The old driver and the new driver have the same video quality. However, the new driver will have lower CPU usage and possibly heat. The heat and CPU usage reduction might be important in your usage, on a laptop.
If you need the new driver (for heat or CPU usage reasons), have you tried the following:
- reboot after installing the driver
- on OBS, toggle the video device to your built-in webcam first and then to the THETA driver. Try this a few times
- unplug the THETA and plug it back in a few times
On MPC-HC, did you try the THETA V driver, not the driver you downloaded? If so, don’t select the RICOH THETA V as audio.
More info HowTo: RICOH THETA V and Z1 4K Live Streaming Driver For Windows 10
I’m running Windows 10 20H2. I was using the new driver until a few days ago when I downgraded in order to get Unity working.