Hello,
First, I have watched numerous videos on Youtube trying to learn the magic rule(s) to achieve the best settings for my needs and the equipment that I have.
My Needs Include:
I want to record from mimoLive to an external Disk with optimal settings (1080 or 720)
I want to also livestream to Youtube with optimal settings
@bbyrdhouse Thanks for using mimoLive! I’m sorry to hear about the troubles.
I also use a Mac mini 2018 to record and stream 1080p25 (1080p30 shouldn’t be a problem since I don’t run into performance bottlenecks). In order to use 1080p30 you should set your document settings accordingly.
Your settings look good. Are the dropped frames and upload issues being reported by the output destinations when you’re on air?
A couple of things to consider:
It could be that the C920 slows down the USB connection to your external USB drive, making it unable to record ProRes 422. Download the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app to see the speed your external drive can sustain. I’m not sure how the Mac mini USB ports are segmented, but it might help to connect the USB cam to the USB ports and the external drive to the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports with an USB-C to USB adapter. If you do not need to edit the recording, you can try recording to h.264 instead of ProRes.
If your network has a bandwidth of as low as 2Mbps, streaming with 2.5Mbps will cause you trouble. Try something like 1.1 Mbps. Also make sure to use mimoLive 4.6 or newer as we’ve fixed an issue with YouTube causing indeterminate disconnects. What OS version are you using?
There are two other performance monitors you might want to keep an eye on: The Render Performance Monitor and the Source Performance Monitor. You can find both under the Window menu. If one of them reports a problem, please let me know.
@bbyrdhouse I have an older machine, 2011 17in MacBook Pro & I record the 422LT (720p30) format to the local disk (1TB SSD). I haven’t seen any performance issues with this, I did the same when it was a 750gb HDD and saw nothing related to disk speed then either. The file sizes run about 20gb/hr or so. I do copy them off when we’re done to an external drive (mimo is shutdown by then). Your external does seem fast enough, but just wanted to let you know using the internal is fine too, so long as you got the free space.
Also, I’ve talked to Oliver on the forum here, so this is per him, the eGPU is NOT utilized by MimioLive. It will continue to use the internal/integrated GPU. One thing to watch is your GPU memory, you can do this by clicking on the performance meter to open up the resources window and see where you’re at. I typically can’t run any other programs while Mimo is running, as it needs almost all my GPU RAM.
I do not recommend using the C920 because USB cams tend to be terribly resource hungry & I’ve tried that particular cam in the past. That is also a USB2 device, so it really can’t push 1080p30, it’s going to be 10-15fps at best, depending on lighting. If you can, I would pick up a cheap cam that outputs HDMI and use either a Blackmagic or Magewell capture device to thunderbolt. If you have a DSLR, or even a gopro laying around, that would work too. You could even use an iPhone that’s laying around and an app that turns it into an NDI cam source (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ndicam/id1074065391). NDI is a lot lighter on the system resources and the app is only $9.99 USD, so it might be more cost effective then buying more hardware.
@kmac1036 and @bbyrdhouse I will have to amend the information regarding the eGPU. We do not talk to the GPU directly but are using Apple provided API. If that API is taking advantage of the eGPU, mimoLive will as well. But the information currently available to us indicates that the API we’re using is not benefitting from the eGPU. However, this could change with each new macOS release.
@kmac1036 - Thank you for your response … much appreciated.
The C920 “says” it will capture in 1080 at 30fps but I don’t know if they are using hocus locus to make that claim … I am not a camera guy.
However, upon advice from others, I changed my camera settings to be shooting in 720 at 24 FPS and changed my document settings to match.
It is not in my budget to purchase new equipment at this time but I do happen to have an iPhone 7+ that I don’t really use except for a wifi device … I could use the camera from that if you are saying that it will be better than the C920 …
I can purchase the app mentioned as well but can you explain what exactly I am supposed to do with that app … I connect the camera (iPhone) to my computer and miMoLive automatically recognizes it … are you saying that I need another and separate app to be able to use an iPhone as the camera?
My ignorance on NDI is very obvious for all to see … I am learning though
Using a 2017 MacBook Pro, I have found the C920 quite unreliable at any speed over 720p30 (dropped frames, or huge long delays).
Even at that lower rez it’s really hungry for CPU. My BlackMagic UltraStudio Mini Recorder interface uses way less CPU (but my HDMI camera needs so much more light).
keep hearing people talk about a BlackMagic something or other … guess I will need to go watch some Youtube videos that explain what it is, how it is supposed to work in my workflow and how much it costs.
@bbyrdhouse yeah, they’re doing so many different things with that cam, and I think it’s only USB2 which was never very capable of pushing live HD video signals.
Since you have a spare iPhone, you can plug in your phone via the lightning cable and use it as a source too! They also have an app called MimoCam which removes all the controls and lets you use the phone as a clean camera. It is still a bit resource hungry but your Mac is a lot newer than mine, so it should be able to handle it better than mine. It utilizes QuickTime, so the Mac seems happier with that signal. So, this might be an easier and cheaper solution for you now to work around your issues. https://docs.mimo.live/docs/mimocam https://docs.mimo.live/docs/ios-device-video https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mimocam/id1083076398#?platform=iphone
NDI is network device interface, it was developed to stream high quality video over a network to live capture in another location. You have a device that outputs NDI stream, then in ML you set it as a video source, just like you did with your C920. How it works with ML can be found here: https://docs.mimo.live/docs/nditm-video-source
