Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

So, how's M1 for streamers? (OBS, Streamlabs OBS etc)

I

itrends

macrumors member
Original poster
May 15, 2020
33
39
I use my current iMac for recording and streaming using Streamlabs OBS and the regular OBS.

Anyone here have their hands on an M1 and perhaps some info on how well these free, but popular items of software are running on the M1 hardware with rosetta?

I want to hit this shiny order button with apple... but suspect the M1 isn't going to be an option for me for a year or so due to compatibility issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and joshua_here
PhoenixFireless said:
Just tried OBS, works quite well, even though it runs in Rosetta 2

but no multi-monitor support so for that reason alone I wouldn't recommend streaming
Click to expand...
Thank you.

That said. The Mac mini does support 2 monitors if that’s what you mean?

one on thunderbolt and one on hdmi. I’m hooeful I can also use a USB to HDMI gadget I have too (not an eGPU) to run my smaller displays for chat etc.

the fact OBS even runs is useful info and I really appreciate you for try and reporting back. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
danielgrieff said:
Hey! Do you know if the virtual camera plugin is compatible at all?
Click to expand...
Hi, my name is Roel and I'm new to the forum. Nice to meet you all!

I'm trying to get my iPhone working as a webcam on the new M1 Mac Mini. The OBS iOS Camera app and plugin work fine, and I get the video to show up clearly in OBS.

Installing and running the virtual cam plugin works well too, but.... when I want to select the virtual cam in any of the video conferencing tools (tried it with Facetime, Webex, Teams, Zoom, Skype), it won't show up.

I'm afraid virtual cam doesn't work with Big Sur on an M1 :-(
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and katmcwallace
elRulipan said:
Hi, my name is Roel and I'm new to the forum. Nice to meet you all!

I'm trying to get my iPhone working as a webcam on the new M1 Mac Mini. The OBS iOS Camera app and plugin work fine, and I get the video to show up clearly in OBS.

Installing and running the virtual cam plugin works well too, but.... when I want to select the virtual cam in any of the video conferencing tools (tried it with Facetime, Webex, Teams, Zoom, Skype), it won't show up.

I'm afraid virtual cam doesn't work with Big Sur on an M1 :-(
Click to expand...
I'm having this same issue. I use EpocCam, and I think Big Sur on an M1 Mac has issues with virtual cams, but I can't find any documentation on it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
elRulipan said:
Hi, my name is Roel and I'm new to the forum. Nice to meet you all!

I'm trying to get my iPhone working as a webcam on the new M1 Mac Mini. The OBS iOS Camera app and plugin work fine, and I get the video to show up clearly in OBS.

Installing and running the virtual cam plugin works well too, but.... when I want to select the virtual cam in any of the video conferencing tools (tried it with Facetime, Webex, Teams, Zoom, Skype), it won't show up.

I'm afraid virtual cam doesn't work with Big Sur on an M1 :-(
Click to expand...
In Catalina you had to do a bunch of code signing tools to get stuff to work with a virtual cam.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
So I don't know if this is operator error, but I can't get My HD60 S+ to consistently work on the M1 Mac mini, and I can't get Streamlabs OBS to work properly either. I'm not even using a virtual cam or a webcam. Very simple setup streaming a Nintendo Switch and a Yeti X mic.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
I am a Streamer and YouTuber, I use my 2021 M1 MacBook Pro exclusively.

OBS works perfectly through Rosetta 2, however because of this it uses more resources than it would optimized and running on the M1 chip natively.

On top of this most of the games I stream are also not optimized and running through Rosetta 2.
Having said that my streams are very good and the only thing I have to tweak is the resolution settings a bit to get optimal frame rates in game.

Now as for OBS for this same reason I see an additional 10% at most frame rate drop during game capture, webcam capture at 1080p 60fps holds solid. This is why I suspect this is do to the Rosetta translation.

If you want to see live action of the M1 gaming and streaming on OBS, just take a look at some of my streams.
Link below.

Joshua Here! - YouTube
Video Games, Tech, and more.
 

Attachments

  • Untitled 2.001.jpeg
    Untitled 2.001.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 517
  • CSGO - Im really bad - Joshua thumb.001.jpeg
    CSGO - Im really bad - Joshua thumb.001.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 444
  • Untitled.001.jpeg
    Untitled.001.jpeg
    1.1 MB · Views: 343
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and svanstrom
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/new-m1-is-*****-awesome.2282773/

Its great. But I have not tried any software yet. Just got it today.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
I am running M1 Mac mini.
Runs OBS ok now, even on RC2/latest Big Sur.

However, there is still no hardware acceleration for encoding, only software. There are also HUGE performance issues using browser sources at the moment as well.

I have tried installing the ARM Windows into a virtual machine. This now runs OBS wonderfully however webcams are not currently being correctly shared into parallels so hilariously not able to capture anything into OBS. This does mean though that I am hopeful we can run OBS in a full windows ARM environment in the coming weeks/months and get the best of both worlds. Mac for creative and windows for streaming rig in a self contained VM.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
I run 2 mirrorless cameras in a specially set up teleprompter environment unfortunately. But I really appreciate the assist and I am sure it will help others who happen upon this :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
svanstrom said:
There's a MR user working on a new app for using the iPhone as a webcam: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-as-a-webcam-for-mac-looking-for-beta-testers.2278028/

So maybe @antomeie is the right person to sort out some of your problems‽ :)
Click to expand...
I do know a fair bit about software webcams and app compatibility. I'd be happy to answer questions regarding that, just ask :)

However, I unfortunately don't have much experience with Apple Silicon or virtual machines.

What I can say, though, is that I have beta testers who have had success with both M1 and OBS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos and svanstrom
As of Big Sur, macOS block loading of camera (DAL) plugins on most of the platform apps (FaceTime, Safari, QuickTime, PhotoBooth, etc...) and I think Apple will make sure their remaining apps block it soon as well.

I do understand why they are doing this, since it is actually a security risk load, and run, third party code that then inherits all permissions from the parent app. However, I think that Apple could develop a secure sandboxed plugin system if the just wanted to.

That said, there are still a great number of third party apps that do support camera plugins, such as Google Chrome, Brave Browser, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Zoom, OBS Studio...

Lastly, a shameless plug here, but my free "iPhone as a webcam" app for iOS/Mac is now officially released :) Maybe some of you will find it useful: https://webcamplus.app
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
I’ve been setting up an M1 Mini for a live streaming event at work using OBS 26.1.2. CamLink 4K capturing mirrorless camera, a couple of NDI sources and window captures, all working super smoothly.

The NDI plugin does not work out of the box but there is a GitHub post with a workaround that works: https://github.com/Palakis/obs-ndi/issues/590#issuecomment-757029441

NDI output works, as does the Virtual Camera in Zoom and Google Meet.

There is also a workaround out there to enable hardware encoding, however I could not figure out how to properly control the bit rate, it would jump all over the place 5000kbps one second to over 30000kbps... I went back to using x264.

Something I noticed about x264 when watching Activity Monitor, when I click Stream or Record, it seems to run on the efficiency cores as the additional load appears on cores 4-8 which otherwise show no activity. There seems to be very little impact on overall system performance because of this, are others seeing the same thing?

Overall, I’m pretty impressed by the M1. This same setup turns my 2018 6-core intel MBP into a screaming fireball. The M1 doesn’t make a sound or even get warm...
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
Hey there,
i have just ordered the m1 mac for my birthday, i have had the idea of upgrading from my mid 2012 mac for a while as to be able to edit videos faster although i was thinking of recording and streaming from it as well .

Does anyone know how well a hd60 s+ and logitech c920 with a focusrite scarlett solo would run on it, going to use streamlabs but scared it will have some problems .
Thanks for any help given :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: peanuts_of_pathos
My 2012 MBP 15” finally met its match. I was barely able to run OBS on it for my online classes all of last school year. But I just tested it today for a class tomorrow and it crawled slower than a sloth, CPU usage was through the roof, cameras were 5 seconds delayed, and streaming stuttered every few seconds. I hope the M-series 16” comes out soon.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: unQuestionable
I've tried setting up both OBS and StreamLabs and run into problems.

1. Streamlabs will not recognize the M1s hardware video encoder. When I open up Settings and Output (and switch to Advanced to see all options), only the software encoders are in the dropdown menu. This has led to video recordings that are super-choppy.

2. OBS does show me the options for the M1 hardware video encoding - but it won't recognize my webcam at all, even though I have given the program full permissions for video and recording.

If anyone here has some insight on how to fix one or both -- or has come up with a way to record smoothly, please let me know. All help is greatly appreciated!
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2021-11-16 at 7.14.57 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2021-11-16 at 7.14.57 PM.png
    416.7 KB · Views: 194
mine is really choppy. it says it's streaming at 60fps, it doesn't show skipped frames, but when i view the stream it looks horrible.
 
I think a big part of the problem is that neither OBS nor Streamlabs has really optimized yet for the M1. Their performance is most likely hampered by running through Rosetta.
 
  • Like
Reactions: topdrawer
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back