Stream dropping to 0 bitrate for a few seconds repeatedly

Q

QueenkaijuPixel

New Member
I've been having a reoccurring issue over the past 10 or so days that during every stream I host, there will be a seemingly random period where the bitrate will just flatline for a few seconds before reconnecting.
I have tried just about everything under the sun that I can think of to fix this. I have restarted my modem. I have contacted my ISP to check for any problems. I have contacted twitch. I have lowered my bitrate. I've changed various encoding features. Nothing seems to work.
The strangest part is that while doing bandwidth tests, there's no issues. I've run bandwidth tests for hours at a time with no significant bitrate drops or crashing. And yet when I'm actually live, this issue persists. I can't wrap my head around what the difference might be.
And now I'm hearing that other streamers within my circles are having similar issues and we can't find the connective thread between them. Its definitely not a largescale issue as no one on various social medias seems to be talking about it, and I've watched streams without this problem since it happened, but it seems like for a select few of us, this issue persists.
If anyone has an idea for what might fix this, please feel free to help, I'm kind of at the ends of my idea rope.

Oh, regarding logs, while the drops are happening, the logs seem to display this, and will just repeat it for every drop. Everything I've looked up about it seems to point to bandwidth or ISP issues, but as I said, bandwidth tests, resetting modems, and even lowering bitrate significantly doesn't seem to have any effect on stopping the issue:
21:10:36.584: Output 'adv_stream': Reconnecting in 2.00 seconds..
21:10:36.584: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Freeing 1010 remaining packets
21:10:38.621: [jim-nvenc: 'advanced_video_stream'] settings:
21:10:38.621: codec: H264
21:10:38.621: rate_control: CBR
21:10:38.621: bitrate: 6000
21:10:38.621: cqp: 20
21:10:38.621: keyint: 120
21:10:38.621: preset: p5
21:10:38.621: tuning: hq
21:10:38.621: multipass: qres
21:10:38.621: profile: high
21:10:38.621: width: 1920
21:10:38.621: height: 1080
21:10:38.621: b-frames: 2
21:10:38.621: lookahead: true
21:10:38.621: psycho_aq: true
21:10:38.621:
21:10:38.769: ---------------------------------
21:10:38.770: [FFmpeg aac encoder: 'adv_stream_audio'] bitrate: 160, channels: 2, channel_layout: stereo
21:10:38.770:
21:10:38.771: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Connecting to RTMP URL rtmp://sjc06.contribute.live-video.net/app...
21:10:38.824: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Interface: Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz (802.11, 1201↓/1081↑ mbps)
21:10:39.589: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Connection to rtmp://sjc06.contribute.live-video.net/app successful
21:10:39.590: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Socket send buffer is 65536 bytes
21:10:59.304: Settings changed (outputs)
21:10:59.304: ------------------------------------------------
22:45:10.504: WriteN, RTMP send error 10054 (4097 bytes)
22:45:10.504: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (79 bytes)
22:45:10.504: WriteN, RTMP send error 10038 (42 bytes)
22:45:10.504: [rtmp stream: 'adv_stream'] Disconnected from rtmp://sjc06.contribute.live-video.net/app
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': stopping
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': Total frames output: 339705 (340236 attempted)
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': Total drawn frames: 340296 (340304 attempted)
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 8 (0.0%)
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': Number of dropped frames due to insufficient bandwidth/connection stalls: 531 (0.2%)
22:45:10.504: Output 'adv_stream': Reconnecting in 2.00 seconds..
Click to expand...
(Its worth noting that this log is from before I started changing my settings, however its the only log that seems to display this "reconnecting in 2.00 seconds" issue repeatedly)
 
PaiSand

PaiSand

Active Member
Wi-Fi isn't reliable and may cause this issue. Please consider to use a wired connection.
Also, make sure the drivers are updated. The mobo vendors release regular updates for all the drivers needed.
If this just started happening, could be due to high traffic on the wifi spectrum, or too many connection on the same wifi network. Or an issue on the router / modem / ISP.

Please restart OBS and perform a test stream of at least 30 seconds doing as you normally do, including playing games, full camera or whatever you normally do. If you can stream until it fails as described.
Now look inside Help menu. Upload the current log file and paste the url to the log in here. Click on the Analize button to start troubleshooting common issues.
 
Q

QueenkaijuPixel

New Member
PaiSand said:
Wi-Fi isn't reliable and may cause this issue. Please consider to use a wired connection.
Also, make sure the drivers are updated. The mobo vendors release regular updates for all the drivers needed.
If this just started happening, could be due to high traffic on the wifi spectrum, or too many connection on the same wifi network. Or an issue on the router / modem / ISP.

Please restart OBS and perform a test stream of at least 30 seconds doing as you normally do, including playing games, full camera or whatever you normally do. If you can stream until it fails as described.
Now look inside Help menu. Upload the current log file and paste the url to the log in here. Click on the Analize button to start troubleshooting common issues.
Click to expand...
I... did a test stream and even posted the logs above. The problem is the issues don't happen during the test streams for me to analyze.
Secondly, I've streamed on this same connection for nearly two years now, and the issues have only come up in the last ten days. I'm the only one on the connection.
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Dynamic bitrate does not actually solve an underlying connection issue. It only serves to hide the problem.
 
Q

QueenkaijuPixel

New Member
Harold said:
Dynamic bitrate does not actually solve an underlying connection issue. It only serves to hide the problem.
Click to expand...
It doesn't seem to be a connection issue.
I have run several bandwidth tests with no bitrate drops or connection drops. I have run TwitchTest and come out with 100 on the Quality of my chosen server. I am also now streaming at less than half the maximum bitrate for my server. I have also used this same connection for nearly 2 years consistently. Something else is up.
 
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