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Active: 1650 users

ShadowPlay on Twitch - Better than OBS?

Forum Index > Tech Support
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Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-02-22 09:46:39
February 22 2014 09:37 GMT
#1
I didn't see a topic about Shadowplay by Nvidia and was just curious about the appeal/worth of it. Is it better than through your CPU + OBS or more taxing on your GPU? Can I put more load on it than I could with my CPU, thus also reducing the amount of bitrate I would need or am simply confused/lost?

GeForce Experience 1.8.1: Introducing ShadowPlay Twitch Streaming

For instance, my general speeds is this:

[image loading]

50-60/2.4-2

With OBS, I set my CPU preset to Medium.

With Shadowplay, how would this change?
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20328 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-02-22 10:03:18
February 22 2014 10:00 GMT
#2
NVENC (encoder that shadowplay uses; hint, OBS also has support though i'm not sure how it runs yet) is less efficient than x264. You'd have less quality at a given bitrate, also probably less control over certain settings - but probably higher performance

see: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=372629&currentpage=92#1840

Main use is streaming stuff like Crysis 3 which has areas of grass physics that put a 4770k @>90% load. You can't really hold a 1080p60 stream then ^.^

Maybe it's also good for "low-impact" streaming too
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
February 23 2014 01:52 GMT
#3
All in all, not worthwhile in most cases (like multiplayer). I'm finding, when I stream multiplayer, my ping jumps to like 300 MS when it is typically 40-65. I'm trying to prevent that with ulterior methods.
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20328 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-02-23 04:08:15
February 23 2014 03:54 GMT
#4
It does that at like 1k bitrate? Most people with such issues just don't actually have the upload that they're advertised or reading from speed tests (because it's higher in the tests, or unstable etc) though there's a possibility of bad network settings in OBS etc
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
BonitiilloO
Profile Joined June 2013
Dominican Republic627 Posts
March 11 2014 05:38 GMT
#5
Does shadowsplay work to stream broodwar?
How may help u?
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-12 20:53:40
May 12 2014 20:44 GMT
#6
I have a 50/10 connection and the Shadowplay feature is 100% better than OBS. I have tested it several times, I don't have all of the data to back it up at the moment but will update when I get home from work.

Shadowplay uses your graphics card as the encoder, rather than your computer processor. Here is a link to the requirement page: Shadow Play Requirments

My Hardware: 3770K/ GTX 770 x2 Additional hardware through the link.

One difference from the part list ^ is that I use Windows 7 Ultimate now. Anyway, with OBS, running a stream on 720 with SC2 graphics on Ultra/Extreme gets about 60 FPS if I'm lucky. With Shadowplay, it uses the GPU units themselves to encode, my in-game FPS soars over 100, while I stream to twitch at 720p, 60 FPS, at 3 mb upload. No issues what-so-ever.

Some negatives: No overlay compatibility. At this time, you can only have a webcam, and a status indicator (I guess to say you're online?)

Positives: With the newest update they allowed "Desktop Capture" so that you can play your game in "Windowed Mode" if you so choose. Other positive obviously being the increase in FPS!!

I would definitely give it a shot, it's much more enjoyable to be able to stream on the highest graphics settings with absolutely no lag at all.

On February 22 2014 18:37 Torte de Lini wrote:

With OBS, I set my CPU preset to Medium.

With Shadowplay, how would this change?


You actually don't set the preset to anything. Shadowplay uses the GPU encoder that is pre-built in to all GTX 600 and above models. You essentially sign into your twitch account through shadowplay, set your hotkey to begin/end broadcasting, enable desktop capture, and GO.
TL+ Member
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
May 12 2014 20:45 GMT
#7
On March 11 2014 14:38 SC2BF3Love wrote:
Does shadowsplay work to stream broodwar?


As long as your GPU meets the specifications, then yeah sure. You can enable desktop capture and it should capture BW. I haven't tested yet though.
TL+ Member
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20328 Posts
May 13 2014 06:38 GMT
#8
Note that OBS can do everything that Shadowplay can + more (i didn't see anything yet that works with shadowplay program well, but not OBS) if you just select NVENC in the options. Same encoder same performance etc, nvidia's program is quite terrible considering we have stuff like this out there
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-13 14:10:52
May 13 2014 13:57 GMT
#9
On May 13 2014 15:38 Cyro wrote:
Note that OBS can do everything that Shadowplay can + more (i didn't see anything yet that works with shadowplay program well, but not OBS) if you just select NVENC in the options. Same encoder same performance etc, nvidia's program is quite terrible considering we have stuff like this out there


Edit: nvm, I don't think we are talking about the same thing actually. NVENC in obs doesn't stream as well as shadowplay does, from what I have seen on forum posts. I personally haven't been able to use NVENC in obs, I just get an error message.
TL+ Member
Ropid
Profile Joined March 2009
Germany3557 Posts
May 13 2014 14:57 GMT
#10
On May 13 2014 22:57 Ctone23 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 13 2014 15:38 Cyro wrote:
Note that OBS can do everything that Shadowplay can + more (i didn't see anything yet that works with shadowplay program well, but not OBS) if you just select NVENC in the options. Same encoder same performance etc, nvidia's program is quite terrible considering we have stuff like this out there


Edit: nvm, I don't think we are talking about the same thing actually. NVENC in obs doesn't stream as well as shadowplay does, from what I have seen on forum posts. I personally haven't been able to use NVENC in obs, I just get an error message.

That issue might be the current beta driver. Some guy from NVIDIA wrote that this won't be fixed in the coming driver version (which will be WHQL), but will be fixed in the next beta driver after that.
"My goal is to replace my soul with coffee and become immortal."
Ctone23
Profile Blog Joined December 2012
United States1839 Posts
May 13 2014 15:40 GMT
#11
On May 13 2014 23:57 Ropid wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 13 2014 22:57 Ctone23 wrote:
On May 13 2014 15:38 Cyro wrote:
Note that OBS can do everything that Shadowplay can + more (i didn't see anything yet that works with shadowplay program well, but not OBS) if you just select NVENC in the options. Same encoder same performance etc, nvidia's program is quite terrible considering we have stuff like this out there


Edit: nvm, I don't think we are talking about the same thing actually. NVENC in obs doesn't stream as well as shadowplay does, from what I have seen on forum posts. I personally haven't been able to use NVENC in obs, I just get an error message.

That issue might be the current beta driver. Some guy from NVIDIA wrote that this won't be fixed in the coming driver version (which will be WHQL), but will be fixed in the next beta driver after that.



I see. Well all I can say is that I am able to stream at a very high quality through shadow-play with increased in-game performance. I'm sure there are ways to use OBS in an efficient way, but a little too technical for myself.
TL+ Member
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20328 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-05-13 18:00:50
May 13 2014 17:57 GMT
#12
You can fix that error by replacing a few dll's or using an older driver.

NVENC in obs doesn't stream as well as shadowplay does, from what I have seen on forum posts.


I can't imagine why it would, given the fact that it's the same encoder, performs the same in terms of game performance and you have far, far greater control over the encoder for video quality purposes (presets, independant bitrate and resolution/fps control!) using OBS. If there's any reason to use nvidia's broken, low-featured software, this is the first that i've heard of it.

OBS, normally, using game capture and x264 - would perform far worse, but when using the encoder on nvidia GPU it seems to be pretty much exactly the same as using Shadowplay, only with more control. I used both before giving up geforce experience because it offered nothing that OBS+NVENC did not as far as i could tell (and i benchmarked), while missing crucial features (can't set below 10mbit bitrate offline, could only set 30 OR 60 fps, online control was very limited, stream broke when you tabbed out of a fullscreen program, can only use several presets which change bitrate, FPS -and- resolution simultaneously, etc)
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
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