Dual PC Capture Card Setup introduces a ton of micro stutters into OBS preview that transfers to recording/stream

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MasoElCaveman

New Member
This is Issue #4191 on github which seems to plague a lot of people.


Has anyone had any success in finding a fix for this? I've tried so many things at this point I was going to switch my streaming pc over to linux to see if it was a windows problem, but I need voicemeeter for vban and there is no linux support for voicemeeter.

I get a super smooth recording whenever I use my single pc to record, but when I play wireless vr that uses a lot of my rtx 3090's encoder so I really want to be able to utilize my capture card and dual pc setup.


Streaming PC has a RTX 3060 12gb, i7 9700k, 18gb ram, Elgato 4k60Pro Mk.2, and Flint 4kP Pro.


Gaming PC has RTX 3090, i5 12600k, 32gb ram.


I'm uploading a video that compares these two capture cards vs my rtx 3090 recording simultaneously.


Here's my video that shows the top right rtx 3090 smoothly recording, while bottom right Elgato is the worst offender vs Flint on the bottom left which seems better than the Elgato overall.


Gaming PC log

Streaming PC log

For the capture cards leaving buffering enabled, disabled, or auto detect doesn't change anything much at all.
Changing OBS Video framerate from 60 to 59.94 also did not change anything.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
The 12600k/3090 are clearly capable doing the job, why even use a second PC?

Change your Preset to P5 & Multipass to qres, that little bit of encoding lag you're getting should go away.

Disable HAGS too.

X drive, what is it? You should only be recording to an internal SSD....
 
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MasoElCaveman

New Member
rockbottom said:
The 12600k/3090 are clearly capable doing the job, why even use a second PC?

Change your Preset to P5 & Multipass to qres, that little bit of encoding lag you're getting should go away.
Click to expand...
Here's the thing though I'm not getting any encoder lag on the streaming pc at all. This stutter that you see is visible in the preview window
even without recording, and I have A TON of headroom for my cpu, ram, gpu, so my preview window should not stutter like this.

I'm using the 2nd pc because I simultaneously stream at 1080p 60fps and record at 4k 60fps plus wireless VR uses a ton of the 3090's encoder, and I really don't want to add the strain to my cpu, but I guess that is the one thing I could try for my vr stream/recording.

Also I do a split screen stream with my gf where we have both instances of our game going to the streaming pc so I really like how the dual pc fits into my whole setup.

Plus I also retro record/stream so the 2nd pc gets used for that as well. Just wish I could utilize it fully so my main pc has no extra strain whatsoever.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
The split screen deal sounds cool, I can see using the second PC for that.

On the streaming PC, you're scaling the monitor @ 150%, change it to 100%
 
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MasoElCaveman

New Member
rockbottom said:
The split screen deal sounds cool, I can see using the second PC for that.

On the streaming PC, you're scaling the monitor @ 150%, change it to 100%
Click to expand...
Nothing seems to have changed when doing this. HAGS is off on streaming pc. Streaming PC records to an internal SSD, but my gaming pc recorded to an internal HDD (X) and looked flawless. Also I'm updating my streaming pc log.

 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Yeah, that PC is a mess. I'll help with the gaming PC but I have no desire to look at the log for the streaming PC.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
I noticed HDR enabled on the LG, should be SDR. Also, 5.1 audio enabled on both PC's. The entire audio pipeline from source to output needs to be 5.1 for it to work correctly.

Surround Sound Guide | OBS

OBS Knowledge Base. Learn how to make streams and recordings with surround sound
obsproject.com obsproject.com
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
MasoElCaveman said:
Nothing seems to have changed when doing this. HAGS is off on streaming pc. Streaming PC records to an internal SSD, but my gaming pc recorded to an internal HDD (X) and looked flawless. Also I'm updating my streaming pc log.

Click to expand...

Changing the scaling was just part of the solution & it should be left @ 100% even if nothing appears to have changed or improved. Check your devices, there are some frame rate & sample rate mis-matches that should be addressed. Sources can cause the stuttering & even the settings in the Nvidia control panel can contribute as well. At the minimum in the control panel, set Texture Filter Quality to Performance or High Performance with v-sync fast & triple buffering on.

HAGS is/was enabled on the gaming PC.

If there is still encoding lag on the gaming PC after you change Multipass from Full to Qres, it could be that HDD that is causing the lag. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen rust, hell even some SSD's that lack DRAM, fail because they couldn't sustain the write speed for extended periods.

I ran some tests on my 3090, using Preset P2 for both, it was able to encode 2160p & 1080p streams @ 60FPS concurrently with some headroom. If you want some wiggle room, use the QSV encoder for the outgoing 1080p stream. The UHD 770 does a nice job encoding, I use mine all the time.
 
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MasoElCaveman

New Member
rockbottom said:
Changing the scaling was just part of the solution & it should be left @ 100% even if nothing appears to have changed or improved. Check your devices, there are some frame rate & sample rate mis-matches that should be addressed. Sources can cause the stuttering & even the settings in the Nvidia control panel can contribute as well. At the minimum in the control panel, set Texture Filter Quality to Performance or High Performance with v-sync fast & triple buffering on.

HAGS is/was enabled on the gaming PC.

If there is still encoding lag on the gaming PC after you change Multipass from Full to Qres, it could be that HDD that is causing the lag. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen rust, hell even some SSD's that lack DRAM, fail because they couldn't sustain the write speed for extended periods.

I ran some tests on my 3090, using Preset P2 for both, it was able to encode 2160p & 1080p streams @ 60FPS concurrently with some headroom. If you want some wiggle room, use the QSV encoder for the outgoing 1080p stream. The UHD 770 does a nice job encoding, I use mine all the time.
Click to expand...
Fixed the framerate mismatch. There is 0 encoding lag on both the gaming pc and streaming pc. It records flawlessly in my test video even when recording to a hdd. My gaming pc's settings seem fine as it has 0 stutter when recording off of it.

It is strictly the streaming pc that stutters even in preview view without recording/streaming. Also note that there is 0 encoding overload when I record and stream on the streaming pc.

As for the Nvidia control panel, do I set all of that for the obs application on just the streaming pc?

Good note on using uhd 770 for the stream. At this point I'm tempted to throw the 3060 in my gaming pc and go dual gpu so I can use my 3090's encoder for wireless vr while I use the 3060 for simultaneous stream and record.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Your gaming PC had encoding lag but if it's gone with the qres change, that's good, no worries. I was just pointing out your next move if it remained.

Yep, fix the frame rate issues, check the control panel & if that fails, you may need to start eliminating sources until you find whats causing the stuttering.

That would be a horrible move, you'll nerf the 3090 & gain nothing but negatives..... Use the damn UHD 770.

Anyway, my testing had another purpose, it confirmed that the QuickTime container is now working correctly when recording 2160p. Hey Now!!
 
Harold

Harold

Active Member
Going Dual GPU with EITHER pc is going to severely degrade performance. Moving uncompressed video frames between two video cards is an extremely heavy process.
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Just to give you a rough idea how bad a 3090 is nerfed @ x8 4.0 vs @ x16 4.0. It's a BIG difference in performance....

1691296230043.png


1691296253154.png
 
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rockbottom

Active Member
Yep, big difference. I did those tests when I first built this PC last year. Just wanted to check & see if a Gen 5 SSD would even be worth the consideration when they became available. Yeah, that was a big NO too.
 
qhobbes

qhobbes

Active Member
On your streaming PC:
1. Does this happen if you create a new Scene Collection with 1 Video source with no additional audio sources and then close and restart OBS?
2. If yes, does this happen if use a different program such as Windows Camera app?
3. If yes, does it happen if you connect it directly to a TV instead of a capture device?
 
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MasoElCaveman

New Member
qhobbes said:
On your streaming PC:
1. Does this happen if you create a new Scene Collection with 1 Video source with no additional audio sources and then close and restart OBS?
2. If yes, does this happen if use a different program such as Windows Camera app?
3. If yes, does it happen if you connect it directly to a TV instead of a capture device?
Click to expand...
1. Yes
2. Yes, but I can only test the Flint on Windows Camera app, but it is 100% perfectly smooth with that app vs sometimes stuttering on OBS even with just that 1 source and no extra audio sources. For whatever reason the Elgato and AverMedia stutter way worse than the flint.
3. I'm confused as to what you want me to do here sorry. My streaming pc has 2 capture cards installed in it, 1 through a pcie slot the AverMedia GC573 (formerly my Elgato) and the Flint is connected via usb. Do you want me to test playing a game on the streaming pc and see if it stutters?

 
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rockbottom

Active Member
That new log is nice & clean. Take the capture card out of the mix & do a window, game or display capture.

Yes, QuickSync is correct.
 
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MasoElCaveman

New Member
rockbottom said:
That new log is nice & clean. Take the capture card out of the mix & do a window, game or display capture.

Yes, QuickSync is correct.
Click to expand...
If I do that then I can't do any tests on the streaming pc anymore as the only way to view the capture card is by using the video capture device so I'm not entirely sure what you want me to do here.

However I tried a simultaneous test recording at 4k60 and an offline stream at 1080p60 using QSV with seemingly no encoder overload. Had no idea this thing was this capable!
 
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