Unstable bitrate
This section describes how to diagnose the issue of unstable data transmission from the program on your PC to the StreamVi server.
First, it's necessary to determine the cause of the bitrate fluctuations. There are three main possible reasons:
- Rendering or encoding issues — related to your PC.
- Data transmission problems — caused by issues with packet formation or their delivery over the network.
- Dynamic bitrate is enabled — in this case, there will be no packet loss shown in the statistics, and you simply need to adjust the OBS settings to use a constant bitrate.
To identify the source of the problem in OBS, open the "View" tab, then select "Stats".
In the window that opens, information about the current stream will be displayed if it is currently running, or about the most recent stream if you haven't closed OBS since it ended.
Dropping a few frames at the start of the stream (within the first minute at most) is not a problem — this is normal. However, if frame loss occurs during the stream, the cause must be identified and resolved. Based on the data in the Statistics window, there are three possible scenarios — let’s go through each one:
If the "Dropped Frames (Network)" section in the Statistics tab shows frame drops, follow the diagnostic steps outlined in the Network Issues section.
If you are experiencing dropped frames during rendering or encoding, follow the steps outlined in the Encoder Overload section.
If there are no dropped frames, but the bitrate fluctuates, follow the steps below.
Required settings for a stable constant bitrate:
- Check the OBS settings under Settings → Advanced → Network (or Settings → Network in older versions of OBS):
- Bind to IP should be set to "IPv4 only"
- The following options must be unchecked:
- Dynamically change bitrate to manage congestion
- Enable network optimizations
- Enable network packet throttling
- Check the bitrate control option. It should be set to CBR (Constant Bitrate).
