Question / Help Monitor Capture on ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 _Flashing_ Black

[Christian Jacob]

Hi folks,

Searching for a decent screen recording software I need for a couple of screencasts, I stumbled accross OBS and really fell in love with it.

However, I have troubles getting the Monitor Capture source to work on my notebook. As you can see on the video here, as soon as I click the preview button with the Monitor Capture source enabled, the whole screen is periodically flashing black. It's not just that the "recorded" video is black.

I tried finding a solution, but everything black-related explained a situation in which a notebook actually has two GPUs and OBS is simply working with the wrong one. Funny thing is, virtually every reference to this topic is solving it on a Nvidia GPU. But I have an ATI Mobility Radeon 4650 (yeah, I know... it's a Dell Studio 1747 btw.). Also, the software is running on a Windows 10 technical preview OS.

Does anyone have an idea about how to solve this?

Cheers,
Christian.

LOG:

15:27:18: =====Stream Start: 2014-11-19, 15:27:18===============================================
15:27:18: Multithreaded optimizations: On
15:27:18: Base resolution: 1600x900
15:27:18: Output resolution: 1600x900
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Loading up D3D10 on ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.1) (Adapter 1)...
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Audio Format: 48000 Hz
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Audio Channels: 2 Ch
15:27:18: Playback device Default
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Using desktop audio input: Speakers (2- High Definition Audio Device)
15:27:18: Global Audio time adjust: 0
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Using auxilary audio input: Microphone (2- High Definition Audio Device)
15:27:18: Mic time offset: 0
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Audio Encoding: AAC
15:27:18: bitrate: 128
15:27:18: Using Monitor Capture
15:27:18: Scene buffering time set to 700
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:18: Video Encoding: x264
15:27:18: fps: 30
15:27:18: width: 1600, height: 900
15:27:18: preset: veryfast
15:27:18: profile: high
15:27:18: keyint: 250
15:27:18: CBR: yes
15:27:18: CFR: yes
15:27:18: max bitrate: 1000
15:27:18: buffer size: 1000
15:27:18: ------------------------------------------
15:27:27: Total frames encoded: 248, total frames duplicated: 0 (0.00%)
15:27:27: Total frames rendered: 274, number of late frames: 1 (0.36%) (it's okay for some frames to be late)
15:27:27:
15:27:27: Profiler time results:
15:27:27:
15:27:27: ==============================================================
15:27:27: video thread frame - [100%] [avg time: 0.994 ms] [children: 28.1%] [unaccounted: 71.9%]
15:27:27: | scene->Preprocess - [12.3%] [avg time: 0.122 ms]
15:27:27: | GPU download and conversion - [15.8%] [avg time: 0.157 ms] [children: 14.1%] [unaccounted: 1.71%]
15:27:27: | | flush - [5.84%] [avg time: 0.058 ms]
15:27:27: | | CopyResource - [3.92%] [avg time: 0.039 ms]
15:27:27: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [4.33%] [avg time: 0.043 ms]
15:27:27: Convert444Threads - [100%] [avg time: 1.049 ms] [children: 99.1%] [unaccounted: 0.858%]
15:27:27: | Convert444toNV12 - [99.1%] [avg time: 1.04 ms]
15:27:27: encoder thread frame - [100%] [avg time: 2.396 ms] [children: 0.25%] [unaccounted: 99.7%]
15:27:27: | sending stuff out - [0.25%] [avg time: 0.006 ms]
15:27:27: ==============================================================
15:27:27:
15:27:27:
15:27:27: Profiler CPU results:
15:27:27:
15:27:27: ==============================================================
15:27:27: video thread frame - [cpu time: avg 0.399 ms, total 109.375 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | scene->Preprocess - [cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | GPU download and conversion - [cpu time: avg 0.285 ms, total 78.125 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | | flush - [cpu time: avg 0.228 ms, total 62.5 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | | CopyResource - [cpu time: avg 0.062 ms, total 15.625 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | | conversion to 4:2:0 - [cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: Convert444Threads - [cpu time: avg 1.004 ms, total 500 ms] [avg calls per frame: 2]
15:27:27: | Convert444toNV12 - [cpu time: avg 1.004 ms, total 500 ms] [avg calls per frame: 2]
15:27:27: encoder thread frame - [cpu time: avg 1.701 ms, total 421.875 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: | sending stuff out - [cpu time: avg 0 ms, total 0 ms] [avg calls per frame: 1]
15:27:27: ==============================================================
15:27:27:
15:27:27: =====Stream End: 2014-11-19, 15:27:27=================================================

 

[dodgepong]

Have you tried enabling Compatibility mode on the monitor capture?

 

[Christian Jacob]

The "Compatibility Mode" option is greyed out.

 

[dodgepong]

Can you post a full log, instead of just the snipped section?

 

[Christian Jacob]

Never mind. I solved the problem... using the compatibility checker in Windows 10. I would have never expected this thing to work, but it quite surprisingly did.

This is what I did:
> Open location of the file OBS.exe
> Right click on OBS.exe, then Properties
> Switch to tab "Compatibility"
> Click on "Run compatibility troubleshooter"

From here on, I found out that the automatic settings didn't work (this tool thought, it might be enough to set it to Windows 8 compat settings). Next I told it that its solution didn't work out, so it asked if OBS had ever worked before (haha). I told it, that it indeed worked before (...). On Windows 7 (a lie,... but who cares). So the tool put OBS.exe to work with Windows 7 compat settings and changed some DPI settings I think.

And guess what? Now it works.

Just in case, anyone else stumbles across this thread: Check the compatibility settings. It might help. At least on Windows 10. (heck... it's a preview after all... lol)

 

[dodgepong]

Thanks for the info! I'm not sure if that's the best solution, but I guess we're going to have to find out. Hopefully it's just a AMD driver quirk with Windows 10.