Question / Help Stream is very grainy

J

jodd

New Member
hi there,

i just started using twitch with OBS and am a bit confused on what my settings should be. as you can see in this VOD (http://www.twitch.tv/j0dd/b/445701844), my gameplay looks quite grainy - it actually shifts from grainy to even grainier (basically unwatchable). i also noticed that i don't have the option to switch pixel/stream qualities while watching my stream.
the only time the picture is crystal clear is when i alt-tab out of my game.

here is the OBS log from that particular stream: http://pastebin.com/BW16bMt7

i'm kind of a newbie when it comes to settings and such, so i imagine some of my settings are a bit off. additionally, my computer isn't the greatest but i didn't think the quality would be so bad.

lastly, i typically get 30down/2up which i've read is sufficient, though obviously not ideal for streaming. here's my latest speedtest: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2900886294

thank you in advance for any and all suggestions and information.
-todd
 
A

alpinlol

Active Member
well the last bitrate you used was 1000 ... and you didnt downscale your resolution ... so its pretty obvious that you will get a ton of quality loss and everything looks grainy in fps games

but your stream is actually watchable ... its not that bad in my opinion
 
J

jodd

New Member
alpinlol said:
well the last bitrate you used was 1000 ... and you didnt downscale your resolution ... so its pretty obvious that you will get a ton of quality loss and everything looks grainy in fps games

but your stream is actually watchable ... its not that bad in my opinion
Click to expand...

what should i set my resolution to, then? and i'm not married to that bitrate. when i used 2000 i obviously dropped serious frames in game and it was generally laggy on my end.

also, certain parts of my stream get REALLY grainy and, for instance, the kill feed isn't even visually comprehensible.
 
A

alpinlol

Active Member
can you go on tesytmy.net ? and do like a 6mb or 12mb test to the closest server to you?

i would downscale the resolution by either 1.25 or 1.5 and put your fps to 60 as a try if your game performance gets bad put fps to 48
 
K

Kharay

Member
First of all, SpeedTest is unreliable for the purpose of streaming. The method in which it tests an Internet connection is quite different from the load a stream puts on your connection. A more accurate test for streaming is found here. Make sure to pick a server near the one you've been streaming to. Obviously both should be close to yourself, relatively speaking anyhow.

Secondly, if you're going to stream at 1000 Kbps then you will have to drop the resolution considerably. Try Resolution Downscale 2.00 (which should still allow you to pick the Lanczos filter, if not then pick whichever lowest resolution still does).

Third, I would advise you to switch to CBR instead of VBR. It will make your stream less spikey for yourself, for Twitch and for your viewers and consequently might avert some lag spikes.
 
J

jodd

New Member
Kharay said:
First of all, SpeedTest is unreliable for the purpose of streaming. The method in which it tests an Internet connection is quite different from the load a stream puts on your connection. A more accurate test for streaming is found here. Make sure to pick a server near the one you've been streaming to. Obviously both should be close to yourself, relatively speaking anyhow.

Secondly, if you're going to stream at 1000 Kbps then you will have to drop the resolution considerably. Try Resolution Downscale 2.00 (which should still allow you to pick the Lanczos filter, if not then pick whichever lowest resolution still does).

Third, I would advise you to switch to CBR instead of VBR. It will make your stream less spikey for yourself, for Twitch and for your viewers and consequently might avert some lag spikes.
Click to expand...

thanks for your help. this is how my stream looks now - much better, obviously: http://www.twitch.tv/j0dd/b/445786187

is there anything else, or more with the above you recommended, that i could do it for it to be a *bit* more clear?
 
K

Kharay

Member
Depends; could you post the log for particularly that VOD? Mind you, if that really was at 1,000 Kbps I'd say it actually looked pretty good. And pretty smooth. Which is worth a lot as well.
 
J

jodd

New Member
Kharay said:
Depends; could you post the log for particularly that VOD? Mind you, if that really was at 1,000 Kbps I'd say it actually looked pretty good. And pretty smooth. Which is worth a lot as well.
Click to expand...

http://pastebin.com/pxbzyCdB

thanks in advance. i have my frames at 30 and keyint at 60 but twitch says i'm not at 2?
 
Krazy

Krazy

Town drunk
Their detection for that stuff is currently a bit wonky, I wouldn't worry about it so much.
 
J

jodd

New Member
Krazy said:
Their detection for that stuff is currently a bit wonky, I wouldn't worry about it so much.
Click to expand...
true - but, i did notice i am currently considered "offline" every time i stream though my video is clearly marked as "live" when i watch it in my dashboard. wouldn't that mean i'm not showing up on my game's channel?
 
J

jodd

New Member
Kharay said:
jodd said:
Kharay said:
Depends; could you post the log for particularly that VOD? Mind you, if that really was at 1,000 Kbps I'd say it actually looked pretty good. And pretty smooth. Which is worth a lot as well.
Click to expand...

http://pastebin.com/pxbzyCdB

thanks in advance. i have my frames at 30 and keyint at 60 but twitch says i'm not at 2?
Click to expand...
Enable CFR and it should be resolved.
Click to expand...

did you mean CBR, or am i missing something?
 
K

Kharay

Member
Settings -> Advanced -> CFR

It's a separate setting from CBR.

CBR -- Constant Bitrate
CFR -- Constant Framerate
 
J

jodd

New Member
Kharay said:
Settings -> Advanced -> CFR

It's a separate setting from CBR.

CBR -- Constant Bitrate
CFR -- Constant Framerate
Click to expand...

derp derp derp. thank you - done. except, now it says my stream quality is "acceptable" but:

The broadcast is not set to constant bitrate (CBR). [Current average: 184 kbps, current max: 284.0 kbps]

would this prevent me from being listed on the tf2 twitch game page of streamers when i'm live? as i said previously, my stream always shows me as offline while i'm streaming - however, my dashboard shows that i am indeed live and i have had some friends view it live as well.
 
K

Kharay

Member
The Twitch.TV profiler currently still is quite buggy. It is not necessarily telling you the truth. If you have made sure to Enable CBR, CBR Padding, CFR and a 2 second keyframe interval you should be Excellent. If it still is telling you otherwise, ignore it.
 
J

jodd

New Member
Kharay said:
The Twitch.TV profiler currently still is quite buggy. It is not necessarily telling you the truth. If you have made sure to Enable CBR, CBR Padding, CFR and a 2 second keyframe interval you should be Excellent. If it still is telling you otherwise, ignore it.
Click to expand...

yeah. i guess it's just annoying that i'm appearing offline and not showing up on the stream list. thanks for helping me.
 
J

jodd

New Member
given my aforementioned computer/streaming specs, any suggestions on a few slight alterations i could make to have my stream looking a little crisper and cleaner?

additionally, any reason why my mic gets so punished underneath the volumes of in-game sounds?
 
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