Web Cam and echo help...

[dklassen]

I just put a Logitech HD web cam on my mini and when I face time, the person on the other end gets a lot of feedback, meaning their voice coming through my speakers feeds back through the web cam mic and they get a really bad echo on their side. The iMac has an ambient noise reduction check box under the input sound settings but the mini doesn't have that check box.

Any suggestions?

[macmanmacman]

it's your mic or theres if they have have the mic near a monitor or a not sheilded monitor

[dklassen]

Near a monitor? It's a webcam, it sits right on top of the monitor.

[mooblie]

I believe the presence of shielding in a monitor only affects whether or not the MONITOR is affected by speakers - or more specifically: affected by the powerful magnets in speakers. And it doesn't really affect flat panel monitors these days anyway.

"Shielding" is irrelevant to whether or not a microphone is affected by a monitor. I'm sure that's not your problem.
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Do you have your speaker volume quite high?
Can you try turning down the speaker volume at your end, so (a) you can still hear them, but (b) the feedback stops?

Can they try the same at their end?
_________________
Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray

[dklassen]

When I use the cam with it's built in mic the person at the other end gets really bad echos. Apparently no ambient noise reduction check box on a mini.

If I turn the speaker volume down enough then I can't hear them.

So I buy a Logitech USB mic and that took care of the echo but even with the input volume cranked the person at the other end can barley hear me unless I use the mic like you're drinking out of a straw.

Why is this so damn hard??

[mooblie]

You sure you've got your Sys Prefs: Sound: Input: USB Device: Input volume levels turned right UP, so you can see some blue bars when you talk?:


_________________
Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray

[dklassen]

Maxed.

[mooblie]

OK, assuming you see the blue bars bouncing when you talk, can you do a Skype test call? (Can Skype record your voice OK and can they play your voice back to you, so you can hear it OK?)
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Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray

[dklassen]

So here was my fix. The Logitech HD Pro C920 is not supported on the Mac contrary to Apple selling it on their site. The C910 is supported. I picked up a Logitech HD C615 at Best Buy and problem solved. The C615 is in fact a OSX supported camera by the manufacturer.

The other issue is, Face Time does not in itself support ambient noise reduction because there is no internal mic on the mini. Check box gone from sound input configuration. Google Talk has it's own check box built in.

[mooblie]

Useful to know - thanks.
_________________
Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray