# Upstream live re-encode test on DigitalOcean, October 24, 2026
# Used in https://upstream.so/blog/vps-for-streaming/
# Four droplets, Ubuntu 24.04, FFmpeg 6.1.1 from Ubuntu: Basic 1 vCPU ($6), Basic 2 vCPU ($18),
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42) and CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84). Each ran setup.sh, then
# run.sh single 600 and run.sh multi 600 (10 minutes each).
#
# The ten test clips (10 seconds each, made from Upstream's own demo loops):
#   01-phone-1080p60-h264.mp4        h264,1920,1080,60/1,11914012
#   02-iphone-4k30-hevc.mp4          hevc,3840,2160,30/1,20651971
#   03-old-720p30-h264.mp4           h264,1280,720,30/1,3017263
#   04-camera-1080p25-h264.mp4       h264,1920,1080,25/1,7888351
#   05-lofi-1080p24-copy.mp4         h264,1916,1080,24/1,6187989
#   06-vertical-1080x1920-30.mp4     h264,1080,1920,30/1,7864470
#   07-export-1440p30-h264.mp4       h264,2560,1440,30/1,10695578
#   08-1080p30-hevc.mp4              hevc,1920,1080,30/1,6235275
#   09-old-480p30-h264.mp4           h264,854,480,30/1,1450282
#   10-editor-1080p30-vbr.mp4        h264,1920,1080,30/1,7307118
# Music: the Big Buck Bunny soundtrack (Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0).

########## setup.sh ##########
#!/bin/bash
# One-time setup on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 droplet: FFmpeg, vmstat, the music file, and a copy-mode baseline.
set -eu
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
apt-get update -qq
apt-get install -y -qq ffmpeg procps fonts-dejavu-core unzip > /dev/null
mkdir -p /root/t && cd /root/t
# Big Buck Bunny (Blender Foundation, CC BY 3.0); only its soundtrack is used, as the separate music playlist.
curl -sSfL -o bbb.zip https://download.blender.org/demo/movies/BBB/bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4.zip
unzip -p bbb.zip '*.mp4' > bbb.mp4
rm -f bbb.zip
ffmpeg -nostdin -hide_banner -loglevel error -y -i bbb.mp4 -map 0:a:0 -c:a copy music.mka
rm -f bbb.mp4
lscpu | grep -E 'Model name|^CPU\(s\)' > cpu.txt
nproc >> cpu.txt
ffmpeg -version | head -1 >> cpu.txt
# Copy-mode baseline: one prepared file sent as is for 2 minutes.
vmstat -n 5 > vmstat-copy.txt &
VM=$!
timeout 120 ffmpeg -y -nostdin -hide_banner -loglevel warning -re -stream_loop -1 -i clips/05-lofi-1080p24-copy.mp4 -c copy \
  -progress progress-copy.txt -stats_period 5 -f flv /dev/null 2> enc-copy.log || true
kill "$VM" 2>/dev/null || true
echo setup-done

########## run.sh ##########
#!/bin/bash
# Live re-encode test, the work a stream with mixed videos, separate music and overlays needs.
# usage: run.sh <label> <seconds> [single|multi]
# multi: the same encode goes to three platforms at once (YouTube, Twitch, Kick style), plus a second
# vertical 1080x1920 encode for TikTok or Shorts, the way a multistream with a vertical output works.
# Ten clips with different codecs, sizes and frame rates play in a loop, get scaled to 1080p30,
# a logo, a now playing line and a clock go on top, the music comes from its own file with a rain-style
# ambience mixed under it (a second audio channel), and x264
# (OBS's default software encoder, veryfast) encodes it all live at 6 Mbps, paced to real time.
set -u
L=$1; T=${2:-900}; MODE=${3:-single}
cd "${TDIR:-/root/t}"
rm -f v.fifo; mkfifo -m 600 v.fifo
FONT=${FONT:-/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf}
VF="scale=1920:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1920:1080:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2,fps=30,format=yuv420p"
( while true; do for f in clips/*.mp4; do
    ffmpeg -nostdin -hide_banner -loglevel error -i "$f" -an -vf "$VF" -f rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p - || exit 0
  done; done ) > v.fifo &
DEC=$!
vmstat -n 5 > "vmstat-$L.txt" &
VM=$!
START=$(date +%s)
FC="[2:v]scale=260:-1,format=yuva420p[logo];[0:v][logo]overlay=60:60:format=yuv420[bg];[bg]drawtext=fontfile=$FONT:text='Now playing  Big Buck Bunny soundtrack':x=60:y=h-120:fontsize=40:fontcolor=white:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.5:boxborderw=16,drawtext=fontfile=$FONT:text='%{localtime}':x=w-tw-60:y=60:fontsize=36:fontcolor=white[v];[1:a:0]aresample=44100,volume=1.0[m];[3:a]lowpass=f=1200,volume=0.15[amb];[m][amb]amix=inputs=2:duration=first:normalize=0[a]"
X264="-c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -g 60 -keyint_min 60 -sc_threshold 0 -pix_fmt yuv420p"
if [ "$MODE" = multi ]; then
  FC="$FC;[v]split=2[v1][v2];[v2]crop=ih*9/16:ih,scale=1080:1920[vv];[a]asplit=2[a1][a2]"
  OUT=(-map "[v1]" -map "[a1]" $X264 -b:v 6M -maxrate 6M -bufsize 12M -c:a aac -b:a 160k -ar 44100
       -f tee "[f=flv:onfail=ignore]/dev/null|[f=flv:onfail=ignore]/dev/null|[f=flv:onfail=ignore]/dev/null"
       -map "[vv]" -map "[a2]" $X264 -b:v 4M -maxrate 4M -bufsize 8M -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ar 44100 -f flv /dev/null)
else
  OUT=(-map "[v]" -map "[a]" $X264 -b:v 6M -maxrate 6M -bufsize 12M -c:a aac -b:a 160k -ar 44100 -f flv /dev/null)
fi
timeout "$T" ffmpeg -y -nostdin -hide_banner -loglevel warning \
  -re -f rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -s 1920x1080 -framerate 30 -i v.fifo \
  -re -stream_loop -1 -i music.mka \
  -loop 1 -framerate 30 -i logo.png \
  -f lavfi -i "anoisesrc=color=pink:sample_rate=44100:amplitude=0.3" \
  -filter_complex "$FC" -progress "progress-$L.txt" -stats_period 5 "${OUT[@]}" 2> "enc-$L.log"
END=$(date +%s)
kill "$VM" 2>/dev/null
pkill -P "$DEC" 2>/dev/null; kill "$DEC" 2>/dev/null
echo "wall=$((END-START))" > "wall-$L.txt"

########## results ##########
# droplet, mode, median speed (x real time), min speed, seconds behind real time at the end, processor busy %
# Basic 1 vCPU ($6), copy, 1.01, 1.01, -0.4, 1.3
# Basic 1 vCPU ($6), single, 0.353, 0.255, 389.1, 99.3
# Basic 1 vCPU ($6), multi, 0.198, 0.152, 482.0, 98.8
# Basic 2 vCPU ($18), copy, 1.01, 1.01, -0.4, 0.4
# Basic 2 vCPU ($18), single, 0.663, 0.492, 191.7, 96.5
# Basic 2 vCPU ($18), multi, 0.395, 0.326, 362.5, 98.6
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42), copy, 1.01, 1.01, -0.4, 0.0
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42), single, 0.749, 0.535, 149.5, 97.4
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42), multi, 0.435, 0.348, 335.8, 98.9
# CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84), copy, 1.01, 1.01, -0.4, 0.0
# CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84), single, 0.996, 0.974, -0.3, 59.1
# CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84), multi, 0.802, 0.659, 117.4, 95.5
# copy = one prepared file sent with -c copy for 2 minutes; single and multi = run.sh, 10 minutes each.

########## second run: clips converted first ##########
# Same run.sh, with the 10 clips converted beforehand to 1920x1080, 30 fps, H.264 at 6 Mbps CBR (keyframe every 2 s).
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42), single, 0.887, 0.876, 69.2, 96.9
# CPU-Optimized 2 vCPU ($42), multi, 0.484, 0.465, 310.4, 98.9
# CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84), single, 1.01, 1.01, 0.7, 43.4
# CPU-Optimized 4 vCPU ($84), multi, 0.925, 0.896, 46.9, 95.2