Delay on came/window capture

Hello.

I've been playing around with the "new" OBS, and I'm really missing the option to add a delay to game/window capture, or a general delay setting.

Is this something that is planned to be implemented, or did you throw that option down the drain?
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
The implementation would have to be completely different. Directshow devices can be delayed because they are buffered, while there is no buffer for game capture or display capture, so it would have to be buffered in RAM, which would take a lot of space. It's definitely possible, but much trickier to do. Bottom line is that it can't just be ported over to work like video capture devices.

I'm curious as to what your use cases are that necessitate delaying game capture and display capture sources. If your answer is "because I'm using a USB 2.0 HD capture device" then you're fired.
 
I'm curious as to what your use cases are that necessitate delaying game capture and display capture sources. If your answer is "because I'm using a USB 2.0 HD capture device" then you're fired.

Some folks don't have USB 3.0, or the extra dough to spend on the right kind of device that doesn't have any stream delay. Unless there's a way to implement a hot key to take the delay off of ALL audio and simultaneously disable the delay filter on a cam, a delay seems, from a non-programming point of view, the viable solution.

For example, my motherboard's USB 3.0 went out, and I don't have a spare PCI slot for a capture card, so, using the card I have is, for the foreseeable future, my only option. I have raid and giveaway videos that I like to interact with when these events occur. I have to take off the delay on my mic and cam while in stream to implement them. I put a ton of effort into my stream, and any edge is a Godzilla-send, as far as I am concerned. Not having to look like a scrub would be really nice.

*I know this software is free, and asking for any feature is asking for a handout. I get that. There seems to be an assumption that people who use OBS and use USB 2.0 capture devices use them because they are incapable of taking advice, or are otherwise inept. That simply is not universally true, and the humor in this particular instance just struck a nerve.
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
Don't read into it too much, it's just me venting a bit. I personally deeply loathe USB 2.0 HD capture cards (namely Elgatos, but others as well) due to the delay bullshit they require, but I understand that some people have no other choice (financially) if they want to stream a console. I'm fully aware that game streamers often have to operate on a budget of zero dollars, so if they want to get their setup to act the way they want, they often have to ask the developers to implement hacked-up workarounds for free instead of getting the proper equipment to do what they want to do, and it can get a little tiring after a years of hearing it. It's like watching people trying to hammer screws into wood instead of buying a screwdriver, but if they don't have any money for a screwdriver, I don't really know what to suggest.

Regardless, the ability to delay video sources besides webcams has been requested several times in the past (almost universally for this reason), and while it would be nice, the truth is that it's somewhat of a low-priority feature right now due to the difficulty of implementation and low marginal utility compared to the list of other things that need to be done still. So it's unlikely that this will be done any time soon, but it is on the radar.
 
Don't read into it too much, it's just me venting a bit. I personally deeply loathe USB 2.0 HD capture cards (namely Elgatos, but others as well) due to the delay bullshit they require, but I understand that some people have no other choice (financially) if they want to stream a console. I'm fully aware that game streamers often have to operate on a budget of zero dollars, so if they want to get their setup to act the way they want, they often have to ask the developers to implement hacked-up workarounds for free instead of getting the proper equipment to do what they want to do, and it can get a little tiring after a years of hearing it. It's like watching people trying to hammer screws into wood instead of buying a screwdriver, but if they don't have any money for a screwdriver, I don't really know what to suggest.

Regardless, the ability to delay video sources besides webcams has been requested several times in the past (almost universally for this reason), and while it would be nice, the truth is that it's somewhat of a low-priority feature right now due to the difficulty of implementation and low marginal utility compared to the list of other things that need to be done still. So it's unlikely that this will be done any time soon, but it is on the radar.

All that was more or less understood, and I definitely appreciate the reasoning behind the response. I certainly appreciate this one.

I just realized this morning that there might be a USB 3.0 port on my rear panel. Hopefully, by February, I can make that happen. For the multitudes that don't understand the harrowing nature of developing software, I say, please try to save up. :)
 
All that was more or less understood, and I definitely appreciate the reasoning behind the response. I certainly appreciate this one.

I just realized this morning that there might be a USB 3.0 port on my rear panel. Hopefully, by February, I can make that happen. For the multitudes that don't understand the harrowing nature of developing software, I say, please try to save up. :)
Let's just say I feel your pain. I've only recently convinced my CFO (read, my wife) how annoying the Elgato is for streaming. :) If I hadn't had a USB 3.0 port, I'd still be delaying my mic by an arbitrary amount of milliseconds..
 

Tiago de Pádua

New Member
I have just bought an Elgato HD60 to use as input for my camera (not an USB camera, I have a DSLR with HDMI out - which has about 700ms of delay).
Long story short, I cannot sync my camera input with the game running on the PC, because window capture don't have a delay option.

Damn I feel so stupid now.
That's what I get for not checking things before buying.

@devs
Uhhhhh... we're in 2017 now, any chance the window capture delay changed a bit in priority for development? ;)
I'm pretty sure I have the extra free RAM needed for several seconds of buffer.
 

Johan Blome

New Member
Cannot the delay plugin be used?
I use it to delay cameras in a multicam setup with different types of cameras and there is a difference between the cameras of 5-6 frames.
 

Tiago de Pádua

New Member
Cannot the delay plugin be used?
I use it to delay cameras in a multicam setup with different types of cameras and there is a difference between the cameras of 5-6 frames.
Yes!
Turns out I had an old version of OBS installed, and it did not have any delay plugin.
So I updated to the latest version, and voila!
Working like a charm now!

Thank you!
 
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