# Apple Silicon M1 (in new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini) is not "blazing fast" in OBS



## StreamPanel (Mar 17, 2021)

Apparently, this CPU is "blazing fast" when it comes to many tasks, but for some reason, it just absolutely blows for streaming (even as a dedicated streaming computer). This thing cannot even do 720p60 on fast. Thats pathetic since even my 4790k (which scores like less than half as this CPU) could do 720p60 on medium. I used to have an 8700k, and now a 10700k that can do 1080p60 on SLOW. What gives? Why is this CPU praised as surprisingly demolishing these CPUs, or matching them, but in OBS, it just takes a poop? Is it a lack of native support? Is it software-related, and this fixable, or is it permanent?

I have the 512GB MacBook Air that includes the full 8 GPU cores (not that it should matter since I don't use gpu encoding ever), and am using the latest Big Sur. My test involved sending my gaming PC (10700k, 6800 xt, 32GB RAM) to the Macbook via NDI. The CPU usage spikes to the high 80's 90's when trying anything usable (ie 1080p30 on fast, 720p60 on fast, etc). With all my previous CPUs, I could do at least 1080p30 on slow or 720p60 on slow. I would even accept 720p60 on medium.


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## FezVrasta (Mar 23, 2021)

It's almost like the software wasn't compiled for ARM and was running through a software that automatically converts it. Yeah, terrible.


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## nottooloud (Mar 24, 2021)

StreamPanel said:


> (not that it should matter since I don't use gpu encoding ever)



I believe you have your answer.


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## thomaslfessler (Mar 24, 2021)

if you want to use OBS, it's a good reason to skip the M1.  It sounds like a 2009-2012 Mac Pro with a lot of ram would be more reliable..


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## StreamPanel (Mar 31, 2021)

nottooloud said:


> I believe you have your answer.


GPU encoding is atrocious. Its a last resort for people with weak CPUs or people trying to game on the same computer. The CPU on the M1 is supposed to be very good, and I am using it for streaming only (not gaming on it), so it should hypothetically stream better than GPU, if not for whatever the software issue is (either mac related, OBS related, or M1 chip related).


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## StreamPanel (Mar 31, 2021)

thomaslfessler said:


> if you want to use OBS, it's a good reason to skip the M1.  It sounds like a 2009-2012 Mac Pro with a lot of ram would be more reliable..


But then my computer would suck for dev work. So I need 3 different machines lol (one for gaming, one for work, and one for streaming). Terrible. This would easily be solved if Windows wasnt awful for dev work, or if MacOS wasnt awful for gaming.


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## lyrictech (Apr 18, 2021)

We're seeing issues with artifacts/glitching in the videos. Using a M1 Mac mini 16gb RAM PTZ Optics 60x NDI/HX camera. It works fine on a 2019 iMac both are running Big Sur but I regret Updating the 2019 I've had severe performance issues should have left well enough alone.

I'm trying to narrow down if the issue is OBS, the NDI plugin or possibly the PTZ Optics. I think we've eliminated the Camera since I was using an RTSP stream from a different camera and having the same thing. It was especially bad on that cam (Vaddio WideSHOT QUSB) when transitioning scenes from the PTZ to the Vaddio. So It's either the NDI software or OSB.

I understand the M1's are really new and I'm not expecting the OBS team to be lightning fast at fixing these bugs, that's what I get for being an early adopter. But hopefully some of this will help others that have the same issue. I've posted a new thread documenting some of this yesterday as well. Attached an image with especially bad artifacting you'll see the steps are completely distorted and there's a horizontal line through the middle of the image.

Here's the link to the other thread to keep from getting too far off the original posters issues.






						M1 Mac Mini - Video distortion in recordings & streaming
					

New to the forums, but been using OBS for about 1 year now for livestream:  We just split our livestream to a dedicated M1 Mac mini - Maxed out RAM to 16 gb - 1TB ssd.  The issues I'm seeing is artifacts/glitches in the video at first I thought it had something to do with just the monitors we...




					obsproject.com


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## StreamPanel (Jun 5, 2021)

lyrictech said:


> We're seeing issues with artifacts/glitching in the videos. Using a M1 Mac mini 16gb RAM PTZ Optics 60x NDI/HX camera. It works fine on a 2019 iMac both are running Big Sur but I regret Updating the 2019 I've had severe performance issues should have left well enough alone.
> 
> I'm trying to narrow down if the issue is OBS, the NDI plugin or possibly the PTZ Optics. I think we've eliminated the Camera since I was using an RTSP stream from a different camera and having the same thing. It was especially bad on that cam (Vaddio WideSHOT QUSB) when transitioning scenes from the PTZ to the Vaddio. So It's either the NDI software or OSB.
> 
> ...


Dont know what changed (havent installed the new OBS update yet) but I can now get decent streaming ability (can do 1080p30 on medium, or 720p60 on medium). This is what my 4790k could do like 8 years ago, but its still better than my previous tests. My 10700k Mac can do those on "slow" and even almost on "slower" though, which look ultra crisp.


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## Codergeek82 (Jun 15, 2021)

The first time a non native app is executed, it takes time as Rosetta has to compile stuff, second time you use the same non native app the performance would be slightly better. That’s what I could think of, I hope it makes sense.


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## TFE (Jun 16, 2021)

FezVrasta said:


> It's almost like the software wasn't compiled for ARM and was running through a software that automatically converts it. Yeah, terrible.


LOL hilarious. Well played.


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## geeklabs (Jun 24, 2021)

Just happened upon this thread and thought I would chime in. Not sure what I did, but do not think anything. I purchased a Mac Mini M1 a couple of months ago for our church for streaming. I just installed OBS and everything works just wonderful for us. I stream at 1080/60 with 0 loss.


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## csotos (Jun 24, 2021)

I hope they will soon publish a native version of m1 I need it urgently :(


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## Notinasnaid (Jun 24, 2021)

csotos said:


> I hope they will soon publish a native version of m1 I need it urgently :(


Before wishing too loudly (and I'd like to be wrong, but don't think so) it's worth bearing in mind that ALL plug-ins will also need to be M1 native, or they simply won't exist to OBS...  seeing this experience with many apps as people get excited about M1 native, then discover they need to run it under Rosetta to use their essential plug-ins....


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## nottooloud (Jun 25, 2021)

Notinasnaid said:


> (and I'd like to be wrong, but don't think so) it's worth bearing in mind that ALL plug-ins will also need to be M1 native, or they simply won't exist to OBS...  seeing this experience with many apps as people get excited about M1 native, then discover they need to run it under Rosetta to use their essential plug-ins....



I note that Reaper ARM could run Intel VST2 plugins from the start, and the developer builds can now run VST3.


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## callimeron (Jun 25, 2021)

Notinasnaid said:


> Before wishing too loudly (and I'd like to be wrong, but don't think so) it's worth bearing in mind that ALL plug-ins will also need to be M1 native, or they simply won't exist to OBS...  seeing this experience with many apps as people get excited about M1 native, then discover they need to run it under Rosetta to use their essential plug-ins....


I think so too.
Just changing OBS to arm64 is not a solution to everything.
If you are using obs-plugin or VST plugin, you also need to build them to arm64/Universal2.


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## Rivanov (Oct 26, 2021)

I'm tempted to buy the new 14" MacBook Pro with 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU and 16GB RAM.
I want to stream Football Manager 2022 via OBS to Twitch in 1080p.

How is the current performance of OBS on the Apple Silicon Mac's?


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## risekevin (Feb 1, 2022)

So I just bought the new 16" MacBook Pro M1 w/ 16gb.  Definitely didn't work with the current release of OBS, so i installed the beta that came out 5 days ago for M1. It greatly reduced my dropped frames, but my video quality is now horrible and pixelated even at 720p60.

Has anyone figured out a way to fix this?  I'm assuming it had to do with how video is being encoded as it is output for streaming.  Help!  I figured by waiting about 2 years from the first M1 chip that this would be figured out by now.


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