Question / Help Stream Constantly Buffering for Me

Azur0n

New Member
Whenever I stream, I open up the stream on my second monitor to read chat. As I am watching this, the stream will buffer every few seconds or so. I asked some friends if my stream was buffering or not. Some said that it was fine, but others said there was some buffering. This only happens when I watch my own stream. Taking a look at other streams, there is no buffering at all. Can anyone help? Here's some statistics of my Internet and my OBS Settings:

Internet Test 1:
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Internet Speed Test 2:
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Internet Speed Test 3:
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OBS Encoding Settings:
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OBS Video Settings:
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OBS Advanced Settings:
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Thanks for your time in advance!
 

Azur0n

New Member
The thing is, I was able to stream at 720p 60fps w/ a 3000 bitrate a couple months ago. That stream was fine and the quality was great. Buffering was not an issue. This problem only came up after about a month break from streaming and it's just being persistent. I have been trying to lower my bitrate and fps but that is just not helping.
 

Sephious

New Member
Just because you used to have a good connection to Twitch's non-partner server (which I have heard is San Francisco), doesn't mean you still do or always will.

My connection goes in spurts where for a few weeks I'll be able to watch around 3mbps non-partner streams, and then another few weeks where I won't be able to watch a 1mbps non-partner stream.

The reason for this is that there is a weak link in the routing between you (or me) and Twitch's non-partner server. There is absolutely nothing you can do about this, other than running your connection through a VPN, and that only solves the problem for you and nobody else having the problem watching your stream. It is a problem with poor internet infrastructure, most especially in the United States.

Let me give you a scenario.

You have 10 hops on your connection between you and Twitch. There's you, 8 others, and Twitch. Let's say theoretically, all hops support a solid 10mbps through them, except one, you end up with something like this:

Twitch -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> BAD(500kbps maximum) -> 7 -> 8 -> 9 -> You.

What happens here, is when you request that 10mbps and your connection hits hop 6, it can't physically push the data you're requesting through, so you are limited to whatever it can push through (in this scenario, 500kbps). This results in buffering and other sorts of unpleasant things (like packet loss).

Now onto the VPN: If you are able to run your entire connection through a VPN, it is possible that your connection to the VPN server and the VPN server's connection to Twitch avoids the problem entirely by taking a different route. I pay for a VPN service for just this purpose, as I spend a lot of my time watching streams, and a lot of those are non-partner streams.
 

Ne82MnVa

New Member
Sry but that seems like an excuse from twitch support. I think they are somehow limiting client download bw for non-partners when they feel the need to do so. And if it is only to discourage the non-partners and save bw overall. Why I think this is the case? Well, because I'm watching my own non-partner stream in Germany. I stream via Frankfurt. DO NOT tell me that in Germany we cannot even cope with 1mbit links. That's pure nonsense. I have NO PROBLEM AT ALL uploading my stream. Tools tell me it is 10mbits+. So why should I have probs watching my own stream on the same computer? This is just some unpublished gimmickery from them. I can watch most other streams (partners) just fine, even at 3.5 mbits tho most are coming from overseas from the US.
 
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