Question / Help Twitch Stream Frame Stuttering

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BadKarmaLucky

New Member
I have been using OBS Classic and then OBS Studio for quite some time. I have never had an issue and always enjoyed the product. If I ever encounted a hiccup of some kind I was always able to find the setting causing the issue and with the help of these forums or other streamers make the change. Now I am at my wit's end.

I am running OBS Studio on a new PC I just built with some really great hardware. The system is running the i7700K CPU with 32GB of DDR4 4000 RAM, Samsung 960 Pro SSD, and the EVGA 1080 FTW2 GPU. When I first installed everything and ran OBS Studio it ran like a champ. I was able to increase my bitrate to 3000+ and eventually 4000 and run the stream at 60 fps without any issue. The CPU meter on OBS Studio never went above 18% and was normally around 8-12%. Since the 19.0.2 update, all of that has changed.

I am getting a lot of negative feedback that the stream is dropping frames really bad. OBS Studio records 0 dropped frames, strong signal, 60 fps, and good bitrate (usually above the setting I use). Twitch records excellent signal strength and doesn't show any signs of negative connection. The only sign of anything strange is the CPU meter on OBS Studio shows usage of ~60%. This is really strange to me as I have a really good CPU. I have ran speed tests while the issue is happening and got 32ms ping, 241 mbps download, and 12 mbps upload.

I have tried changing all of my output and stream settings including lowering and raising bitrate, changing CPU speed, going from simple to advanced output and back, even uninstalling and reinstalling OBS Studio. I have removed Browser Sources and scenes. I have updated all of my drivers. I even took the nuclear path of reformatting the machine and only installing the necessary programs. None of this worked. I was notified again today of massive frame stuttering while playing Horizon Zero Dawn from the PS4 Pro. I don't know what to do.

Can anyone point me in a direction that might help? Is there an update coming for OBS Studio that might change this experience for me? I am not sure what information to provide at this point, all of the information I see from OBS Studio and Twitch looks great. The only step I can think of in the troubleshooting process that I haven't tried already is to change broadcast software and see if the issue persists. I REALLY don't want to have to try this.

Log File: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/27c3ea7412824d8c35b993b3a2228701
Latest Log File: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6d4ae6954bcd0a3ea429db7738a66cf2
 
Last edited:
I

idxearo

Member
I can see this in your first log.
22:19:33.630: Video stopped, number of skipped frames due to encoding lag: 113012/1977356 (5.7%)

OBS on your end will look fine, but the stream output looks like if it skips or stutters.
This issue happens when your video card is being taxed heavily, as OBS does use the video card to render the stream.
Things can sometimes cause this:
  • A heavy GPU game while using NVENC/Shadowplay to game record while also streaming
  • Apps on your pc using Hardware acceleration
  • Number of Chrome tabs with activity while Chrome is set to use Hardware Acceleration
  • Bad Browser sources on OBS
  • Filters on Browser sources
  • Sharpening filters on full canvas sources.
  • All of the above or a combination
Basically, your video card might be fighting for resources.
 
MadVaper

MadVaper

New Member
I just posted with a similar issue. What you're saying makes sense, but why would this problem crop up now? Not only have I been streaming for years without issue, but GPUs are usually taxed to 100% when playing games.
 
B

BadKarmaLucky

New Member
Well, I don't know how to check the GPU strain while streaming so I can't confirm if that would be the issue or not. I know that I get that encoding warning when I change the CPU Usage setting in the output tab to superfast. That has been the only time I receive it.

I do wonder if this would be the case with my EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 video card though. That is a pretty robust piece of hardware, Would this program really tax that enough to cause performance issues? Especially when not playing a PC game. This is happening while playing Xbox or PS4 and using a capture card. Not while playing and streaming a PC game. Also, I never had this issue until the 19.0.2 update so what has changed in OBS Studio to cause this performance change?

Is there a tuning I can do to the GPU or drivers to increase the performance to reduce the risk of the video stuttering? Possibly some OBS Studio settings that I could change?
 
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