OBS Studio & X-Split: Can't get that perfect crystal clear picture.

[Elliot2016]

Hello everyone,

Ok so I've looked through the forums as a guest and finally took the plunge to sign up and ask a question.

Please forgive me in advance because my technical knowledge is erm.... Terrible to zilch.

So my friends I'm currently using OBS Studio & X-Split to capture and stream but no matter what I try I just can't get that perfect crystal clear picture unless I send the streams out at 10mb.

During a conversation I was told that it's possible to capture a full 1080p HD picture and then stream it out at 2.1mb using (now I'm almost sure this is what he said) some form of H.264 decoder, again please forgive me because my knowledge on this is zero. As I recall he said the decoder compresses the file then uploads the video to source at more than half of the bandwidth I receive it which in turn ensures the end user receives a crystal clear perfect picture without any lag or latency.

Firstly is this true and if so without spending a fortune what do I need to do this?

I have no issue's with bandwidth and the PC I'm using is an Intel I7 6800k, G1 X99 ultra gaming board & a GE Force GTX 1080 strix graphics card

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated & again please forgive what will almost certainly be an absolute beginners questions to most.

Elliot

[Elliot2016]

*** As I recall he said the decoder compresses the file then uploads the video to source at more than half of the bandwidth ***

Sorry That should have said "Less than half the bandwidth, not more

Elliot

[jagabo]

I just can't get that perfect crystal clear picture unless I send the streams out at 10mb.

Then that's how much bitrate your video needs. Rates like that are not unsual for action video at 1080p encoded with h.264.

Different video requires different bitrate. Videos with more detail, more motion, more noise, higher frame rates, bigger frame sizes, etc. require more bitrate.

Then some codecs are more efficient than others. Most efficient right now is h.265 (aka HEVC). h.264 (AVC) is less efficient but more widely supported. Etc.

[redwudz]

Elliot2016, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,

Moderator redwudz

[Elliot2016]

My apologies Redwudz

@ Jagabo: Thanks for your reply, I'm streaming sport (well football to be more specific) In my post the person I referred to in my conversation actually does the same thing as me and I've had the chance to look at the quality of his streams and they are crystal clear which is annoying as he is a direct competitor to me.

I think what he was basically saying was he could stream a 5000-7000 bitrate picture out at 1500-2100 bitrates with the aid of a decoder or software, Is that right?

My streams are as follows:
I'm capturing my video direct from a 1080p STB

Capture card: Avermedia LGX GC550 (1080p @ 60fps)
Encoder: Codec NVENC H.264
Rate control: CBR
Bitrate: mostly 2100 (but some times use 3500)
CPU usage: Fast (I have an I7 6800k & a GE Force GTX 1080 Strix so PC can well handle it)

Video settings:
Base (canvas) resolution: 1920 x 1080
Output (scaled) resolution: 1440 x 810 (I find if I use 1920x1080 the picture stutters badly)
Downscale filter: Lancoz sharpened 32 samples
Frames per second: 48 - if I use 60fps, again the picture stutters really bad.

How would I use the H.265 in X-Split as I don't believe I've seen that as an option & is there anything else you could kindly recommend please?

Many thanks

[jagabo]

I think what he was basically saying was he could stream a 5000-7000 bitrate picture out at 1500-2100 bitrates with the aid of a decoder or software, Is that right?

No, it doesn't even make any sense.

[badyu17]

NVENC is not very efficient compared to software x264 encoding, that's what your competitor probably meant. And he meant encoder, not decoder. You are encoding picture and the viewer of the stream is decoding it. He probably downscales it to 1280x720. Anyway, 2100 for football at your resolution is way too low using any H.264 encoder. Also your 48 fps is probably wrong. It's either 50 or 25 if you are in Europe.