Q: People can see me but mic crossed out, no sound with iSight in Face Time

Like many in this discussion I was irritated when my isight sound no longer worked with facetime after the lion upgrade. Many have suggested workarounds and also others have stated that it is just part of system and software upgrades that things are no longer supported. Bottom line for me, however is the fact that Apple said that the isight was supported in facetime for lion and as far as I can tell has not commented in this thread or anywhere else if they intend to keep this commitment or abandon the isight in this app. Saying it is an old and out of date hardware item is not the issue. The issue is, has been and still is that Apple officially stated it was supported. Where is their reply? Some have started a support ticket, has anyone received a reply??

I'd just like to add my voice to the discussion and state that we here are not guilty of complaining or niggling or nitpicking this issue.  We are pointing out the obvious!

When the last OS version works...

...and the current one does not...

...and the most current advertising tells us it does...

...then it's not us who have screwed up!

We bought Apple products which Apple said would work together.  In this case they don't.

Some understanding, humility and patience is admirable for all of us to practice, but this Lion grief just keeps on coming, doesn't it?

Now that Apple (which used to call itself "Apple Computer", remember?) has added millions of customers accustomed to IOS, they have chosen to hobble the computer side of their line with this new rushed-to-market operating system.

So, we discuss the problems here and offer solutions amongst ourselves.  We submit reports to Apple (we've all done that, right?) to alert them of oversights and errors.  We even buy products made by other manufacturers which seem to solve this Apple problem.

I appreciate how patient and understanding correspondents to this group are trying to be, but let's all remember that there was a time when Apple was not a music giant or telecom equipment maker. 

The company I've given my custom for the last three decades was known for proudly and meticulously supporting the equipment and software they put their name on. 

What I have seen from the company this summer has just made it harder and harder for guys like me to "evangelize" for the Apple computer.  Maybe I should just become a little more like a Windows-using buyer of a shiny iPad and just demand that my purchase work like it's supposed to?

Not, it seems, that they will listen.

You're most welcome, Don.

Well said!

Count me in as another FT user with audio issues....

MacPro w Snow Leopard, an iSight cam and FT 1.0.2 (purchased). My wife has an iPhone 4 running IOS 5.

I had downloaded the beta version which seemed to work fine - never had a single an audio drop-out. The beta expired and I purchased FT from the app store. Some days we can chat for 5 minutes or more before the audio drops out.... most of the time it drops out after a couple minutes. We tried at different times of the day thinking it might be bandwidth problems but there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it.

This is VERY frustrating.... FaceTime is unuseable like this.

Apple.... are you listening? Recognition of the problem would be a good first step.

Cheers!

Rob

Greenmanyyz wrote: .... FaceTime is unuseable like this.

 

Apple.... are you listening? ....

Those of us posting here are Mac users trying to help each other:

http://discussions.apple.com/static/apple/tutorial/etiquette.html

You can send feedback directly to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Sorry EZ Jim,

Didn't mean to step on any toes.... just wanted to add my name to a seemingly growing list of people with the same problem. I was under the impression that Apple folks do watch these boards...

If I find a solution to my instance of this problem I will post it here for all.

Cheers!

Rob

No toes harmed! I certainly did not intend to imply such.

I merely wanted to clarify (for all readers) the route Apple has provided for your direct input of comments and suggestions  versus the user help provided per Apple Discussions Terms of Use.

I am sure you are right that some Apple people look at some posts here some of the time.  However, although you get no direct response, by using the feedback link you can be certain that the responsible Apple people will see your input for consideration in FaceTime product development.

We will watch for your future posts.  Shared experiences makes for valuable shared knowledge for all of us users.  Thanks again.

Best regards,

EZ Jim

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

I am having the same issue as everyone else.  It seems to be intentional but i don't understand why.  The external isight is a good camera, it makes no sense to have to go buy another because of facetime.

Apple please bring back the ability to use the isight mic with Facetime in Lion.

Thanks

Hi,

Apple send people who write apps and stuff (Developers) early copies of the next update.

They have signed Non Disclosure Agreements.

However there have been two posts that have suggested that this will be fixed in OS 10.7.3

Both posts have been removed which is the custom by Apple in these situations.

Not everything that is tried out during the trial-before-relase-period makes it to the Final release so that would make this thread Speculation and that also is not allowed under the Terms of Use.  (This post may disappear)

9:05 PM      Monday; January 16, 2012

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

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 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

I understand Apple would love everyone to be on Lion.... I'd love to be running it too however there are a few pieces of software I use that would require re-purchasing and that's just out of the question right now. That said, is it possible that any fixes that may or may not be coming will also be present in a update of Snow Leopard. Hint hint....

I've been wondering if having a USB headphone plugged in at the same time as my FireWire iSight may be causing the problem. I will try some testing and post my results here when I get a chance.

Cheers!

Rob

HI,

I seem to have missed something.

Are you saying that you have no Audio from the external iSight Mics (there are two) when using Face Time in Snow Leopard ?

I was under the impression that this worked but as of yet it does not in Lion

7:51 PM      Tuesday; January 17, 2012

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

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 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

Hi Ralph,

Yes, it's happening in Snow Leopard. I can get it to work for a short while... sometimes it will be OK for 3 or 4 minutes then the audio will drop out.

Let me set up my situation... I'm on a MacPro 1,1 Dual-core 2.66, 6GB RAM, Snow Leopard 10.6.8 with an iSight FW camera, FaceTime v.1.0.2. I had the trial/beta version of FT originally then purchased it when it came out.

My wife has her iPhone 4 IOS 5 (whatever the latest version is). We will try to FaceTime - either she calls me or I call her doesn't seem to matter which, and although the video stream seems fine, my audio out will drop out after a couple of minutes. I can hear and see her fine. She can see me but not hear me.I do not have my end muted - I checked that the first time. The only way to get the audio back is to reinitialize the call. I usually will quit FT on my end and restart it although that doesn't seem to make any difference either.

I have had other apps running - Safari, Mail, Contactizer Pro and had none running - again do discernable difference. I also have a Logitech USB headphone which is usually plugged in. I run FT with the iSight set as audio and video device in preferrences.

I haven't had a chance to run more extensive testing to eliminate the headphone or the pref settings with or without it plugged in. I have no other FireWire devices plugged in.

I have sent this info to Apple already but of course have not heard back from them (not that I expect to hear from them). 

Cheers!

Rob Coleman

Ahh !!!.

OK in Lion and Face Time the Ability of the App to even select the external iSight mic(s) is not possible  (at least up to 10.7.2 at time of writing).

This will be despite the setting in System Preferences > Sound > Input being able to select the device.

In some computers that have the Ambient Noise Reduction box in the Sound > Input pane people have reported seeing the slider moving Left (reducing) during iChat Video chats.

In Leopard this was somewhat "solvable" by removing a System Side .plist regarding Audio device settings.

(In Hard Drive/Library/Preferences/com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist

In Snow Leopard it is one folder deeper. the Folder is called Audio).

 

It was less "Solvable" by this method in Snow Leopard for some reason.

 

Deleting both .plists in that /Library/Preferences/Audio folder also does not seem to work.

I know that my iMac and my MacBook Pro (ver 1,1) both have this Ambient Noise Reduction as the mics are in the casing of the computer and likely to pick up on hard drive and other internal sounds.

I am not sure your MacPro will have the setting.

As the Mic (and Camera) can be set in Face Time separately (In the case of the Mic) form System Preferences > Sound I would check the settings.

10:03 PM      Tuesday; January 17, 2012

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

  iMac 2.5Ghz 5i 2011 (Lion 10.7.2)
 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

10.7.3 fixes this issue

Although not specifically mentioned in the About the OS X Lion v10.7.3 Update

article, Mac OS X 10.7.3 includes a new FaceTime Version 1.1.1 (301) that

allows use of external iSight mic.

Users of FaceTime 1.1.1 (301) can now select external iSight mic

in the FaceTime > Video command menu as shown here:

Earlier versions' menus like that shown in the image at

http://discussions.apple.com/message/16216615#16216615

did not include external iSight's Firewire mic in their "Microphone" lists.

Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Mac OSX 10.7.3               External iSights