NorrinRadd22
New Member
Specs:
i7 3770 3.5GHz
16GB Ram
670GTX
Steinberg UR242 external audio interface
Windows 7 64bit
OBS 20.1.3 (64bit)
Starting at the beginning. I had been using an old version of OBS for years to make YouTube videos, but decided to get the most recent version just recently after I purchased a second c920 for some fancy two live camera recording.
The first problem I had was that the new OBS Studio thought that my c920 default resolution was 640x480. the old version new it was 1080 right away. But I quickly fixed that and moved on.
Aside from the finicky nature of using two c920s, nothing seemed wrong with the video at all. In fact, the video looked incredible. Where I ran in to trouble is the second I tried to record a video. I realized the audio was staggering, clicking popping and was completely unusable.
The sound is exactly the same sound as when my UR242 has too small of a buffer and I can physically hear the latency of the audio when I am creating music and audio production. The best part about an external soundcard is that they come with features to increase the buffer length to fix the audible latency. So naturally I thought that was what was going on here.
This problem took itself to the next level, because now, even using a single camera, at 1080p which was formerly not a problem at all, is causing this same catastrophic latency issue. Even going back to old OBS, this problem persists. But, only at 1080p, and to a lesser but still unusable extent, 720p. Every other resolution has no problem.
What could the connection between resolution and my audio be as it pertains to OBS alone? No other applications have this issue. Did it have to do with plugging in a second c920, or was it a problem introduced by the newest OBS Studio. Those were the only two changes recently, but either way, I can no longer use OBS to record which is urgent and alarming. This problem persists live or when monitoring, and is a complete mess when actually watching a video recorded.
What I have done so far:
1.) I first tried to increase the buffer of my soundcard. That did nothing.
2.) I noticed the audio was perfectly fine when I set the cameras to 640x480, which for some reason is their "default" resolution in OBS. I only noticed this because OBS Studio keeps defaulting them when I plug them back in. I was able to record latency free audio video recordings with both cameras at that resolution, but having 640x480 is not good enough these days. Especially if I want one camera to take the full screen for a transition.
3.) I re-installed every driver for ever piece of hardware and software I thought might be involved. Soundcard, webcams, OBS Studio and old OBS. As well as fiddled with every possible combination of settings imaginable (including all Playback and Recording devices settings for all the software audio drivers). Nothing was producing results that I could isolate the problem from except for 1080p video.
4.) Thinking my external soundcard might be the problem, I switched OBS Studio to my stock windows soundcard. And while it appears to fix the problem for any desktop audio, my microphone, which still goes through my soundcard, is a latency filled clicking and popping mess. But *only* in OBS Studio and OBS.
5.) Convinced this was a tie up from having two of the same webcams, I returned the second c920, thinking maybe it was an issue with how audio is handled internally on my computer, and there being two of the same device that are very well documented for being "finnicky" may have causes some connections to forge a loop. Now that I have the modern version of the old OBS and the current OBS Studio only, this problem continues. Oops.
6.) I have heard that the old version of OBS used a different audio encoder, which could actually explain a lot. I followed another thread on this forum earlier today (https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/audio-clicks-pops-stuttering.67985/). I installed the "CoreAudio" encoder as helpfully instructed, but the problem remains, unphased.
TL;DR Summary: Using my original c920 camera, and my original UR242 soundcard, with the new versions of OBS Studio and OBS, I am unable to record a video when using my c920 in 1080p without my audio clicking, popping live (recording on or not), most likely do to some sort of audio latency. Any video recorded while this is happening is even worse sounding. Like throwing my audio in a stuttering blender. It began the instant I opened up the newest version of OBS Studio and plugged in a second c920 webcam. I have no idea as to why.
I am unable to track down the source of the crippling latency. Monitoring the signal flow for this has been next to impossible. I have no idea how OBS Studio or OBS handle audio, or how my soundcard does either, for that matter. If there are utilities to monitor this, I have not found them.
Please, any help or suggestions you have would really help me out here. Fixing this problem involves navigating video and audio hardware and software worlds that appear to seldom meet. Any experience you have will be very helpful for myself and hopefully others. I would be happy to provide video or audio or logs as needed. But right now, I am not sure what would even be helpful or not.
i7 3770 3.5GHz
16GB Ram
670GTX
Steinberg UR242 external audio interface
Windows 7 64bit
OBS 20.1.3 (64bit)
Starting at the beginning. I had been using an old version of OBS for years to make YouTube videos, but decided to get the most recent version just recently after I purchased a second c920 for some fancy two live camera recording.
The first problem I had was that the new OBS Studio thought that my c920 default resolution was 640x480. the old version new it was 1080 right away. But I quickly fixed that and moved on.
Aside from the finicky nature of using two c920s, nothing seemed wrong with the video at all. In fact, the video looked incredible. Where I ran in to trouble is the second I tried to record a video. I realized the audio was staggering, clicking popping and was completely unusable.
The sound is exactly the same sound as when my UR242 has too small of a buffer and I can physically hear the latency of the audio when I am creating music and audio production. The best part about an external soundcard is that they come with features to increase the buffer length to fix the audible latency. So naturally I thought that was what was going on here.
This problem took itself to the next level, because now, even using a single camera, at 1080p which was formerly not a problem at all, is causing this same catastrophic latency issue. Even going back to old OBS, this problem persists. But, only at 1080p, and to a lesser but still unusable extent, 720p. Every other resolution has no problem.
What could the connection between resolution and my audio be as it pertains to OBS alone? No other applications have this issue. Did it have to do with plugging in a second c920, or was it a problem introduced by the newest OBS Studio. Those were the only two changes recently, but either way, I can no longer use OBS to record which is urgent and alarming. This problem persists live or when monitoring, and is a complete mess when actually watching a video recorded.
What I have done so far:
1.) I first tried to increase the buffer of my soundcard. That did nothing.
2.) I noticed the audio was perfectly fine when I set the cameras to 640x480, which for some reason is their "default" resolution in OBS. I only noticed this because OBS Studio keeps defaulting them when I plug them back in. I was able to record latency free audio video recordings with both cameras at that resolution, but having 640x480 is not good enough these days. Especially if I want one camera to take the full screen for a transition.
3.) I re-installed every driver for ever piece of hardware and software I thought might be involved. Soundcard, webcams, OBS Studio and old OBS. As well as fiddled with every possible combination of settings imaginable (including all Playback and Recording devices settings for all the software audio drivers). Nothing was producing results that I could isolate the problem from except for 1080p video.
4.) Thinking my external soundcard might be the problem, I switched OBS Studio to my stock windows soundcard. And while it appears to fix the problem for any desktop audio, my microphone, which still goes through my soundcard, is a latency filled clicking and popping mess. But *only* in OBS Studio and OBS.
5.) Convinced this was a tie up from having two of the same webcams, I returned the second c920, thinking maybe it was an issue with how audio is handled internally on my computer, and there being two of the same device that are very well documented for being "finnicky" may have causes some connections to forge a loop. Now that I have the modern version of the old OBS and the current OBS Studio only, this problem continues. Oops.
6.) I have heard that the old version of OBS used a different audio encoder, which could actually explain a lot. I followed another thread on this forum earlier today (https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/audio-clicks-pops-stuttering.67985/). I installed the "CoreAudio" encoder as helpfully instructed, but the problem remains, unphased.
TL;DR Summary: Using my original c920 camera, and my original UR242 soundcard, with the new versions of OBS Studio and OBS, I am unable to record a video when using my c920 in 1080p without my audio clicking, popping live (recording on or not), most likely do to some sort of audio latency. Any video recorded while this is happening is even worse sounding. Like throwing my audio in a stuttering blender. It began the instant I opened up the newest version of OBS Studio and plugged in a second c920 webcam. I have no idea as to why.
I am unable to track down the source of the crippling latency. Monitoring the signal flow for this has been next to impossible. I have no idea how OBS Studio or OBS handle audio, or how my soundcard does either, for that matter. If there are utilities to monitor this, I have not found them.
Please, any help or suggestions you have would really help me out here. Fixing this problem involves navigating video and audio hardware and software worlds that appear to seldom meet. Any experience you have will be very helpful for myself and hopefully others. I would be happy to provide video or audio or logs as needed. But right now, I am not sure what would even be helpful or not.
