No dropped frames! Choppy video on 4 different Macs.

[reforminus]

Hi, when recording (I don't have to be streaming) I am experiencing a stuttering, choppy look on my church's videos. It looks like dropped frames, but OBS is telling me I am not dropping any frames. My CPU is only at 7% - 20%.

- I have tried using OBS on a 2011 i7 MacBook Pro, a 2017 i7 MacBook Pro, a 2015 27" iMac, and now a new M1 MAC MINI. All similar results (give or take).
-I have tried using an AverMedia capture card AND a Blackmagic capture card. Also on two different cameras. Same results.
- I am using the LATEST version of MacOS and OBS on the Mac mini (it was better with older versions, but similar choppy results).
- I am only recording at 1080p, 30 fps (bitrate: 2500), but it's stuttered at 720p as well.
- OBS is the ONLY app open.
- I am recording to MOV, because I edit in final cut and have had trouble with other formats (even when converting to MOV afterwards).
- I HAVE tried using the Apple hardware encoder and it still stutters.

The biggest mystery to me is that OBS is telling me I am not dropping frames. And this has happened on 4 different Macs now. Most of them, very capable machines. If not dropped frames, then what could it be? Thanks for any help!

Here is an example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7AWG2RvkVo

 

[oMJBo]

Did you ever find a fix for this? Please help. I am having the EXACT same issue.

 

[reforminus]

Unfortunately no. I have to quit OBS and reopen. Then it almost always fixes the issue, for a little while at least. Sometimes the issue resurfaces during the same session again. Then I have to quit and reopen again. Strange.

 

[oMJBo]

Unfortunately no. I have to quit OBS and reopen. Then it almost always fixes the issue, for a little while at least. Sometimes the issue resurfaces during the same session again. Then I have to quit and reopen again. Strange.

Gosh I'm so mad at myself. I found a fix a few months back and it was so simple I felt dumb, but now I can't think of it and feel dumb again. I'll let you know when I think of it.

 

[reforminus]

Haha that would be great. Thanks. I would appreciate it.

 

[oMJBo]

Haha that would be great. Thanks. I would appreciate it.

So I just changed the output on my OBS to 60fps and it started working for some off reason. I had it set to 30 fps prior. Hopefully it stays nice and clean. Let me know if this works for you. I didn't change any camera settings or anything, just the output on OBS to 60FPS instead of 30.

 

[reforminus]

Hmm ok. I’ll give that a shot soon. Hopefully this week but I’ll let you know if that worked.

 

[rockbottom]

Same with Windows. For 30 FPS I use the mkv container & remux with Avidemux for editing. 60FPS Quicktime all day.

 

[reforminus]

So I just changed the output on my OBS to 60fps and it started working for some off reason. I had it set to 30 fps prior. Hopefully it stays nice and clean. Let me know if this works for you. I didn't change any camera settings or anything, just the output on OBS to 60FPS instead of 30.

I tried 60fps on my recording today and it actually did seem to improve. I will keep an eye on it. Hopefully it stays that way. Thanks a lot for the suggestion, both of you.

 

[oMJBo]

I tried 60fps on my recording today and it actually did seem to improve. I will keep an eye on it. Hopefully it stays that way. Thanks a lot for the suggestion, both of you.

Legit think I got it. 60 FPS was cranking up my CPU so I had to bump it back down. But, in the camera settings on the sources page in OBS, I had to check the box Use Buffering for any scene that had the camera enabled. I recorded a video today and had no lag, so I'm just crossing my fingers at this point.

 

[reforminus]

Doubling the frame rate of the video source definitely helps.
I also purchased a faster computer (an M1 Mac mini). This helped also.
But the biggest help was clicking "use buffering" in the properties for the video source. Definitely.