Stream Pixelated/Not Clear

[FrogSpawns]

Just wanted to see if you guys could make any recommendations for settings as I feel like the stream could look a lot better than it currently does, I'm just not sure what to change (or if there's any room for improvement at all). The streams sometimes just seem so pixelated/blurry. I've especially noticed it a lot recently playing DayZ with the foliage, and maybe that's just unavoidable, but if would love it if there was a solution.

Just also have generally been taking a huge hit in in-game frames especially in Warzone while streaming recently, and was wondering if there was something that looked off about the logs or anything in general.

Hardware:

• i9-9900k
• 2080S
• 32GB RAM

Here's a clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/FancyJazzyIcecreamImGlitch-QnUmEiMjaKtKDVoC

Log: https://obsproject.com/logs/zsNVDYy0GN8mR6Yk

 

[qhobbes]

1. Change the refresh rate on your MSI monitor from 165 Hz to 120 Hz and cap your games at 120 FPS.
2. Uncheck the box for Psycho Visual Tuning.

 

[FrogSpawns]

1. Change the refresh rate on your MSI monitor from 165 Hz to 120 Hz and cap your games at 120 FPS.
2. Uncheck the box for Psycho Visual Tuning.

Thanks, just unchecked Psycho.

I'll try the HZ change. Not that if that's a solution I would necessarily complain, but I'd like to play at the highest HZ/FPS possible; what's the reasoning behind the HZ change as a means to get better quality? Or is that a fix to the in-game performance issues.

 

[qhobbes]

It's both. Either you're going to/can get more in-game quality per frame or it should be "more stable".
It's generally recommended to have things like source FPS, monitor refresh rate and OBS FPS to be multiples of each other.
165 to 60 is 4 out of 11 frames, where as 120 to 60 is just every other. I believe this should easier on the CPU and/or GPU allowing more resources for source graphics.
If you want more quality per frame for your stream, you can drop the OBS FPS to 30.

 

[MattyFresh68]

Streaming 1080p/60 to twitch at a 6000kbps bitrate is def going to cause you issues

 

[FrogSpawns]

Streaming 1080p/60 to twitch at a 6000kbps bitrate is def going to cause you issues

In terms of just using more performance? Right, I figured it would obviously use more than 720/30. I don't think that streaming 1080/60 is just inherently problematic other than requiring more resources.

 

[FrogSpawns]

It's both. Either you're going to/can get more in-game quality per frame or it should be "more stable".
It's generally recommended to have things like source FPS, monitor refresh rate and OBS FPS to be multiples of each other.
165 to 60 is 4 out of 11 frames, where as 120 to 60 is just every other. I believe this should easier on the CPU and/or GPU allowing more resources for source graphics.
If you want more quality per frame for your stream, you can drop the OBS FPS to 30.

Just dropped the HZ on the monitor to 120, I'll see how that plays out. I'd rather not stream at 30FPS, so I'll see what kind of a difference these changes make so far.

 

[FerretBomb]

In terms of just using more performance? Right, I figured it would obviously use more than 720/30. I don't think that streaming 1080/60 is just inherently problematic other than requiring more resources.

6mbps is roughly half of the reducing-rate-of-returns bits-per-pixel density of 0.1 at 1080p60.
In short, average-motion 1080p60 video 'wants' around 12mbps to look good. Giving it half as much means you're going to get noticeable artifacting and blocking. As Twitch caps the bitrate you can send at below 12mbps, the other answer is to drop the resolution and/or framerate to increase the number of bits allocated per pixel per second.

Being entirely fair, streaming at 60fps is a luxury that roughly doubles the needed amount of bitrate. It's only actually necessary with some retrogames that flash sprites on and off to simulate transparency; stream those at 30 and the sprite stays solid or disappears completely.

Beyond that, even streaming at 6mbps is going to reduce the number of people who can watch your stream smoothly, unless you have transcodes available (which is scattershot random unless you're a Partner). Mobile users, anyone on a crappy connection, anyone physically far from you (as replication and delivery to local video servers is a concern) is going to have increased chances of not being able to watch. And generally they aren't going to complain. They'll just leave, and try another channel.

Getting lost chasing numbers is a trap most new streamers fall into; an obsession with streaming at 1080p60 is shooting yourself in the foot if you have intents beyond casually streaming for a couple of friends.

 

[FrogSpawns]

6mbps is roughly half of the reducing-rate-of-returns bits-per-pixel density of 0.1 at 1080p60.
In short, average-motion 1080p60 video 'wants' around 12mbps to look good. Giving it half as much means you're going to get noticeable artifacting and blocking. As Twitch caps the bitrate you can send at below 12mbps, the other answer is to drop the resolution and/or framerate to increase the number of bits allocated per pixel per second.

Being entirely fair, streaming at 60fps is a luxury that roughly doubles the needed amount of bitrate. It's only actually necessary with some retrogames that flash sprites on and off to simulate transparency; stream those at 30 and the sprite stays solid or disappears completely.

Beyond that, even streaming at 6mbps is going to reduce the number of people who can watch your stream smoothly, unless you have transcodes available (which is scattershot random unless you're a Partner). Mobile users, anyone on a crappy connection, anyone physically far from you (as replication and delivery to local video servers is a concern) is going to have increased chances of not being able to watch. And generally they aren't going to complain. They'll just leave, and try another channel.

Getting lost chasing numbers is a trap most new streamers fall into; an obsession with streaming at 1080p60 is shooting yourself in the foot if you have intents beyond casually streaming for a couple of friends.

Definitely not a new streamer, lol. Been a partner since 2013, so whatever encoding benefits partners have, I have. I've been streaming at 60FPS for as long as I can remember, and so have the other partners that I know. I get what you're saying that 60FPS might not be ideal, but I know as a viewer and not a streamer too, I can definitely tell the difference between a 60FPS and a 30. I just wanted to see if there was any improvements I could make to the setup while maintaining the 60FPS.

 

[FerretBomb]

Definitely not a new streamer, lol. Been a partner since 2013, so whatever encoding benefits partners have, I have. I've been streaming at 60FPS for as long as I can remember, and so have the other partners that I know. I get what you're saying that 60FPS might not be ideal, but I know as a viewer and not a streamer too, I can definitely tell the difference between a 60FPS and a 30. I just wanted to see if there was any improvements I could make to the setup while maintaining the 60FPS.

Ah. Most who post here are not Partnered, so advice defaults to being geared toward new users. Yeah, guaranteed transcodes change things. The actual hard-cap is just above 8.5mbps, without needing to mitigate for accessibility.
But yeah, the answers are still 'more bitrate or less fps/resolution'. High-motion games need more, and complex scenes (especially foliage!) just make it far worse.

 

[FrogSpawns]

Ah. Most who post here are not Partnered, so advice defaults to being geared toward new users. Yeah, guaranteed transcodes change things. The actual hard-cap is just above 8.5mbps, without needing to mitigate for accessibility.
But yeah, the answers are still 'more bitrate or less fps/resolution'. High-motion games need more, and complex scenes (especially foliage!) just make it far worse.

Gotcha. I have gig internet speeds, so I'm not worried about increasing bitrate at all. I'd love to go higher, I was just always under the impression (and it's stated on Twitch's website), that the cap is 6000.

 

[cyberninjaTF2]

I'm running through the same problem here, the only solution is Alt+Tabbing out of the game...
Here's what happens when i change my Bitrate from 6.000Kbps (picture with 4 frames side-by-side) to 16.000Kbps (the two pictures with 2 frames side-by-side).
I'm guessing bitrate isn't really the issue here.

 

[FerretBomb]

Gotcha. I have gig internet speeds, so I'm not worried about increasing bitrate at all. I'd love to go higher, I was just always under the impression (and it's stated on Twitch's website), that the cap is 6000.

That is the recommended maximum. The functional maximum before they stop replicating the stream is around 8500kbps (9mbps actual with audio bitrate included and rate peaking), and is at-your-own-risk. Do remember that to exceed that recommended maximum, you'll have to check the 'ignore streaming service recommendations' tickbox on Settings->Stream, or OBS will continue to limit it internally.

As a reminder for anyone else reading this, this is NOT a good idea to do unless you have guaranteed transcodes as a Partner, as it will severely limit your accessibility. Even streaming at 6mbps is a really bad idea for new streamers.

I'm running through the same problem here, the only solution is Alt+Tabbing out of the game...
Here's what happens when i change my Bitrate from 6.000Kbps (picture with 4 frames side-by-side) to 16.000Kbps (the two pictures with 2 frames side-by-side).
I'm guessing bitrate isn't really the issue here.

That may be an entirely different issue. Could just be a low-quality camera, and your scene is visibly dark. Cameras need light to work, the more the better. You'd do better opening a separate thread with a logfile from an actual streaming session at least 30s in length where the issue was occurring. Random screenshots generally don't help at all, until later in the troubleshooting process.

 

[cyberninjaTF2]

That may be an entirely different issue. Could just be a low-quality camera, and your scene is visibly dark. Cameras need light to work, the more the better. You'd do better opening a separate thread with a logfile from an actual streaming session at least 30s in length where the issue was occurring. Random screenshots generally don't help at all, until later in the troubleshooting process.

Exposure and camera are fine. Those screenshots were taken on Youtube and apparently anything below 1440p looks horrible there, even with 35.000 bitrate. Unfortunately i can't delete that post anymore.
This is what fixed my issue, i hope it helps OP:

Lower bitrate is going to make pixelation worse, not better, and streaming services do NOT like VBR feeds for streaming.

Set your recording encoder to use CQP or CRF rate control with a CQP/CRF level between 14 and 22
Save to MKV.