FaceTime Mic Issues

Question

Level 1

20 points

FaceTime Mic Issues

Good evening,

I have a new Mac Mini i7 Quad Core, 2.6GHz with 16GB RAM. As it is a Mac Mini, it has no built in camera nor microphone. I purchased a Logitech C920 web cam for use on Skype and FaceTime. I have the camera selected as the audio input device in preferences. On FaceTime, however, even though the camera is selected as the audio input device (the camera has a built in mic) people on the other end cannot hear me. The only time people can hear me is when I use a separate microphone or bluettoth headset/mic. On Skype, however, the web cam works wonderfully.

How do I get FaceTime to accept audio from the mic of the web cam? It seems quite odd that FaceTime would require a camera with a separate mic for people on the other end to hear you. Especially since when running FaceTime, if I go into System Preferences and select Sound, the selected audio device, in this case the web cam, shows it is picking up audio just fine. I can tell this by looking at the audio meter in system preferences.

Seems like this has been an issue with FaceTime for over a year now, so I would hope Apple is working a solution or has if someone has the solution available.

Thanks in advance!

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Nov 21, 2012 6:47 PM

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Answer 1

LousyFool

Level 4

2,668 points

Nov 22, 2012 3:25 AM in response to Tully Lehman

It appears that the Logitech driver is somewhat limited. I don't have the C920 myself, but this here might help you.

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Answer 2

Tully Lehman Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 27, 2012 4:37 PM in response to LousyFool

This helped and it didnt help. The issue does not appear to be with the drivers, but rather with FaceTime working with a third party camera/mic. The camera and mic work perfectly with Skype and QuickTime, but not with FaceTime. This to me is odd and very frustrating. The fact I would have to use a camera and then a separate mic connected to the computer to get audio just for FaceTime is needless to say rather unacceptable. I expect better from Apple than having to "jury-rig" a solution.

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Answer 3

Dave Stowe

Level 5

5,180 points

Nov 27, 2012 4:46 PM in response to Tully Lehman

I just picked up a Logitech c615.....when FaceTime is active go to the upper menu bar and select "Video"....from that menu you are given a choice of Microphone's......choose Logitech Camera......hopefully that is the issue....

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Answer 4

Tully Lehman Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 27, 2012 5:38 PM in response to Dave Stowe

Ah, if only it were that simple. In playing around with this this evening, I opened iChat in the Messages application -- where ichat is located now -- and the mic worked wonderfully there, too. Only in FaceTime does it not work. Frustrating.

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Answer 5

Jan 5, 2013 8:21 PM in response to Tully Lehman

I figured out the root cause of the problem and a solution for it.

Cause of Problem: The Logitech C920 camera/mic operates on a 2ch-16bit integer. You can verify this by opening "finder + Utilities + Audio MIDI Setup" and then select the HD Pro Webcam C920 and look at the "Input" Default values.

The Mac Mini's "Built-In Output" and "Buiilt-In Input" formats were set for 2ch-24 bit integer. Therefore, the default input and output were out of sync with the C920 default format.

Solution: Change the Mac Mini's default Output to "2ch-16 bit integer". You don't need to change the default Input but it doesn't hurt to do so. Once you do this, the camera and it's built in mics work on facetime and all other video chat applications.

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Answer 6

edlucas

Level 1

10 points

Dec 17, 2013 5:27 PM in response to chiflado8

i just figured the problem and has nothing to do with changing those integers. in the audio MIDI setting (app in utilities folder) for the c920 make sure the format is set to 24000hz, and it will finally work. if its set to 16000hz or 32000hz it wont work. i actually went backand put the integer settings to its original settings. 24integer for mac and 16 for c920.

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