Sound issues using FaceTime on Mac!!

Hi sorry i cant help you on this but just wanted to add my voice to the list of disgruntled apple customers. Ever since a collegue upgraded to ios6 on their ipad they've been experiencing problems hearing me on my snow leopard mac. Dont know if apple read this but guess if we shout loud enough they'll do something about it! Well here's hoping..................................................

Having the same, ongoing problem.

I am one of those 95% who has been reading this discussion (for years!) and never posted. This has happened on my MacBook Air, iMac, and iPads (x2)! It is always my end that loses the sound.... Never the other way around. I love Apple and love the ease of integration between their devices! .....except this! As SNL skits says, (apple) Just Fix It!

My kids just told me about not being able to hear people from the other end when they FaceTime on my MacBook Pro. I simply initiated a FaceTime call, selected 'video' from the menu bar and then selected 'Internal microphone' - works a treat for me.

I hope it's this simple for others. 😉

I had the same issues as everyone describes. I did try his fix, and it has worked for me. Pretty straightforward fix, which I hope holds for future restarts, but it fixed it successfully.

Here are his steps:

1. Open the "Audio MIDI Setup" window by clicking the FInder + GO + Utilities and then select the Audio MIDI Setup.

2. Select "Built-in Input" (or if you are using a third party device such as a Logitech Webcam or an external microphone, then select that device). Note that the "Source" should be set to Default. If it is not, then that is NOT your default input device. Find it and select it.

4. Note the Format's channel value (i.e. 2ch-16bit Integer or 2ch-24bit Integer, etc).

5. Now, select "Built-in Output" and check your Format's channel value. Does it match your DEFAULT Input device's value? If not, change it to match your Default Input value.

6. Try FaceTime and see if it works

One way audio seems to be the way it works. Learn to write backwards on a white board and hold it up to the screen.

Okay. I spent 45 mins with tech support, and here's what actually worked.

Problem was similar to everyone else's. Audio coming in, but no audio going out.

They had me trash the library/preferences/com.apple.FaceTime.plist as well as the com.apple.FaceTime.bag.plist, and then restart the Mac. It worked. I quit and restarted a second time, and it worked again.

So I don't know if this is a permanent fix, but so far so good. Be forewarned...you may be trashing your favorites list in the process.

The tech lady didn't have any record of this being a "known issue" for Mountain Lion.

Duff,

Not sure that this is the solution. I can fix it on an iMac by simply quitting FaceTime and restarting (without even rebooting the iMac). You will have restarted FaceTime by restarting your Mac.

There is an earlier report where someone linked it to a loud bang (or if you whack your desk). I think that is on the money for the cause. It seems that the feedback created probably leads to a software issue where it knocks out the microphone at the iMac end. We have been able to fix the issue a number of times now by simply restarting FaceTime (you actually have to quit out of FaceTime - click on FaceTime up the top left and then select Quit FaceTime).

True enough. It doesn't seem to be a "fix", though logging off, and then back in again through my other user name seems to work.

Sorry I can't offer what appears to be a fix. But since I've got 85 days of tech support left, I'm not going to quit bugging them. It's funny that they don't even have a way to connect with you via Facetime...so unless you have a pal with an Iphone with nothing to do, there's no way for them to test their suggestions. Not very impressive.

Hello All. I just bought a MacBookPro recently and my mom has had one for a year or so. After about 20 minutes of using FT I lose audio. She can hear me fine. Both of us rebooting does nothing. One time she tried to FT me on my iPhone 4s and the same thing happened. It looks like this is a longstanding issue with little to no help from Apple. Disappointing. 😠

My MAc is doing the same thing, how did you fix yours?

Here are the steps:

1. Open the "Audio MIDI Setup" window by clicking the FInder + GO + Utilities and then select the Audio MIDI Setup.

2. Select "Built-in Input" (or if you are using a third party device such as a Logitech Webcam or an external microphone, then select that device). Note that the "Source" should be set to Default. If it is not, then that is NOT your default input device. Find it and select it.

4. Note the Format's channel value (i.e. 2ch-16bit Integer or 2ch-24bit Integer, etc).

5. Now, select "Built-in Output" and check your Format's channel value. Does it match your DEFAULT Input device's value? If not, change it to match your Default Input value.

6. Try FaceTime and see if it works

I recently downloaded the Facetime app to try with my iMac running Snow Leopard and experienced the problem that everyone else has experienced of my audio dropping out. I was Facetiming to a Mac Air. The problem always was on my end. Restarting Facetime fixed it temporarily. I have tried all the fixes suggested so far. Manipulating input levels seemed to have no effect. The input and output channel values as suggested above were already the same. Any other suggestions?

I'm sorry to report that I never got it resolved, and basically gave up. What was curious, in talking with the "tech support" people during my 90 days of warrenty, was that they weren't "aware" of the glitch, nor did they have anyway to troubleshoot it via an Iphone or a Facetime connection. They were just working out of their house. So I'm sure somebody up the chain of command knows of the issue, and perhaps it will get worked out in a future update, but I think we've exhausted our personal abilities to find resolution. Very unimpressed though, I must say.

Thanks for the reply. One thing I wondered about was whether anybody had tried an external mic? It seems that the problem is somehow connected to the internal mic on the iMac.