As streaming plays a big role in the StarCraft and Dota 2 communities, I figured I'd post a blog about this. Open Broadcaster Software (usually referred to as just OBS) is a fairly new program to the streaming market that lets you stream and record your gameplay in a manner very similar to xsplit. However unlike xsplit, OBS is completely free to use and is even open source, allowing anyone to help contribute to the development - I've personally submitted quite a few pieces of code to help improve the network code and fix various bugs. There are no restrictions on things like resolution, bitrate, frame rate, etc so as long as your PC is good enough, you can stream however you like.
OBS was first announced just under six months ago by Jim, the main developer, in this reddit thread. Since then, the program has grown to support all kinds of new options and devices. The current version, 0.47a, is fresh off of a major update that improves synchronization of things like webcams and microphones, adds support for more capture cards and a mode to help reduce network latency caused by streaming.
Look at all the things OBS can do!
One of the main features OBS offers over other solutions is the built-in game capture plugin. Compared to xsplit's "game source" feature, the OBS game capture performs much better and is generally even better than using DXTory to capture your games. OBS also has a fast single-window capture mode and supports high speed full screen capture on Windows 8. The program is designed with performance in mind and written entirely in C++ with no fancy UI or other bloat. Some functions like color space conversion and blending are offloaded to the GPU to further minimize CPU use.
I've been encouraging streamers to switch to OBS for some time, and many people report better frame rates and reduced CPU usage compared to xsplit. The TL Dota 2 team and some of our SC2 players are also streaming with OBS full time now. If you're interested in trying it out, check out obsproject.com for downloads. If you're new to OBS, be sure to stop by the great support forum for some good setup guides.
OBS is a great program. Very easy to use, not as fancy looking in the GUI field when compared to Xsplit but it gets the job done and a lot more efficient than Xsplit. Free program to use with great support on their forums, whats there not to like?
OBS is great, I'm able to stream 720p 30fps with no noticeable performance loss in both SC2 and LoL. Also very easy to use, even for someone like me who is fairly illiterate when it comes to computers!
I had no clue how to stream, never tried and never researched the topic. Withing 5-10minutes I had OBS up and my twitch channel running. Amazing software.
To be fair I dl'd xplit first thinking that's what I was 'supposed' to use but after tinkering with it and realizing I'd probably have to pay I quickly looked for alternatives. Once I tried OBS I never looked back.
On February 05 2013 08:50 crms wrote: I had no clue how to stream, never tried and never researched the topic. Withing 5-10minutes I had OBS up and my twitch channel running. Amazing software.
Yeah honestly this was what won me over.
I could never be bothered to set up streaming with Xsplit or any other software. But with OBS it's quite literally, download, run, stream. There's so little setup... you're running in few seconds.
On February 05 2013 09:12 Zergneedsfood wrote: That spiral is the best part about this blog.
I've been thinking of switching to OBS for some time, but I was too lazy. Sounds like it's really easy though, so maybe I'll try right now!
I actually dl'ed OBS a week ago but haven't gotten around to a streaming session yet. I had problems with capturing bw after I log onto iccup if I use software capture but I can just use screen capture instead.
R1CH introduced me to this and I started using it a few weeks ago, have to say that so far I've been loving it and definitely see a drastically frame rate while streaming. Definitely recommend it!
R1ch, thank you for highlighting OBS in this blog, for helping with the development, and for generally just being wonderful about OBS and acting as a strong advocate for its use. I use OBS, and it is a wonderful program - it is powerful, doesn't have a boatload of strings attached, and is lean but very capable. Simple to use, it's a great poster child for the power of open source solutions to what has previously been the domain of closed source commercial products.
Also, a huge amount of props and thanks to Jim for creating the program in the first place. It's one of the best pieces of software I've ever used - simple, elegant, and it does exactly what it says on the box with a minimum of fuss while allowing people that really know what they're doing to get the most out of their systems.
OBS worked wonders for me! Just that my internet is slow and my GPU wasn't good enough to take care of what my CPU couldn't (i5 2500). Will be getting my 7850 this week, and I'll be streaming using OBS for sure!
been using obs since the thread went up here at tl. never looked back. i really like how with write-to-disk, it uses the encoded stream instead of a raw stream. ie dont even need fraps anymore either.
I've downloaded it, installed it, and everything, but I'm afraid that the set-up procedure might be very complex and/or confusing, so I've put it off up until now. No more of that; I will give it a shot for sure, and it really does seem like a fantastic program. Getting started streaming could be lots of fun!
Just realized I've been running the old version of OBS for a while -- I didn't know they had a game capture source. It is working MUCH better than dxtory for me, in a maxed pvz fight on daybreak I'm not falling below 50 fps now and before I would dip down to 30-35 ish. All while streaming 720p at 60 fps!
Now I feel silly for having purchased xsplit and dxtory -_-
On February 05 2013 08:30 Megaliskuu wrote: I like OBS a lot better for streaming both BW (thanks for the plugin R1ch~) and sc2, would definitely recommend to any streamers!
What plugin is that? =) I downloaded this the other day too and it is quite awesome. Easy to set up and very simple to navigate. Setting up BW fullscreen capture has proven to be beyond my capablities however(haven't tried window mode). The colors just get all funky and it won't work with uscreen for some reason, while at the same time my FME set-up uses uscreen to capture fullscreen BW just fine.
So does this work with BW as is? Looks pretty cool as xsplit always causes a noticable slowness for me and I feel bad playing against anyone while running it.
R1CH, regarding the new 'low latency mode', can you explain exactly how it works? Are there any drawbacks to it or should I just activate it without thinking?
It requires a more stable and lower latency connection to the stream server. If it works without dropping frames it should help reduce latency, the only risk is making your stream unstable and dropping frames.
This sounds like the perfect complement for someone who wants to try streaming and has either a lower powered PC or isn't as educated on how to use it. I'll take a crack at this since I've been itching to actually try streaming just to see if I can do it.
Not that I'm an avid streamer, but I've used Xsplit and FFsplit, and OBS beats them both. It's much easier and while it's running I feel no performance hit from my PC whatsoever.
Is there a guide to what settings you use if your internet speed is 0.7 mbps. My stream was fine when I used xsplit but my game was unplayable due to lag. I have an i5-2500 ivy bridge and hd5850.
I gave this thing a go and damn, it works so well! It's still in Alpha stage, but I will be using this instead of Xsplit. Very easy to use too.
On February 05 2013 21:27 Rescawen wrote: Is there a guide to what settings you use if your internet speed is 0.7 mbps. My stream was fine when I used xsplit but my game was unplayable due to lag. I have an i5-2500 ivy bridge and hd5850.
I don't think you can produce any stream that is enjoyable to watch with that bandwidth. Opinions may vary though.
On February 05 2013 21:27 Rescawen wrote: Is there a guide to what settings you use if your internet speed is 0.7 mbps. My stream was fine when I used xsplit but my game was unplayable due to lag. I have an i5-2500 ivy bridge and hd5850.
Use the same max bitrate and buffer that you did with xsplit if it truly was 'fine' back then.
Always nice to see a free, open source option enter into an important market space, and if it has the R1ch seal of approval then all the better, since you know it has to be good and overflowing with wizardly magic. Thanks for bringing this program to my attention!
It's an amazing software, I am still hoping to find an optimal level for me to play at ultra and streaming at relatively stable good quality though. But the fps drop is definitly not as high as others
i tried OBS, it's amaizingly light but in my case, i need a big compression as i have not that much upload and Xsplit is ahead compression wise for the moment. Witch OBS i got 360p in slow and i even tried to add x264 option but i can't have much without pixelisation and i got 600p with the latest Xsplit in slow and 10 Quality...
So OBS is a blast if you have the upload to do an HD stream BUT if you got if you need to do compression, the software is still a bit behind ...
Maybe someone knows how to improve the compression in OBS?
Edit: added more stuff, i think i'm closer now,but i still want more compression and the software is lighter :p
advanced x264 option i use : --rc-lookahead 60 --ref 16 --subme 10 --b-adapt 2 --direct auto --me tesa --bframes 16 --merange 24 --trellis 2 --crf 18
for more discussion i'm on the TL IRC as DoK` and i'll keep an eye there.
What are the main advantages with using the ingame capture mode? Currently I'm using OBS with the standard screen region thing and playing in windowed as well as using your plugin, Rich, and it's been working well. What difference can I expect with using the ingame capture?
On February 05 2013 08:50 crms wrote: I had no clue how to stream, never tried and never researched the topic. Withing 5-10minutes I had OBS up and my twitch channel running. Amazing software.
To be fair I dl'd xplit first thinking that's what I was 'supposed' to use but after tinkering with it and realizing I'd probably have to pay I quickly looked for alternatives. Once I tried OBS I never looked back.
This pretty much describes my situation as well. On top of that, other software (xsplit on my rig, and FME(?) on my Mac) just ran poorly, as my computer is a bit dated, and I just bit the bullet and expected to never be able to stream. Tried OBS with a few games (WoW, SSF4AE) and the performance is nearly flawless. In fact with a bit of tinkering (beyond what I've already done) I bet I COULD get it flawless. So inspiring, I was so excited. Great software already, excited to see it grow even further.
Plus I got super hype when I saw R1CH's name start popping up in the OBS forums and guides and stuff hahaha
I'm now troubled by the thought that many people will miss the opportunity to put their mouse over the round logo and see what happens. + Show Spoiler +
It's awesome that this software is so easy to use, free and most of all efficient. Thanks!
I started with OBS and it took less than 30 minutes to get most of it going. I still have a couple of issues that could just be down to me (such as not being able to move things around in my scenes by clicking and dragging on them) but it's one of the easiest things I've used for streaming (but then I skipped Xsplit and switched from FMLE).
mmm i didn t know OBS was open source software; Been using xsplit to stream Broodwar and i never really had any problems. My connection isn t good enough to stream at 480p so that doesn t matter anyway, but on xsplit the sound quality is lower if you don' t pay for it so that kinda is bugging. I ll give this a try once i get a new headset (just cracekd open my old one i fixed it with some tape but the angle at which it stands now makes my ears hurt when i listen to it)
FYI, another reason to maybe switch to obs is that, and idk where this is happening exactly, but when you use animated source files for overlays such as billboard rolls or other potential graphics, XSplit does not output the .gif or .swf correctly. I found that XSplit actually renders them faster than they were originally intended, and sometimes the rendering process is choppy or uneven. Obs does not have this problem with .gif animations (doesn't do swf currently).
OBS IS DA BOMB! As a caster, I friggin love the game capture on this. Have game source on XSplit tabbing back into xsplit in the middle of a game to check was SOOOO laggy. Also, the whole "Edit Scene" concept was really good, because sometimes XSplit liked moving sources around for no reason TT, the new function of using arrow keys to move sources pixel by pixel is really great too!
I would really recommend OBS to any streamer, ever.
Just tried it, works well so far! Very easy to set up, I only had to google how to find out my stream key (for twitch you find it here http://www.twitch.tv/broadcast )
I saw this about 4 months ago when it was less stable, great to see it's coming along! So easy to use, I don't stream but I think I'll be using it to record some painting sessions in future.
Been using OBS for months now and I prefer it instead of xsplit (and I actually paid for xsplit like 2 months before the first reddit thread about OBS ;_; ). It took me a while to realize that if you have aero ENABLED you can actually capture just a single window without anything overlaying it, which is a great feature!
This software let me take the plunge and start streaming some HotS. Very simple to set up and use (took me less than an hour to get the game, overlay, mic and webcam streaming on twitch) and very low requirements. My machine and internet connection are far from amazing and I can stream at 480p with 30fps no problem (could probably do more, but my upload is pretty bad).
Would definitely recommend this to anyone who ever considered streaming but didn't know how/want to get started. This software makes it very painless.
I rarely use OBS because it always causes an at least temporary framerate drop that I would not have with xSplit. The framerate seems to just hop up and down whenever it wants. If I could fix this, that would be great, but I'm not at home to check up on it at the moment...
In the original thread, you state there is no compelling reason to use the 64 bit version. I'm aware that it cannot, for example, game capture 32 bit programs.
Is this inherent incompatibility between the architectures, or would a 64 bit version POTENTIALLY be superior given the time and development resources?
Definitely the best one out there. Its so simple yet so unbelievably fascinating and über effective. I started streaming a few months ago and to put it simply OBS proved itself to be the best option out of any other software alike out there. GREAT NEW UPDATE today. That "game capture" is such a treat, LOVE IT.
Any DX9 or higher game which doesn't have invasive anti-cheat protection should work with game capture. Most other software should work with monitor or window capture.
I guess I'll have to try out .47a, went back to using Xsplit with 1.2 as the .466 version of OBS was giving me issues with webcams while using greenscreens (it would crop the cam down to a tiny region or something and basically I'd have to completely remove all instances of the cam in any scene before I could get it to show up again, reported this on OBS' forums and had no responses). Hopefully it's been fixed, missed using OBS
It is an ASUS G53-XT1. It's equipped with an i7 and a GTX 560 Mobile. I bought it thinking that it would have no problem streaming, but X-Split is sort of a resource hog and I had to lower my SC2 settings, which I didn't want to do. Unlike most people, I find that higher graphics settings actually helps me play. I like the little explosions and I like the cloak effect. I feel that it helps me because the higher fidelity offers my eye a better contrast, whereas the low quality setting blends everything together a little. That's just me, though.
I used to stream SC2 with X-Split at 720p, but in order to do so I'd have to: 1) kill all my extraneous system processes (via Task Manager) 2) set the priority of SC2 and X-Split to "High". 3) Set the SC2 graphics to Low.
I don't mind steps 1 and 2, per say, but Step 3 really bugged the crap out of me. I like "High" settings.
With OBS, it is so much better (optimized?) that I actually get: 1) a better looking stream (higher bitrate) 2) at a higher resolution (1200p [1920x1200] versus 720p [1280 × 720]), and 3) I don't have to touch Task Manager or do any System tweaking at all.
OBS is really satisfactory, in my opinion. The GUI is not as "nice" as X-Split, which is something you'll hear a lot, but that is the easy part to improve; and I bet they will. I practically consider myself lucky to have OBS.
I can't tell you how much of an impact the change has had; my laptop plays and streams as well as a desktop would. In closing, however, I want to say that while I used X-Split, it was really also a very nice experience. As someone who is using a laptop to stream, I was well aware that I might have to make a concession or two on the power of my computer or the quality of the stream; as unfortunately, I'm not a millionaire. I don't want to take anything away from X-Split. It does its job very well. If I had a desktop, and power or heat were not an issue, I'd have no problem using X-Split further. OBS, however, is doing a better job filling my needs at the moment.
That's my 2 cents. Thanks for reading and props to R1CH for taking the time out to spread this good information to others.
My favourite thing about it is that there's no restrictions on bitrate/resolution/audio/etc. Haven't used it much, but I've got it installed and set up so I might make more of a permanent switch pretty soon.
Been trying OBS a bit over the past week just to see what I could do on my old hardware (c2d E8400 3.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, GTX 260) and while I can hardly keep X-split open - nevermind actually streaming with it - I'm able to stream Dota 2 at 720p @ 24fps using OBS.
I'm an incredibly huge moron when it comes to overlays, is there a simple guide to creating your own and implementing them with OBS? I'm sure it's very simple, but I haven't seen a very simple and complete guide on it. I always get how to make SC 2 overlays or something. Btw, OBS is awesome, I'd use it to record 1080p but my cpu can't handle it.
Really easy program to use. For a complete streaming newbie like me, I started streaming in about 5-10 minutes with no issues at all. That's what sold me. Also, it's FREEEEE! Awesome work.
On February 06 2013 16:47 Serpico wrote: I'm an incredibly huge moron when it comes to overlays, is there a simple guide to creating your own and implementing them with OBS? I'm sure it's very simple, but I haven't seen a very simple and complete guide on it. I always get how to make SC 2 overlays or something. Btw, OBS is awesome, I'd use it to record 1080p but my cpu can't handle it.
You should check out their forums, they have a guides section that should be able to help you out.
I don't stream very much but I wanted to try a few months back and looked around for good options. I found OBS, downloaded and tested and it was very easy to get running and have worked like a charm. Have not tried anything else but have never really needed to do so.
I tried this software a few weeks ago, and man it's amazing. Streaming at 720p without any lag or stuttering, and it doesn't affect my games performances.
I would recommend it to anyone, be it a professional streamer or an amateur, the software is really simple and powerful.
Started streaming abuot a year ago and had all kinds of issues. First I used Xsplit, but then I had to pay for it so I switched to the free Adobe thing or whatever it was. Used Destiny's guide to set it up, but it'd constantly break. I gave up streaming altogether till OBS was released. Five minutes, and I was done. Some minor tweaking in the settings made it pretty much perfect.
Oh wow, i can't wait to try this out for my stream. My live stream has been down because xsplit is too much for my computer and glad something less cpu intensive is available! ^.^
This is such a great piece of software. I had it up and running in like 5mins which is great, took me quite a bit longer to set up xsplit and it's FREE!!!
I know it has been posted already but check out the thread by GTR about streaming with OBS really well written guide.
how do you change between 480p and 720p and such, is it just the resolution and framerate? This program is so much better and less cpu intensive then xsplit/dxtory.
On February 07 2013 05:15 EleanorRIgby wrote: how do you change between 480p and 720p and such, is it just the resolution and framerate? This program is so much better and less cpu intensive then xsplit/dxtory.
i got 2mb upload, whats the best i can do?
You should check out GTR's thread on this. Generally it's just about resolution and at 2Mbit upload you can stream any quality up to about 1500kbit with low variance, 1200kbit with high variance while leaving some bandwidth for the rest of the system (and the games). How much your CPU can handle depends, really. Typically an i5 can handle 1280*720@30fps.
In my uneducated opinion and experience, OBS outweighed Xsplit in pretty much any aspect I could notice, with about the same amount of effort setting things up.
One thing I liked about Xsplit is that I could set it to capture BW and it would capture it perfect when I switched between normal windowed mode and 2x windowed mode. But when I try to do that in OBS it just captures the top left corner instead of actively resizing the capture area like Xsplit does. Is it possible to get OBS to do this?
On February 08 2013 02:46 Black[CAT] wrote: How does the low latency mode actually works? How do I use it? What is the latency tuning factor?
It tries to smooth the stream into a constant rate to eliminate big spikes which cause queuing / latency. You shouldn't change the advanced options unless you're trying to fix a problem.
It's also written entirely in C/C++ and Direct3D 11 to maximize performance. It does not support windows XP, as windows XP unfortunately does not support direct3d 11
That is a big limitation. Maybe a developer who knows DX9 or OpenGL can fix this problem. I only know DX7 APIs (except D3D7) from back in the day so I cannot help. Pre-DX8 game like Starcraft and Diablo 2 look best on Windows 95-XP because Microsoft remove hardware acceleration for GDI and DirectDraw since Windows Vista.
It's not really that big of a limitation, Vista or higher is an increasingly common requirement. XP is pretty much dead, and anyone still using XP probably doesn't have the necessary hardware to stream in the first place.
On February 08 2013 14:08 R1CH wrote: It's not really that big of a limitation, Vista or higher is an increasingly common requirement. XP is pretty much dead, and anyone still using XP probably doesn't have the necessary hardware to stream in the first place.
What kind of hardware would you deem as minimum for streaming 720p@30fps? My desktop is rather dated today, so I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough even with OBS that's not as heavy as xsplit.
On February 08 2013 13:26 SonZHi wrote: That is a big limitation. Maybe a developer who knows DX9 or OpenGL can fix this problem. I only know DX7 APIs (except D3D7) from back in the day so I cannot help. Pre-DX8 game like Starcraft and Diablo 2 look best on Windows 95-XP because Microsoft remove hardware acceleration for GDI and DirectDraw since Windows Vista.
I've made this analogy before and I'm going to keep making it.
Supporting Windows XP nowadays is like supporting Windows 98 three years ago.
ever since the new patch when i start streaming its just all black, the sound is fine though. It doesn't seem to be detecting hots anymore when trying choosing an application.
its detecting starcraft 2 now but still all black, even when in window mode.
randomly starts working after i opened it up again... didn't change anything
On February 08 2013 14:08 R1CH wrote: It's not really that big of a limitation, Vista or higher is an increasingly common requirement. XP is pretty much dead, and anyone still using XP probably doesn't have the necessary hardware to stream in the first place.
Not dead yet. It is still most used OS in Asia. This includes esports giant Korea. Both home users and corporations.
On February 08 2013 20:42 Warchamp7 wrote: I've made this analogy before and I'm going to keep making it.
Supporting Windows XP nowadays is like supporting Windows 98 three years ago.
Microsoft still supports Windows XP until 2014. They end support for Windows 98 in 2006.
On February 08 2013 14:08 R1CH wrote: It's not really that big of a limitation, Vista or higher is an increasingly common requirement. XP is pretty much dead, and anyone still using XP probably doesn't have the necessary hardware to stream in the first place.
Not dead yet. It is still most used OS in Asia. This includes esports giant Korea. Both home users and corporations.
On February 08 2013 20:42 Warchamp7 wrote: I've made this analogy before and I'm going to keep making it.
Supporting Windows XP nowadays is like supporting Windows 98 three years ago.
Microsoft still supports Windows XP until 2014. They end support for Windows 98 in 2006.
The operating system is twelve years old and even the company that made it is only providing support for another year. It makes sense why the developers of a non-commercial application don't think that it is a significant limitation to not put in a lot of extra work for some niche Asians.
On February 08 2013 13:26 SonZHi wrote: That is a big limitation. Maybe a developer who knows DX9 or OpenGL can fix this problem. I only know DX7 APIs (except D3D7) from back in the day so I cannot help. Pre-DX8 game like Starcraft and Diablo 2 look best on Windows 95-XP because Microsoft remove hardware acceleration for GDI and DirectDraw since Windows Vista.
I've made this analogy before and I'm going to keep making it.
Supporting Windows XP nowadays is like supporting Windows 98 three years ago.
I don't know how you can say that considering that a lot of people still use XP and are quite content in doing so.
Yes, same here. Streaming with OBS for me is overall better than streaming with XSplit. I got a XSplit license, so that isn't the problem, but like several people already mentioned, the performance is better and even the quality is superior. I can recommend OBS for sure!
This is a very good program, however the main reason why i prefer XSplit over this is because of the Starboard integration. Is there ANY way to use StarBoard with OBS?
StarBoard uses a ".xbs" file and thats not supported by OBS. Could it be doable to create an OBS plugin which enables .xbs support?
EDIT: Okay i found a way: Use "Software Capture" --> Capture Window --> "StarBoardDisplay".
However once the Starboard display window is closed it doesnt work anymore and you have to create the source again which is quite annoying. Supporting .xbs would be alot better.
Great program, I have been having some issues with my i5 and xSplit, perhaps I didn't set it up all correctly, but with OBS its been ease and pleasure so far.
Streaming for the first time ever. This is accessibility and this is what technology is about. Thanks for all your work on this, Rich. This program seems both approachable and dynamic enough cater to a wide range of users. I test software for a living, and let me tell you, if everything my people made was as intuitive and seamless as this, I probably wouldn't have a job.
This does seem like a very interesting piece of software, in june I will provide broadcasting service for a upcoming new starcraft 2 tournament I might consider switching from Xsplit to OBS
I tried using OBS but it lagged a lot more for me than using Xsplit with comparable settings. My upload speed is about 800-850kbps, so I set both streaming programs to use 650 and tried to stream 1280x960 at 25 fps. Xsplit handles this quite smoothly, only dropping some frames when I move the screen quickly while there's a lot of action. OBS just lags all the time, even when very little is happening on the screen, and I can see its bitrate counter thing spike up above 650 a lot of times. Any idea why OBS's performance is worse than Xsplit and whether I can fix this?
Tried it seriously for the first time last night, and I'm extremely impressed. This is so so much better than Xsplit. 64-bit, C++, multithreading, offloads to GPU, game source, etc. Has all features I can think of and is still extremely simple and fast.
Major kudos to anyone involved in this project. Open source FTW.
thx and very nice for bringing this to my attention!!! have been looking for a decent software lately since xsplit has limitations now (haven't been into streaming for over 1.5 years or so and it was deep in beta back then) and I really wanted to do some streaming again
Also cool forums on that website, will try out a few thing when I finally arrive at home later
On February 13 2013 22:04 Sayle wrote: I tried using OBS but it lagged a lot more for me than using Xsplit with comparable settings. My upload speed is about 800-850kbps, so I set both streaming programs to use 650 and tried to stream 1280x960 at 25 fps. Xsplit handles this quite smoothly, only dropping some frames when I move the screen quickly while there's a lot of action. OBS just lags all the time, even when very little is happening on the screen, and I can see its bitrate counter thing spike up above 650 a lot of times. Any idea why OBS's performance is worse than Xsplit and whether I can fix this?
You can try to turn on "Use CBR" aka use constant bit rate in the advanced settings, but this is not ideal. Seems like OBS has higher bitrate spikes, I've noticed this as well.
Second, try to find out your real upload here: http://testmy.net/ Go to "Upload Test" in the menu, "Select Test Size" button, 33 MB and wait. This test is imo better than other tests because it tests upload on a bigger chunk of data, ie. continuous data stream, which has a big effect on the upload speed. Keep in mind that audio uses some bitrate too, imo you can set the microphone to mono, unless you have a really good one.
I found OBS lags less for comparable qualities for me maybe it's some of the other settings you have, try putting it on veryfast x264 CPU preset speed (I've read in the forum that it's more optimized for that speed). Also maybe you should keep the Process Priority Class to Normal, that can cause problems as well. Windows Areo also affects it.
I have: 10 quality, 25 FPS, 640x480, 340 bitrate & buffer, 96 bitrate mono sound, disabled Areo, priority normal, x264 CPU preset on veryfast, using software window capture, my upload is around 450, using 32 bit OBS
Max spikes I get are to like 500, and that's very rare, with no dropped frames, I think I can even increase the bitrate without dropping frames, but I don't need it.
On February 18 2013 01:16 Sayle wrote: More importantly for me, it needs a video plugin. Even if I solve the lag issues, I can't use it if there's no easy way for me to play intro videos.
I'm still on XP because I read games have about 10% higher FPS than with 7. I'm not sure if that's still true, but I'm on old hardware, single core for example. I need all the efficiency I can get, so I'm still sticking to XP. Unfortunately, OBS isn't compatible with XP, and I confirmed with it's developer that it never will be as it uses things which are exclusive to 7. Could someone recommend the least resources intensive broadcasting software for XP? XSplit is unusable.
Win7 is definitely no slower than XP, not sure where you got that information from. You should really upgrade, there aren't really many reasons to stay on XP, it's an old and outdated OS lacking many features.
I really want to start using OBS because I despise XSplit, but my overlays require that I am able to crop my 1080p webcam to a square (i.e. cropping left and right on the webcam capture so that it fits behind the overlay without sticking out the sides) and I cannot do this in OBS. OBS only allows resolution changes that are supported by my webcam. I got that far when trying to set up my stream and gave up, since I consider this to be a necessity.
It's very unfortunate since I hate XSplit and all of its glitches and I looked forward to taxing my CPU less and streaming at an even higher quality. :-/
On February 23 2013 09:04 xxjcdentonxx wrote: I'm still on XP because I read games have about 10% higher FPS than with 7. I'm not sure if that's still true, but I'm on old hardware, single core for example. I need all the efficiency I can get, so I'm still sticking to XP. Unfortunately, OBS isn't compatible with XP, and I confirmed with it's developer that it never will be as it uses things which are exclusive to 7. Could someone recommend the least resources intensive broadcasting software for XP? XSplit is unusable.
I doubt you will be able to stream with a single core cpu. Streaming takes quite a lot of cpu power and a quad core processor is highly suggested. Even a really fast dual core will have trouble streaming and playing the game at the same time.
So, after downloading OBS and setting up a new stream on twitch I started to run some tests (unfortunately I just have around 960 kbps upload right now), but as far as I can tell this software really is BALLER! Compared to xSplit this thing doesn't affect ingame performance for me at all (using a first gen i5 I had trouble with xSplit when playing the game on ultra/extreme settings). Also there are LOTS of good tutorials to implement other stuff like track text for your music player.
In short, I'm really loving it, it is easy to use. Thank you a lot for providing this awesome piece of software!!! Really appreciate it!
At work now...gonna dl this when I get home. Question though, can I use it to record my game play in a similar manner to fraps, then upload it to YouTube? Sorry for sounding so noobsauce.U_U
On April 19 2013 22:57 Gtoad wrote: At work now...gonna dl this when I get home. Question though, can I use it to record my game play in a similar manner to fraps, then upload it to YouTube? Sorry for sounding so noobsauce.U_U
There's an option to record to your local hdd so yes.
EPT
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/t8DldFu.jpg)
