Question / Help Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, etc.

[4590345423]

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask about this. Please point me in the right direction if it is.

I've been streaming with the best settings I can use for a long time. Until a few weeks ago, things were working perfectly. But now I can't stream at all, with horrible lag spikes freezing the stream and making it entirely unwatchable. I haven't changed any settings.

I have a 15/2 connection, and the estimator on this site recommended I stream at 1700Kbs. It was working great until these issues began.

I've tried rebooting my modem and router, rebooting my computer, calling my ISP and having them do all kinds of things. Nothing has worked. Speed tests show that everything is working perfectly fine. I just have no idea what to do at this point. I'll post some screenshots of some tests here:

As you can see, everything is perfect. So I have no idea why this is happening. OBS always shows that little indicator going from green to yellow, and then red over and over again. I just can't stream now.

I'll also attach a log file after a 2 minute test. The problem always starts immediately after streaming. I'm at a complete and total loss at this point. Please help me.

Thanks.

EDIT: I forgot to mention: This happens on multiple streaming sites. I've tried Twitch, hashd, and even a private server. All three have varying degrees of lag and freezing, but they all used to work perfectly.

 

[Krazy]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

I mean, if it's to all the streaming sites and it's consistently poor, then it's either something with your ISP, or something with your network hardware has gone haywire. Have you tried being plugged into the modem directly?

 

[hilalpro]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

lower the bitrate to 1408/1408 choose the closest server to you and check "minimize network impact" from broadcasting settings.

 

[Lain]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Yea, that indicator means potential network congestion. Usually the best thing to do is try to see if any other server has better results, otherwise could mean the chosen bitrate isn't quite stable enough. You're not dropping frames though so it seems you're sort of teetering on the edge, and it may still affect the stream.

 

[DoomStorm484]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

I am having this same issue and i have tired what you all have suggested, none of these has helped. Actually after changing the settings i am now dropping frames.

I have the same internet provider to so, i am thinking it is something on charters end even tho they are telling me the same thing that everything is fine on there side.

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

lower the bitrate to 1408/1408 choose the closest server to you and check "minimize network impact" from broadcasting settings.

This didn't help.

Yea, that indicator means potential network congestion. Usually the best thing to do is try to see if any other server has better results, otherwise could mean the chosen bitrate isn't quite stable enough. You're not dropping frames though so it seems you're sort of teetering on the edge, and it may still affect the stream.

I've tried multiple servers and even different streaming services. Twitch, Hashd, and a private site. All three begin dropping frames, when a month ago I had no issues at 1700/1700

I mean, if it's to all the streaming sites and it's consistently poor, then it's either something with your ISP, or something with your network hardware has gone haywire. Have you tried being plugged into the modem directly?

Yes, I just tried this and there's no change whatsoever.

I'm at a total loss. My upload and download are both perfect according to speedtest.net. Pingtest.net gives me an A, a nearly perfect score. What else would affect this? I can't believe I would be having problems so suddenly and with no visible reason

EDIT: In my blind fury caused by this I forgot to thank you guys for your attempts at help. It's just so frustrating to have a problem and not have any clues as to why it's happening, especially when it works one day and then stops.

Thank you for your help. I hope I can get this fixed.

EDIT2: I'm going to upload today's logs just to see if it can help further. I was dropping frames horribly during the first attempt today and then I tried again and it wasn't as bad. This is at a reduced bitrate, though 1700/1700 used to work perfectly, as I've said.

 

[R1CH]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Turn off minimize network impact until you get it resolved, it will only make things worse.

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Alright, I've turned it off. But I have no idea how to even begin resolving this when nothing else looks wrong.

 

[hilalpro]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

when a month ago I had no issues at 1700/1700

what has changed since then ?

does this only occur with beta versions ?
this is the latest alpha (1 month old) if you care to give it a minute. just extract it into a separate folder and tell me if the 1700 bitrate works.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/obsproj ... p/download

also the log says 1401 bitrate/buf when i have suggested 1404 it's a calculated number so just leave it that.
or alternatively you can try 1472 and 64 kbps for audio.

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Nothing has changed since then, that's the problem. I haven't done anything differently. Maybe there's a way I can check what programs are using bandwidth, and how much.

I've been using that alpha too, just as you described. I just haven't seen any improvement.

Just curious, why 1408 or 1472 as opposed to 1400 or something?

 

[hilalpro]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

yes just press start and type "perfmon /res" you'll be able to see what programs are using bandwidth.
tbh from what you've said so far this is just looking like as if your isp started using more strict bandwidth management. does it throttle other protocols such as non encrypted bittorrent ?

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Nothing else seems to be throttled as far as I can tell. Today I streamed for about an hour and it only started to drop frames near the end. I can even watch rtmp streams in 720p without any problem (I'm doing it right now)

I'll post the logs for today to see if that helps. I did forget to change my bitrate, however.

My ISP is Charter. I want to doubt that such a major provider started to throttle stream uploads directly, especially since it was working for so long, and still occasionally works.

 

[Razswe]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

I hear you... I'm at a loss as well since I'm having the exact same issues and I have 100Mbit connection both ways. Started about a month ago. Still haven't been able to figure it out other then making it kind of ok by lowering the FPS to 40 from 59.

Frustrating as hell since I've reinstalled my whole machine, checked the ISP, tried every single recommended setting etc. Still nothing. I'm almost to a point where I might wanna try if I get the same with x-split but I really don't wanna go back to that crap :(

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Yeah, it's weird. It just suddenly stopped working. I was able to stream at 500Kbs the day before yesterday, but then yesterday I couldn't at all. I just don't understand it.

Keep in mind my upload speed is still perfect according to speed tests.

 

[Thursday]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Nonononono. Don't use speedtest.net
Use www.testmy.net and use 33MB file size.

 

[hilalpro]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

can you post link to your vod? try streaming to the Ashburn primary server.

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Nonononono. Don't use speedtest.net
Use http://www.testmy.net and use 33MB file size.

I just did this. Is there any way I can easily post the results here?

Either way, it came out as 1.8 Mbps, which is perfect.
Average is 1.6, which isn't so perfect. But with that I should still be able to upload 500Kbps, but even that didn't work last night. It sucks because I had regular viewers and it was a lot of fun to stream for them, but I just can't anymore.

 

[Thursday]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

What's your buffer size?

 

[Bensam123]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

Also had similar issues, which started about a month ago. Also using Charter, but I have a 30/4 package.

For me I didn't drop frames, but I get ping spikes about every 10 seconds where my ping jumps by about 10x the normal for about .5s and then goes back down to normal. Changing my max bitrate didn't seem to change anything at all. I turned on 'automatic low latency mode' and that seemed to help even out the spikes. None of the other options seemed to change this.

I'm guessing Charter is doing something funky. Speedtest gives me the same speed results I've been getting all along and Shaperprobe says my connections not being shaped... This could have something to do with ISPs monitoring traffic more closely (deep packet inspection) so they can start enforcing the six strike rule.

 

[4590345423]

Re: Strange freeze lag out of nowhere, constant slowdown, et

I just ran Shaperprobe and it came out a little weird, but not for the upstream. Here's what it says:

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 2135 Kbps.
Downstream: 27295 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 2053 Kbps.

Downstream: Burst size: 3764-4547 KB;
Shaping rate: 18181 Kbps.

The upstream appears fine. Also, all of this appears to change from day to day, or week to week. Sometimes I can stream at only 500Kbps, occasionally I can stream at the full 1700 like before. Sometimes I can stream at about 1000Kbps. Other times, not at all.

For whoever asked, my buffer size is set to be the same as the upload rate, so 1700/1700, or 500/500.