On March 30 2012 01:37 Mojj wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
Thank you for the response... It's funny because i notice some pretty experienced streamers who attempt to define the quality setting as how "sharp" and "detailed" etc.. that the image will look... which may be true in a sense depending on the refresh rate post blurring effect of a high motioned scene (that's just my opinion, i could be absolutely wrong)
Anyway, question 1 (i'm not finished yet hehe, despite all of the reasearch i did regarding game streaming and specifically xsplit combined with dxtory etc...)
instance 1
Suppose i stream at 2000kbps and have 4000 available, though i set my buffer rate to 2200, or even 2000, would setting the quality to 10 cause lag issues on the viewers end? I'm getting the idea that the buffer rate is in a sense, the buffering capability depending on how direct or indirectly the connection is from the user, to you. (for instance, would it be correct for me to assume the buffer setting to be compared to the way that youtube videos buffer ? where as having potential buffer zones being long buffering lines (lower quality) or on the other hand, higher internet connection possibility, and shorter buffer zones resulting in higher quality or, worse internet connection.)
instance 2,
Suppose i stream at 750kbps , and have 1500 available... how would this be different from the instance above? what would a proper quality setting be and, would setting the buffer zone to 1500 be logical? or would a buffer zone of 1200/1300 be more suggested, or even a buffer of 850-950 while streaming at 750 be correct?
Question 2,
Does the xsplit broadband tester (red, yellow, green resulting light etc..) take into account the audio bandwidth setting, when set prior to testing? Does it take into account the quality setting along with the bitrate and buffer settings? Also, does it take into account the resolution you expect to use as well as the performance (i forget the name, but the settings are basically ultrafast, super fast, very fast, faster etc...) ?
Question 3,
When streaming BF3 while having a bad upload (1.5mbps for instance), obviously quality will not be too superior, even when streaming in 1280x720 resolution. So the obvious choice to make would be to lower the "cpu performance setting" is what i'll call it now seeing how i'm in class and i forgot the name.... Generally xsplit default equates to veryfast... now seeing how BF3 is such a CPU consuming/intensive game to begin with, even lowering this from very fast to "faster" is huge stress on the cpu, and i find that my GPU is barely being used during these times of streaming because i can't even hear the fans on the gpu's running as they normally would without streaming. Are BF3 streamers with not so great of an upload pretty much screwed (attempting to shoot for higher quality with reasonable stream connection on the viewers end, without fps loss) ??? This is my issue at the moment, i'll get about 30-40fps when streaming on "faster" while my gpu's will barely be running, I have an i7 2700 hyperthread enabled with an OC of 4.5, mind you. I still have yet to test this out more since i've been playing more overhead, WoW type of games
---
I have learned to rely on the broadband tester, well, simply because it's the only means for me to provide myself an feel for what will work, and what will not. So i'm constantly testing this before streaming...
I found that (my max kbps bitrate is 1.5 btw..) using a low bitrate such as 700-800 and a wide buffer ranger, (1400, 1500) results in me having a green light. Though, when i attempt say, 1000 bitrate and 1100, 1200, or even 1400-1500, i'll get yellow to red lights...
--
Thanks for reading, really - there's a long list of questions but i hope you take each question into account and really break them down or explain them in strong terms. (i would pay you if i could just for complete answers, really lol)
+ Show Spoiler +
Thank you for the response... It's funny because i notice some pretty experienced streamers who attempt to define the quality setting as how "sharp" and "detailed" etc.. that the image will look... which may be true in a sense depending on the refresh rate post blurring effect of a high motioned scene (that's just my opinion, i could be absolutely wrong)
Anyway, question 1 (i'm not finished yet hehe, despite all of the reasearch i did regarding game streaming and specifically xsplit combined with dxtory etc...)
instance 1
Suppose i stream at 2000kbps and have 4000 available, though i set my buffer rate to 2200, or even 2000, would setting the quality to 10 cause lag issues on the viewers end? I'm getting the idea that the buffer rate is in a sense, the buffering capability depending on how direct or indirectly the connection is from the user, to you. (for instance, would it be correct for me to assume the buffer setting to be compared to the way that youtube videos buffer ? where as having potential buffer zones being long buffering lines (lower quality) or on the other hand, higher internet connection possibility, and shorter buffer zones resulting in higher quality or, worse internet connection.)
instance 2,
Suppose i stream at 750kbps , and have 1500 available... how would this be different from the instance above? what would a proper quality setting be and, would setting the buffer zone to 1500 be logical? or would a buffer zone of 1200/1300 be more suggested, or even a buffer of 850-950 while streaming at 750 be correct?
Question 2,
Does the xsplit broadband tester (red, yellow, green resulting light etc..) take into account the audio bandwidth setting, when set prior to testing? Does it take into account the quality setting along with the bitrate and buffer settings? Also, does it take into account the resolution you expect to use as well as the performance (i forget the name, but the settings are basically ultrafast, super fast, very fast, faster etc...) ?
Question 3,
When streaming BF3 while having a bad upload (1.5mbps for instance), obviously quality will not be too superior, even when streaming in 1280x720 resolution. So the obvious choice to make would be to lower the "cpu performance setting" is what i'll call it now seeing how i'm in class and i forgot the name.... Generally xsplit default equates to veryfast... now seeing how BF3 is such a CPU consuming/intensive game to begin with, even lowering this from very fast to "faster" is huge stress on the cpu, and i find that my GPU is barely being used during these times of streaming because i can't even hear the fans on the gpu's running as they normally would without streaming. Are BF3 streamers with not so great of an upload pretty much screwed (attempting to shoot for higher quality with reasonable stream connection on the viewers end, without fps loss) ??? This is my issue at the moment, i'll get about 30-40fps when streaming on "faster" while my gpu's will barely be running, I have an i7 2700 hyperthread enabled with an OC of 4.5, mind you. I still have yet to test this out more since i've been playing more overhead, WoW type of games
---
I have learned to rely on the broadband tester, well, simply because it's the only means for me to provide myself an feel for what will work, and what will not. So i'm constantly testing this before streaming...
I found that (my max kbps bitrate is 1.5 btw..) using a low bitrate such as 700-800 and a wide buffer ranger, (1400, 1500) results in me having a green light. Though, when i attempt say, 1000 bitrate and 1100, 1200, or even 1400-1500, i'll get yellow to red lights...
--
Thanks for reading, really - there's a long list of questions but i hope you take each question into account and really break them down or explain them in strong terms. (i would pay you if i could just for complete answers, really lol)
The Quality setting (aka CRF in x264 terms) is actually one of three bandwidth limiters. They way it works in XSplit is in conjunction with the VBV max bitrate. Together they make sure your stream looks as good as you allow using the limiters. If you want to get really technical CRF actually removes frames in really high motion sequences of frames because they are more affordable to skip, and that leaves room for better quality at other frames.
As for what setting to use, I generally advice people to not set quality to max when they are close to reaching the capacity of their bandwidth, to minimize risk of lag. So in your scenarios of having twice the bandwidth available as your chosen bitrate, I would have no issues choosing 10 for quality. It will not cause lag - ever - on the viewers end, unless they don't have the capacity to download what you are uploading.
Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to disclose exactly how the bandwidth tester works, but resolution is used - along with anything shown on the active scene. As for your trials with different buffer sizes, something else must be at work, as the buffer value is not used. I wouldn't worry so much about a yellow signal, as this usually is fine for live streaming.
@BF3
You're sort of going about it the wrong way. CPUs or Presets can not fix your issue of low bandwidth. 720p typically requires between 1500-3000 kbps (@30fps), meaning at 1500 kbps it will look okay, and at 3000 it will look fantastic. If you want to improve the quality, these are the factors you want to change in prioritized order: Bitrate, Quality, Preset. The latter two will never be able to make up for the bitrate difference between 1500 and 3000 kbps. No amount of cpu power will change that. Slow Presets are extremely cpu demanding, but cannot produce miracles.