Question / Help Recording status, x264 CRF, OBS process affinity

[phaolo]

1. is it possible to make the recording status more evident?
   Like a red "Recording" button or something?
   • the taskbar icon isn't sufficient, because I can't see it on the second monitor while I'm in fullscreen.
   • the alarm plugin isn't the same, because it only happens at the start\end (and also adds sounds to the recording).
     
2. I set OBSS to use x264 with CRF.
   It works but.. this feature seems to consider also the bitrate setting I left in the CBR section!
   Is this normal? It's not very clear, CRF should have its own settings..
   
   
3. I'd like to record non-modern games that use 1 core and thus set OBS to just use the remaining 3.
   The Task Manager process affinity setting is only temporary, so I tried this command:
   

   cmd.exe /c start "OBS Studio x64" /affinity E "C:\Program Files (x86)\OBS Studio\bin\64bit\obs64.exe"

   But it doesn't work, OBSS for some reason returns the error: "Failed to find locale/en-US.ini" and "Failed to load locale".
   Any clue about this error? (I'm on Win7 Pro x64 by the way)

 

[Harold]

1> Not easily enough yet
2> Post a session log from where you think it's having the problem
3> Don't force affinity. Let windows handle that for you. It's smarter about assigning processor time than you think.

 

[phaolo]

1. sigh ok. I hope it will be possible at some point, however.
2. but..how, there's nothing in the logs.
   I just noticed that Mediainfo reports the CBR I set in the other section, whatever CRF I selected.
   CRF seems to work, though, because the file size changes if I try recording a black screen.
3. Mm.. I hope you're right. But I'll check some graphs.

 

[Harold]

Link the log. You saying that there's nothing in there doesn't mean there's nothing in there.

 

[sam686]

the Task Manager process affinity setting is only temporary, so I tried this command:

cmd.exe /c start "OBS Studio x64" /affinity E "C:\Program Files (x86)\OBS Studio\bin\64bit\obs64.exe"

You need to first set current directory with a "cd" command, probably to the same folder where OBS is.

Shouldn't need affinity, just limit x264 threads with OBS settings, output, advanced, x264 options, threads=7 if you want to.

Show us OBS logs to see what else might be wrong if any. https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/please-post-a-log-with-your-issue-heres-how.23074/

Edit: Right click taskbar, uncheck "Lock the Taskbar" if it has a checkmark, and try to drag and drop taskbar to the other monitor.

 

[phaolo]

Link the log. You saying that there's nothing in there doesn't mean there's nothing in there.

Ah, I was looking at logs of failed\empty attempts.
This one should be good.
Anyway, this was when I recorded the Witcher 1 at 25 CRF (and left CBR at 1500. Both too low for good quality btw).

You need to first set current directory with a "cd" command, probably to the same folder where OBS is.
Shouldn't need affinity, just limit x264 threads with OBS settings, output, advanced, x264 options, threads=7 if you want to.
[..] try to drag and drop taskbar to the other monitor.

Ah, you were right about the cd command. So OBS doesn't use absolute paths? O_o
Btw it doesn't work in a link, even if I set "Start in folder".

Why x264 threads=7?

And about the taskbar, moving it to the secondary monitor every time I need to record isn't exactly convenient.

 

[Harold]

Those videos would have been recorded with CRF 25 and the bitrate value specified in your streaming settings would have been completely ignored

 

[phaolo]

Those videos would have been recorded with CRF 25 and the bitrate value specified in your streaming settings would have been completely ignored

Not the CBR in the streaming settings, the CBR in the recording section (not visible when selecting CRF).
Anyway, I suppose it was just a coincidence that the resulting bitrate matched the CBR. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks.

 

[sam686]

Why x264 threads=7?

That is what I sometimes use with my i7-2600 with 4 core 8 threads. Without knowing what CPU you use until after you replied with a log file showing your CPU, I was left guessing.

Lossless / CRF=0 in CRF mode at high 1080p resolution on a highly detailed game tends to require a lot of CPU usage. You might get encoder overloaded with threads=3. Edit: try UltraFast preset, it might help with encoder cpu usage and doesn't affect the quality in lossless mode, only the filesize.

 

[Harold]

Don't specify a thread count, let the encoder decide for you.

 

[phaolo]

Those videos would have been recorded with CRF 25 and the bitrate value specified in your streaming settings would have been completely ignored

Ok, I tried setting CRF 22 and the "hidden" CBR to 400.
The resulting recording quality seems coherent to the CRF value.

Mediainfo, however, reports a bitrate of 400, so something isn't right.
Maybe OBSS writes the CBR bitrate info to the file even when it shouldn't?
There's also no mention of the crf value in the saved x264 encoding settings.

EDIT: it seems to happen only with the FLV format.
I've switched to MKV.
(the CRF value still doesn't appear, tho)

Don't force affinity. Let windows handle that for you.

Well, I tested both the full 4cores and 3cores for curiosity.
I didn't notice much difference in MSI Afterburner's graphs, so maybe you're right.