Question / Help Multiple Cams and Multiple OBS instances

[Randygbiv]

Good evening guys,

We have a youtube channel where we record us playing roleplaying games like dungeons amd dragons. We did our first multi-cam recording. Our idea was that using multiple instances of obs would be the best, but now we're not sure.

Before you ask about the PC specs, I've asked my friend whos computer were using at his house. As soon as i know for sure ill get more accurate details. I know thag he has at least an Nvidia 900+, and an intel i5.

One of the cameras is the best only having laggy parts here and there. The other two are real choppy as movement of anything increases. A leg moving with sputter the recording into oblivion.

Is there anything we can do differently? Different program? Third party helper programs? Another computer (like me take mine there). Please advise.

Tl;dr - 3 cameras, 3 obs instances making videos choppy. Need solutions. Please.

Edit 1: i7 950@3.07ghz, gtx1070, 16gb ram

Edit 2: we forgot to change from 1080 to 720, could that be it?

 

[Cryonic]

1. use one instance of OBS, since it will grab the cameras and lock em down anyway, you cant use the cameras in multiple programms at the same time anyway.
2. set up 3+ different scenes with different layout, it is possible to have each or all 3 cameras running on every scene, just get used to switching them. having a big TV or a bigger monitor in the field of view while doing tabletop games etc is always an option, even if the PC is far away. cheap-o wireless keyboard and 10m HDMI cable makes everything easier.
3. avoid overloading the USB ports. if you can, use a powered usb hub (or multiple) to provide the juice and make sure that the bandwith is not too high, try different ports on the board/PC case. going with 720p instead of 1080p is always an option to drop the bandwith usage for the camera feed. you do this in the webcam settings, not in the final stream settings. you can still stream 1080p, just the webcam is running at 720p instead of full 1080p.

i have no idea what type of equipment you use (cameras, capture cards, HDMI or SDI etc), but i think they are just general webcams.

 

[Randygbiv]

Thanks for your reply.

I know that we can hook them all into one OBD instance. That is what we did when we streamed it to twitch. Twitch wasn't really working for us so we want to record it and edit it with premiere afterwards.

So there is no was to limit lag or choppy recording other than that? We really don't have the man power currently to play, get in character and be paying attention to a monitor. Besides the point of recording them all at once is to pick and choose in editing.

I appreciate your feed back. I'm just looking for a solution that doesn't income flipping back and forth between cameras while recording.

 

[Cryonic]

Thanks for your reply.

I know that we can hook them all into one OBD instance. That is what we did when we streamed it to twitch. Twitch wasn't really working for us so we want to record it and edit it with premiere afterwards.

So there is no was to limit lag or choppy recording other than that? We really don't have the man power currently to play, get in character and be paying attention to a monitor. Besides the point of recording them all at once is to pick and choose in editing.

I appreciate your feed back. I'm just looking for a solution that doesn't income flipping back and forth between cameras while recording.

Then include all 3 cameras into 1 scene. And believe me, hitting a hotkey once in a while to switch the scene is NOT an issue even while roleplaying.
This is something that you get used to as a broadcaster.

And you can stream and record at the same time with OBS, even with different settings (lower quality for stream, uncompressed for recording etc). Just get your settings right. Twitch is perfect for that, specially because you dont suffer from the bandwith restriction that hard - you have no fast movement while streaming that kind of stuff, it will look good even with low CPU usage and lower bitrate than a gaming stream.

You have to pay attention to the monitor anyway, since you read donations and chat form time to time. Most streamers do and i highly recommend to get used to it unless you are huge or go for e-sports. Interaction on stream is a good thing.