Question / Help Trying to stop rendering lag on a dual PC streaming setup. Have tried several things (list inside).

[RonUSMC]

Logs attached.

Main System: i9-7900x with an EVGA 1080ti. It runs like a champ. My main monitor is 27" Gsync (turned on) and everything is great. I then put the display capture into fullscreen on the "3rd monitor" which is 1920x1080 Elgato HD60. This has 0 lagged frames.

Streaming PC: it has an i7-3820 with an NVIDIA 760. I'm aware that the 760 will probably do more harm than good so I've concentrated my efforts on software rendering. It also has a newer AMD low energy card as well ( Radeon RX 560 ) but whenever I've tried using the AMD renderer it had issues as well. Here are the things I've tried to get the "Frames missed due to rendering lag" below 4%.

• I've downscaled the HD60 to 720p60. Which means I also changed the canvas size and render size to 1280x720.
• I've changed the color, downscale filter.
• I've updated yesterday and tried the new NVENC H.264 (new) with quality from Performance down to Low Latency Performance.
• I've changed the keyframes from 0 to 2.
• I started with the bitrate at 6000 and slowly moved it down to 2500.
• On x264 I started with medium and moved up to ultrafast, which suprisingly seemed to make it worse.
• Have not changed the fps from 60.

https://obsproject.com/logs/-KNcAD9WF4YjLiiT

 

[Agamemnus]

Heya mate, render lag isn't to do with NVENC vs x264. It's how complicated your scene is.

https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/wiki/GPU-overload-issues

Make sure your colour format is 709 in the advanced tab, and for your webcam source if you have one. Also use partial range. Try reading that whole link above. When you've sorted all that, all I can suggest is removing your sources one by one. Transparent sources are the worst, browser sources are killer too. Hopefully one in particular is your issue, and you can focus on that.

Good luck.

 

[RonUSMC]

Thanks so much for your reply. I also posted over on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/obs/comments/auzy8x/xpost_from_obs_forums_trying_to_stop_rendering/) and someone there gave me some tips.

Here is what I have done based on that advice and also removed the browser source from the canvas as well.

Output Tab

• Changed it to x264, veryfast,main, 3500
• Rescale output to 1280x720

Video Tab

• Canvas 1920x1080
• Scaled 1280x720
• Lanczos
• 60

Advanced Tab

• 709 / Partial
• Color NV12

Hardware: removed the NVIDIA card and used the Guru program to remove the drivers. Using the AMD as the main card. Updated all drivers
Software: gone through and removed Game Bar and DVR.

I streamed for about 2 hours. Then I deleted that browser source and did a sample recording. Here is the log file. Still hovering around 2.4% render lag.

Here is the log file, https://obsproject.com/logs/zZMH3lZ3jxp5P3e4
Here is a clip I did while streaming and you can see the spike every 5 seconds or so. https://clips.twitch.tv/SaltyEnchantingCurlewAliens

EDIT: I get this quite a bit in the log. I've tried googling it, but it seems to do something with FFMPEG. I don't know how to increase the probesize or even if I should.
16:21:47.154: warning: Stream #0: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize

 

[RonUSMC]

I've gotten some extensive help over on Reddit and have made a few more changes.

"
Thanks for the tips. I've done everything you have requested. I changed it to Normal Priority and I watched the Task Manager. I also posted this over on the OBS forums and someone suggested that I remove any other sources on that scene, which I did. It's now just the pure capture card.
CPU never gets above 23%, Memory 28%, and GPU spikes to 14%. Nothing is spiking, but as I watch the stats page I see this:
Frames missed due to rendering lag: 248/12200. Skipped frames due to encoding lag: 0.
I'm doing a recording right now to test and every few seconds or so I see the frames drop to 42fps/48fps and time to render spikes to 14-19ms.
Current Log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/cHOEIYwN5Ve8yDZX
"

 

[Agamemnus]

Ah, Output Tab, don't have rescale ticked. It's scaled in the video tab, don't need to do it again in Output tab. It's just a waste. Sadly I'm not sure how much this will help you :( Give it a go, then try the reverse where you scale in Output but not in Video tab. Normally, the optimal solution is to do it in the video tab, but you may as well try everything.

Sorry to hear you're having so many problems, Apex Legends is notorious for render lag issues, but it's cause is only applicable on single-PC streams, your dual PC setup should cope OK. I think typically the GTX 760 beats the RX 560 but they're close. Can you unplug the RX 560 and try again?

Glad you got the Champion though :)

It might be possible that a single-PC setup will work better for you. Sadly, Apex Legends has issues for many people in that situation. It could be worth a try though?

 

[RonUSMC]

Thanks. I removed the rescale option on the Output Tab. Then, just to try something... I created a new scene, left it completely blank, and then started recording. I still got the render lag.

https://obsproject.com/logs/vSqtoPabajQrxzkD

Do you think I need a GTX 1060 or something? There's nothing on the system that is pegged when it's recording. The AMD never gets above 15% while recording or streaming.

There are a few errors that I don't know how to fix:

• 23:36:19.205: warning: deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
• 23:38:00.046: warning: Stream #0: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
• 23:36:18.550: adding 21 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 21 milliseconds (source: Capture Card)

 

[Agamemnus]

Render lag still on he Stream PC?

Try just single PC setup. Something is up with that. Either the capture card or the stream PC. If you must continue trying, gimme a screenshot of the capture card source properties with the "Video Format" drop-down box open so I can see the options?

 

[RonUSMC]

Sure. It's an Elgato HD60 PCIE. It's brand new.

 

[RonUSMC]

and just in case, here are the video properties for the card.

 

[Zidakuh]

Does the "Device" have 2 options? One saying "HD60" another saying "HD60 - stream engine"?
If you have the stream engine available, use that

 

[Agamemnus]

Yeah it's just UYVY which is normal. Was hoping there might be other choices. If there's an alternative device to add like @Zidakuh mentions it's worth a shot. But honestly man, if it's failing you with JUST the capture device in OBS and nothing else, it's not looking good.

Give it a shot in single-PC setup. Your game PC is much better, I'm not sure you'd get a whole lot of value even if dual-setup worked.

 

[AhornFPS]

Try to use OBS version 22.0.2, https://github.com/obsproject/obs-s....0.2/OBS-Studio-22.0.2-Full-Installer-x64.exe

I have massive issues with my elgato and version 23 with lagged frames as well, but 22.0.2 works flawless.

 

[RonUSMC]

I have 2 options when choosing:

• Game Capture HD60 Pro (Video) (#01)
• Elgato Game Capture HD

When I choose the first option, nothing appears on the canvas. I also get a weird properties window when I try to configure video and nothing is in the drop down for Video Formats.

I think I've come to the conclusion that this CPU is just not capable of streaming.

 

[RonUSMC]

@AhornFPS Thanks for the tip. I downgraded, double checked settings and did a sample recording. It still seems the same if not a little worse.

Current log file: https://obsproject.com/logs/V6qIREnZoBerv9nv

 

[Agamemnus]

You're having terrible luck dude, you really are. But don't despair, single-PC setups aren't so bad. Dual-PC is kinda "the dream" in a lot of people's minds, but really, the dream includes hardware that's as awesome as what you'd find in any dream you had control over.... Please do yourself a favour and try out a single-PC stream before you beat yourself to death with this. Don't give up!

 

[RonUSMC]

Yes, I've come to terms with that system just not being able to handle streaming. I did a single PC stream today and it went flawlessly (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/387598724). I will use the extra system for chatting and random link clicking. My CPU never went over 20% and it was 0 loss frames. I was streaming at 3500 and someone said they couldn't see it on their iPad, so I'll probably dial that down.

I think I'll just buy a new system and replace the streaming system that I have now. I was looking around at other's specs and the standard is much better, so I'll probably aim for a Ryzen 7 system or something along those lines.

 

[AhornFPS]

Wait a second, I reread the thread and this here is the correct device:

• Game Capture HD60 Pro (Video) (#01)

Have you tried setting it to custom and putting the correct resolution, framerate and so on yourself? In your screenshot it was on device default.

 

[Zidakuh]

Wait a second, I reread the thread and this here is the correct device:

• Game Capture HD60 Pro (Video) (#01)

Have you tried setting it to custom and putting the correct resolution, framerate and so on yourself? In your screenshot it was on device default.

I believe EposVox set it up this way too in his review of the card. My bad for not pointing that out earlier.

 

[RonUSMC]

I've tried, but nothing I do can get it to show in the preview. When I select that device and hit properties, I get the tabbed grey menu. When I select the other Capture HD item and hit properties I get the black menu.

EDIT: I've also hit OK on it to see if it shows on the canvas several times with different settings to no avail.

@Zidakuh Can you point me to that video? I found his channel but his titles are pretty click baity and I can't sort through them.

 

[AhornFPS]

Just to make sure this is not a driver issue on the capture cards side, have you reinstalled the elgato drivers?