Mac-to-Mac FaceTime Portrait Wonkiness

Question

Level 2

218 points

Mac-to-Mac FaceTime Portrait Wonkiness

experienced this scenario today directly after the Sierra upgrade.

is it a bug in Sierra or a problem from elsewhere?

anybody have any knowledge/experience/tips/fixes/etc for this?

it's much more convenient to make calls from iMessage than the Facetime app, so would like to regain this functionality asap, as we record call interviews & need the orientation to be landscape.

thanks.

note... Mac A: Sierra || Mac B: El Capitan

Mac A calls Mac B from within the Messages.app > conversation > Details > initiate FT call icon...

Mac B's display on Mac A's screen is stuck in portrait mode.

Mac's A & B changing PIP orientation makes no affect on Mac A's view of Mac B.

Mac B's portrait has a white background that fills the viewport AND there's a blurred artifacted ghosting around it.

Mac B calls Mac A from within the Messages.app > conversation > Details > initiate FT call icon...

Mac B's portrait on Mac A's screen has a black background this time with no ghosting around it.

Mac A calls Mac B from within the FaceTime.app directly...

all seems to work normally.

Posted on Oct 25, 2016 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Oct 26, 2016 10:55 AM in response to syberknight

Hello syberknight,

After reviewing your post, it sounds like you are having issues with making and receiving FaceTime calls through the Messages app. FaceTime seems to work if you use that app specifically. I would recommend you read this article, it may be able to help troubleshoot the issue.

The first and easiest test to try is to see if the issue affects a different user account on your Mac. Each user account has customized preferences and other items stored in its home directory. You'll first need to create an additional user if one does not already exist (follow steps a-h below). Then, log out of the current user and test the issue in the new user account.
If this resolves the issue, there may be an issue with a file in the home directory of the original user account.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

From the View menu, choose Accounts (or choose Users if using Mac OS X v10.2 or earlier).

Click "+" (or click New User if using Mac OS X v10.2 or earlier).

Give the new user a name and short name.

Mac OS X v10.3 or earlier only: Click the Password tab, and give the user a password.

Mac OS X v10.3 or earlier only: Click Security.

Select the checkbox for "Allow user to administer this computer". This makes the user account an administrator.

Click OK, or quit System Preferences.

Start up in Safe Mode (Mac OS X v10.2 or later only). If the issue does not occur, there may be an issue with a startup item, login item, or kext file. Refer to this article for troubleshooting suggestions.

Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Have a nice day.

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Answer 2

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Oct 30, 2016 11:31 AM in response to raina_b22

hi Becky,

thanks for that, but it didn't help nor make any difference.

i've tested this on a couple computers now (various other people) & it seems to be the same across the board.

anybody else experience this?

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Answer 3

i_rina

Community Specialist

Nov 1, 2016 1:58 PM in response to syberknight

Hey syberknight,

It looks like the issue is happening even in a new user and in safe mode. At that point what we would want to consider doing is reinstalling the OS since it is a system wide issue. Before you do that it's a good idea to make a backup so you keep your data safe.

Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac

How to reinstall macOS
Take care.

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Answer 4

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 12, 2016 7:34 PM in response to i_rina

hi irina_w,

sorry for the delay, i must've missed the notification.

thanks for your post, but that's not it. it's not just with my machine, but with at least a handful of other people i've talked to about it also.

it's pretty consistent that if a FaceTime is initiated via the Messages.app rather than the Facetime.app, then this problem exists. if initiated via the Facetime.app directly, everything's fine.

so given just how many 'other' bugs came along with Sierra, i'm guessing this is another.

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Answer 5

Feb 23, 2017 6:43 AM in response to syberknight

Same here. I noticed that the problem appears when I start a FaceTime call from Siri ("Hey Siri, start FaceTime video call with X"), but not if I start it from the FaceTime app.

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Answer 6

mzaur

Level 1

45 points

May 14, 2017 4:10 PM in response to syberknight

I'm having the same issue. Thanks for narrowing it down to just calls placed from Messages/Siri. I will report this to Apple.

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