Question / Help Want to improve my stream quality + stop viewers lagging while watching

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TheWoozle

New Member
Hi, I'm new to the streaming scene which means I'm also new to the whole OBS thing! I have a very good computer and good internet to stream at a high quality, but I obviously want to provide the best stream quality for everyone else to watch.

I've read the threads above, yet I tried to fix my issues myself after reading it to no avail, so I thought that I'll just post a thread on here so you guys can tell me what to use and how to configure my settings properly as I think I've messed it up somehow.

The issues I'm having are:-

- Some viewers are saying my stream is laggy when other streamers don't... Also been told it buffers quite a bit. Basically I drop frames for them, but my OBS doesn't show them dropped
- My stream preview on dashboard looks laggy sometimes to myself, yet looks perfect on obs and again, no frame drops
- When I watch my streams back after I finish streaming to assess the quality myself, I find it laggy and blurry and assume others do too
- Others have mentioned blurriness
- My mic quality is bad, but I blame the headset there lol

I have tried lowering bitrate and stuff, yet it only makes the quality look worse to me and doesn't solve the viewers "lag" issues either, so that's why I'm here!

I only stream OSRS Runescape currently, these are my previous broadcasts to give you some insight - http://www.twitch.tv/thewooozle/profile - Please check a few of them out as they were streamed at different times of the day and may make a difference?

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My OBS log is - http://pastebin.com/uJ3uEkBN

I have made gyazo's of each of the OBS screens for you to see also:

- https://gyazo.com/0a0c52e841594f666d3e27574be7c289
- https://gyazo.com/7ac0315aa3e8eb2e2b1fc952455c1155
- https://gyazo.com/80f8892426ac319fd1611208ba592231
- https://gyazo.com/15868ac3011ceeb7ed6b4382eeaaa8ba
- https://gyazo.com/10af1a8008ac052a6e5a1096c6e65310
- https://gyazo.com/7957dada04682a9640bc00e4ecd614e8

My internet - http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4860532264

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If you could tell me what to change my settings to and which would give me the best results I will really appreciate it and please let me know if you need anything else to help me improve my stream!
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
I did say that I read that thread as well as the others, yet what I tried didn't work - I'd appreciate if someone who knows more about these things to help me tweak my settings instead of just linking the thread that I see linked on all other threads please!

I tried the stream in 1.5k bitrate as well as 1.8k, 2k, 2.2k and 2.5k - yet it didn't solve the lag for the viewers and only made the quality even worse
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
You're using nvenc.

Quality will ALWAYS be junk with that for streaming.

Also, if lowering your bitrate doesn't help the problem viewers, nothing will as it's not an OBS-side issue at that point.
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
Ahh okay, I wasn't aware of that (I'm a noob with this stuff still). What should I use instead and what should I change in the other settings to compensate / make it better?
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
I'm also trying to stream in 720p as I got suggested to downscale to it from 1080p, however I'm not sure what resolution I should stream at that would be best for the viewers - I'm also not partnered with Twitch also
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
x264 will ALWAYS produce better picture quality than other encoders.

1280x720 resolution, 30fps, 2000kbit video is the sweet spot for minimizing buffering.
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
Is the Lanczos Filter the best to use also? I only chose that as it stated best detail lol... Also will 2000kbit not cause motion blur? (I also changed the scene buffering time to 400, it was originally on 700, again, not sure if I did right)

After changing to x264, what presets should I use in the advanced tab?

Thank you for the help btw Harold, I've had no help with this before from other people I've asked :P
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
I also changed the process priority class to normal as it was on high before I started streaming today

I just wish I knew what more of these things meant really lol
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Put scene buffering back to 700. 400 is too low and the guides that recommend it are considered to be outdated.

Leave the preset at veryfast unless you find you actually have the cpu time to spare to go with one that sounds slower. Diminishing returns come in to play very quickly around the medium preset.
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
Ok, so does these images look about right now then? From the things I had read before, 720p required a 2500k - 2800kbit to run at the best quality, but I'm guessing that's what causes the viewers to see the stream "laggy"?

e5af6fa84aaab155d4c655fd87b89503.png


6f05b6e664e2dd6a60350836ff110161.png


78458e5f424f7a7c853295a0af1272e6.png
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
I'm really sorry for all these questions btw, I just want to get this sorted so I hopefully won't need to bother anyone else about this again :P
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Yes, the settings look fine now. I'd still keep Process Priority at Above Normal, to make sure the video encoder keeps running smoothly.

I'd say that with that i7-4790k, you'd probably be good to go at a Medium preset for 720p@30 video. That's really a testing/trial-and-error thing though; start at Veryfast, test for 20 minutes of real gaming+streaming, watching CPU load, temperature and throttling. If it seems good, you can go a step slower. Slower the preset = more CPU used = better compression used = the better your stream will look at a given bitrate.

I'd actually probably bung it on Medium if I was in your shoes to start (as that hardware really should be able to do it), and just check the logfiles for late/skipped/duped frames, shooting for around 80% CPU usage (or less) while intensively gaming.
 
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TheWoozle

New Member
Would you keep it 720p? Or go for the 1080p? I only ask as the 1080p streams I watch look pretty decent, just not sure about the settings tbh
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
1080p needs almost double the bitrate vs 720p to maintain picture quality, simply because they have double the pixels per frame.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
Unless you're a Twitch Partner, you don't have the realistic bitrate budget available to 'afford' 1080p on anything higher motion than maybe Hearthstone.

720p, 30fps, 2000kbps with x264 Veryfast or slower is the "golden point" for non-partnered casters.
Don't get lost chasing numbers. Resolution/framerate is not a magic bullet to make a good cast.
 
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Ferocious

New Member
Sorry i also encountered the same problem, but i saw some comments state that resolution downscale makes your stream looks bad
 
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Ferocious

New Member
If i set resolution downscale, should i play my game in 1280x720 or 1920x1080? Sorry cause i am still very very new to streaming
 
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