UPDATE (2019-08-20): I've been using the same overlay and added lots of scenes, videos, transitions and other stuff and I never got an issue using OBS on a Windows computer. The problem really comes from the Mac application that isn't optimized with Apple's hardware. OBS Project team should advise this on the download page and write somewhere that the Mac version is in beta. Some people will choose a Windows computer instead of a Mac knowing this. This is what I would have done. Been obligated to sell the mac for 2000$. Good luck!
Hi everyone, I've been streaming with OBS on a Mac since 2015 and I have gathered a lot of experience through the years and hopefully this post will save you quite some time. First I have to say that yes OBS is responsive on helping on their Discord but I have to say that no matter what help they can provide it won't help the fact OBS on Mac is an optimized tool. So in the end there are no fix but just runarounds that WILL impact the end quality of your product. By product I mean the resulting stream that will end up on Twitch.
Config:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
CPU - 4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory - 32 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
GPU - AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 Mo
SSD HDD Soldered On Board
1. Frames missed due to rendering lag
2. Capturing audio
3. Capture card
4. Webcam
5. Chat Bot and Stream Labs
1. Frames missed due to rendering lag
This is definitely the major downside of OBS Mac. I'm writing this post and the current OBS Mac version is 23.0. for reference. As you can see in my config, it's a decent computer to run a heavy and demanding stream setup. No matter how good your computer is, you WILL get missed frames due to rendering lag if you're using more than one scene with heavy customizations. Heavy customizations means a combination of, webcam capture, video backgrounds, window capture and scene integration.
At this point you probably know it. If you noticed lag, like your mouse cursor lagging, you can verify this by going into "View > Stats" and see that the "Average time to render" is easily over 10 ms, causing the "FPS" to drop below 30.00. Causing the percentage and number of missed frames at "Frames missed due to rendering lag" to be in orange or red. This is what makes the computer and video output to lag.
The only thing that'll remove all the stutter, skipping, lag, etc (apart of removing the bells and whistles of your overlay) is to keep a maximum of 1 scene per Scene Collection. Thing is that all scenes remains activated in the background so you can transition between scenes. As you have probably noticed anyway the transitions lags terribly on OBS Mac and are unusable. By the way in a Source properties checking the "Hide source when playback ends" and "Close file when inactive" will not help at all. So yes you'll understand that you can't have transition between your scenes because when changing to another "Scene Collection" gives a black screen for few seconds while loading. So if you want your overlay with all it's bells and whistles you'll never have smooth transition. It do looks bad while streaming and yes you're currently disappointed. But this is the only option to reduce to maximum lag and stutter.
The other option keep your scenes and transitions but unfortunately doesn't reduce completely the lag. For me it's a no go as it's still lagging and it's forcing me to stream in 720p. Also these are the only video options that'll reduce the missed frames. Well here are the steps:
Preferences > Video > Base (Canvas) Resolution > 1280x720
Preferences > Video > Output (Scaled) Resolution > 1280x720
Downscale Filter > Bilinear
Common FPS Values > 30 FPS
2. Capturing audio
Capturing audio on a Mac is probably one of the most frustrating things you'll encounter. Capturing the whole system output isn't something you want too. You probably already tried Soundflower, WaveTap or IShowU and you're probably limited and/or disappointed. These applications have been a nightmare to me.
I was about to rethink streaming on a Mac until I found out about Sound Siphon. It's a paid app but at least this one works and you get great support if it doesn't. Best investment in years on my Mac. It just works with any app you throw at it. It also works capturing the browser source audio in OBS itself. *Be careful to never use the option "All Audio" in Sound Siphon it won't be able to capture stuff like browser sources audio in OBS for your alerts or SFX, etc. Manually add all applications you want sound from one by one. I also suggest you make a different "Virtual Input Device" for your microphone, so you'll be able to mute your microphone in OBS without muting the rest like your background music for example.
https://staticz.com/soundsiphon/
3. Capture card
Forget about your Elgato or any cheap capture card out there. It'll not work decently in OBS and will add up to your nightmare list. The only capture card that works in OBS is the Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle. Save some money and get the USB3 version as the Thunderbolt won't help. Also the Thunderbolt can't capture another Mac/Computer because these aren't valid video signals. The USB3 version of the same card can for some reasons.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity
4. Webcam
I use a Logitech BRIO webcam and it sucks, but it sucks less than other webcams out there. First thing, no you can't run it in 4K, it'll lag and desync. Also remember to always redo the settings in the Logitech application "Camera Settings". The settings reset after each reboot, yes this is bad. Here are the steps to get the maximum quality for your webcam.
Webcam Source Properties:
Resolution > 1920x1080
Frame rate > 30 FPS
Input format > YUY2
Color space > Rec. 709
Video range > Partial
Uncheck Use Buffering
Camera Settings Application:
Image > Widescreen
HDR > Off
Anti flicker for NA > NTSC 60Hz
Anti flicker for EU > PAL 50Hz
Brightness > 50%
Contrast > 50%
Auto focus > Off
Color intensity > 50%
Auto white balance > On
*You can also add juste a little sharpening in OBS, I use 0,05 personally. Only add sharpening if you have a perfect lighting setup, otherwise this will make the grain and artefacts of the webcam to pop more on screen.
5. Chat Bot and Stream Labs
There's no Mac application for the Streamlabs Chat Bot. Now you can run it in the cloud on Stream Labs website but it's really limited. This will only suits you if your streaming project is rather simple and straightforward. It's also far away from being a future proof solution. After trying almost all bots out there, the one and only I can recommend is Phantom Bot. Learn it you won't regret it. It's a great combination with Stream Labs for the rest. Also don't forget to install the mac application "Stream Labs Stream Labels" to use while streaming so you can check the alerts notification if you miss it.
Hi everyone, I've been streaming with OBS on a Mac since 2015 and I have gathered a lot of experience through the years and hopefully this post will save you quite some time. First I have to say that yes OBS is responsive on helping on their Discord but I have to say that no matter what help they can provide it won't help the fact OBS on Mac is an optimized tool. So in the end there are no fix but just runarounds that WILL impact the end quality of your product. By product I mean the resulting stream that will end up on Twitch.
Config:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)
CPU - 4 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory - 32 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
GPU - AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4096 Mo
SSD HDD Soldered On Board
1. Frames missed due to rendering lag
2. Capturing audio
3. Capture card
4. Webcam
5. Chat Bot and Stream Labs
1. Frames missed due to rendering lag
This is definitely the major downside of OBS Mac. I'm writing this post and the current OBS Mac version is 23.0. for reference. As you can see in my config, it's a decent computer to run a heavy and demanding stream setup. No matter how good your computer is, you WILL get missed frames due to rendering lag if you're using more than one scene with heavy customizations. Heavy customizations means a combination of, webcam capture, video backgrounds, window capture and scene integration.
At this point you probably know it. If you noticed lag, like your mouse cursor lagging, you can verify this by going into "View > Stats" and see that the "Average time to render" is easily over 10 ms, causing the "FPS" to drop below 30.00. Causing the percentage and number of missed frames at "Frames missed due to rendering lag" to be in orange or red. This is what makes the computer and video output to lag.
The only thing that'll remove all the stutter, skipping, lag, etc (apart of removing the bells and whistles of your overlay) is to keep a maximum of 1 scene per Scene Collection. Thing is that all scenes remains activated in the background so you can transition between scenes. As you have probably noticed anyway the transitions lags terribly on OBS Mac and are unusable. By the way in a Source properties checking the "Hide source when playback ends" and "Close file when inactive" will not help at all. So yes you'll understand that you can't have transition between your scenes because when changing to another "Scene Collection" gives a black screen for few seconds while loading. So if you want your overlay with all it's bells and whistles you'll never have smooth transition. It do looks bad while streaming and yes you're currently disappointed. But this is the only option to reduce to maximum lag and stutter.
The other option keep your scenes and transitions but unfortunately doesn't reduce completely the lag. For me it's a no go as it's still lagging and it's forcing me to stream in 720p. Also these are the only video options that'll reduce the missed frames. Well here are the steps:
Preferences > Video > Base (Canvas) Resolution > 1280x720
Preferences > Video > Output (Scaled) Resolution > 1280x720
Downscale Filter > Bilinear
Common FPS Values > 30 FPS
2. Capturing audio
Capturing audio on a Mac is probably one of the most frustrating things you'll encounter. Capturing the whole system output isn't something you want too. You probably already tried Soundflower, WaveTap or IShowU and you're probably limited and/or disappointed. These applications have been a nightmare to me.
I was about to rethink streaming on a Mac until I found out about Sound Siphon. It's a paid app but at least this one works and you get great support if it doesn't. Best investment in years on my Mac. It just works with any app you throw at it. It also works capturing the browser source audio in OBS itself. *Be careful to never use the option "All Audio" in Sound Siphon it won't be able to capture stuff like browser sources audio in OBS for your alerts or SFX, etc. Manually add all applications you want sound from one by one. I also suggest you make a different "Virtual Input Device" for your microphone, so you'll be able to mute your microphone in OBS without muting the rest like your background music for example.
https://staticz.com/soundsiphon/
3. Capture card
Forget about your Elgato or any cheap capture card out there. It'll not work decently in OBS and will add up to your nightmare list. The only capture card that works in OBS is the Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle. Save some money and get the USB3 version as the Thunderbolt won't help. Also the Thunderbolt can't capture another Mac/Computer because these aren't valid video signals. The USB3 version of the same card can for some reasons.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity
4. Webcam
I use a Logitech BRIO webcam and it sucks, but it sucks less than other webcams out there. First thing, no you can't run it in 4K, it'll lag and desync. Also remember to always redo the settings in the Logitech application "Camera Settings". The settings reset after each reboot, yes this is bad. Here are the steps to get the maximum quality for your webcam.
Webcam Source Properties:
Resolution > 1920x1080
Frame rate > 30 FPS
Input format > YUY2
Color space > Rec. 709
Video range > Partial
Uncheck Use Buffering
Camera Settings Application:
Image > Widescreen
HDR > Off
Anti flicker for NA > NTSC 60Hz
Anti flicker for EU > PAL 50Hz
Brightness > 50%
Contrast > 50%
Auto focus > Off
Color intensity > 50%
Auto white balance > On
*You can also add juste a little sharpening in OBS, I use 0,05 personally. Only add sharpening if you have a perfect lighting setup, otherwise this will make the grain and artefacts of the webcam to pop more on screen.
5. Chat Bot and Stream Labs
There's no Mac application for the Streamlabs Chat Bot. Now you can run it in the cloud on Stream Labs website but it's really limited. This will only suits you if your streaming project is rather simple and straightforward. It's also far away from being a future proof solution. After trying almost all bots out there, the one and only I can recommend is Phantom Bot. Learn it you won't regret it. It's a great combination with Stream Labs for the rest. Also don't forget to install the mac application "Stream Labs Stream Labels" to use while streaming so you can check the alerts notification if you miss it.
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