On March 24 2010 04:12 JoshSuth wrote:
I just took my first little venture into using Procaster, but I've got a couple of questions.
1. Are there any settings I can turn down or off IN GAME to free up some uploading, so that the stream doesn't chop or disconnect?
2. I tested my bit rate and at 22 fps it seems that I never really drop under 340, so I set my bit rate cap in Procaster to 330 to try and ensure a smooth stream. What sort of bitrates would you consider to be a minimum for casting? Is 330 going to cut it?
3. I have no other applications or computers on in the house, but every 3 or 4 or 5 minutes, I will get disconnected from Livestream and have to wait for it to reconnect. This doesn't seem like a common problem, and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do on my end to resolve it. I did my testing around noon EST, so Livestream is probably not to blame.
I'd appreciate any other tips or advice that current streamers/casters can help me out with.
1. I don't think SC2 uses much bandwidth anyways.
2. I would shoot for 20+ FPS at least, but you will have to find a sweet spot depending on your connection. Find a good balance between resolution and framerate that doesn't use all of your upload. Keep in mind your audio will also use a portion of this bandwidth. I would say that if you can't get at least 450 kb up consistently you are probably going to have to take a hit to your video quality, and that that the minimum total upload bandwidth for a successful high quality stream is around 700-800kbps for reliability's sake, which is easily doable on most ISP's normal coax package. (Id recommend at least 1Mbps upload though).
3. Absolutely no idea. I don't have many issues, sometimes the stream will get dropped or the page will be unavailable, but its usually a non-issue. Check to make sure its not disconnecting your stream due to "low bandwidth". If you turn on the in game HUD (ctrl-alt-n by default) it will tell you your FPS, bandwidth usage etc, and it will tell you if the stream turns itself off due to bandwidth issues. Run some speed tests (there are various websites for this purpose) to get a good idea of your maximum upload. I would shoot for using ~60% of it as an absolute maximum for the stream, otherwise you will start getting lag issues if someone in your house opens a video or downloads a file (obviously make sure your siblings/parents aren't torrenting while you stream).
Tips:
-Use the VHcapture video codec instead of the default one that procaster comes with. I find that it works much better.
-To get a good idea of the maximum stress bandwidth wise on your stream, go into a FPS game and spin around like crazy. (More pixels changing between frames will result in higher bandwidth usage). If you can do this without the stream FPS dropping then it should be pretty stable while playing/commentating starcraft 2.