Question / Help WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big CPU)

[CaMaK]

Hello,

As agreed in the thread http://obsproject.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 7&start=10, I create a new one to diagnose my problem.

I have more and more "WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big CPU)". And it shows more of the stream recordings that I do. I would like to understand what is not or no longer in my configuration.

Here is my log



Here the associated record (to 1:13)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... O4M#t=4280

My configuration is a dual setup (PC dedicated to stream at 100%). Turn over a Chrome (dashboard Twitch) and an IRC client
CPU: Intel I7 3770K@4.3
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LX
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX650-DC-1GD5
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb
+ Avermedia C985

Can you help me and tell me that mostly wrong?

Thank you in advance and thank you for OBS!

ps: sorry for my english, i'm french ^^

 

[R1CH]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Did you read the warning when you changed the preset? That's why you're having problems. Put it back to veryfast.

 

[Sapiens]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

A 3770K can't handle 1280x800 at 60 FPS on the medium preset even in a 2 PC setup. You shouldn't need to go all the way back to veryfast though; the fast preset should be okay for most things.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Seriously ? What CPU need to 1280x800 at 60 FPS on the medium preset ?

I'm in this setup since 8 months without problem.

 

[Sapiens]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

The latest version of OBS simply reports when it's discarding frames that took too long to encode, whereas older versions didn't. The same thing has been happening for 8 months, there just wasn't a big red notice about it.

Please realize that the medium preset is not somehow magical compared to the fast preset. If you run SSIM benchmarks between the two the difference in quality will likely be less than 1%. Spending a large amount of money on something like a 3930K for what are basically intangible quality gains would be an incredible waste of money. Just use the fast preset and move on.

 

[vaesauce]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

That's a dedicated Streaming PC right? 1280x800 @ 60FPS should be very easily do-able if that is the case. As long as you're not doing anything else on the computer while streaming.

The question now is what is your upload rate?

www.testmy.net

Select the server closest to you and choose the upload test and select the biggest file available to test it on. Your stream looks fine and I guess it's just the pop up or warning that bothers you?

 

[Sapiens]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

That's a dedicated Streaming PC right? 1280x800 @ 60FPS should be very easily do-able if that is the case. As long as you're not doing anything else on the computer while streaming.

The question now is what is your upload rate?

http://www.testmy.net

Select the server closest to you and choose the upload test and select the biggest file available to test it on. Your stream looks fine and I guess it's just the pop up or warning that bothers you?

You're conflating dropped frames with late frames. Dropped frames are bandwidth-related, late frames are the result of the CPU not keeping up with the encoding. I use a 2 PC setup similar to the OP's and I assure you that the medium preset can be more than the CPU can handle at that resolution and frame rate with a high motion source.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

@vaesauce, i think my upload is enough to : http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3010271950 (I use London as Twitch Server) and yes this CPU is dedicated streaming PC @4.3Ghz.

@Sapiens, yes "fast" is not a big deal, but I just want to understand.

 

[Boildown]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

@vaesauce, i think my upload is enough to : http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3010271950 (I use London as Twitch Server) and yes this CPU is dedicated streaming PC @4.3Ghz.

Speedtest.net is a bad test for streaming purposes. Use testmy.net instead, and post those results.

I have a two-PC setup and my i7 2600k at 4.3GHz could barely do medium. That was a few versions ago and I think OBS got a few speed improvements since then, so it might be easier now. I couldn't do Slow.

You however are streaming at a higher resolution than I was, at a higher FPS than I was, and are using a webcam, which I was not. So I don't think you can pull off Medium with that CPU. Set yours to Fast and post a new log file.

Also try using the advanced page command (custom settings) "threads=10". The default number of threads, 12, for me resulted in worse performance. Additionally try using another custom setting "opencl=true", since you have an Nvidia graphics card.

 

[FerretBomb]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

@Sapiens, yes "fast" is not a big deal, but I just want to understand.

You are (and have) been asking more of your CPU than it can provide. The problem has existed since before this version, there was just no indicator-message. Resolution increases the workload. Framerate is a multiplier on that workload. And the encoding speed preset is even more-so.

If you want to run Medium, drop your resolution and/or frame rate. If you want to keep the frame rate and resolution the same, raise your encoding preset to Fast or Veryfast. Even if your CPU is quite powerful, OBS can be configured to far exceed the processing power of ANY CPU on the market.

 

[vaesauce]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Nah, my point was that if his streaming PC is equipped with an i7 3770K and THAT is the dedicated streaming PC... then streaming at the resolution he is streaming at or the settings in general should be perfectly fine.

Having a dedicated computer to stream means you can probably run slower than Medium if you wanted to o_O.

I can stream a handful of games on my 3770K while gaming at the same time and not have any late or dropped frames while using the Medium Preset.

Other than that, hes streaming BF3, its going to eat up his GPU usage, using OpenCL will give him issues considering it will put more load on the GPU as BF3 already uses up a great amount of it. Been there and done that on my own. But if it's on a dedicated streaming system, OpenCL shouldn't even be necessary at the same time.

 

[Sapiens]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Nah, my point was that if his streaming PC is equipped with an i7 3770K and THAT is the dedicated streaming PC... then streaming at the resolution he is streaming at or the settings in general should be perfectly fine.

Having a dedicated computer to stream means you can probably run slower than Medium if you wanted to o_O.

I quite understood your point the first time and replied accordingly - you overestimate the capability of the CPU to encode high motion content. My own encoding box has a 3770 in it and I'm well aware of its limits. If you have some sensible explanation for why CaMaK's log shows 6% skipped and 1% late frames that doesn't involve his CPU not keeping up I'd love to hear it.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

@vaesauce, i think my upload is enough to : http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3010271950 (I use London as Twitch Server) and yes this CPU is dedicated streaming PC @4.3Ghz.

Speedtest.net is a bad test for streaming purposes. Use testmy.net instead, and post those results.

:::.. Upload Speed Test Result Details ..:::
Upload Connection Speed:: 6848 Kbps or 6.8 Mbps
Upload Speed Test Size:: 4.4 MB or 4544 kB or 4653056 bytes
Upload Binary File Transfer Speed:: 856 kB/s
Tested At:: http://TestMy.net Version 13
Validation:: http://testmy.net/db/kEsiARh
More Stats:: http://testmy.net/compID/10015220392689
Test Time:: 2013-10-04 09:04:13 Local Time
Location:: Unknown FR >> Destination:: Dallas, TX US
1MB Upload in 1.2 Seconds - 1GB Upload in ~20 Minutes - 122X faster than 56K
This test of exactly 4544 kB took 5.436 seconds to complete
Running at 742% of hosts average (France Telecom http://testmy.net/hoststats/france_telecom)
User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/29.0.1547.76 Safari/537.36 [!]

I'm in France ... so Speedtest is our bandwish test provider :)

I quite understood your point the first time and replied accordingly - you overestimate the capability of the CPU to encode high motion content. My own encoding box has a 3770 in it and I'm well aware of its limits. If you have some sensible explanation for why CaMaK's log shows 6% skipped and 1% late frames that doesn't involve his CPU not keeping up I'd love to hear it.

I will try the "Fast" setting. But I am always amazed at your answers. A dedicated PC must have what CPU market for successful encoding medium in this resolution?

 

[Sapiens]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

A dedicated PC must have what CPU market for successful encoding medium in this resolution?

It depends on the source content. If you were streaming a game with less motion, say a RTS or MOBA or something, your current CPU could likely keep up with encoding using the medium preset just fine. When the amount of visual detail and motion increases, so does the amount of processing power needed to encode the video.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Did you have a comparive benchmark between "fast" and "medium" ?

 

[vaesauce]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Nah, my point was that if his streaming PC is equipped with an i7 3770K and THAT is the dedicated streaming PC... then streaming at the resolution he is streaming at or the settings in general should be perfectly fine.

Having a dedicated computer to stream means you can probably run slower than Medium if you wanted to o_O.

I quite understood your point the first time and replied accordingly - you overestimate the capability of the CPU to encode high motion content. My own encoding box has a 3770 in it and I'm well aware of its limits. If you have some sensible explanation for why CaMaK's log shows 6% skipped and 1% late frames that doesn't involve his CPU not keeping up I'd love to hear it.

Lol. Like i said, I was simply telling CaMaK that his 3770 is very capable of streaming with the medium Preset. He's asking you guys what is a "CAPABLE" CPU and you guys are all ignoring him while I'm here telling him that it's perfectly fine because since it's doing encoding by itself, it shouldn't be late to encode on anything to be honest.

On another note, CaMaK, if you really want to get rid of that message or whatever that you're getting though your stream looks fine, you can always look into Custom Settings. I assure you that it's probably more efficient. The quality jump from FAST to MEDIUM is all in your own eyes to see if it's worth it or not to you but FAST shouldn't effect your quality by much or if at all.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Thank you ,

Do you see a custom parameter that could change?

The idea, I will go fast if it does not change as that, but I am, as you say, curious to get an answer on the CPU it takes to make the medium ... given the number of people on Twitch who announces the medium with CPU more or less equivalent to mine :)

 

[vaesauce]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

There are a lot of Custom Parameters that could change lol but requires A LOT of testing/trial and error. If i were you, I would only look into it if it really bothered me.

If the i7 3770K can't handle the Medium Preset as a dedicated CPU as some say (Don't know how it doesn't), then possibly the i7 Haswell and anything above that has more Cores+HT. That's when Quality vs Price becomes an issue. Just stay with the 3770K.

 

[CaMaK]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

Ok, I went for hours of test :) Pending a person of OBS's project can confirm that this CPU is too low for these parameters stream?

 

[Boildown]

Re: WARNING: Taking too long to encode. Skipping Frame!(big

The difference between Medium and Fast and Faster is negligible compared to running the stream at the resolution and framerate that you want without drops or lags or whatever. Experiment, with the goal of a properly-running stream, but don't have your heart set at a particular preset. And if you need help, post logs of your most recent attempt.

Your testmy.net results look great. But notice how your upload is 1/6th the speed Speedtest said you were getting. It doesn't matter, 6 meg up is great. If you're streaming to Twitch, you need to limit to 3500 anyways.