Latency OBS/Mac book pro

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Hello, I have a latency issue using OBS Studio on my Mac Book Pro purchased in 2015. I'm on the Big Sur version of the OS. I put my external sound card out of order and it didn't change anything. It's definitely an OBS/Mac issue.
The advanced audio settings of OBS are ineffective. Either way, latency affects audio and video equally.
Should I install the latest version of the OS? Has anyone else encountered the same problem? Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

real-time video encoding is VERY computationally demanding.
You have an OLD system, optimized for battery life, not the computationally demanding task of real-time video encoding. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you have to be realistic with what your system can accomplish. You may (or in this case, probably) need to optimize your Operating System to reduce background processing load, and optimize OBS to reduce hardware resource demands. What exactly that means depends on your apps, usage model, and more. sorry... it depends.. beware anyone offering simplistic advice without knowing your environment/setup (in order of magnitude more detail than your post above)

I recommend monitoring hardware resource (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O, etc) utilization to see if your system is being maxed out with your settings https://obsproject.com/wiki/General-Performance-and-Encoding-Issues and https://obsproject.com/wiki/GPU-overload-issues

Your comment about Advanced Audio settings and latency are clear indications that your system is maxed out with your settings. Whether you can adjust your settings (OS and OBS) sufficiently, or whether you need a newer, more powerful system, can't be determined by the above detail

Good luck

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

real-time video encoding is VERY computationally demanding.
You have an OLD system, optimized for battery life, not the computationally demanding task of real-time video encoding. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you have to be realistic with what your system can accomplish. You may (or in this case, probably) need to optimize your Operating System to reduce background processing load, and optimize OBS to reduce hardware resource demands. What exactly that means depends on your apps, usage model, and more. sorry... it depends.. beware anyone offering simplistic advice without knowing your environment/setup (in order of more detail than your post above)

I recommend monitoring hardware resource (CPU, GPU, RAM, Disk I/O, etc) utilization to see if your system is being maxed out with your settings https://obsproject.com/wiki/General-Performance-and-Encoding-Issues and https://obsproject.com/wiki/GPU-overload-issues

Your comment about Advanced Audio settings and latency are clear indications that your system is maxed out with your settings. Whether you can adjust your settings (OS and OBS) sufficiently, or whether you need a newer, more powerful system, can't be determined by the above detail

Good luck

Thank you so much
I'll try with the last OS
The CPU is 3,5 %
I'll try to put down the vidéo quality but nothing ...
I tell you what happen with the last OS
Bye

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

When you write that OS CPU utilization is 3.5%, is that from the OBS Stats window? if yes, my recommendation is to ignore that (at least on Windows systems I find that specific stat to be near worthless on modern computers).
What is important, is overall system CPU utilization, not just the main OBS process. On MacOS, I believe it is Activity Monitor you should be looking for. If you don't know how to use Activity Monitor, I just came across https://nektony.com/blog/task-manager-mac which may or may not help

Also, does your MB have a hard disk (HDD), or a SSD? if a hard disk, depending on what else is going on across the system, HDD latency can cause all kinds of issues [you can use a HDD, it just takes the right setup/settings]

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Hello and thank you for this additional information. For my part I installed the latest version of OS and it does not change anything.
I don't have an SSD. I have the activity monitor app installed and my CPU at around 15%. Thank you.

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Good evening, sorry but after checking with Apple, I do have an internal APPLE SSD SM0512G SSD /
Thank you

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

completely separate caution - Beware running a SSD that close to full. 85% is ok, but I'd get real anxious about killing SSDs when they can't wear level due to being full (I seen more than 1 such failure), especially true on older SSDs

If you have an SSD, and overall CPU utilization while streaming/recording in OBS is only 15% you should be fine. Or was that screen shot at 15% when systm was idle and OBS not actively streaming/recording?

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Hello, thank you for your answers and research leads. I made room on my Mac and the latency is still there. I also took measurements while streaming. Attached are the results. The CPU is very high...With my thanks.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

80% CPU while streaming is possibly ok... however, than can be somewhat misleading
Laptops, due to physical design and constraints, are at much higher risk of thermal throttling, at higher workloads. *IF* your system is thermally throttling (to avoid overheating), the CPU utilization may not show that revised currently available upper limit.
Running a desktop PC, with CPU at 80% sustained, and a good fan/cooling system is totally doable. 80% CPU sustained in a battery-life optimized laptop.... uh, not something I'd count on working. Note - engineering class workstation laptops (not Apple) are designed for such workloads, and those laptops are expensive and heavy

The longer explanation of my concern about what that 80% represents is maximum CPU performance varies over time with workload, and I don't know how (or even, IF) MacOS indicates a change in performance limits. Ie, that indication of 80% could be a thermal throttled limit (again, I don't know for sure. either someone else will need to comment, or you'll need to research how to identify and real-time monitor thermal throttling on that MacBook). On Windows computers, the usual advice to is download a 3rd party app to identify/monitor thermal throttling. So, I won't be surprised if Mac OS also doesn't make it obvious/easy with native tools to observe thermal throttling.
*If* thermal throttling is the issue, then you are asking more of the computer than what it can do. in which case, you can either reduce workload (lots of different optimization possibilities) or get a more powerful computer :(

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Hello and thank you for these system details. What I notice however is that beyond the commissioning of the streaming, the cpu being at around 12%, the latency is still present. It doesn't seem to be a function of how the system is resource-mobilized.

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Streaming or recording from within OBS is one thing, but depending on setup is negligible in terms of CPU impact.
Simply Opening OBS and being on a video preview window means OBS is doing a bunch of real-time video rendering

And it depends on what you mean 'latency is still present'.
*IF* you mean that a webcam (for example) takes many seconds to render/display in OBS window *AND* CPU utilization is low, then I'd be wondering what plugins/filters/effects you are running in OBS. You aren't trying to do chromakeying or similar?
And I always recommend making sure everything works properly outside of OBS first. that is, using a native operating system app, does webcam and mic behave as expected (especially in regards to latency in your case)? In Windows, it would be video recorder one could test with, iMovie on iOS. I don't know the MacOS equivalent

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Good night and thank you,
yes everything works fine without OBS . The latency I am talking about is an equal and synchronized delay of the audio and video signal .I speak or sing or play an instrument and I hear myself and see myself speaking with about a quarter or less i don't no, of a second late. With or without plugging elsewhere. Through my external sound card or not. Good evening

 

[ChrisOlivertwist]

Hello, any body about that problem? Thank you

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

0.25 second delay for OBS to real-time render audio and video on a limited performance capability laptop... sounds perfectly reasonable. A MacOS user would possibly need to comment further.
Expecting near (to actual)-real-time audio processing is reasonable, as CPU power is WAY more than needed for audio on modern computers. Video... not so much. The typical fix to reduce rendering lag is to get a newer, more powerful system. If one has (or can get someone) with Operating System and related knowledge to optimize your system and setup, that may get you close enough. But expect real-time video encoding to happen as fast as audio is a tall request, and usually means a powerful system (in my experience... I could be wrong, as this isn't my use case)