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Video recording and livestreaming tool OBS Studio version 30.2 is officially out now, bringing with it various new features and a nice few Linux improvements too.

For Linux users this release adds in native NVENC encoder support, which includes NVENC AV1! Plus there's also now shared texture support for the NVENC encoder, QuickSync encoder and VA-API encoder. For Linux they're also now enforcing the Qt Fusion style and they've also combined the PipeWire window/display capture into unified "Screen Capture" source to align with other platforms.

There's also a new Hybrid MP4 output format in Beta that "Combines fault-tolerance of fragmented MP4 with wide compatibility and faster access times of regular MP4", which also supports chapter markers in the file.

Some other new features include Enhanced RTMP/FLV multi-track audio and video, HEVC support to WebRTC output, an upgrade to the theme system, plus various other smaller UI improvements and lots of bug fixes.

One major new feature with Multitrack Video streaming (known as Enhanced Broadcasting on Twitch) was added in, but that's currently only supported on Windows with other operating systems planned for a future release.

See more in the release notes.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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19 comments
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WYW Jul 13
OBS is really in much better shape on Linux than it was a couple years ago. Glad to see so many features that were previously Windows only now in the Linux version.
This release adds NVENC encode for AV1, it already had it for h.264 and HEVC.
Shmerl Jul 14
I wish there was support for easy streaming over local network. Right now there are some hacks for it, but they don't work with GPU acceleration.
pete910 Jul 14
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Why not include AMF too while they where at it? I know I can use va-api but it sucks compared to AMF.
Did AMF also add support for radv as well?
tuubi Jul 14
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Quoting: pete910Why not include AMF too while they where at it? I know I can use va-api but it sucks compared to AMF.
Sucks in what way? They're just different APIs for the same hardware.

Quoting: preludelinuxDid AMF also add support for radv as well?
It did. Stable support landed in the latest release.
Shmerl Jul 14
Quoting: pete910Why not include AMF too while they where at it? I know I can use va-api but it sucks compared to AMF.

AMF uses Vulkan video. So better ask, why not include Vulkan video directly to OBS?


Last edited by Shmerl on 14 July 2024 at 4:13 pm UTC
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: pete910Why not include AMF too while they where at it? I know I can use va-api but it sucks compared to AMF.

AMF uses Vulkan video. So better ask, why not include Vulkan video directly to OBS?
Most people use radv and vulkan video encoding is experimental right now in mesa, it's behind a flag and if you try to use it even with the most basic vulkan video encoding sample it will crash your computer (I tried it myself). Vulkan video encoding works fine with nvidia though (at least with hevc).

Vaapi and amf are also already implemented in ffmpeg so obs gets them "for free". Ffmpeg doesn't support vulkan video encoding yet (primarly because amd is lagging behind in their implementation so the implementation in ffmpeg and gstreamer has been delayed as well).


Last edited by nnohonsjnhtsylay on 14 July 2024 at 7:55 pm UTC
Shmerl Jul 14
AMF relies on same Vulkan video. So if it's crashing with radv it won't work with radv over AMF too. Meaning for AMF you'd need amdvlk then. So what's the point. OBS can use same Vulkan video over same amdvlk (or radv when it's ready). Basically, AMF is redundant and not needed at all.

If ffmpeg is lagging behind with Vulkan video support, then I guess it should catch up too.


Last edited by Shmerl on 14 July 2024 at 8:59 pm UTC
pete910 Jul 14
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Quoting: tuubiSucks in what way?

Slow with bad quality at a given bitrate, and more often than not just overloads and crashes.

Quoting: ShmerlAMF uses Vulkan video. So better ask, why not include Vulkan video directly to OBS?

Still need AMD's bit though to use the hardware.

If it was as simple as that nvenc,AMF ect wouldn't be needed for any graphics card.

Given that AMF has RADV support now I would have thought it would be a no brainer to add by default to OBS from now on.
Shmerl Jul 14
Quoting: pete910Still need AMD's bit though to use the hardware.

If it was as simple as that nvenc,AMF ect wouldn't be needed for any graphics card.

Given that AMF has RADV support now I would have thought it would be a no brainer to add by default to OBS from now on.

Not according to AMD developers. AMF used to rely on Vulkan-like functionality plugging into hardware's ioctl, because Vulkan video was still work in progress. But now Vulkan spec and drivers have that through Vulkan API, so AMF now uses Vulkan proper, not hardware directly. So basically, you don't need to use AMF if you want to use same Vulkan video functions.

So yes, I'd say OBS and anyone else doesn't need AMF at all, as long as they know / want to use Vulkan. The only reason to support AMF according to AMD developers are some applications that already use it and can't move to Vulkan for whatever reason (like no one is developing them). And OBS isn't such case clearly, so it would be a complete waste of effort for them to add AMF support. Same goes for ffmpeg. They should focus on Vulkan video.


Last edited by Shmerl on 14 July 2024 at 10:04 pm UTC
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