Since, well, forever actually, I’ve had the itch to do just one self-indulgent, aesthetic vlog. Specifically, the ones where you use handwriting fonts and other aesthetic overlays and backgrounds. Although I’ve made a mental commitment to only do content that benefits others, I think this self-indulgent vlog can qualify. After all, it debunks the notion that one has to spend thousands of dollars on equipment to create a decent vlog.
On another note — a slow computer continued to be my bugbear through most of the weekend. This is a complete surprise, as the ASUS TUF is a respectable (albeit budget) gaming laptop, and therefore shouldn’t be hobbled by video editing. Furthermore, I have chosen software that ought to work even on much lower-spec computers than mine.
Solving my lag problems
As of Sunday afternoon, I think I have finally identified the multiple root causes of all my playback problems:
- First and foremost, OBS slowed down cripplingly whenever I selected my USB microphone as the designated audio input. Perhaps this could be because my mic (TONOR TC-777) has no driver, and OBS might be expecting one. So, I tried setting Mic/Aux –> Device –> Default and it worked. As my background noise issues are gone, I think OBS has been smart enough to use my USB mic even without being explicitly told to do so.
- Windows Defender tends to run background processes that compete with VSDC for my RAM. I scheduled the system scans to run late at night, and also set up an exclusion to prevent Windows Defender from scanning its own files (a peculiarity that causes it to be unusually resource-hungry). Ever since I did this, my playback issues stopped.
Video editing is very resource-hungry: be warned!
I guess this indicates exactly how resource-hungry video editing can be. During the troubleshooting process, I looked at Task Manager a lot. Mostly my RAM stayed at about 50-60% utilisation, with VSDC taking up about 600MB of RAM during editing. Conversely, when opening a project it takes up the most RAM (1-2 GB).
Theoretically that should not cripple my computer, since I have 8 GB of RAM. However, I am not taking any chances because H Can Hack is extremely resource-intensive. So, I will continue to troubleshoot for ways to keep other processes as light as possible.
Wishing everyone a good and productive week ahead!