Loud hiss during video chat

Hi,
I've been trying to chat with a Windows user running AIM. We are able to connect and get good quality video and sound... for about 15 seconds. Afterward the audio turns into a very loud hiss. Disconnecting and reconnecting restores the audio temporarily, but we spend almost as much time waiting for invitations to work as we do in the chat.
I thought this might be a feedback problem. Turning off my audio sending does sometimes make the hiss go away after a few seconds, but often does not. Switching to headphones does not help.
Also, we are able to do an audio-only chat with no problem, so it doesn't seem like there is anything intrinsically wrong with the audio.
Any ideas?

Sounds like you are picking up interference from and external source.
Could be anything.
Cables in Walls.
Microwave cooker.
Wireless modem or router close by.
General cabling near the Mic.
10:10 PM Tuesday; January 22, 2008

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Help - no audio during video chat

During video chats with another mac user, we both have video and can see each other, but neither of us has any audio. When we do just an audio chat, we can both hear each other without a problem.
This happens on my MBP with 10.6 and iChat 5.0.1 and on my PBG4 with 10.5 and iChat 4.0.8. The other computer is an iMac with 10.4 and iChat 3.1.9.
Any suggestions?

Hi,
So this is Linksys Modem that can Route with a Airport in Bridge Mode ?
Good.
IS it using UPnP (in the Administration tab) ?
If it is then Port Forwarding, Port Triggering and DMZ should be Off in Gaming and Applications.
In Security tab (if it has one) the Firewall should be disabled (If it has a setting) as this interferes with iChat.
The Bit about "Responding to Anonymous Requests (pings) should also be set to Allow them (ichat Sends a Ping).
I have had a Netgear DG634G and currently a Sagem 2504 Fast Modem that both Report "Port Restricted". It is not a deal breaker.
More interesting is that you see no incoming Audio.
Get the Buddy to check his System Preferences > Sound > Input tab has the volume high enough and the device here and in iChat > Preferences > Video Section match in the Microphone drop down.
He/she should also check the Video Menu and that Microphone Enabled is ticked.
If those things are in place then try the Bandwidth in iChat at 500kbps
(Try it at both ends, then use the Connection Doctor > Statistics to change one end at a time to higher settings - wait for the Bit rate to settle).
The Bit rates you are seeing look OK (As does the other info)
The Bit rates at the Buddies end should have got a Message from iChat that the Connection is too low (Below 50kbps) for a Video chat.
Are you sure these are from the same Conversation ?
If the Buddy is on Leopard or Below they should go to System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming and change the setting to 1.5Mbps to get iChat to "see" as much as is practical of the internet speed.
It is almost as if they and doing a Download at the same time (Or another computer is taking all the Bandwidth)
What Internet Upload and Download Speeds are they paying for ?
What are they actually getting ?
Click the yellow star And the Start Test box.
If you are connecting in Video chat with th VPN active I don't think this is an issue (unless it is using up lots of Bandwidth - you results suggest not).
The issue seems to be at the odd results your Buddy is getting.
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Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

HT204380 Unable to message during video chat since new iOS update. International connection isn't always great and needed to message during video chat but am no longer able to. Any hints.

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Hi,
This Log states Error 8 (Near the top)
Error 8 is a bit of a catch all for everything that ichat can't label to some other cause.
All the way though the Log sticks with port 16402 (Good) and does not vary (it is actually supposed to try a random port).
The CSeq (Call Sequence) never gets beyond INVITE
In fact this si the SIP invite that is Behind the Scenes after the Buddy Accepts the Visible Invite part.
Specifically the second line here is supposed to move on to read "TRYING", "RINGING" and "OK"
5401.536763 @SIP/Transport.c:2362 type=1 (00000000/0)
[INVITE sip:user@rip:16402 SIP/2.0
Are both ends using UPnP in their routing device ?
If you have an Apple Base Station of any sort then this has Port Mapping Protocol that needs to be Enabled.
The log looks like a router was using Port Forwarding (The listing or Port pointing at one IP (Computer) ) and that the IP of the computer has changed.
10:34 PM Monday; August 27, 2012
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
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Lion to Snow Leopard missing audio during video chat

Hello,
After upgrading one of my MacBook Pros to Lion, I've been encountering a consistent problem when attempting to engage in a video chat with my parents who are using a MacBook that is still running Snow Leopard.
Prior to the Lion upgrade, video chats worked flawlessly, but after the Lion upgrade, the audio coming from the Snow Leopard machine is completely gone. Video alone works fine in both directions, and the Snow Leopard client is receiving audio from the Lion client, but the Lion client is not receiving any audio from the Snow Leopard client according to the iChat connection doctor.
Not a missing update/firmware issue-
Both machines have all the latest OS updates applied.
Not a hardware deficiency issue-
Both machines were able to engage in flawless video chats using iChat prior to one machine being upgraded to Lion.
Not a bandwidth issue-
MacBook Pro (Lion) is hard wired to an ethernet connection which ties into a fiber optic connection 100Mbit/100Mbit (down/up).
MacBook (Snow Leopard) is hard wired to an ethernet connection tied into a AT&T Uverse connection 24Mbit/3Mbit (down/up).
As a troublshooting step, each machine was tested with iChat bandwidth limitation set to 500k, 1Mbit, and 2Mbit.
Not a ports issue-
As a troublshooting step, both machines were placed into each respective LAN/WAN DMZ.
Not a firewall issue-
Both machines are not running with a firewall enabled.
Not a network configuration issue-
Video chat continues to work flawlessly between Snow Leopard only clients from the same networks over the Internet (tested with additional Snow Leopard clients on my end that have yet to be upgraded to Lion).
Not a microphone or sound configuration issue
First thing checked, double checked, and checked again.
After checking the connection doctor within iChat during one of the problematic video chats, it reveals that "audio quality" from the Snow Leopard client is always 0%.
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Moreover, is there a solution?
BTW, Facetime video calls between all clients work fine, but we all hate Facetime and prefer to continue using iChat.
Any help would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you.

Hi,
SoundFLower is an Add-on to the System that then appears in the System Preferences > Sound pane as well as being an App.
It allows the Mic (or input device) to be used by two apps at once.
It can also take the output of one app and get in to another.
Sound.
IN certain versions of iChat and with certain Headsets you can have issues if the iChat is set "first" the the System Preferences are set Second.
In both iChat and System Preferences > Sound > Input chose any other device/input other that the propsed headset.
The chose the Headset's mic for the System Preferences
Now set the mic for iChat
Repeat for System Preferences > Sound > Output and the Headphone side.
What is Arriving
Whilst a chat is going on open the Connection Doctor (Video Menu)
On the Stats tab/button you will get a live read out of Bitrate and Framerate and a visual representation of the incoming Video and Audio feed.
Bit rate will vary based on what you pay for and what the Bandwidth Settings is. (you can change it "Live" during a chat and see the Buffering change the rate slowly).
The Framerate should be at least 15fps
Intels can be higher whit 30fps being the top rate.
The Visual bars should be green and 100%
They may vary if your service varies to much.
Buffering
Any Internet service will vary.
iChat has buffering mechanism to cope with this
Earlier versions of iChat were limited by the Quicktime Streaming setting that used to be in System Preferences (Up until Leopard).
Now iChat and Messages can make use of All your bandwidth.
The Buffering will drop frames in an effort to keep up if someone is sending more data than you can handle.
There comes a point when it judges it will lose sense of the Audio due the number of dropped frames and it will cut the Audio.
If the Audio bar is showing nothing then check the Bitrate.
Let me know what you see.
Comparisons with you other computer would be useful.
9:21 PM Monday; October 8, 2012
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
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IChat audio not working during video chats

For the last month or so I have been unable to get normal audio connections during iChat video chats.
The person on the other end can hear me, but the audio I hear from them pops in and out and frequently seems muted. I thought it was their computer at first, but now the problem seems to be happening to me chatting with different people that are on different computers. It's also not an internet problem at my home, because the problem occurs consistently when I am at different locations, in different cities.
It's not my mute button, and I've checked my sound preferences in system preferences and everything looks okay. This seems to be associated with a system software upgrade and I'd love to know how to fix it. Running OS 10.6.4 on a MacBook Pro 17".
I read some of the other discussions on this topic and couldn't find a solution, or anything I could easily understand how to fix.
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Hi,
iChat 5 uses your whole Internet speed.
This is different to iChat 4 and Earlier that was capped by what was set in System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming (Also not there in Snow Leopard).
If you and your Buddy are on vastly different Internet speed iChat will try to match the lowest Upload speed at both end.
After that Buffering tries to smooth out the natural variances in Connection speed you have.
This is where the issue mostly lies.
iChat has always tended to drop Audio before any picture issue show up.
As the Max setting in Quicktime was 1.5Mbps a 5% or even 10% variance was handled by iChat.
However in iChat 5 you may be on a 20Mbs+ service both Up and down and 5% of this is more than can be handled by the iChat Buffering.
What you can do is Limit iChat in the iChat Menu > Preferences > Video/Audio section > Bandwidth Limit.
Set it to 500kbps as a start.
Get your Buddy to do the same no matter what version they have.
If this is successful then try the 1Mb setting.
You can change during a chat.
If you have the Connection Doctor Open (Video Menu) you can watch the Bit rates change as the Buffering smooths this out.
Get you Buddy to Increase his Bandwidth Limit once the Bit rate has smoothed out.
Essentially repeat for each increase until you find what speed you can manage predictably and works with the most amount of Buddies.
NOTES:
Don't try below 200kbps. The real world lower Limit is 100kbps and you need some for any variances if someone only has 128kbps upload.
384Kbps is the lower limit for a 4 way Video chat with you as Host, so 500kbps is more than enough. You will only see figures in the Connection Doctor above this if both ends are on a very fast service. (Higher speeds as Host does stop 3rd and 4th Buddies causing a quality drop off).
Things that can impinge on your Connection Speed are other computers such as one doing a Download of something. You are left with a smaller Portion (Bandwidth).
Other apps also use some Bandwidth which is why iChat refers to the control as Bandwidth Limit - allowing enough for other apps.
11:44 PM Saturday; September 11, 2010
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

No video window during video chat after fresh install leopard

Hi there,
my father and I want to use iChat as we've done before a million times. Now after he has done a clean install of leopard (was using tiger before) we can make a video chat but he can't see me. Though he HAS a video screen where he sees himself and I can see him, I don't have problems with iChat apart from the fact that it is sometimes out of sync (more out of sync than in sync actually).
I saw his connection doctor screenshot and that says that he has "one-way traffic" (translated) for 1-on-1 video chat. So, there's a problem here but I don't know what to do next.
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Hi,
Ok understood.
Simplified version.
Internet Speed = Broadly what you pay for but needs checking.
Speed Test = equals what you actually get and tests close to what it should be if nothing is happening but will/Should read about 80% of what you pay for.
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Another view of Bandwidth.
On a German Autobahn there is no speed limit. When the road is empty you can go as fast as your car will allow.
However ,in rush hour, near cities you have to deal with lots of other traffic and may only do 30Mph at times.
Quicktime in Leopard and Earlier.
This has a setting in System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming tab.
This sets what Speed any Video Stream is downloaded or Streamed out at.
For iChat 3 in Tiger (10.4.x) this was read as 0kbps at the Automatic setting. In Leopard this was made to be read as 384kbps.
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I am subscribed to get email alerts in every thread I have posted in.
I will not miss any reply to this thread.
10:13 PM Tuesday; February 2, 2010
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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I'll start a video chat, and then about 20-30 seconds in, the chat will freeze, and iChat will become completely unresponsive. Then, I have to force quit it, start it back up, and only run into the same problem again! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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Loud hiss during video chat

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