Help with Twitch stream being choppy

bizzmeister

bizzmeister

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
2,439
Hey guys

heres the setup and connection i run:

Network: 250mb download / 20mb upload ( wireless via 5.0ghz band at home )

Comp: i7 9700k @ 5.0ghz / 16GB Ram / Intel Optane 660 1TB NVME SSD / RTX 2070 Super / Win 10



Im using the twitch studio for noobs to stream, pretty straight forward and auto selects your bitrate and what not for you after running a benchmark/test on your network.



My problem is that the stream looks like shit, its choppy. It defaults to 1080p/60 @ 6000 bitrate because the connection is great.

The game itself while im playing, runs flawlessly. Modern Warfare / PUBG / CS:GO, all run great while the stream is running. But the stream itself is a mess.


Whats going on here? Shit software over @ twitch, need to switch to OBS?
 
Try OBS. I've never used Twitch Studio, but even with my crappy connection I've had good luck dialing in OBS.
 
I would see about lowering your bitrate first and seeing what happens. Drop it to 2k and work your way back up. Can try a lower resolution as well as the lower bitrate and see what you can find as a good balance.
What are you streaming and how does that load your connection? Your upload is lower but should be plenty for a basic stream unless others are hitting the connection.

Do you have multiple monitors or can you run in windowed mode and check your system resource usage while streaming to see if anything is bottle necking? Shouldnt for a basic stream but again never hurts. Memory would be my main guess for something to bottleneck out of what you posted.

My main focus would be as mentioned on the bitrate and then the quality of the wireless signal if you see no change and the resources are not overly utilized.

You can try other options, OBS is not bad but I find it uses a lot more resources to process than other offerings so I only use it as a backup though it has some good features.
 
A. you should be on a wired connection if you want to do high bitrate streams. 6000kbps is considered high bitrate for twitch. Really, you should be streaming on a wired connection, in general. But you could probably get away with something around 4000kbps, if your wireless is really fast, with minimal packet drop, and minimal competing wireless connections nearby, which can hurt your connection quality.

B. Try this tester program for twitch
https://r1ch.net/projects/twitchtest

Its pretty darn reliable for showing your actual upload capability, to the real twitch servers. Even though your internet connection may be expensive and have a great download speed----uploads may not be able to sustain 6000kbps to twitch servers. Especially if you are using wireless. If you really want to maximize your streaming, run this program before you go live, each time. To find out which server is giving you the best performance, at any given time. Its not necessarily always the closest server, geographically. *however, you may be able to generally identify a server or two, which you can probably always rely on to be one of your best choices, most of the time.

C. A major reason to use OBS is so that you can utilize Nvidia's hardware NVENC encoder on your 2070. This will give you good - great quality encoding with very fast speed. Generally, your computer will prioritize the game itself, for CPU time. If you are doing encoding on the CPU, it could be chopping the encoding, if the game is taking too much CPU to do game + encoding at the same time. This is where NVENC comes in. It takes a lot of load off the CPU. OBS even has a new codepath they developed with Nvidia, to make it even better.

NVENC also generally looks better for faster paced games, such as FPS and fighting games. CPU encoding can look better for slow paced games. But, the performance hit may make it unusable for streaming.

If your stream looks bad with the auto settings (regardless of being choppy), the twitch program is probably defaulting to really low quality ecoding settings. "Faster" and "Fast" presets for CPU encoding should look quite good. You can of course select those presets in OBS. But if you are trying to stick with the twitch program, see if you can at least try custom mode to select a preset, rather than an "auto" mode. "medium" preset really shouldn't be used. Its proven to be overkill for all but the slowest paced games and/or high core count CPUs. and only nets a very small visual increase, if any.

If you have good speed for CPU encoding and are looking to add some visual quality over the "faster" or "fast" presets---In my opinion, its better to select the "animation" mode along with "faster" or "fast", rather than selecting the "medium" preset. "Animation" mode essentially adds tweaks for more b frames and whatnot, which increase compression efficiency, at a speed cost. But its a better use of the speed cost, than just selecting the "medium" preset.

===

If you can't sustain 6000kbps one way or another, you can try a couple of things. If the game is fast paced like an FPS, its going to need more bitrate to keep up with the speed. You can try 5000kbps. But depending upon the game, that may not be enough bitrate to keep the quality clear at 1080p. Anything lower than 5000kbps is going to be too low for 1080p. So, you can use OBS to downscale to 720p and then try 4500kbps or 4000kbps.

Keep in mind, the kbps you upload also includes your sound. So make sure to account for some room for that. And if you are mixing in your voice via mic, you will need more bitrate for your sound output, to keep the mix sounding decent. Depending upon what your sound mix is, you'll need between 1/4 - 1/2Mb for game sound and/or game sound + 1 mic.
 
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Agree that number 1 thing that needs to be changed before trying anything else is switching to a wired connection.

Watch out for your total upload bitrate, too, as Twitch's servers will severely throttle your stream if you exceed their maximum allowed.
 
bizzmeister said:
Hey guys

heres the setup and connection i run:

Network: 250mb download / 20mb upload ( wireless via 5.0ghz band at home )

Comp: i7 9700k @ 5.0ghz / 16GB Ram / Intel Optane 660 1TB NVME SSD / RTX 2070 Super / Win 10



Im using the twitch studio for noobs to stream, pretty straight forward and auto selects your bitrate and what not for you after running a benchmark/test on your network.



My problem is that the stream looks like shit, its choppy. It defaults to 1080p/60 @ 6000 bitrate because the connection is great.

The game itself while im playing, runs flawlessly. Modern Warfare / PUBG / CS:GO, all run great while the stream is running. But the stream itself is a mess.


Whats going on here? Shit software over @ twitch, need to switch to OBS?
Click to expand...
bizzmeister said:
wireless via 5.0ghz band at home
Click to expand...

There is your problem. I'm not sure why anyone thinks wireless is good enough for streaming.
 
Derangel said:
Try OBS. I've never used Twitch Studio, but even with my crappy connection I've had good luck dialing in OBS.
Click to expand...


I know of OBS, was just trying something new and much easier to get going.


Ripskin said:
I would see about lowering your bitrate first and seeing what happens. Drop it to 2k and work your way back up. Can try a lower resolution as well as the lower bitrate and see what you can find as a good balance.
What are you streaming and how does that load your connection? Your upload is lower but should be plenty for a basic stream unless others are hitting the connection.

Do you have multiple monitors or can you run in windowed mode and check your system resource usage while streaming to see if anything is bottle necking? Shouldnt for a basic stream but again never hurts. Memory would be my main guess for something to bottleneck out of what you posted.

My main focus would be as mentioned on the bitrate and then the quality of the wireless signal if you see no change and the resources are not overly utilized.

You can try other options, OBS is not bad but I find it uses a lot more resources to process than other offerings so I only use it as a backup though it has some good features.
Click to expand...


I never touched the bitrate because it ran a test and deemed my connection excellent. I can try that though, lowering. Im streaming Modern Warfare/PUBG/Overwatch/CS:GO. Im running a single dell gaming monitor, nothing else.



chameleoneel said:
A. you should be on a wired connection if you want to do high bitrate streams. 6000kbps is considered high bitrate for twitch. Really, you should be streaming on a wired connection, in general. But you could probably get away with something around 4000kbps, if your wireless is really fast, with minimal packet drop, and minimal competing wireless connections nearby, which can hurt your connection quality.

B. Try this tester program for twitch
https://r1ch.net/projects/twitchtest

Its pretty darn reliable for showing your actual upload capability, to the real twitch servers. Even though your internet connection may be expensive and have a great download speed----uploads may not be able to sustain 6000kbps to twitch servers. Especially if you are using wireless. If you really want to maximize your streaming, run this program before you go live, each time. To find out which server is giving you the best performance, at any given time. Its not necessarily always the closest server, geographically. *however, you may be able to generally identify a server or two, which you can probably always rely on to be one of your best choices, most of the time.

C. A major reason to use OBS is so that you can utilize Nvidia's hardware NVENC encoder on your 2070. This will give you good - great quality encoding with very fast speed. Generally, your computer will prioritize the game itself, for CPU time. If you are doing encoding on the CPU, it could be chopping the encoding, if the game is taking too much CPU to do game + encoding at the same time. This is where NVENC comes in. It takes a lot of load off the CPU. OBS even has a new codepath they developed with Nvidia, to make it even better.

NVENC also generally looks better for faster paced games, such as FPS and fighting games. CPU encoding can look better for slow paced games. But, the performance hit may make it unusable for streaming.

If your stream looks bad with the auto settings (regardless of being choppy), the twitch program is probably defaulting to really low quality ecoding settings. "Faster" and "Fast" presets for CPU encoding should look quite good. You can of course select those presets in OBS. But if you are trying to stick with the twitch program, see if you can at least try custom mode to select a preset, rather than an "auto" mode. "medium" preset really shouldn't be used. Its proven to be overkill for all but the slowest paced games and/or high core count CPUs. and only nets a very small visual increase, if any.

If you have good speed for CPU encoding and are looking to add some visual quality over the "faster" or "fast" presets---In my opinion, its better to select the "animation" mode along with "faster" or "fast", rather than selecting the "medium" preset. "Animation" mode essentially adds tweaks for more b frames and whatnot, which increase compression efficiency, at a speed cost. But its a better use of the speed cost, than just selecting the "medium" preset.

===

If you can't sustain 6000kbps one way or another, you can try a couple of things. If the game is fast paced like an FPS, its going to need more bitrate to keep up with the speed. You can try 5000kbps. But depending upon the game, that may not be enough bitrate to keep the quality clear at 1080p. Anything lower than 5000kbps is going to be too low for 1080p. So, you can use OBS to downscale to 720p and then try 4500kbps or 4000kbps.

Keep in mind, the kbps you upload also includes your sound. So make sure to account for some room for that. And if you are mixing in your voice via mic, you will need more bitrate for your sound output, to keep the mix sounding decent. Depending upon what your sound mix is, you'll need between 1/4 - 1/2Mb for game sound and/or game sound + 1 mic.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the detailed lengthy write up bud, really appreciate the input.


I havent done wired because im using this PC outside my main room but figured since my connection is so strong, it wouldnt be an issue. I have no one else using my connection or streaming at all. Just me.

I havent used that link you sent but i will definitely try that out tonight and report results back here. I know for sure OBS is better but didnt feel going through and learning the ins and outs of it. I guess i have to, to maximum quality since my build definitely warrants it. I get a constant 12mb upload which is more than enough for a strong HD stream that shouldnt be breaking up. Thats what was odd to me.


Armenius said:
Agree that number 1 thing that needs to be changed before trying anything else is switching to a wired connection.

Watch out for your total upload bitrate, too, as Twitch's servers will severely throttle your stream if you exceed their maximum allowed.
Click to expand...


lol i wont be going wired with this build as i built it to be mobile, my 1080ti desktop is hardwired though. As i mentioned before though Arm, i didnt up it myself it all, i left it at what Twitch recomended based off their test.


Comixbooks said:
Just watch Dr. Disrespect
Click to expand...

dude annoys the shit outa me lol


Dan_D said:
There is your problem. I'm not sure why anyone thinks wireless is good enough for streaming.
Click to expand...


*shrugs* ? lol its not that serious bro, figured with this beast wireless connection,on a 5.0ghz band, i shouldnt have any problems. We will tinker more and see what happens





EDIT**** ran the test chameleoneel asked to run

yiFmZWL.png
 
Last edited:
bizzmeister said:
I know of OBS, was just trying something new and much easier to get going.





I never touched the bitrate because it ran a test and deemed my connection excellent. I can try that though, lowering. Im streaming Modern Warfare/PUBG/Overwatch/CS:GO. Im running a single dell gaming monitor, nothing else.






Thanks for the detailed lengthy write up bud, really appreciate the input.


I havent done wired because im using this PC outside my main room but figured since my connection is so strong, it wouldnt be an issue. I have no one else using my connection or streaming at all. Just me.

I havent used that link you sent but i will definitely try that out tonight and report results back here. I know for sure OBS is better but didnt feel going through and learning the ins and outs of it. I guess i have to, to maximum quality since my build definitely warrants it. I get a constant 12mb upload which is more than enough for a strong HD stream that shouldnt be breaking up. Thats what was odd to me.





lol i wont be going wired with this build as i built it to be mobile, my 1080ti desktop is hardwired though. As i mentioned before though Arm, i didnt up it myself it all, i left it at what Twitch recomended based off their test.




dude annoys the shit outa me lol





*shrugs* ? lol its not that serious bro, figured with this beast wireless connection,on a 5.0ghz band, i shouldnt have any problems. We will tinker more and see what happens





EDIT**** ran the test chameleoneel asked to run

View attachment 214052
Click to expand...
Those seem like pretty excellent results. However, it doesn't tell the entire story. If you have great wireless (which it seems like you do), streaming isn't impossible. But it can be more difficult to get a smooth stream, than it is via a wired connection. There are some other tools to diagnose your stream performance more. But I think this may be more of a hardware performance issue, than a connection issue. (However, you can also check out https://inspector.twitch.tv/#// which may tell you more detailed info about your uploads to twitch and may give you a better idea about exactly how viable your wireless connection is, for Twitch.)

The first thing I would do is test this same computer via a wired connection and try to stream a game which had a choppy stream, with the same exact settings in your streaming program, as you were using for wireless. The only change should be that the connection is wired.

If its still choppy, then its probably a performance issue and not a connection issue. A performance issue meaning that the streaming progarm you are using is probably encoding on your CPU and the game you are playing is demanding too much from the CPU, to also encode a 1080p stream. You could try a 720p stream and/or lowering the bitrate. Or you could try customizing some settings, such as the encoder presets. And you can even try lowering graphics settings for the game, in attempt to free up some CPU resources.

However, you may end up in a situation where you need to customize more stuff about the stream. At which point, you should switch to OBS. Its going to perform better, in general. Due to very efficient coding developed closely with Nvidia. Also, you will be able to switch to NVENC encoding, if you want to or if you need to, because your CPU can't handle the game and the encoding, at the same time. There's also quicksync hardware encoding via Intel CPUs.

I can walk you through some general setup for OBS to give you a jump start. No big deal.
 
Last edited:
bizzmeister said:
I havent done wired because im using this PC outside my main room but figured since my connection is so strong, it wouldnt be an issue. I have no one else using my connection or streaming at all. Just me.

figured with this beast wireless connection,on a 5.0ghz band, i shouldnt have any problems.
Click to expand...

Being a solo user of wireless is not the complete picture. You have surrounding EMI, signal contest from other wireless, the for sure dropped packets and numerous other obstacles. Stream at high def is obviously a lot of data throughput. Even on the best of days, wireless will drop packets forcing your video to reset thus the stutter. You can be 2 feet away from your router and still have these problems.

Easy test would try to stream from your 1080 wired rig, if you get stutter there then its config/ISP/router.
 
chameleoneel said:
Those seem like pretty excellent results. However, it doesn't tell the entire story. If you have great wireless (which it seems like you do), streaming isn't impossible. But it can be more difficult to get a smooth stream, than it is via a wired connection. There are some other tools to diagnose your stream performance more. But I think this may be more of a hardware performance issue, than a connection issue. (However, you can also check out https://inspector.twitch.tv/#// which may tell you more detailed info about your uploads to twitch and may give you a better idea about exactly how viable your wireless connection is, for Twitch.)

The first thing I would do is test this same computer via a wired connection and try to stream a game which had a choppy stream, with the same exact settings in your streaming program, as you were using for wireless. The only change should be that the connection is wired.

If its still choppy, then its probably a performance issue and not a connection issue. A performance issue meaning that the streaming progarm you are using is probably encoding on your CPU and the game you are playing is demanding too much from the CPU, to also encode a 1080p stream. You could try a 720p stream and/or lowering the bitrate. Or you could try customizing some settings, such as the encoder presets. And you can even try lowering graphics settings for the game, in attempt to free up some CPU resources.

However, you may end up in a situation where you need to customize more stuff about the stream. At which point, you should switch to OBS. Its going to perform better, in general. Due to very efficient coding developed closely with Nvidia. Also, you will be able to switch to NVENC encoding, if you want to or if you need to, because your CPU can't handle the game and the encoding, at the same time. There's also quicksync hardware encoding via Intel CPUs.

I can walk you through some general setup for OBS to give you a jump start. No big deal.
Click to expand...


Thank you, will try that tonight when I get home. Appreciate your offer to help.


That_Sound_Guy said:
Being a solo user of wireless is not the complete picture. You have surrounding EMI, signal contest from other wireless, the for sure dropped packets and numerous other obstacles. Stream at high def is obviously a lot of data throughput. Even on the best of days, wireless will drop packets forcing your video to reset thus the stutter. You can be 2 feet away from your router and still have these problems.

Easy test would try to stream from your 1080 wired rig, if you get stutter there then its config/ISP/router.
Click to expand...


true, but figured I’d be fine with this setup. Will be doing more testing tonight.


jmilcher said:
Do yourself a favor op, run a Ethernet cable direct even if it’s just room to room. Test it out. Report back.
Click to expand...

Not possible, rooms to far apart unless I move my setup. I might lol.


pendragon1 said:
^^^ that!! thought that was streaming 101...
oh and wireless is never "beast".
Click to expand...

not that serious, as I mentioned above brotha lol. Steaming 101 or not, if you have a “beast” WiFi setup like I do, I’d think you’d like to utilize it lol.


my entire purpose of this build was to have only 2 wires coming out of anywhere on this PC. One for the power supply to the wall and the other being the monitor. The rest is all wireless and great, mouse/keyboard/headset
 
Check cpu usage while streaming.





Also switch to obs studio and a wired connection. :D
 
So is this a laptop or desktop?

What hardware are you using for recording (camera and microphone)?
 
Like many have said just spend $15 on a Long ass Cat5 cable and do a direct connection into the modem. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I’ve always had a direct connection to my main PC. Never ever had a wireless card in my pc. Wireless is great for everyone using it for Facebook and YouTube. But for everything else a hard wired connnection is no contest.
 
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