7 replies

OBS on Linux - High average time to render

preface

Just switched one of my systems that I use to host applications from WIndows 11 to Ubuntu 23.10. I use OBS + Advnaced Scene Switcher + NDI to share my screen during collaborative sysadmin / software development sessions with my peers. I also use this machine for watching streams while in Discord calls, to offload resources from my other machines (works great). So, I have reasons to use GUI Ubuntu.

the issue

When I got around to configuring OBS I noticed that my average time to render frames was 4x+ higher than what it was on Windows (9ms vs 2mx). Same computer/hardware, screen capture source of the same 4K display. I'm using XSHM as opposed to PipeWire for screen capture. With PipeWrie I get 50ms+ render time, vs 9ms with XSHM. When I'm actually interacting with the PC, the render time jumps into the mid to high teens at times; which results in frame drops. Though, the output isn't unusable or anything.

suspicion

I suspect that this is simply the performance I am to expect for this rig running Ubuntu. But just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks for increasing performance in OBS on Linux. Or if anyone has any other insight on the subject. I find it Interesting that performance is so much better in Windows in-regards to OBS. Though, I understand it is a completely different environment.

covering some bases

- system power mode is set to "Balanced", which is the highest available option.
- Tested using Ubuntu's standard and lowlatency kernal. Currently using the low latency kernal for audio stability (see here).
- I've verified that my GPU driver is installed & working, as well as trying multiple versions of said driver.
- I installed OBS with Flatpak, but also tried installing the deb version to make sure it wasn't a sandboxing issue.
- I get the same results with a fresh install of OBS. Default scene, one 4k screen capture source, and no plugins installed.