Recording video not functioning in Catalina

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Level 1

5 points

Recording video not functioning in Catalina

Whether it's starting a new movie recording in Quicktime or using my Screenflow software, i'm not able to record any live video using my web cam or any other cameras that I connect to my Mac. For example, when I select "new movie recording" in Quicktime, I just get the endless spinning pinwheel. Same thing when I do this in Screenflow. This never happened until I upgraded to Catalina. I have everything checked off in my system preferences - security, so i'm baffled at what's going on.

But what's odd is that when I go to photo booth, my cameras work just fine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 12, 2019 11:13 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

entrsnm3 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 22, 2019 5:36 PM in response to entrsnm3

The issue is solved. There was a 3rd party plug in, EpocCam, that I was using to do live video on my Mac using my iPhone. It turns out that like so many things, EpocCam is not supported by Catalina, so it was causing a major glitch. Now, thanks to Catalina, I can't use EpocCam any longer and now have to find (pay for) a new app to stream my iPhone video to my Mac. Apparently, developers are having a very difficult time keeping up with iOS.

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Answer 2

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Nov 15, 2019 1:33 PM in response to entrsnm3

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, entrsnm3.

If I understand your post correctly, you are not able to record any video in most apps on your Mac. I'd like to help.

First, try this reset:

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac

If this issue continues after the reset, let's do some testing to narrow down the issue.

Safe mode will tell us if the issue is related to a startup item or plugins, and sometimes corrects the issue. This article will tell you how: Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

If everything is working correctly in safe mode, but is not working when you get back to your user account, please check the section titled "If an issue doesn't happen in safe mode" for the next troubleshooting steps.

If the issue continues while in safe mode, a test user will let us know if the issue is isolated to your account, or system wide: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac. If the issue happens in the test user also, then please check the section titled "If an issue happens in more than one user account."

If the issue continues, let us know the results of each of these tests.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Take care.

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Answer 3

entrsnm3 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 15, 2019 2:19 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Thank you so much for responding and offering to help. Unfortunately, none of these solved the problem. Here's what I tried with the results.

Reset NVRAM - Quicktime freezes with endless spinning pinwheel when I select "new movie recording."
Safe mode - same result
Set up completely new user - same result

Anything you can do to help me would be greatly appreciated.

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Answer 4

Nov 16, 2019 8:19 AM in response to entrsnm3

Hello entrsnm3.

Thank you for that additional information. We'd recommend using Disk Utility to run First Aid. This guide will show you how:

Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac

Cheers.

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Answer 5

entrsnm3 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 17, 2019 4:36 AM in response to Matthew.S81

I ran First Aid on all of my drives, restarted my computer, and the issue is still happening.

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

124,853 points

Nov 17, 2019 4:51 AM in response to entrsnm3

Check System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Camera and make sure QuickTime Player & Screenflow are enabled.

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Answer 7

entrsnm3 Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 17, 2019 5:05 AM in response to dialabrain

Thanks, that was one of the first things I tried. Didn't solve the issue. It's still baffling to me that my webcam works in Photobooth. Just no other video recording application.

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