# Streamlabs choppy recording/streams with any bitrate and resolution



## Deleted member 172152 (Jan 5, 2020)

Hi everyone

My pc (2700x/5700xt with 32GB RAM) struggles recording and/or streaming with streamlabs (skipped frames) even though I've tried every setting I can think of.

Both my monitors have got freesync enabled, could that have something to do with it?

Should I enable v-sync?

Anybody with similar specs got any goood baseline settings?

I used to know my settings off by heart, but that was 6 months ago now since I've only had time to actually use my pc recently again after crashes, hardware swaps and even a complete pc hiatus, so any help is appreciated!


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## DeathtoGnomes (Jan 5, 2020)

is that streamlabs/OBS? are you recording to an HDD or SSD? what bitrate are you trying to record at? trying at 720P? 1080P? 4k? what exactly do you think your monitors have to do with this issue?


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## Deleted member 172152 (Jan 5, 2020)

DeathtoGnomes said:


> is that streamlabs/OBS? are you recording to an HDD or SSD? what bitrate are you trying to record at? trying at 720P? 1080P? 4k? what exactly do you think your monitors have to do with this issue?


I'm recording to a hdd, though I don't remember that being a problem before. Might try recording to a ssd anyway tomorrow.

I tried recording at 4k at anywhere from 6000 to 25000 bitrate, 1080p at 6000 and higher, 720p at 3500 to 6000, all with cbr and all at 60fps. I've tried larger buffers, no buffers, different file types, different encoders, even auto settings and anything else I could think of like keyframes at 0, 1 and 2. I've also changed priority to above normal and have tried cpu set at anything from fast to veryfast.

it is possible my 4k60hz monitor is to blame because of freesync, and it is possible setting it to v-sync while switching off freesync could solve the problem, but that would ruin my gaming experience while streaming/recording and I could record with freesync enabled on a 1080p144hz monitor before, so I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Annoyingly, I didn't save my old settings or the single useful guide I found.

The only other difference apart from the settings is that I swapped my radeon vii for a 5700xt. However, I always use x264 encoding anyway.

Maybe my first video should be about how to fix this...

Edit: maybe I'm misremembering and switching to v-sync solved my issues. Will try using an ssd first and then try switching freesync off.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Jan 6, 2020)

Ok I get it, i think, so are you are gaming, streaming and recording at the same time? If so that might be part of the issue too, some of the streamers I used to watch use 2 rigs, one for the gaming and one for streaming and recording. What about installing a 2nd card?


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## Deleted member 172152 (Jan 6, 2020)

DeathtoGnomes said:


> Ok I get it, i think, so are you are gaming, streaming and recording at the same time? If so that might be part of the issue too, some of the streamers I used to watch use 2 rigs, one for the gaming and one for streaming and recording. What about installing a 2nd card?


A second pc isn't entirely necessary. Though it could solve the frame skipping issue, it could also backfire and still give the same issues.

The frame skipping varies from still screens every twenty seconds or so while streaming or recording to just a slideshow. 

Both streaming and recording makes no difference to either the stream or the recording. My guess would be it IS to do with freesync and the software not picking up the frames correctly due to locked 60hz, which would be annoying.

Maybe I should look for a variable refresh rate setting and/or automatic stream quality adjustment (downwards).

If I can't solve it that way, I could turn off freesync (if that's the issue) and either live with screen tearing on my screen and on the stream/recording or I could put on v-sync which would solve that problem, but would mean I have stuttery gameplay.

Still, I could have sworn that the last time I streamed the framerate adjusted itself somehow so it fit my current refresh rate.

So tonight (I am at GMT+1) I'm going to check for a variable reftesh rate setring, then I'll check if switching off freesync helps and test v-sync on vs off.


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## Deleted member 172152 (Jan 9, 2020)

So I finally got round to testing a few things and my findings are as follows:

Freesync is a no-go as even if it doesn't cause problems for the recordings/streams, I still prefer consistent framerates for smoother footage.

I found a thread on obs where somebody said their hdd, the same one as mine, caused problems for their recordings, so I switched to recording on an ssd, which solved the frameskipping I had after switching off my freesync and switching on v-sync.

and finally, crf seems to be the best bitrate control method for quality/bitrate balance, recording at lower bitrates on average then I usually do, and saving me a LOT of storage space without having to worry about having too low a bitrate.

Turns out the internet HAS got all the answers after all! 

If only I had a working rift s, so my setup would be complete... I wanted to record/game a lot in vr, but of course my setup has to be cursed somehow and the displays wouldn't always connect, so hopefully a new headset solves that and I can figure out how to record 80fps at 60fps!


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