Question / Help Online Teaching- Flickers

TeacherKatie

TeacherKatie

New Member
Hi there!

I am online teacher and everything seems to work alright with OBS and the teaching platform.

There is just one problem, there is a constant flicker when I stream/teach. It seems to reduce when I have OBS as the active tab open. I've tried adjusting the settings but I really think I am missing something.

Any help/suggestions would be super appreciated!

https://obsproject.com/logs/t6jO61jSL3CrVLGQ
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
OK, to try and narrow this down--

In your OBS config there are a bunch of slideshows, a virtualcam source, and a window capture, a logitech cam, and a SNAP cam.

The screen recording sample I assume is of a client watching your stream, right-- not of the OBS preview window, or the desktop of the recording machine?

I just want to try and narrow down the potential sources for the flashing.

Can you upload another log, but include a complete session in this one-- one where you stream, wait until this flashing happens, then stop the stream, and then upload the log?
 
TeacherKatie

TeacherKatie

New Member
Good morning!

Yes, these recording samples are in the actual classroom and it is what the students see. It also appears on my end too but only in the classroom, not OBS itself. In this next video, you will see all three webcams, theirs, mine, and then OBS itself. I have been meaning to get rid of the Snap program. I never use it.

Here is the log with the corresponding recording.

https://obsproject.com/logs/GYSS1jE2dFUSzPrq

Here is the link for the video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13eo3F0j5VSTwMzboihz6f8VHvghK63JP/view?usp=sharing



Narcogen said:
OK, to try and narrow this down--

In your OBS config there are a bunch of slideshows, a virtualcam source, and a window capture, a logitech cam, and a SNAP cam.

The screen recording sample I assume is of a client watching your stream, right-- not of the OBS preview window, or the desktop of the recording machine?

I just want to try and narrow down the potential sources for the flashing.

Can you upload another log, but include a complete session in this one-- one where you stream, wait until this flashing happens, then stop the stream, and then upload the log?
Click to expand...
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
Okay, in the 2nd sample, at 0:30 seconds and thereafter, the view in the bottom left switches from the starfield background with a quote on it, to your webcam. And the webcam then flashes in that corner, although it does not flash in the OBS window.

Video devices like cameras have software drivers that are "exclusive"-- meaning nearly always, only one program at a time can use them. Webcams are usually like this.

I assume, then, that OBS is the program that is accessing your webcam, but that your teaching software also needs it, and so you're using the VirtualCam plugin.

The logfile isn't complete, in that it doesn't contain a streaming or recording session that both starts and stops. That might be helpful to continue and troubleshoot, as if the virtualcam plugin encounters an error it might display there.

However, it seems to me the issue is caused by an incompatibility between the output of the VirtualCam plugin and the webcam requirements of the teaching platform, which is why you see the flashes there and not in OBS.
 
TeacherKatie

TeacherKatie

New Member
Good morning!!
How do I make the logfile complete?
How can I troubleshoot?
I never set OBS with a stream key or service.
Are there alternatives to VirtualCam? I learned how to do this from other online teachers.

Is this something I should tell my teaching platform? Is it reasonable for me to ask if they change their settings to be more compatible? I could run an IT test with them.
I'm very new to all of this! :)
I really appreciate your investigation! :)

Narcogen said:
Okay, in the 2nd sample, at 0:30 seconds and thereafter, the view in the bottom left switches from the starfield background with a quote on it, to your webcam. And the webcam then flashes in that corner, although it does not flash in the OBS window.

Video devices like cameras have software drivers that are "exclusive"-- meaning nearly always, only one program at a time can use them. Webcams are usually like this.

I assume, then, that OBS is the program that is accessing your webcam, but that your teaching software also needs it, and so you're using the VirtualCam plugin.

The logfile isn't complete, in that it doesn't contain a streaming or recording session that both starts and stops. That might be helpful to continue and troubleshoot, as if the virtualcam plugin encounters an error it might display there.

However, it seems to me the issue is caused by an incompatibility between the output of the VirtualCam plugin and the webcam requirements of the teaching platform, which is why you see the flashes there and not in OBS.
Click to expand...
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
1) Start OBS. Start recording a local file. Proceed as you would in a normal session and wait until you see the flickering. Stop the recording. Then upload the log.

You don't need to stream for this to work, just any output session is fine, a local recording counts.

I'm not aware of an alternative to virtualcam. However it is possible that an adjustment of your camera's settings in OBS may help. If multiple resolutions and framerates are offered when you right-click on that source in OBS and choose "properties" from the drop down menu, experiment and see if any others work or if they do or don't cause flicker in the teaching software.
 
TeacherKatie

TeacherKatie

New Member
https://obsproject.com/logs/Bx_gMMENvlLFlF3u

Here is a log I did today. I began recording as I taught. I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for.

I've changed all the resolutions and bitrates within OBS itself to the lowest possible settings. There are no options on my teaching platform besides changing the camera itself.


Narcogen said:
1) Start OBS. Start recording a local file. Proceed as you would in a normal session and wait until you see the flickering. Stop the recording. Then upload the log.

You don't need to stream for this to work, just any output session is fine, a local recording counts.

I'm not aware of an alternative to virtualcam. However it is possible that an adjustment of your camera's settings in OBS may help. If multiple resolutions and framerates are offered when you right-click on that source in OBS and choose "properties" from the drop down menu, experiment and see if any others work or if they do or don't cause flicker in the teaching software.
Click to expand...
 
Narcogen

Narcogen

Active Member
05:35:04.061: Output 'simple_file_output': Number of lagged frames due to rendering lag/stalls: 27 (23.7%)

This line in the log indicates that the part of your computer responsible for generating your display, your GPU, is badly overloaded.

https://obsproject.com/wiki/GPU-overload-issues

Unfortunately a lot of the suggestions for resolving this revolve around the assumption that the user is capturing a game.

The problem is that the computer your are using is currently not able to keep up with running your webcam, the slideshows, OBS and the teaching software all at once. On the teaching software side, it appears that this is appearing as frames being dropped from the webcam.

The only suggestion I can think of to dramatically reduce load is to go to Settings > Video and set both your canvas resolution and your output resolution to a lower value than 1280x720 where it is currently set; I might try 1152×648 or 1024x576.
 
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