Question / Help Stream Bit Rate Spikes on Twitch

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Damastaca

New Member
Hello. I have been streaming off an on for about two months. I recently got a new PC and I can't seem to get the settings perfect for Twitch streaming. When idle it is at a steady 2000 bit rate currently. Afraid to go any higher. When streaming however it will bounce down and back up constantly, which causes the stream to look choppy and pixelated at times. It will sometimes bounce all the down to the low hundreds or even zero. I tried to get some good screenshots but the screenshots do not fully justify the issues I am having with the stream. The bit rate usually gets must worse than this.

If anybody feels like giving me some advice or if I need to post anything else please let me know. Also I have used the search on the forum and read several posts and tried different things as well as watched some youtube guides - and I just cannot figure this out.

PC Specs - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vCptr7
Running Temps - https://s23.postimg.org/q3gqnwgyj/temps.jpg
Internet Speed Test - https://s23.postimg.org/40gikfumz/speed.jpg
Ping and Packet Test - https://s23.postimg.org/gk71uftgb/test.jpg
Stream - https://s23.postimg.org/4frsdggkb/streambig.jpg
Bit Rates - https://s23.postimg.org/4m5hgjpp7/bitraterunning.jpg
OBS Advanced - https://s23.postimg.org/46pm9see3/advanced.jpg
OBS General - https://s23.postimg.org/h227aaj17/general.jpg
OBS Stream - https://s23.postimg.org/qqfndfduj/stream.jpg
OBS Audio - https://s23.postimg.org/jtgvn5s63/audio.jpg
OBS Output - https://s23.postimg.org/8l2ozdecb/output.jpg
OBS Video - https://s23.postimg.org/zdsurfrob/video.jpg
 
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Mroczny_Gustaw

Mroczny_Gustaw

Member
stream bitrate is never constant value thats how it works on CBR also, its not causing bad quality, low 2000 bitrate is especially in h1z1 when you have a lot of grass which is particularly difficult to process for encoder

video tab: select lanczos filter
you can lower audio bitrate to 128 to get more room for video (3372+128=twitch's 3500)
set output like on attached image

it will look much better now
make sure you have vsync enabled in game to avoid stuttering
with this cpu you can probably go with "faster" x264 preset for a bit better quality
 

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wallrik

wallrik

Member
You can post a log from one of your streaming sessions. If you just streamed, launch OBS again and use last log. Otherwise, stream again for a bit, stop it, then share current log.

Even though you do have a beefy processor, I'm guessing that your encoder preset is still too much to handle, unless you tuned it back to something more reasonable like "faster" as suggested already. The drops in bitrate is probably when your CPU can't keep up. But it will be easier to tell if you share a log. :)
 
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Damastaca

New Member
Last edited:
Mroczny_Gustaw

Mroczny_Gustaw

Member
yes looks like your connection is bad, test it with this tool http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tech-support/478845-twitchtest-twitch-bandwidth-tester
and choose best ingest in your region

btw i have seen few times ppl telling others to disable scenecut=0, not sure what it does tho...
14:21:33.722: [x264 encoder: 'streaming_h264'] custom settings: scenecut=0

you can really go with 3372+128 audio and lanczos filter
also install CoreAudio, info in my signature
gl
 
EBrito

EBrito

Active Member
scenecut=o is set by OBS when you check Enforce Streaming Service Encoder Limits
(I was one of those recommending disabling it until someone explained me this)
 
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Damastaca

New Member
So do you think it may be my connection? Is there a more in depth way you can suggest that I may narrow my issues before making phone calls to my ISP?
 
wallrik

wallrik

Member
It is most likely a network/internet issue, yes.

See, in your log there are three different stream attempts (looks like you got disconnected the first time)
[rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Disconnected from rtmp://live-ord.twitch.tv/app
Output 'adv_stream': stopping
Output 'adv_stream': Total encoded frames: 4341
Output 'adv_stream': Total drawn frames: 4341
Output 'adv_stream': Number of dropped frames due to insufficient bandwidth/connection stalls: 2671 (61.5%)
Click to expand...
[rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] User stopped the stream
Output 'adv_stream': stopping
Output 'adv_stream': Total encoded frames: 56833
Output 'adv_stream': Total drawn frames: 56833
Output 'adv_stream': Number of dropped frames due to insufficient bandwidth/connection stalls: 19480 (34.3%)
Click to expand...
[rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] User stopped the stream
Output 'adv_stream': stopping
Output 'adv_stream': Total encoded frames: 17406
Output 'adv_stream': Total drawn frames: 17406
Output 'adv_stream': Number of dropped frames due to insufficient bandwidth/connection stalls: 2889 (16.6%)
Click to expand...

You can look these up yourself when you keep troubleshooting :)

The talented R1CH (already posted above) has made a very handy tool to check your connection against different twitch servers: TwitchTest

As R1CH describes the test results himself: For quality you should be looking at something 80+. If you get a server that has better numbers than Chicago for you, try that instead.
 
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Damastaca

New Member
Tried some tests with that and decided to run them for a few min each for all US server so I could get a good idea of the quality. The highest I could get was low 70's.

Called Comcast and they suggested a modem replacement. I tried wiring directly into the modem to PC instead of from modem to router then to PC and am getting the same results. After the modem replacement if it doesn't work I am going to have them send a technician out to test the lines. Will let you guys know whether its a modem or internet issue or not.

Router - https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nigh...8&qid=1485908368&sr=8-1&keywords=nighthawk+x4

Current Modem - https://www.amazon.com/ubee-U10C035...qid=1485908509&sr=8-5&keywords=ubee+3.0+modem

Ordered Replacement Modem - https://www.amazon.com/ARRIS-SURFbo...00MA5U1FW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
 
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Damastaca

New Member
So it turned out to be the Node for our cable in the area. Normal users never noticed the problem but after complaining for a week Comcast finally agreed to look into it and found out it was the Node. Everything seems to be running fine now, only thing left is to fine tune the settings. While watching the stream I have been keeping an eye on the bitrate and it maintains at level its supposed to. Using the settings above mentioned by @Mroczny_Gustaw the stream looks beautiful however every few moments during firefights, car chases, or just plain walking about the stream may skip a few times here and there and is quite noticeable with no loss to quality. Does anybody have any recommendations to keep it a smooth stream for the best quality possible quality using my current cpu/internet configuration?
 
wallrik

wallrik

Member
Damastaca said:
the stream looks beautiful however every few moments during firefights, car chases, or just plain walking about the stream may skip a few times here and there and is quite noticeable with no loss to quality.
Click to expand...
If your encoder preset is currently set to faster, try tuning it back to veryfast.

If you want further advice, please post a new log now that you're up and running :)
 
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