How to reinstall a camera drivers?

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Level 1

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How to reinstall a camera drivers?

Hi there!

I'm having a very strange problem regarding recording sound. I have a Creative Live! Cam Sync HD with microphone built in. I've been using it for Google Hangouts and such. Anyway everything worked fine until few days ago people I called started to laugh that I sound like "smurf". I tried to record it and this is what I heard: http://cl.ly/3m3x0C333g2f Now that's not what my voice sound like in reality 🙂

It gets even more interesting. When I use Photo Booth to record video + sound by this camera the both are out of sync!

Does anyone know what could be the reason? My guess is something about drivers (though I don't remember I changed, installed, uninstalled anything the day when it happened). I would like my Mac to "forget" this device was ever installed and try to install it fresh. How do I reinstall a camera drivers in Maverics? On the other hand maybe it's the sound drivers/codecs? What do you think?

Best regards

Emil

Mac mini (Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 12, 2014 11:39 AM

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Answer 1

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emilicus Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 21, 2014 8:07 AM in response to emilicus

Ok found it! Well actually my nephew did.

If you have a problem similar to mine go to Audio MIDI Setup app, click on the audio source on the left hand side (in my case: "Live! Cam Sync HD VF0770") and check the source settings.

For some strange reason my settings where changed to 16000Hz, 24 bits. Typically though it should be 48000Hz (or 44100Hz) and 16 bits.

Everything works now just fine!

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Answer 2

Feb 13, 2014 12:55 PM in response to emilicus

According to this page Installing Compatible UVC Creative Live! Cams in Mac from the manufacturer there does not appear to be any drivers for this camera under OS X. It works natively with the Mac.

Have you tried rebooting the system the problem started?

You might want to give the manufactuers Support a shot

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Answer 3

emilicus Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 13, 2014 1:12 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Hi Frank, thanks for your reply.

I tried to contact Creative but still waiting to hear anything from them.

Of course I rebooted the system but with no positive effect. I tried the camera and its mic on a Windows machine and to my surprise it worked just fine. So what could it be it stopped working well on my Mac..? 😕

Also it's worth to mention that I have no other problems regarding sound whatsoever: it plays music just fine via speakers and when I use my headphones with mic built-in - it records sound just fine... 😮

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Answer 4

Feb 13, 2014 1:18 PM in response to emilicus

Hopefully you'll hear back from the manufacturer.

You're on a Mini I see so you can't even see if the built-in camera works OK as there isn't one. Do you have another camera to test?

The only other thing I can think to try would be another USB cable and one of the other USB ports. It is a long shot but at least it will eliminate some possibilities.

BTW you say you rebooted, did you try powering off both the system and the camera at the same time? If not I'd give that a shot also.

regards

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Answer 5

emilicus Author

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8 points

Feb 13, 2014 1:50 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Thanks again Frank. I've just followed your suggestions but it didn't work I'm afraid. I tried both: swapping USB ports and turning off my Mac (with another USB swap). Nothing has changed.

And no, sadly I don't have another camera to test it.

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Answer 6

Feb 13, 2014 8:26 PM in response to emilicus

Apart form that I've got nothing, sorry. Hopefully you'll hear from their tech support.

Good luck

BTW you mentioned turning off the Mac. Is there anyway to reset or power cycle the camera? If so and you haven't tried it it's worth a shot.

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Answer 7

emilicus Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 18, 2014 3:06 AM in response to emilicus

The problem I've got here drives me mad. It so weird! Look:

- when I use Vector (a voice recording app) I count to 10 (looking at my watch) so the record should be 10 seconds long, right? Well it is not! It's around 6.5 seconds long.

- when I use Photobooth doing the same thing only recording video+sound it's acctualy 10 seconds long BUT the voice I hear is out of sync and AGAIN it ends after about 6-7 seconds.

My camera is connected via USB. When I use ordinary mic connected to the mini-jack port (directly to the sound card) there's no problem at all. So the problem (I think) originates somewhere from translating audio signal from USB. Any ideas??

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Answer 8

emilicus Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 13, 2014 12:29 PM in response to emilicus

Anyone? Any ideas, please? 😐

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Answer 9

jackm831

Level 1

127 points

Feb 13, 2014 12:31 PM in response to emilicus

Is this only for that camera?

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