Focus on Optimizing OBS for Mac (M1, M2, M3 etc Silicon Chips)

[moogotgame]

At the moment, I can't stream on my M1 Macbook Pro Max. It's an insanely powerful machine, and should easily handle a 1080p stream and recording. Right now, it cannot. I'd like to see a stable version that does not run the CPU% into the ground when streaming in high or even medium settings. It should handle a couple of streams in 4k, while recording...easily - Like it can be PC with similar specs. I also run into a host of Audio problems when trying to stream on Mac, where they simply work when I stream on my PC. It's a night and day difference.

I think if we see the community make more stable and optimized Mac versions, we will see millions of people who use Macs daily use the software.

 

[AaronD]

It's an insanely powerful machine...should easily handle a 1080p stream and recording...It should handle a couple of streams in 4k, while recording...easily...

What do you base that on? Estimating difficulty is spectacularly unintuitive for a non-expert.

Tasks

xkcd.com

The simple lack of one seemingly small thing that is not advertised well, but handles a difficult thing directly - GPU encoding, for one example - can easily explode everything else on an otherwise identical machine.

I also run into a host of Audio problems when trying to stream on Mac, where they simply work when I stream on my PC. It's a night and day difference.

So...use the PC?

I think if we see the community make more stable and optimized Mac versions, we will see millions of people who use Macs daily use the software.

Open-source projects are generally not motivated by that.

 

[moogotgame]

So...use the PC?

If I use my PC for Streaming it drops my resources for Gaming on the same Machine, and defeats the purpose of using what should be a very efficient two computer set-up. One for Gaming and the other for streaming. I've paid $$$ for my set-up and it simply doens't work because of my issues with OBS and my M1 Mac.

Open-source projects are generally not motivated by that.

I actually agree. I was trying not to sound greedy, but in all honestly, I want this working for my own personal set-up. However, I think it would be awesome to grow the community as well. Why not make OBS more efficient for Mac. It seems to be the computer of choice these days besides for gamers.

 

[AaronD]

Money does not imply function. If you have to spend something to get a required function, then that's fine, but Mac is pretty much never the cheapest way to get anything.

People use Apple products because they're loyalists, or because of something else like the walled garden that "just works"...for things that come from that walled garden. (OBS does not) But the "walled garden" concept is itself being copied now by cheaper players, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

At the moment, I can't stream on my M1 Macbook Pro Max. It's an insanely powerful machine,

No, an M1 CPU system is NOT insanely powerful. it is a power and thermally constrained system, great for certain use cases, but NOT definitely for true general performance demanding tasks. I would not even call an M3 Max 'powerful'.. because in the general consumer world.. it isn't. And I'm not even considering the professional workstation world, where the M3 Max would be considered a toy... for good reason. The M series CPU compare to ultrabook lineup CPUs (and a little above) and that's it.

it literally isn't physically possible for an M series CPU to compete with a performant desktop-based consumer CPU. I look forward to the day when Apple creates a top-end performance competitive CPU.... but that won't be anytime soon. I look forward to upgrading to an M CPU iPad Pro. But my compute use cases could NEVER be fulfilled by current M3 Ultra chip... it is a matter of the right tool for the job.

don't mistake what you'd like to use vs what is actually required

 

[Thedjk]

You can always use software like Ecamm Live, which has been optimized for Apple Silicon. (Yes, you have to pay, but it is highly stable, unlike open source.) And then there's the bonus of having support and not dealing with the snarky, condescending know-it-alls in these forums.

 

[AaronD]

And then there's the bonus of having support and not dealing with the snarky, condescending know-it-alls in these forums.

I think we're being brutally honest, compared to paid professionals that have to hide how arrogant some of their customers are, or how high up on the "Dunning-Kruger peak" they are. For those that are humble enough to come down off of that peak, the community is awesome!

dunning kruger effect - Google Search