New hardware configuration for my main ST channel.

[miahjj]

well, i've finally done it: i've gotten with the times (somewhat) and have just installed my first 64-bit, multi-core system. got a new capture card and everything! and now i'm using Expression Encoder 4 SP 2 in place of WME9.

anyway, just wondering if i could get some feedback on the new setup. i'll leave J's STereo Feed up all day @ 650k.

TIA,
miahjj

[firewalkerfj]

Buffer at 90 % , looks good and runs smooth for me. Thanks

[miahjj]

i'll leave it up again today...

[DEAD_MAN_WALKING]

I did try yesterday and the picture and buffering was great but a slight delay in the audio...?

[Jonelless]

As DMW said ...... same again today .

[firewalkerfj]

did run well when I tried yesterday, still good buffer today but picture is not as smooth , skipping frames and audio out of sinc today

[DEAD_MAN_WALKING]

Trying this now while the euro semi final is on tv and i have the opposite to yesterday when i tried. Perfect audio now but the video skips frames buffering at around 85/88%.

Also had it running a good 20 minutes and counting.

[miahjj]

thanks, guys... what i'm finding out is that this new setup isn't as stable over a long time. on my old set up (WME on an ATI Rage Fury Pro,) the encoder could go for days and days.

but on this new set-up after about 4 hours or so, it starts dropping frames. i don't know if this is an issue w/ EE4 or with my new ASUS capture card and its driver.

and, of course, WME9x64 doesn't work with the new capture card...

this really sucks for me, as i often set up the stream before i go to bed to stream events early the next morning. i guess that's out with this problem. the only work around i can think of is to use WME9x64 to screen-cap the image from the capture-card playing in VLC...

any other suggestions?

PS. when i try for the screen-cap method, i'll repost to let people know the stream is back up.

[SHARE2]

Maybe 25 fps

[Big Mac]

Make sure your encoding frame rate is the same as your capture card frame rate.

Set audio sample rate to be the same as audio bitrate, e.g. 32 kbps / 32 kHz

[miahjj]

Make sure your encoding frame rate is the same as your capture card frame rate...

do you think this could be causing the glitches over a long time? i've always used 20fps on my old set-up without a prob... but perhaps i'll try that--29.97fps!

EDIT: another thing i just discovered: the default key frame interval in EE4 is 5 seconds, while in WME9 it's 8 seconds. could this be causing the prob? should i put it back up to 8 seconds like it was in WME?

what's making this a real bitch of a problem is that it always starts off just fine. it takes hours and hours for the frame-dropping to start happening. this makes the troubleshooting a long drawn out process because i won't know the effect of each tweak 'cuz it'll take 4 hours or more to know if it worked.

[pierrebonbon]

Sound is not synchronous with image though.

btw, congratulations on your stream!

And thanks!!! Will you always run RT? it's great!

[miahjj]

ok, so in the last couple of days, i've tried each of the following one by one: increased buffer window from 5 to 10, reset frame-rate to 29.97 fps to match the source, increased key frame interval from 5 to 8. same results each time: starts perfectly, runs well for a time, but at about 3 or 4 hours, stream disintegrates--frames dropping like crazy. (i.e., frame-rate on the viewer end drops to single-digits, while EE itself shows 0 dropped frames. however, i don't buy this, because after closing and restarting EE, the frame-rate re-stabilizes on the viewer's end.)

anyway, trying another tweak now: changed the de-interlace method from "bob" to "selective blend." stream will once again be up all day.

TIA for any feedback.

[Jonelless]

Buffering about 90 , good pic and sound today .

[SHARE2]

Maybe your quality setting

[miahjj]

trying an entirely new tack today: ditched EE4 in favor of EE3 to see if it will remain more stable for long periods. i'll once again leave it up all day.

[Jonelless]

Perfect picture and sound , although slightly out of sync . But if you are going to stream football that is not a problem .

[miahjj]

once again, started off good... but after leaving it running overnight, it's now only achieving about 7 fps on the viewer's end. i'm running out of settings to tweak here!

next i'll try changing the "video complexity." i've been using 3 (normal), but now i'll set it for 0--"fastest." is that what other EE users use?

[Big Mac]

From the Expression Encoder User Guide

Video Complexity Specify a number for the encoding complexity of the video stream. This value determines the ratio of speed to quality when encoding. In general, processing time doubles with each increase in value. Choose 3 for most encoding operations geared toward streaming.For live encoding, choose 0 or 1. For storage, or for offline playback, choose 2 through 5.

[miahjj]

...Choose 3 for most encoding operations geared toward streaming.For live encoding, choose 0 or 1. For storage, or for offline playback, choose 2 through 5.

yes, i read that.. however, i was aiming for better quality, and since my CPU usage was down around 20%, i didn't figure bumping it up to 3 would hurt anything--and it doesn't, at least for the first 3 or 4 hours or so. we'll see if setting it down to 0 helps it remain stable for a longer time. (now that i've set the complexity to 0, my cpu usage is down to about 10%!)