Webcam Crackle

[Directvalor]

So I heard that people have had issues where when using a webcam in obs it can cause crackling and popping in my audio. I have a logitech brio.

I have updated all drivers, replaced the audio interface, xlr cable and microphone... none of it changed anything. Its getting really annoying that I cant have smooth and crispy audio and having to manually edit out all the pops and crackles is getting really old. Everything is set to 48000hz and buffer size is set to the max.
Any suggestions? I dont want to ditch the webcam but I will if the audio poping stops

 

[AaronD]

So you're using a separate XLR mic (that camera doesn't have XLR), and just having the camera present makes the mic pop? Those should be completely separate things.

Unless maybe you didn't turn the one off that you're not using, and *that's* where the noise is.

 

[Directvalor]

No my webcam is disabled on windows... The crackling appears to stop when the webcam is unplugged and its not like the webcam is faulty as ive tried two and its the same thing on both

 

[AaronD]

Bad electrical design, maybe? The camera introduces a bunch of noise onto the computer's power supply, and then you also have bad power supply rejection for the audio input? But that would require multiple simultaneous failures, some of which, or perhaps all, are in the design itself, more than they are parts failing.

You say you're using XLR. Is that with a reputable brand? If so, then I'd be very surprised if it didn't reject the power supply by itself, and so the camera should make no difference whatsoever.

 

[Directvalor]

I heard someone suggest it could be usb overload whatever that means.

 

[AaronD]

Maybe. A single HD video stream takes more than what USB 2 has to give, so if you're doing it like that, then the camera itself needs to compress it just to get it through. If it only compresses enough to barely work all by itself, and the audio only supports one of the slower sub-standards of USB 2 (*also* on the naive or cost-reduced assumption that it's the only significant thing on the entire USB system), and they're both on the same USB controller, then that might be it.

Even if they're in different ports directly on the main box, they could still be on the same controller with an internal hub. That's *very* common. Same problem.

If the camera is USB 3, and it's in a USB 3 port, and both of those are *actually* true and not just claimed, then I'd think it *should* be okay.

 

[Directvalor]

Yes both of my audio interfaces are USB C to USB but the USB side goes into my pc. So It appears what you suggest is true.. Now I have been running my webcam in 4k and Im assuming that would cause an overload.

Would lowering the resolution all the way down to 720p fix this issue? Or am I gonna have to cut my losses and ditch the webcam till I can get a proper camera

 

[AaronD]

Again, maybe. Sounds like an easy thing to try though.

But if the problem is USB overload, and you only have USB connections, switching one USB device for another USB device is not going to help. If that really is the problem, you'll need to get away from USB, or add a USB controller.

Either way, you're probably looking at a desktop PCIe card. One way makes it a USB controller on PCIe. The other way makes it a video capture card on PCIe.