User profile for user: Seadart
Seadart Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Video playback strange Noise (hissing) issue

Hi there,

i noticed a issue with my new iPhone 4 when i play videos which are made with the iphone 4.

The video's all have a noice i think you say hissing at the background! So the voices and all the other noises are recorded but there is always this hissing also in the background.

The next is, when i transfer the video the my imac...the noise (hissing) is gone. Clear sound as it should be!

I compared this bahavior with my old iPhone 3GS and with this iPhone there is no noise (hissing) at the background.

So do you thinks this is a Hardware Issue?

Thank you.

Johannes

iPhone 4, iOS 4

Posted on Jul 2, 2010 2:07 PM

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User profile for user: Seadart
Seadart Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 2, 2010 11:35 PM in response to richmlow

I notice that this hissing noise is not present when i playback the video which was made by the iphone 4 at my imac.....so this sound is only present by playback at the iphone 4.

So it seems it isn't a issue with the microphone.....maybe software??!
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User profile for user: rdh117
rdh117
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jul 3, 2010 8:53 PM in response to Seadart

I noticed this just today myself. I made a video on my iphone 4, and on playback there is a whirring/hissing/vintage "reel" sound. I posted to YouTube directly from the phone, and the noise is present there as well--I have not yet downloaded it directly to my MacBook to see if it "disappears".
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User profile for user: rdh117
rdh117
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jul 3, 2010 9:02 PM in response to rdh117

Update: downloaded it to my iPhoto, plays with the same background noise. I'm not sure I would call it a hissing, though. It really is best described as that "projector" type of sound you hear when seeing a movie on an old projector...
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User profile for user: Seadart
Seadart Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jul 3, 2010 11:54 PM in response to rdh117

I think you issue you describe is not the same i mean 😉

The noise i mean is not like this projector old school thing....its just an acoustic noise..we at germany say..."rauschen" 😀

And the most important fact is....it's gone when transfer the video to youtube oder mobile me...or to you computer.
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User profile for user: Kenneth Hayden
Kenneth Hayden
User level: Level 1
57 points

Jul 8, 2010 6:18 PM in response to Seadart

I'm having the same issue and all of a sudden notice that the microphone is muted when trying to use speakerphone. Makes no difference when you mute and unmute via the touchpad, the mike goes dead when using speakerphone. I'm thinking these two problems may be related. Anybody else notice this?
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User profile for user: eeeechuta
eeeechuta
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jul 9, 2010 1:22 AM in response to KatnissEverdeen

The hardware is not faulty. It's the way the iPhone 4 was designed.

I'm an iPhone developer and through some casual testing I've concluded that the iPhone 4 is doing some kind of DSP processing on all audio output that goes through the speaker, boosting perceived volume through EQ as well as added reverb in certain situations. This is why a lot of non-musical audio sounds hissy, boxy, echoey. If in your software you reduced the software volume playback setting to about 0.35 (default is 0.5), the problem goes away dramatically. If you plug in headphones the problem goes away right away.

The speakers are unfortunately of lower quality than the 3GS. Through the DSP processing, some situations the audio will sound "better", "clearer" but it definitely lacks the authentic presence than the 3GS had.
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User profile for user: Kenneth Hayden
Kenneth Hayden
User level: Level 1
57 points

Jul 9, 2010 3:11 PM in response to Seadart

I just tried using the mic built into the headset and the problem was not there. Retried with mic built into the phone and the problem is back. The mic built into the phone works fine when making a normal phone call unless I activate speakerphone. Phone mic does not operate with speakerphone. It has nothing to do with proximity sensitivity since it's away from my face and I can watch the mute indicator show off and on with no difference at either setting. So, the mic does work for normal call. Not a hardware problem. I have an audio spectrum program loaded and the mic seems to work for that too. Hopefully the first update will fix this
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User profile for user: eeeechuta
eeeechuta
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jul 9, 2010 6:38 PM in response to KatnissEverdeen

I'm sure Apple could do something in software to alleviate the hissing.

In my application for example, I can make the iPhone4 and the 3GS sound more similar if I reduce the playback volume by 30% in software for the iPhone 4 speaker only. At this point both phones have approximately the same volume when the hardware volume is at maximum. But mysteriously the echoing and hissing also go down dramatically too on the iPhone 4.

Apple may consider this new sound a "feature" and not a problem, because this method does seem to make smaller sounds more audible from other audio sources like games and music. Also this problem only affects playback of audio sources that originally contain noise, like video capturing and the voice memo application. In other words, the new way has good and bad points, but in my person opinion I like the 3GS sound slightly better.
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User profile for user: lukin22
lukin22
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jul 10, 2010 6:37 AM in response to Seadart

Hi Johannes,

I am experiencing exactly the same problem you are describing. Haven't seen your post before so I created a new subject:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2500205&tstart=0

I really hope this can be fixed by software and that this is not hardware related.

Best Regards
Michael
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Video playback strange Noise (hissing) issue

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