# Delay from Buttonpress to Record



## Lazy (Jan 2, 2016)

Hello everybody,

i am writting a paper about Cloud Gaming and use obs to measure the latency. Does someone know if there is some latency between the button press to record and the actual start of the record? Is there a documentation or something or does someone have an idea about how to measure this?

Greetings Lazy


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## dodgepong (Jan 4, 2016)

Can you be more detailed in how you are hoping to use OBS to measure this?


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## Lazy (Jan 5, 2016)

You mean how to measure latency with OBS? Or how to measure the delay between the button press and the start of the record? 

To measure the latency I am recording a video of a game witch an Keyboard overlay (wich show the keypress) with a distinct amount of frames per second. After that you can count the amount of frames between the button press and the reaction inside the game and witch this amount you are able to calculate the latency.

But have you an idea about the delay of the record? the one between button press and the start of the record?


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## dodgepong (Jan 5, 2016)

Okay, and why do you need to know the delay between when you press "Start recording" and when the recording actually starts?

And are you asking that to determine how "far behind" the recording is from real-time? Or are you asking for some other reason.

I'm sorry for not answering your question directly, since there isn't an easy answer. I'm just trying to understand how it's relevant to your situation so I can answer as best as I can.


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## Lazy (Jan 6, 2016)

Oh I am sorry, this question was for an other method of measuring latency. Actually I need to know if their ist an overhead caused by OBS.


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## dodgepong (Jan 6, 2016)

Performance overhead? Yes, there is. OBS will tax both your CPU and GPU, though you can reduce the impact by using Quicksync or NVENC encoders.

Generally when people measure latency, they use a high-framerate camera pointed at the monitor. You can use a low-latency CRT monitor, or measure the latency of the monitor you are using compared to a CRT and then factor that into your measurements.


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