Bitrate will tank for just a few frames during a recording

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Decahedron

New Member
This is a relatively recent issue I've been having. I've used OBS as my main recording software for a few years, but the latest few releases have seen a peculiar 'bug' in my recordings that I'm not sure how to fix.


Here's the log, and the problem I'm having is that during a recording, there will be some instances (usually with a lot of movement/action/lights) where the recording's bitrate will dip substantially for a few frames. Usually around 4 or 5 before returning back to normal.

Here's two screenshots of one of the recordings done during this session showing the point where the bitrate dips and then recovers. This is the recording titled: "@023-03-17-16-56-18," but the problem is persistent across all of them.

prnt.sc

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot
prnt.sc prnt.sc
prnt.sc

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot
prnt.sc prnt.sc

When I had the website analyze this log, the only two 'issues' it found were an audio sample rate issue (I've fixed that) and having both a Window and Game Capture in the same scene (the window capture was disabled).

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
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rockbottom

Active Member
Your E drive may be getting full or worse.

Try writing to a different drive, preferably an SSD with plenty of space.
 
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Decahedron

New Member
rockbottom said:
Your E drive may be getting full or worse.

Try writing to a different drive, preferably an SSD with plenty of space.
Click to expand...
My E drive is a brand new 2 TB NVME SSD with very little space taken up on it. And it's not just an issue with that drive; I've written them on my F drive (also an SSD) with the exact same issue.

While OBS has been giving me this issue, I switched to Streamlabs to record footage and I wasn't encountering the issue. I was even writing the footage on my F drive until there was only about 3 GB of space on it left without any problems.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Other than your monitors not having the same framerate, your log is clean. I highly doubt your issue is being caused by OBS. Could be a bad GPU driver or something else. Try encoding with CQP or VBR & see if it continues.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Here you go, I missed it on the first look. Only (1) Window, Game or Display Capture per Scene. This needs to be fixed.

- scene 'Default':
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Video Capture Device' (dshow_input)
16:40:07.290: - monitoring: monitor and output
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Display Capture' (monitor_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Window Capture' (window_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Microphone' (wasapi_input_capture)
16:40:07.290: - filter: 'Noise Gate' (noise_gate_filter)
16:40:07.290: - filter: 'Limiter' (limiter_filter)
 
D

Decahedron

New Member
rockbottom said:
Here you go, I missed it on the first look. Only (1) Window, Game or Display Capture per Scene. This needs to be fixed.

- scene 'Default':
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Game Capture' (game_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Video Capture Device' (dshow_input)
16:40:07.290: - monitoring: monitor and output
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Display Capture' (monitor_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Window Capture' (window_capture)
16:40:07.290: - source: 'Microphone' (wasapi_input_capture)
16:40:07.290: - filter: 'Noise Gate' (noise_gate_filter)
16:40:07.290: - filter: 'Limiter' (limiter_filter)
Click to expand...
I appreciate the willingness to help, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like the issue. I've fixed both the number of captures (the ones in the previous log were all disabled save for the Game Capture) and have corrected the audio bit. Still running into the same bitrate issue, unfortunately. I even lowered the bitrate down to around 65000, which is just a little below what I use on Streamlabs, both on VBR.

Here's the logs of a new recording I did to test this out, and accompanying screenshots.


prnt.sc

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot
prnt.sc prnt.sc

prnt.sc

Screenshot

Captured with Lightshot
prnt.sc prnt.sc

Keep in mind that these screenshots are of just one instance, this happens frequently during the recording (in this case three times in the same attack).

I think it's OBS because Streamlabs doesn't give me this issue. I only switched to it because OBS gave me this issue after using it for quite a while, and it hasn't stopped since. It's been persistent for the past several updates, and GPU driver updates as well.

Additionally, it's not just an issue with DMC 5. The issue first started months back when I was recording footage for Sekiro, often tanking the bitrate during Deathblows. I switched to Streamlabs then, and had the same problem. Months later, and I'm seeing if maybe it was a minor bug that someone pointed out at one point, but the issue is still persistent unfortunately.

I'll likely continue to use Streamlabs in the meantime, especially if there's no ready fix for this in OBS, but hopefully I'll be able to use the program again without worrying about whether every attack in my footage will have a butchered mosaic looking effect to it.

I also prefer to not use CQP if at all possible; the amount of storage that footage takes up is insane. And it makes my Premiere Pro editor die on the inside.

Thanks for any help either way.
 
D

Decahedron

New Member
Also out of curiosity I attempted to change the source from "Game Capture" into a "Window Capture." Still the same problem, unfortunately.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Not much left in that log. Try x264.

You mentioned it started recently, was it around the time you installed the new GPU driver? A quick search led to many complaints of video stuttering.
 
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Decahedron

New Member
I'll give it a go, but x264 has always overloaded any time I tried recording at 1440p with a high bitrate.

And I say recently rather loosely. It started all the way back in November/December, and has persisted through multiple GPU Driver and OBS updates.
 
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Decahedron

New Member
Well the x264 thing was likely a CPU Preset Skill Issue on my end. I just got done going through some small bits of footage frame by frame done on x264 and didn't notice anything. Even cranked up the bitrate to 100,000 KBPs and still didn't get any encoding overloards or the aforementioned issue. Might be a problem with the AMD Encoder, then.

I'll record some more footage before I 100% say the problem is gone, but looks like this solution might be it. Thanks.
 
Zidakuh

Zidakuh

Member
This blocking issue is very much an AMD issue. I used to have similar issues all the way back on OBS 21 up till now on any AMD encoder I have tried.
Unfortunately there is no real fix for this except turning "Enforce HRD" off.
Even so, doing this will most likely still cause the first 1 or 2 seconds of a recording to freeze frame.

Saying all this, I haven't actively used an AMD card since OBS version 27. So I can't say if any of the options has changed due to the new encoder options that came with OBS version 29.
 
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Decahedron

New Member
I just noticed that I was using Version 28 this whole time, so I think Version 27 was the one that I had previously where I wasn't encountering the issue. I've updated my OBS to Version 29 just now, but I don't remember ever seeing the option "Enforce HRD." Either way, it is weird that the AMD Encoder didn't give me an issues with Streamlabs, but this came about suddenly in OBS.

Regardless, I've started using x264 to get some footage to great effect, so I'll be able to get footage from here on out regardless. Thanks for the assistance. I'll probably experiment with the AMD Encoder in Version 29 in the coming days to see if I come across it again.
 
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