Alexis Ramel

Q: Facetime and external iSight - no sound input

Hi,

 

I have a 2006 MacBook and a FireWire external iSight, it works fine with Skype and iChat.

With FaceTime, the video works fine but there is no way I can select the sound input to be from the iSight. I have only two options: Line-in or internal mic. My friends can hear me with the internal mic but it ***** compared to the external iSight mic (my laptop is closed). Again, with iChat and Skype it's fine. In the system preferences it's fine as well. Any idea?

Posted on Jul 4, 2011 12:13 PM

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Q: Facetime and external iSight - no sound input

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  • by Stephen Glick,

    Stephen Glick Stephen Glick Feb 26, 2012 8:51 AM in response to ghetto ute
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Feb 26, 2012 8:51 AM in response to ghetto ute

    I am having the same issue that has been described earlier, but 10.7.3 didn't fix it.  I can connect with facetime, I can see and hear people, people can see me but not hear me.  I have iSight checked as the microphone in the video menu. In my sound preferences, sound input is iSight and sound is coming in. 

     

    I can always do facetime on my phone or laptop but it would be nice to be able to use my macpro also. 

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 26, 2012 12:08 PM in response to Stephen Glick
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Feb 26, 2012 12:08 PM in response to Stephen Glick

    Hi Stephen Glick,

     

    This might seem strange but can you do the following.

    In System Preferences > Sound > Input can you change th "mic" to anything but the iSight's mic ?

    In FaceTime can you do the same ?

     

    Then Set the System Preferences > Sound > Input "First" (for the iSight's Mics)

    and the FaceTime App "Second".

     

    This has helped some people with Headsets in iChat.

     

     


    8:08 PM      Sunday; February 26, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by Stephen Glick,

    Stephen Glick Stephen Glick Feb 26, 2012 1:56 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 1 (60 points)
    Feb 26, 2012 1:56 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    As strange as that was, yes, it worked.  Who would have thought that the order of the settings would make a difference.  I unset both off of isight, and then set them both back to isight doing the System Preferences > Sound first, and the facetime setting second.  Thanks, Ralph. 

    Steve

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Feb 26, 2012 2:23 PM in response to Stephen Glick
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Feb 26, 2012 2:23 PM in response to Stephen Glick

    Hi,

     

    There is a sort of logic if you think about it.

    Until System Preferences has been set for an Input then no app can access that input.

     

    Unfortunately most apps are like a car with a stick shift/manual gearbox in that you can select a gear even before you turn the engine ON.

     

     


    10:23 PM      Sunday; February 26, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by upctry2,

    upctry2 upctry2 Mar 28, 2012 2:53 PM in response to ghetto ute
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 28, 2012 2:53 PM in response to ghetto ute

    I have a new mac mini and a 20" apple cinema with the isight with Lion 10.7.3 and tryied to do a facetime

    today but no audio.  Do I need to redo some settings?

     

    Thanks

    Martin

  • by EZ Jim,

    EZ Jim EZ Jim Mar 29, 2012 5:41 AM in response to upctry2
    Level 7 (22,547 points)
    Mar 29, 2012 5:41 AM in response to upctry2

    upctry2 wrote: ... no audio.  Do I need to redo some settings?

    If you mean no audio input, verify that your FaceTime > Video setting is set to use your microphone.

     

    If you mean no audio output, check your volume settings and connected speakers.

     

     

    Message was edited by: EZ Jim

     

     

    Mac OSX 10.7.3

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Mar 29, 2012 11:51 AM in response to upctry2
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Mar 29, 2012 11:51 AM in response to upctry2

    Hi,

     

    Do you have  Mic ?

    As the Camera is in fact External to the Mac Mini so would a Mic need to be.

     

    You describe having  Camera...

     

    If you have a Mic, have you set this in System Preferences > Sound > Input ?

    Have you set the Volume here High enough (The Blue response bar should getr about 1/2 - 3/4s fo the way to the right) ?

     

    Is the same device/mic selected in iChat menu > Preferences > Video section  > Microphone drop down ?

     

    EDIT

    Apologies EZ Jim.

    I have this thread on Subscription

    For me in Threaded View it is 5 pages or so long.

    At about this point Links in the email I get don't always take me to the Post made.  (it did for upctry2)

    However when it does link to thre right Posts I don't always see follow posts in order.

    I did not see yours this time.  (in fact your Subscription led me to another post of yours and I had to search for this one)

     

     

     

     


    7:46 PM      Thursday; March 29, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

     

    Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)

  • by upctry2,

    upctry2 upctry2 Mar 29, 2012 11:49 AM in response to EZ Jim
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 29, 2012 11:49 AM in response to EZ Jim

    Thanks for the help.. I think im going to un install it on the macmini and just use my iphone or ipad.

  • by EZ Jim,

    EZ Jim EZ Jim Mar 30, 2012 5:56 AM in response to upctry2
    Level 7 (22,547 points)
    Mar 30, 2012 5:56 AM in response to upctry2

    upctry2 wrote (in response to EZ Jim):

     

    Thanks for the help.. I think im going to un install it on the macmini and just use my iphone or ipad.

     

    You're welcome. 

     

    You have a good plan to use FaceTime from your iphone or ipad.  However, I would suggest that you NOT un install FaceTime from your macmini.

     

    Mistakes made when uninstalling individual components installed with your OS (as FaceTime was) can cause system problems

     

    Unless you are an OS X expert, I suggest you simply use your mini's FaceTime > Preferences... to turn off FaceTime.  Then quit FaceTime.  FaceTime will continue to work with your iOS devices, but it will no longer respond on your mini.

     

     

    Message was edited by: EZ Jim

     

     

    Mac OSX 10.7.3

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Apr 9, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Apr 9, 2012 11:16 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    Ralph:

     

    Looking for some help here and you appear to be the external iSight/Facetime Guru!

     

    I upgraded to a mid-2011 Mac Mini (comes with Lion) and added my iSight Camera to it through a Belkin USB/Firewire hub.  This Mac Mini has no internal mic.

     

    Audio/Video works fine in Skype.  No audio in Facetime. 

     

    Thanks!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 9, 2012 2:05 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 9, 2012 2:05 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    Hi,

     

    Actually I learnt all I know about FaceTime from EZ Jim.

    I would also say the same about the External and Internal iSights  (EZ Jim wrote the info about iSights on my site)

     

    This tends to be about which version of the OS you have.

    FaceTime Beta  in Snow Leopard works with the external Mic over firewire

     

    In Lion it does not until you reach OS 10.7.3

    I am sure EZ Jim has included that pic in a thread somewhere (If not this one) where the Mic is added to the Audio option

    Screen Shot 2012-04-09 at 22.00.37

     

    (EZ Jim's one reads iSight as he has an External he can use)

     

    If you have not already then update to OS 10.7.3

     

     


    10:05 PM      Monday; April 9, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Apr 10, 2012 4:19 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Apr 10, 2012 4:19 PM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    OS X 10.7.3 works! I guess they forgot the iSight driver in the earlier Lion versions...

     

    Thanks!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 11, 2012 11:01 AM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 11, 2012 11:01 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

    No Problem.

     

     


    7:01 PM      Wednesday; April 11, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Apr 11, 2012 11:04 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Apr 11, 2012 11:04 AM in response to Ralph Johns (UK)

    So all this time (up until the release of 10.7.3) external iSight camera would not work with Facetime?

     

    Good timing on my part!

  • by Ralph Johns (UK),

    Ralph Johns (UK) Ralph Johns (UK) Apr 11, 2012 12:04 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (72,994 points)
    Applications
    Apr 11, 2012 12:04 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    Hi,

     

    The camera was Identified in Face Time but the Mics (there are two of them) were not.

     

    Most external iSights are at least 7 years old since the last manufacture let alone being sold.

    There were three versions mostly with different mounts for different Macs that came out.

     

    However both camera (for Video) and the mics show up in the Video menu of FaceTime.

     

     


    8:04 PM      Wednesday; April 11, 2012


    Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

     

      iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.3)
     G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
     MacBookPro 2Gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
     Mac OS X (10.6.8),

    "Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

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