OBS woking, then not working, then working again, then not working, then [...]

Daddyguitar

New Member
Hi,
i was wonderin if I am the only one facing this kind of no sense problems.
I need to record some zoom call, once or twice a week and today again I had a strange problem.

As always I record some seconds to make sure that OBS record the screen, the microphone and the system audio. I always do it twice. Then I check the video to see if everything it's ok. I started the call, started recording in OBS, an hour later I stopped the recording, went to check the video and the video was fine, the audio of the microphone was fine, the audio of the zoom call was almosto inaudible.
So I did another test and again the audio was almost inaudible.

After restarting OBS, not the notebook, I did another test and everything was fine.

This is not the first time it happens but it's totally random...

Am I the only one? Any suggestion? I really need to have these zoom calls... It must be reliable.

Thank you!
 
No, you aren't the only one

And Zom has a recording feature, which is what you should be using. the only real reason to use OBS woudl be to hide the fact that session being recorded (or Zoom host doesn't want to record and you do)... either way... wouldn't appear completely above-board

Regardless
Your issue is HIGHLY unlikely to be random. my suspicion is that your computer is overwhelmed by what you are asking it to do.
Maybe you have lots of open browser tabs (which consumes LOTS of RAM), apps, etc.
and if you are like most users, you aren't monitoring your hardware resource utilization (equivalent of driving blindfolded)
And then, most likely you are either running out of RAM, and/or CPU. To make things even harder on OBS, are you using a laptop?
or maybe your OBS settings are inappropriate

real-time video encoding (which is what you are doing) is VERY computationally demanding.
I ask above about a laptop as laptops are usually optimized for battery life, not performance as required for real-time video encoding [laptop can be more than capable, it just requires more attention from the user to not overwhelm system]

If my guess (and that is all) is correct, your easier options are
1. reboot computer (overkill, but required steps may be too complicated/involved so I'll skip offering them) before recording session
AND absolutely minimize/restrict what you start/run to what is required.
if you don't have a recent, powerful laptop, Turn off unnecessary background tasks (ex OneDrive, Teams, etc)
2. optimize OBS for your system (will require time and research on your part)
are you using the right recording options for your GPU? disk I/o capability, etc
it could be that all you have to do is this step #2, but I can't tell you how much effort this will require.
3. lower settings in OBS to lower resource demands (lower resolution, bitrate, recording quality, etc)
4. get a more powerful computer (or upgrade yoru current system if it is just low on RAM
 
Hi Lawrence, thank you very much.
My notebook should handle way more than this without any problems.
It's an intel i7 9750H with 32GB of RAM and a dedicated GTX 1650.

Do you still think that everything you said can still cause problems? I usually have Chrome opened but rarely I go beyond 5-8 tabs, thunderbird is also always opened and whatsapp web. That's it. Of coure zoom and OBS when needed.
I'm the kind of guy that make sure that windows doesn't boot but up tons of useless stuff in back ground.

I'm a bit reluctant to ask to my music teacher is it's ok to use zoom recording option...

Thank you!
 
Correct, more than adequate laptop for auto-config settings for recording
Yes, what I said still applies.
Most importantly, If you aren't monitoring, then you are driving blind..
And why so many open browser tabs if you are supposed to be paying attention to class?

That said, with proper OS (not a typo, not OBS) settings especially in regards to those browser tabs, you should be ok.. depending on what is going on in those tabs. And what other OS level processes running, and your OBS settings. but your OBS settings could be perfect, and still have problems depending on what else going on at OS level

For OBS setting review alone, Per pinned post in this forum
 
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