Question / Help reducing pixelation of stream

[oakeshottxxa]

i am very new to live streaming (as of a few days ago) I just downloaded OBS and I am very impressed with it and so far I have had some good success with it and I would like some advice reducing pixilation during high action moments in a FPS, generally it does quite well and its satisfactory but any improvement is welcome.

My spec:
i-7 3770k OC at 4.2ghz
Nvidia 680 gtx
16gb RAM
Speed.net speed test result 1800kb/s max (my only real limiting factor D:)

My settings:
CBR enabled
max bitrate and buffer size 1650kb/s
base resolution 1080p
resolution downscale 720p
filter bilinear
FPS 45


My advanced settings:
multithread opt is enabled
process priorty above normal
x264 CPU very fast
CFR enabled

Need more information? please and i'll reply as quick as i can

 

[Sapiens]

Pixelation occurs when there isn't enough bandwidth allocated for your stream resolution and frame rate. If 1650 Kbps doesn't provide acceptable quality when streaming at 1280x720 @ 45 FPS and your connection prevents you from allocating more bandwidth, you should experiment with lowering the stream resolution and/or frame rate.

 

[H4ndy]

I am streaming with 2 MBit/s at 1280x720 with 30fps and it still pixelates pretty heavily in FPS games. I think you need at least 2.5 to 3 MBit/s for a good quality in this setting.

 

[oakeshottxxa]

Pixelation occurs when there isn't enough bandwidth allocated for your stream resolution and frame rate. If 1650 Kbps doesn't provide acceptable quality when streaming at 1280x720 @ 45 FPS and your connection prevents you from allocating more bandwidth, you should experiment with lowering the stream resolution and/or frame rate.

it actually does quite well as it is right now, but i will give your suggestion a go

 

[Keirnoth]

I suggest using the resolution downscale option so you end up needing less overall bandwidth to stream. Since you have a good PC setup, you can use the Lanczos filter so that when it downscales it retains as much quality as possible.

 

[FerretBomb]

@Keirnoth, he's already using the downscale from 1080 to 720.

@oakeshottxxa, drop your framerate. 1650kbps isn't really enough for 720@45fps, especially not in a high-motion FPS; you should see significantly less pixelation at 30fps (or 25fps) as the bandwidth you do have available can be used for improved image clarity, needing to render fewer frames. This will of course come at a cost of motion fluidity, but will be more enjoyable to watch as you'll be able to tell what is going on. :)

You may also want to try going to the 'faster' or even the 'fast' preset, which will provide a SMALL image quality improvement, at the expense of significantly increased CPU utilization. That will be a trial-and-error thing though, seeing what you can use without degrading in-game performance or starting to skip frames. It will also not allow you to keep 45fps. You simply do not have the bandwidth needed.
If you are on Windows 7, you should also turn Aero ON; OBS can grab from the aero off-screen texture buffers, greatly speeding up Window Capture mode (and if you are using Monitor Capture? STOP IT. It's *bad*).

Additionally, run a 6MB test at http://testmy.net/upload to get a clear view of your actual constant upstream throughput; speedtest.net is next to WORTHLESS for livestreamers, and should be ignored.

 

[Vetchemh3sr]

Would a 1.2 upload be enough to stream in 480p? I'm attempting to stream the legend of zelda: the wind waker and im having some severe quality issues. I have tried several different settings. If i had to guess why the quality ends up looking so bad i would say that my internet connection is holding me back.

I am using a I-5 4430 at 3 Ghz with 12 gigs of ram so i dont think my setup is the issue. even though i am using the stock intel hd graphics 4600. I believe that should be good enough to stream at 480p since i am using a dazzle. But if you think anything is wrong please explain it to me.

 

[FerretBomb]

Vet, I'd replied in your thread already. Your problem is in your configuration of OBS. 1.2mbps (ACTUAL, not speedtest's irrelevant result) is more than enough for 480p.

 

[oakeshottxxa]

@Keirnoth, he's already using the downscale from 1080 to 720.

@oakeshottxxa, drop your framerate. 1650kbps isn't really enough for 720@45fps, especially not in a high-motion FPS; you should see significantly less pixelation at 30fps (or 25fps) as the bandwidth you do have available can be used for improved image clarity, needing to render fewer frames. This will of course come at a cost of motion fluidity, but will be more enjoyable to watch as you'll be able to tell what is going on. :)

You may also want to try going to the 'faster' or even the 'fast' preset, which will provide a SMALL image quality improvement, at the expense of significantly increased CPU utilization. That will be a trial-and-error thing though, seeing what you can use without degrading in-game performance or starting to skip frames. It will also not allow you to keep 45fps. You simply do not have the bandwidth needed.
If you are on Windows 7, you should also turn Aero ON; OBS can grab from the aero off-screen texture buffers, greatly speeding up Window Capture mode (and if you are using Monitor Capture? STOP IT. It's *bad*).

Additionally, run a 6MB test at http://testmy.net/upload to get a clear view of your actual constant upstream throughput; speedtest.net is next to WORTHLESS for livestreamers, and should be ignored.

thanks your answer was very comprehensive, but is setting the x264 to faster or fast a good idea apart form a higher CPU usage? im sure my rig can handle it im just concerned about any other effects it may have

 

[Archist]

Hey, if you guys could help me with this problem too, that'd be awesome. So I'm just starting like Oak is and I don't know a lot of kbps statistics and things but I could find them if I tried. So my stream is very blocky and pixelated like his, it almost looks like a grid the way it pixelates. I'm streaming at 1920x1080, fps is set to 55, that's all I can think of off the top of my head for stream statistics. My computer has a nvidia geforce970, 16 gigs of Ram, 64-bit windows OS, cpu is Intel i7 4970x @ 4Ghz. If you guys could "fix" my problem, that'd be wonderful :)

 

[Harold]

Why are you posting on a thread from 2013?

 

[Archist]

Oh, I am aren't I. Proves how nooby I am to this :D
Could you help me tho?