TL;DR - Optimal OBS stream settings at the bottom of this post.
Since I had to make a post to start up my livestreaming tests, I decided I would edit this to try and make the useless testing post into something that may potentially be of help to other folks trying out streaming on DLive by sharing my experience.
Indy's log
- Fiddling around with OBS
- Video Encoding: CPU vs GPU (Software x264 vs NVENC H.264)
- Intel Core i5-8600K (6C/6T, 3.60 GHz, 9MB Cache, LGA1151, 95W) vs GeForce GTX 1060, 6GB, GDDR5
- Basically, I had to decide whether I would let the processor to the heavy lifting of encoding video for the stream or if it's something I would leave my graphics card to handle. After 4 hours of going back and forth between the two while tweaking other settings, I stopped dropping frames in OBS at 1280x720 output resolution with 2000 bitrate. Which could have simply be a coincidence due to a drop in my network earlier that I hadn't noticed. Also, my game had started to underperform while it was on CPU, but it could have also been just a coincidence. (Note to self - set up a network and CPU monitoring tool).
- I ended up using GPU for my video encoding purposes. Even though the CPU I got should be more than enough to handle all the processes needed, I figured that delegating some of it to the GPU would be of help anyways. Taking into account that the game I was testing on is not very GPU-resource demanding (League of Legends), it made sense to do so.
- How do you really see if the quality of your stream is good and it's running smoothly?
- Someone suggested trying to watch your own stream from another device/computer. I tried using my smartphone for that, but after a couple of hours, I realized it would still choke and freeze at times, similar to what happened when watching it from my computer. In other words - not a reliable way of measuring the quality of your stream.
- Get someone to tune in and watch the stream for testing purposes. If you're like me and your only friend who could help you out with this has gone on a vacation to Greece, you will need to find a stranger to help you out. This is where a couple of discord groups came in handy. I got help from these:
DLive
Steem Gaming Community / SteemGC
Shoutout to @lpmusicon who volunteered to help me out and patiently wait as I turned the stream off and on again to change some of the OBS settings. He also gave me live feedback, some of which can be seen in the comments below on this very same post, those came from my DLive chat room.
Just to make it clear - I wish I could do these tests without creating a post here on Steemit, but DLive only allows to start your stream if you make a post about it. I have tested the stream on other livestreaming services, but they simply have different requirements than DLive as to OBS settings and stream specs.
Important!
Do not edit your DLive post on Steemit if you want to have your broadcast registered in DLive and receive the video from your stream. You may still do that within the DLive Edit broadcast page, but in my experience, it may take a bit longer to get updated, so please be patient if you want your activity be registered within the platform.
Optimal DLive stream settings so far:
- Rescaled Output: 1280x720, 60 fps
- Encoding: NVENC H.264 (GPU)
- Bitrate: 2000
- Uncheck Enforce streaming service encoder settings
- Leave Stream settings in Simple mode. Better to leave everything else in Default/Auto if you don't know what the advanced settings really do.
Computer specs:
- Motherboard: Asrock, Z370M Pro4
- CPU: Intel, Core i5-8600K (6C/6T, 3.60 GHz, 9MB Cache, LGA1151, 95W)
- GPU: Asus, GeForce GTX 1060, 6GB, GDDR5, Expedition OC
- RAM: Crucial, 16GB, DDR4, 2133MHz, CL15, Kit of 2
- HDD: Seagate, 1TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, Sata III, BarraCuda (I also have a SDD, but I only use it for operating system files)
- Windows 10
- Network: Download - 89 Mbps, Upload - 95 Mbps
Plans for future:
- Crank it up to get a crisp and smooth live stream in that sweet 1080p. I am sure my PC specs should allow for it to happen.
P.S. So far my assumption is that DLive can't handle the bitrate necessary for streaming a 1080p quality stream. This may be wrong as I do not know yet in which part of the world the DLive servers are situated. I myself reside in north-eastern Europe.