Question / Help Twitch Stream Delay (60s to 90s) - Tips needed!

[Xinister]

EDIT: After further, proper timing the stream delay is actually almost preciesly 30 seconds, I can't edit the thread title unfortunately.

Hey ladies & gentlemen of the OBS Support forum!

I've been streaming to Twitch.Tv for a good while now, always had this- it never bothered me till now, because it interferes with my viewer interaction as you sometimes have to wait 1-2 full minutes before I've been able to read what's been written, and to get my response..

So here's the catch, streaming from a pretty powerful computer. I live in Norway, using a fiber optic internet so the upload/download speed is absolutely not an issue. I'm connected to EU Stockholm which has an average ping of 17 and Jitter of 0,5. I know 10-20seconds is normal for Twitch but I'm constantly, since the begining having minimum 30 seconds delay.

I've checked my the option settings several times but is there anything I might've missed? I just can't find any solutions, would be more than glad to take any recommendations from you guys. Currently streaming at 2700kb/s Bitrate, and Buffer size at 4000.

Any tips?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Jack0r]

Stream delay can depend on quite a few factors, for example on twitch.tv the stream will always be delayed by about 15-30 seconds because of their delivery system (using HLS). On a service like hitbox.tv where rtmp is used, the same stream should have a delay of only 3 to maximum 10 seconds.
In general you can mainly stick to the recommended settings (especially for twitch) to keep the delay as low as possible. The playback method (be it a flash player in a browser or the local VLC installation) can also affect the delay by using a buffer method for the stream. And then there is of course the delay caused by encoding and sending (this is normally pretty low).
May I ask why you use a buffer of 4000? You could do a test with 2000/2000 bitrate/buffer, make sure the twitch recommended key frame interval is also set, and then check if the delay is still on 30. It could be that streaming to stockholm or a different twitch server can also change the delay, but I dont know enough about the twitch infrastructure.

 

[Xinister]

Thanks, Jack. I went with 4000 because I read somewhere, something about it being a good idea. Obviously, the source wasn't very reliable but atleast probably knew more than I knew at the time. I think perhaps other streamers have lower delay as part of the partnership program, but for now Ill go ahead and adjust my buffer. Thanks for the assist, both on youtube and here. :)