OBS blocking integrated camera in other apps?

[rfritz]

Hey all! This forum has been instrumental in getting me off the ground and running. I work for a nonprofit children's museum, and we've been using OBS to create virtual programming. Since the pandemic hit and we shut down last March, we've been able to pivot and bring some joy to our community, so THANK YOU!

Here's my problem. I recently switched from PC to a new iMac, which went smoothly except for one strange quirk. When I'm running OBS, I can't open my integrated camera in other applications. Specifically, I need to be streaming while also communicating in a separate Zoom meeting. To be clear, my iMac's integrated camera is not set as an input in any scenes, nor is the little light illuminated. But for some reason OBS is blocking me from using it in other programs. As soon as I exit OBS, I'm able to use my camera again.

I've been working around this by plugging in an external camera, which works fine. Any idea what could be happening?

 

[nottooloud]

That's a strange one. Does it still happen if you make a new blank scene in OBS?

 

[rfritz]

That's a strange one. Does it still happen if you make a new blank scene in OBS?

I played around some more. The problem persists in a new blank scene, however, if I start from a new blank scene collection, then it works fine. I started in a new scene collection, opened Zoom, then switched to the scene collection I wanted and everything worked. Alternatively, I learned that if I start Zoom first, then launch OBS, my camera works as expected.

So maybe something built into my scene collection doesn't mesh well with external camera-using applications? Or it's a bug? Not sure. I am asking a lot of my machine (running OBS stream with Skype NDI inputs, while running virtual cam back into Skype, while running Zoom separately) so something might be getting crossed. But this workaround seems to be doing the trick!

 

[nottooloud]

I find it's a good idea to start everything fresh once in a while. If nothing else, I usually have learned something, or understand more, and figure out a better way to set it up.

 

[Onzi]

You just have to click on button 'Start Virtual Camera' to show other apps your OBS camera. In Virtual Camera settings chose Output type - program, preview, scene, source. OBS version 29 and above.

 

[AaronD]

You just have to click on button 'Start Virtual Camera' to show other apps your OBS camera. In Virtual Camera settings chose Output type - program, preview, scene, source. OBS version 29 and above.

That's not a direct solution, but a possibly good workaround.

Historically, access to media devices - cameras, mics, etc. - was exclusive for performance reasons. The device itself only has a single stream, that connects either to the operating system or directly to a single app, and it took too much processing power compared to what was available at the time to split/copy it. So the first app to request it, got it, and everything else had to wait for the first one to release it. Then the next in line that still wanted it, got it, etc.

Now we easily have enough processing power, and so some systems have lifted that restriction - connecting the single stream to the OS always, and copying it for each app that wants it - but not all have.