with it. It has 30-40-50-60mbps options, at 30 and 60 fps. and even 30mbps gives you a really good picture in most games.
 
I would respectfully disagree... I'd looked into this as a consideration in my next upgrade (as my current video card is getting long in the tooth) and decided against it due to the comparatively poor results across the board, at different bitrates. Sure it can work and not look like crap, but you have to throw massive amounts of bitrate at it to do so.

Realistically speaking, at-current only later model QSV and software x264 offer a decent video fidelity point for livestreaming. Recording to edit and re-encode later? Go nuts.
 
You must think about more than half of the average twitch viewers don't have strong enough computers and/or internet capable of viewing that high of a bitrate without quality settings. 3000 is the best you should go to. 4000 would be pushing it. If you go over like 2k without quality settings, a lot of people will consider your stream unwatchable regardless of the picture quality. If this is has been said before in this thread sorry for repeating it.
 
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