Volume changes automatically in iChat

It only effect Snow Leopard.

It is not clear that even a Fresh Install cures it (I am waiting on Joseph)

It does seem to only effect Laptops and some iMacs.
This could be (for the Laptops) an issue with shutting down the Left hand Speaker as that is where the Mic is.



8:58 PM Monday; November 30, 2009

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

I disagree with the left speaker thing, as on my MacBook the mic is right next to the built in iSight top center and both my speakers have always worked in chats. Also on my iMac the mic is on the top about 2 feet away from my speakers and I still get this happening.

I believe it is some kind of anti audio clipping thing, as if you start a chat and shout into the mic, the level goes down. For normal speaking this doesn't happen, but as soon as you laugh loud, or have a 3 year old scream, the level goes down.

Nate

Hi,

I found this about the MacBook Pros

Audio

* Built-in stereo speakers
* Built-in omnidirectional microphone (located under left speaker grille)
* Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack)
* Combined optical digital audio output/audio line out (minijack)

I have yet to discover where the Mic is on an iMac.

Next to the camera on my MacBook Pro is the light that indicates when the camera is in use.

I agree with the idea that the issue is centred around preventing the Mic/Audio circuit being overstressed by too high a volume input.
(I have had someone report that the Blue bar in System Preferences > Sound stays at Max and the other end can not hear the person - maxed out and Clipped)



8:10 PM Tuesday; December 1, 2009

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

On the iMac's the mic is center top above the iSight, you can see a few tiny holes up there. On my MacBook, the iSight is in the center top of the screen, directly to its left is the mic, and to the right is the green light.

Nate

Hello, Ralph.

I am not sure how important mic location is to OP's topic, but I know from experience that different Macs have mic openings in different locations.

For example, although some older MacBooks have mics at the top of the display near the iSight, as shown on page 20 of its User Guide, the mic opening for the current MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009) is in the speaker grille:

  http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/MacBook_13inch_Late2009UG.pdf

I have owned only a couple of iMacs. However, as shown on page two of the respective Users Guides, both had their mic openings (one high, one low) in the display bezel:

  http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iMacG415inchFlatPanelMultilingualUserGuide.PDF

  http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iMacG3originalUserManual.PDF

As shown on page 20 of the User Guide for the current iMacs, the mic opening is back at the top of the display bezel:

  http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iMac_Late2009UG.pdf

*The best way I know to be certain of the location of any Mac's mic opening is to look in the user guide* that comes with the Mac. If you do not have access to the User Guide, it can be viewed/downloaded from the Apple Support site:

  http://support.apple.com/manuals/

EZ Jim



MacPro QuadCore(Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/MacOSX (10.6.2)  MacBookPro(13inch,Mid2009) 2.26GHz(10.6.2)
LED Cinema Display  G4PowerBook1.67GHz(10.4.11)  iBookSE366MHz(10.3.9)  External iSight

Hi EZ Jim,

Thanks.

I was searching under different terms (Quickstart and Set Up Guide mainly) and could not find wat i was looking for.

I believe the iBooks and PowerBooks and those MacBook Pros (like mine) have the Mic in the Speaker grill.

I was not aware it had changed. (I tend not to look at specs until I am about to buy a new computer).

Thanks again for the Info.

If the Mics are in different places it would seem that being a Laptop and Ambient Noise Reduction is not the whole answer. (I can see that it might be for All Macs with Hard Drives in the casing somewhere).



8:35 PM Thursday; December 3, 2009

You're welcome, Ralph.

I agree with your assessment that "being a Laptop and Ambient Noise Reduction is not the whole answer."
 
I do not know whether my iChat 5 observations will be helpful or consistent with yours, but I believe that there is a difference in iChat 5 sound. I have no way of measuring to determine whether my perception is real.
 
In my testing using SnowLeopard, it seems to me that mic sensitivity may be more "digital" (either on or off) than it was in the past iChat versions. The change I think I notice is not dependent on which end of the chat so long as both are using iChat 5.
 
My experience in older versions of iChat was that sitting too far from the mic or speaking too softly resulted in the sound at the other end of the chat to become too soft or indistinct. However, when using iChat 5, it seems more likely to me that the sender's mic switches off and on during sentences. If the sender moves closer or speaks louder, normal iChat sound quality returns immediately. I have not been able to determine whether this perceived change in mic function is related to the *newer Macs* that ship with SL already installed or are a change in the way *SL & iChat 5* processes sound inputs.

BTW, I didn't expect that you would read the links that I provided for possible use by other readers. I should have said that clearly in my post. Thanks for taking the time to post back.

EZ Jim



MacPro QuadCore(Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/MacOSX (10.6.2)  MacBookPro(13inch,Mid2009) 2.26GHz(10.6.2) LED Cinema Display
G4PowerBook1.67GHz(10.4.11)  iBookSE366MHz(10.3.9)  External iSight

Hi,

I have been testing this with EZ Jim.

I have a MacBook Pro 1,1 and he has one at 5,5 and neither of us have the issue.

There was a similar issue a while back when a new iLife came out (I can't remember which version) but Garage Band needed to be started up at least once to sort out an Audio issue.

If you have iLife, which version is it and when was it installed (Pre Snow Leopard Update ?)

Has it (Garage Band) ever been started up if you have iLife '08 or '09 ?

EZ Jim and I have different iLife versions but have both started up Garage Band at some stage which may exclude us on that basis.

Any feedback is welcome.



9:06 PM Friday; December 4, 2009

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Blast !!

I thought I was on to something then.

Ok. Summary.

iMacs and Laptops are effected.
It is Intels as only Snow Leopard is effected.
10.6, 10..6.1 and 10.6.2 are all effected.

Many people are reporting they do not have any iChat or System Add-ons.
iGlasses is Video only
iUSBCam is no Longer supported in Snow Leopard.
Showmacster has not been reported and I have not tried it yet.
ChatFX died before 10.4.10 (no-one is consistently saying it is Tiger to Leopard Upgrade anyway)
Chax does not e3ffect Audio even though it's Snow version is in Alpha.

Flip4Mac has been Updated for Snow Leopard. I have it but the issue does not effect me.
Perian at 1.1.3 was an issue for 10.5.8 and 10.4.11 but no other versions for some reason (It is now at 1.1.4 and no-one is reporting a problem either)
Many report that they do not have these two Add-Ons anyway.

iLife GarageBand in (I think) iLife 06 was an issue for iChat.
It installed some Audio bit that needed to be run before iChat would work again
However on your test this is not the issue seemingly excluding iLife '09

Deleting com.appleAudiodevice.settings does not work in this case.
Nor do any of the other .plist in the new Audio sub folder (Hard Drive/Library/Preferences/Audio)

Only com.apple.SystemPreferences.plist in the Users own Home Folder/Library/Preferences shows a change if the Audio slider is moved (it takes a few seconds before the Write)

<hr>
On this last could you open your Home Folder/Library/Preferences and highlight the Modified Column ?
Can you confirm that the said .plist changes when you change the slider ?
Does it also get constantly rewritten during a Video chat when the slider moves ?

I will be sleeping soon and will get back to this on (My) Saturday



9:59 PM Friday; December 4, 2009

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

Hi Joseph,

I am sorry we have not found a solution.
Thanks for working through this and responding with your processes.

Can I ask you to also feed this back here http://www.apple.com/feedback/ichat.html ?

You will have to manually add the fact you are on iChat 5.x as they have not added it to the options yet.



7:15 PM Monday; December 7, 2009

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

Hi all, I have made some progress. I tried sending an email and actually got a reply!!

Hi Nathan,

I work on iChat and I recently read your discussion forum post pertaining to an audio problem you experienced while using Snow Leopard, and I wanted to follow up to gather some more information. Would you be available to chat via iChat sometime (via Video or Audio conference). If so, when would be a good time to reach you and under what account?

Thank You,
Roberto

Lets see what happens.

Nathan


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