OBS and livestream is choppy

[CBCGrayGA]

Let me start by saying thank you to everyone that has helped me out. I am new at using OBS and I am not very computer savy. I have had a couple of posts on here with some problems I face and everyone of them thus far has been resolved by reading through the helpful comments. So thank you.

My new problem that I have encountered and cannot seem to resolve is that When I use OBS, it is becoming very choppy and causing the livestream on the internet to become choppy.

I use a laptop and we are using OBS to livestream through sermon.net and at the same time I am projecting to two televisions through hdmi cable and a splitter showing a different source and scenes on the televisions in the church than on the livestream. The audio and sound is now good on the televisions thanks to everyone's help.

My problem now is OBS becomes choppy. Its delayed when I try to move around my arrow to change scenes and sources. Sometimes the computer seems to get stuck for a few seconds then works again. Sometimes I cannot even get the arrow to move. And, I notice the livestream video/audio is choppy, not bad but enough to be irritating. This is hindering my ability to be efficient and smooth when controlling things during the service.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? Do I need a better laptop? Is there some settings I can change?

Thank you for any suggestions as I am still learning how to do this stuff.

 

[FerretBomb]

We'd need a logfile from a live streaming session where the issue was occurring to be able to see more accurately what's going on.
Is the audio/video to the projectors choppy, or just the stream?
Is it the interface that's slow and bogged-down (that is almost always a hardware problem, with low-end machines), or just the stream stuttering?

 

[CBCGrayGA]

We'd need a logfile from a live streaming session where the issue was occurring to be able to see more accurately what's going on.
Is the audio/video to the projectors choppy, or just the stream?
Is it the interface that's slow and bogged-down (that is almost always a hardware problem, with low-end machines), or just the stream stuttering?

it is the live stream, but it’s also what I’m seeing on the OBS program/screen. My arrow locks up when I try to move it. I did change some of the output settings for the video which seem to help a little bit. I noticed that when it’s really choppy the CPU usage at the bottom is at between 25 to 30%. After I changed some of the settings that dropped down to anywhere from 8 to 15%. I don’t know if that means anything or not… Sorry I’m not very computer literate.

 

[konsolenritter]

Whatever you change, note it down to paper for shure! Its counterproductive as (other) people often tells "i changed alot and something happens".

If the mouse arrow gets stuck it seems indeed that the laptop comes to the edges of its capabilities. So as FerretBomb wrote: We need an actual log.

And you may go and make a screenshot from the windows taskmanager in those moment, which then tells us how much the cpu and how much the gpu is loaded with.

I must commit that you have come to a pretty pass already with the system. Remember: Tech teams at churches often use two or three pc's for these tasks! :)

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Whatever you change, note it down to paper for shure! Its counterproductive as (other) people often tells "i changed alot and something happens".

If the mouse arrow gets stuck it seems indeed that the laptop comes to the edges of its capabilities. So as FerretBomb wrote: We need an actual log.

And you may go and make a screenshot from the windows taskmanager in those moment, which then tells us how much the cpu and how much the gpu is loaded with.

I must commit that you have come to a pretty pass already with the system. Remember: Tech teams at churches often use two or three pc's for these tasks! :)

So how do I go about getting the actual log to post on here… Thank you again for everybody’s help.

we are a small church in the country with bad wifi and myself and the laptop is the TechTeam LOL. Since the pandemic, we’ve come along way which started with an iPhone propped up on a book to do the live stream. If we need to get a more a more powerful computer or start using more than one computer I can talk to my pastor about doing that if it’s needed.

As soon as I figure out how to get a log to post on here I will. We have service tomorrow night so I could possibly do it then. Unless there’s a way to go back and get one from a previous service.

thanks again

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Whatever you change, note it down to paper for shure! Its counterproductive as (other) people often tells "i changed alot and something happens".

If the mouse arrow gets stuck it seems indeed that the laptop comes to the edges of its capabilities. So as FerretBomb wrote: We need an actual log.

And you may go and make a screenshot from the windows taskmanager in those moment, which then tells us how much the cpu and how much the gpu is loaded with.

I must commit that you have come to a pretty pass already with the system. Remember: Tech teams at churches often use two or three pc's for these tasks! :)

I just read the post on how to create a log file I will work on that tomorrow when I go to church

 

[CBCGrayGA]

https://obsproject.com/logs/sW0BKSos64Q8VXLi

 

[CBCGrayGA]

That log was from tonight so it probably will not help...i will upload another when the problem happens again.

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Whatever you change, note it down to paper for shure! Its counterproductive as (other) people often tells "i changed alot and something happens".

If the mouse arrow gets stuck it seems indeed that the laptop comes to the edges of its capabilities. So as FerretBomb wrote: We need an actual log.

And you may go and make a screenshot from the windows taskmanager in those moment, which then tells us how much the cpu and how much the gpu is loaded with.

I must commit that you have come to a pretty pass already with the system. Remember: Tech teams at churches often use two or three pc's for these tasks! :)

Here is my most recent log:

https://obsproject.com/logs/oiw2Y182AZP1Y6I6

I will say I am running OBS and monitoring the internet (sermon audio and facebook) to be sure the livestream is going smoothly, while at the same time making sure the correct scene/sources are projecting correctly to the televisions in the sanctuary. I do this all from the same laptop simultaneously. I also play videos at times from OBS. So I have a lot going on from one laptop. The biggest thing I seem to be running in to is the the pauses and slight delays that occur when I move the arrow and try to change scenes and sources or move from the internet to obs and back and forth.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[FerretBomb]

Unfortunately that logfile didn't contain any streaming or recording session, so the feedback will be limited.
Most notable is that you're using a U-model i5 CPU. U-models are ultra-low-power, optimized for maximizing battery life, at the severe expense of performance.
You're also using three camera inputs, which will increase your CPU overhead.
You're also using McAfee antivirus, which tends to increase overall system load, along with the McAfee Firewall (also increasing CPU load).
As you have a GeForce MX250, I assume you're using Software x264 for your encoding; without a streaming session, that information (along with the settings used) isn't included though... but software x264 is also CPU-reliant.

It really sounds like your CPU is just very over-taxed. Have you tried opening the Task Manager while the issue is going on, and checking the CPU usage level on the Performance tab?
Real-time video encoding is a VERY processor-heavy task, without a hardware encoder to take up that portion of the load.

I'd recommend setting up a Power Profile that will keep your CPU at 100% frequency so it doesn't try to pop down and up as the load shifts.
You might also check to see if you can use the QSV encoder; I believe the iGPU in that system SHOULD be able to support it.
You should also go and turn OFF Game DVR. I'm not sure if it would trigger in your situation, but it doesn't need to be running and might free up some resources.

But yeah, in short you're asking a lot out of that CPU.

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Unfortunately that logfile didn't contain any streaming or recording session, so the feedback will be limited.
Most notable is that you're using a U-model i5 CPU. U-models are ultra-low-power, optimized for maximizing battery life, at the severe expense of performance.
You're also using three camera inputs, which will increase your CPU overhead.
You're also using McAfee antivirus, which tends to increase overall system load, along with the McAfee Firewall (also increasing CPU load).
As you have a GeForce MX250, I assume you're using Software x264 for your encoding; without a streaming session, that information (along with the settings used) isn't included though... but software x264 is also CPU-reliant.

It really sounds like your CPU is just very over-taxed. Have you tried opening the Task Manager while the issue is going on, and checking the CPU usage level on the Performance tab?
Real-time video encoding is a VERY processor-heavy task, without a hardware encoder to take up that portion of the load.

I'd recommend setting up a Power Profile that will keep your CPU at 100% frequency so it doesn't try to pop down and up as the load shifts.
You might also check to see if you can use the QSV encoder; I believe the iGPU in that system SHOULD be able to support it.
You should also go and turn OFF Game DVR. I'm not sure if it would trigger in your situation, but it doesn't need to be running and might free up some resources.

But yeah, in short you're asking a lot out of that CPU.

thank you so much for the input.

Couple of questions?

- how do I set up a power profile? Is there a post that I can go look at that’s already up so I can learn how to do that?

- QSV encoder? Where do I get that and how do I set that up? (I’ll do an internet search in the meantime and go back and read through this forum)

- is it worth it to purchase another laptop that’s made more for performance? If so, what type of features should I look for that would help me run OBS the way I need to?

Thanks again for your help, sorry I’m so computer illiterate and new to this but I do appreciate all of the help.

 

[FerretBomb]

Here's a page with how to do so, you'll want to go into the Advanced Power Settings and one of the dropdowns is for CPU frequency. You'll want to set both the minimum and maximum to 100%.
Do be aware that laptops don't have the best thermal envelope, so even set to 100%, if it starts to get too hot most will downclock (throttle) themselves to avoid hardware damage. A cooling fan pad can help avoid that, but really, a max-CPU power plan is just trying to give yourself a little more slack just-in-case the problems you're seeing are being made worse by frequency changing.

QSV is Quicksync Video, it SHOULD be available in the dropdown box in your Settings->Output, for the Encoder. You may have to move OBS over to run on the low-power GPU, as described here, to be recognized and enabled. QSV IS a hardware encoder and MAY take a lot of the 'heavy lifting' off your CPU, especially as you aren't gaming on the system. This is the most likely one to fix you up with your current hardware, if you can get it going.

A laptop isn't the best choice for a streaming machine, honestly. They have a small form-factor so are bad at dissipating heat, most use cut-down components to reduce heat and power draw (for battery life), are not really expandable, and if you want to add more stuff to them, you're generally limited to USB (and even then, normally only one host controller which can lead to bandwidth choke). It's a MUCH better idea to build a desktop system.
A laptop with an nVidia GPU better than the GTX 1030 would work though if you need a laptop. The 1030 doesn't have NVENC, but just about everything past it does (some older nVidia cards do as well, but it's easy to get one that doesn't with laptop-variant parts, or has poor encoding quality on the older ones). AVOID AMD GPUs for streaming. Great for gaming, but AMD's hardware encoder is absolute garbage. On fire.

No problem, happy to assist. :)

 

[Matthew M. Dean]

• Your not running OBS in admin
• 1080p downscaled to 720p, worse quality, worse VMAF score, 20fps??
• Try Quicksync or NVenc
• Your CPU single core performance is good, if your cpu bound by single core, it isn't your CPU's fault.
• There is a problem with your cameras, I suspect is the culprit. Are you using a USB hub?

 

[CBCGrayGA]

• Your not running OBS in admin
• 1080p downscaled to 720p, worse quality, worse VMAF score, 20fps??
• Try Quicksync or NVenc
• Your CPU single core performance is good, if your cpu bound by single core, it isn't your CPU's fault.
• There is a problem with your cameras, I suspect is the culprit. Are you using a USB hub?

- I downscaled it because I read in another forum that it might help. I have since changed bacl to 1080 and 30fps.

- I will figure out how to run obs in admin,

- I have removed the webcam as I do not use it. I have 2 cannon 4k hdmi video cameras attached to the caomputer using hdmi cables one through a camlink and the other through a Utap HDMI hookred up through the usb ports.

- I will have to figure out what quicksync and Nvenc is.

Thanks again, sorry some of this seems like a different language to me, but i will get to work on figure this out.

Thanks again for your help,

 

[CBCGrayGA]

So this morning, the computer got real hot and would not perform so I had to turn it off and we just didn’t do the live stream.

I think I’m beginning to realize this laptop just isn’t built for what I’m trying to do. Which, when we purchased it, it was before the pandemic and we didn’t realize we eventually be doing all the stuff that we’re doing now.

so, As I continue to do this using OBS with all the stuff that we want to do our church, can you recommend a computer, preferably a laptop, that can handle everything I want to do… Using 2 cameras during the live stream, being able to project to the televisions, and even being able to play some videos during the live stream as needed, etc….

i’m still going to work on trying to get this computer to work best I can Using everyone’s excellent advice which is very appreciated, but if I’m unsuccessful I think I just need to get a better laptop

thanks again.

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Unfortunately that logfile didn't contain any streaming or recording session, so the feedback will be limited.
Most notable is that you're using a U-model i5 CPU. U-models are ultra-low-power, optimized for maximizing battery life, at the severe expense of performance.
You're also using three camera inputs, which will increase your CPU overhead.
You're also using McAfee antivirus, which tends to increase overall system load, along with the McAfee Firewall (also increasing CPU load).
As you have a GeForce MX250, I assume you're using Software x264 for your encoding; without a streaming session, that information (along with the settings used) isn't included though... but software x264 is also CPU-reliant.

It really sounds like your CPU is just very over-taxed. Have you tried opening the Task Manager while the issue is going on, and checking the CPU usage level on the Performance tab?
Real-time video encoding is a VERY processor-heavy task, without a hardware encoder to take up that portion of the load.

I'd recommend setting up a Power Profile that will keep your CPU at 100% frequency so it doesn't try to pop down and up as the load shifts.
You might also check to see if you can use the QSV encoder; I believe the iGPU in that system SHOULD be able to support it.
You should also go and turn OFF Game DVR. I'm not sure if it would trigger in your situation, but it doesn't need to be running and might free up some resources.

But yeah, in short you're asking a lot out of that CPU.

Most recent log file:

https://obsproject.com/logs/bp498LJ4Spl7lswi

 

[qhobbes]

1. Audio buffering hit the maximum value. This is an indicator of very high system load, will affect stream latency, and may even cause individual audio sources to stop working. Keep an eye on CPU usage especially, and close background programs if needed.

Occasionally, this can be caused by incorrect device timestamps. Restart OBS to reset buffering.

Source affected (potential cause): Video Capture Device
2. Change the x264 CPU Usage Preset from faster to veryfast.
3. Change the FPS on you Video Capture Device 2 from 60 to 29.97 or 30.

Post new log after making those changes if still having issues.

 

[CBCGrayGA]

1. Audio buffering hit the maximum value. This is an indicator of very high system load, will affect stream latency, and may even cause individual audio sources to stop working. Keep an eye on CPU usage especially, and close background programs if needed.

Occasionally, this can be caused by incorrect device timestamps. Restart OBS to reset buffering.

Source affected (potential cause): Video Capture Device
2. Change the x264 CPU Usage Preset from faster to veryfast.
3. Change the FPS on you Video Capture Device 2 from 60 to 29.97 or 30.

Post new log after making those changes if still having issues.

thank you, will make the changes next time we stream.

thanks again

 

[CBCGrayGA]

1. Audio buffering hit the maximum value. This is an indicator of very high system load, will affect stream latency, and may even cause individual audio sources to stop working. Keep an eye on CPU usage especially, and close background programs if needed.

Occasionally, this can be caused by incorrect device timestamps. Restart OBS to reset buffering.

Source affected (potential cause): Video Capture Device
2. Change the x264 CPU Usage Preset from faster to veryfast.
3. Change the FPS on you Video Capture Device 2 from 60 to 29.97 or 30.

Post new log after making those changes if still having issues.

Ok, so i tried to change these setting but cannot figure out to do this.

How do I change these settings?

 

[CBCGrayGA]

Can any of you recommend a computer, preferably a laptop, that can handle everything I want to do?

… Using 2 cameras during the live stream, being able to project to the televisions, and even being able to play some videos during the live stream as needed, also be able to monitor the livestream on the internet so I would need multiple windows open, etc….

Thanks.