Performance settings

Tune rendering quality and GPU resource usage

The Performance tab in Preferences controls how OmniScope balances visual quality against GPU and CPU resources. Open it via Preferences > Performance.

Preferences — Performance tab

Rendering

Signal Preprocessing

These options trade detail for responsiveness before scopes ingest the signal.

Setting	Description
Limit input to 1080p	Downsamples heavy scopes (Waveform, Vectorscope, CIE Plot, 3D Cube) to 1080p before processing. Recommended for 4K+ sources on mid-range hardware.
Use high precision calculation	Switches the internal pipeline from 16-bit half-float to 32-bit float math for maximum accuracy. Requires restart.
Input frame reordering based on timecode	Re-orders frames based on their embedded timecode when input sources deliver them out of sequence.

Frame Cache & Buffering

Balances GPU memory usage against playback smoothness, especially at high frame rates.

GPU Cache Level	Frame Buffer Size	Notes
Low memory	4 frames	Minimal GPU memory footprint
Medium Memory & better HFR perf	8 frames	Default — good balance for most workflows
High Memory & best HFR perf	16 frames	Best for high-frame-rate sources (120 fps+)

Changing this setting requires restarting the video source to take effect.

Scope Sampling

Setting	Description
Global scope downsample	Applies a global resolution scale to every scope. Options: 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 10%. Lower values reduce fidelity but save considerable GPU time. Individual scopes can override this in their own settings.

Uploads & CPU Scaling

Setting	Description
Optimize scope resolution	Renders all scopes at 75% of their display size, reducing GPU workload with minimal visual impact.
Use Lanczos filtering for downsample	Uses higher-quality Lanczos filtering when downsampling scopes. Produces sharper results at a slight performance cost.

Hold Shift while the Performance tab is open to reveal additional developer options in this section.

GPU

UI Renderer

Setting	Description
UI refresh rate	Caps the UI thread redraw rate. Options: 30 Hz, 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, 240 Hz. Higher values produce a smoother interface but increase CPU and GPU load. Default is 60 Hz. Requires restart.

macOS-Specific

Setting	Description
Metal GPU capture	Enables Apple GPU capture tooling for debugging Metal shader issues. Only useful for development or when requested by support. Requires restart.
Active GPU	On systems with multiple GPUs, selects which Metal device OmniScope uses. Visible only when more than one GPU is detected. Requires restart.

Windows: Prefer the Discrete GPU

On systems with both integrated and discrete graphics, OmniScope should run on the high-performance GPU. In Windows, set this in Settings > System > Display > Graphics, then restart OmniScope.

Windows-Specific

Setting	Description
Use GPU compute acceleration	Switches between CPU and GPU (OpenCL) compute pipelines. Disable if you experience OpenCL-related crashes. Requires restart.
Use GLSL compute if available	Prefers GLSL compute shaders over OpenCL when the GPU supports them. Can improve performance on some NVIDIA and AMD cards.

Hold Shift while the GPU section is open to reveal additional developer toggles.