Database Users

Where is mic for video recording?

Love the videos this thing makes. There's some on my u tube channel.. bluedrew.
At concerts, the audio gets muffled and distorted. Especially if there's a heavy base, or I'm near the stack. Need some way to cover up, attenuate the input to the mic, but I can't find it.
Tried testing some a/b recording by covering up different ports with my finger. Nothing seems to make a difference. Maybe if I put the whole phone in a foam shield?!

Open the Camera, The "gear" in the bottom left of the screen when you have the camera app open. Open the tools, press the wretch. Its in there to disable audio recording.

us3rX said:
Open the Camera, The "gear" in the bottom left of the screen when you have the camera app open. Open the tools, press the wretch. Its in there to disable audio recording.
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I think he wanted to know where the microphone was, not to stop audio, but to limit the ammount it takes in. I would assume its the same mic used to talk on the phone. Bottom edge of the phone, almost inline with the G in samsung...little hole about the size of a pin head.

Yeah... I saw the option to mute audio, but I want better audio. Either put a sound suppressor somewhere, or use an external mic. Any ideas?

Actually just did a little test on some advice from the sound guy at a show lastnight.
I plugged in the included handsfree earphones that came with the epic. Now audio comes from that. Quality isn't as good, and if you hit the button, recording stops.
So maybe just a better quality external handsfree, or dedicated better quality mic. Any ideas?

So basically you need a good line mic and an adapter to the cel phone audio jack.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8853857#post8853857
This guy seems to be on to something. Kind of confusing to me...

Video recording sound too low

I tried to video record my son while he was speaking but at playback I could hardly hear his voice. He was about 1 meter apart and I could hear him as if he was 20m away. My voice sounded ok though. I assume that the microphone used for audio recording is the same as the phone mic with higher volume control.
Is everyone experiencing the same?
Also, Ihaven't found any controls to configure audio levels for different circumstances (i.e. phone ringer, speakerphone, speaker during conversation, etc.) Is it necessary to only configure volume when you are in that area (i.e only during conversation or during playback) and not all at once in a special control panel? (I hope you understand the last part as I don't know how to explain better)

I also feel that the playback volume for recorded video is too low (even on max volume). The audio quality is also not as good as I would hope. I have yet to test playback on a PC though.

Unfortunately anything related to Desire HD sound is low at the bottom line no matter recording or speaker it is.

agreed that recording volume is too low. But one thing i did find is that when you hold your phone to record, the natural position where your right hand holds the phone actually covers the microphone (well at least for me). So make sure your hand isnt covering that and it might improve sound a little.
But when i playback a recording on my laptop it sounds ok when i max the volume.. definitely audible.

Im also getting this low mic problem, made sure i was not covering mic, still low volume. Even took the case off, still no joy, cant believe they did not test this before launch
Please HTC sort this out

After playing back recorded videos on my laptop, i'd agree with SupremeBeaver that the volume is ok. The sound quality seems much better too, so i'm not too fussed now

Interesting microphone discovery!

I got some moisture in my A500 while putting a screen cover on it and the unit was misbehaving. I have that cleared up now (hopefully), but noticed something about the microphone. It was partially covered by a tag from one of the wiring looms! I don't know if moving this tag out of the way will improve the microphone, but it sure as heck aint going to hurt it! Since the microphone points away from you as you hold the tablet, I'm not sure it's ever going to pick up your voice properly.
Pics are attached
Rob
update: I put my a500 back together, but forgot I had the sd card still in there. The end result was that I cracked the sd card which renders it useless. I'll have to buy another one now. The microphone recording volume is still quite low, no improvement there. I think it's a design oversight and any tablet should probably have front and rear facing microphones. Only use the one facing away for video recording, othewise use the one facing the user.

Did you try turning the mic over? Maybe they made two mistakes. Putting the mic in wrong and then covering it with the tag

The A500 has a 2 microphones array, for noise canceling effect.
The microphone you put the tag label away from is the noise canceling one, the main microphone is just at the left of that one and its facing front. As you put away that tag you may have an improvement on the noise canceling effect, if you try to turn over the mic it will not harm the device but I'm pretty sure it will not help noise canceling.
Holding the A500 landscape and dock port down, the gap of the front facing mic is between the screen glass and the upper frame, is just right in the middle, it is hard to see but can be seen from certain angles and light conditions.
Also you provided the proof that I'm not writing nonsenses, in the first picture attached, there are those two alike connectors, both have plugged microphones, and they have the same tag flap with the same codes and digits imprinted. If you look closely you can see the edge of the front facing mic, it's at the left of the back facing mic and it's almost covered by the circuit board where both microphones connectors are.

I as well had taken my tablet apart due tons issue with video cable loose.and noticed exactly where the mice are at. Thinking about going tobeadeo shak or order from black box better mic to out in.I have done this on laptop before

silverball.slayer said:
update: I put my a500 back together, but forgot I had the sd card still in there. The end result was that I cracked the sd card which renders it useless. I'll have to buy another one now. The microphone recording volume is still quite low, no improvement there. I think it's a design oversight and any tablet should probably have front and rear facing microphones. Only use the one facing away for video recording, othewise use the one facing the user.
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Click to collapse
I did a few recordings to test the noise canceling array, and be able to notice the noise canceling effect when recording video with front facing camera, when recording with back facing camera, I notice no noise canceling, the recording level is a little low, but was ok, I'm not sure if this feature is binded to which camera the user is using during record, also I have no professional equipment or applications to make sure that the noise canceling effect/feature was working or not.
I agree that this kind of double microphone array should be a lot more user friendly, letting a user decide to use both microphones, or using only one and which one, or turn on or off noise canceling, or any other feature as the recording level, will not harm anyone. And having the device defaults to record using front facing camera with front mic and noise canceling, and when using back facing camera with back mic, without noise canceling, will work as most users wanted it to work.

The microphone on my third A500 is working great so far. I returned the second one today because the microphone audio was very low. It's still running 3.01 stock because the 3.01 OTA update isn't available yet for my unit.
Rob

ACER A500 Microphone Fix?

Hi, guys Ive been looking for microphone fix on my A500 , when i record any video it has this loud background noise...which in fact my room is silent , also when I'm recording videos outside & using Skype . Im using HC 3.2.1 rooted with thor's CMW ver 1.5 . I been searching the forum for a fix but i cant find it or so as I read that they will fix this issue on HC 3.2, but still i get this issues . Is this a Hardware problem or OS issue?
Also can I still return this tablet to walmart & get a refund? I already exchange the first 1 cuz It got a charging issue. SO basically I'm returning an exchange tablet. It hasn't been 14 days yet. as they mentioned for returns & refunds.
Thanks.

hatyrei said:
Hi, guys Ive been looking for microphone fix on my A500
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Click to collapse
Funny, I was coming here to ask for help about something similar...
In my case, I have a refurbished A500 which has been awesome so far, with the exception of the microphone. It records terribly, lots of noise and distortion in any recording I make (using Recorder as the test app I made a short .amr recording which I attach 7zip-compressed).
A friend has an A500, and it doesn't seem to display this issue. While it's no deal-breaker (I can live without recording audio...playback of tv shows loaded on the card works better-than-fine!), I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to fix it, or at least make it a little less...noisy.

I believe the culprit has to do with the speakers creating feedback. The workaround is to use headphones. Hope this works for you.

Take a look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065219

tabasco22 said:
Take a look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065219
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I did read that entire thread, which only tells me there are multiple unrelated issues around audio recording on the A500...these issues seem to get all mixed-together in that thread, with people who only care about Skype focusing on that and cross-talking to people who have completely different recording issues. I was hoping this thread could avoid the whole need-to-use-Skype distraction and focus on the specific issue of seemingly over-driven recordings. (With the refurb, I'm also out of the whole keep-complaining-to-acer-until-they-do-something-to-fix-it focus there seems to be on that thread. I can't really complain, and any warranty I had expired a while ago.)
The earlier suggestion to use a headset is, however, something I should have considered first (even read in the earlier Skype-centric thread), and am a little embarrassed I didn't. Sometime this weekend I'll pick up a cheap 3.5 mic/headphone set and see if that makes any difference. If it does, and the recordings though it are cleaner, I can be more comfortable it will work for one thing I care about...using the A500 with the SquareUp CC processor.

Mic - Solution for me.
Problem: Microphone recordings sound terrible. Soft, Choppy, Mechanical, like a bad cell call, bathroom (NOT the severe helicopter sound as others have reported). My hypothesis like others have suggested, seems to be noise cancellation issues. Especially since the issues vary app to app. These mics are right beside each other and I assume they're pretty much hearing the same thing, and the rear is trying to cancel what it hears, which is the same as the front! End result being filtering what it hears, ie filtering everything? FAIL.
Test 1: Using Recorder and Skype Test call, I tested different distances talking to the front/back, covering front mic, covering back mic, case on, case off, headphones plugged in/out, etc. In some instances you could hear some, and other hear nothing, some sound ok, some sound horrible. I wasn't satisfied with ANY.
Test 2: Popped off back of tablet and disconnected REAR facing mic. They are side/side, make sure you disconnect the correct one, the one with the diaphragm pointing out. Simple connector. Then tried Recorder/Skype Test call and both sounded Excellent. I have not tried a call with Skype, just the test. EDIT: Tested a real Skype call last night. No sound issues on my end or other end.
Conclusion: Removal of rear mic provided the best quality. There is zero filtering/cancellation/etc.

Gotta try this
Hmm!
Should of thought of this myself. Going to give it shot and post back later!
Unhooked the rear mike --it helps the front m ike is usable now. Not perfect but works.
So for me
1 Run Flexreaper ICS by Civato = better mike
2 Drill hole for front mike = not as muffled
3 Disconnect rear mike= almost as good as a phone but not as sensitive.
Okay on recording and search but Skype still noisy without headset.
Damn connectors were a pain to unhook.

appoaf said:
Problem: Microphone recordings sound terrible. Soft, Choppy, Mechanical, like a bad cell call, bathroom (NOT the severe helicopter sound as others have reported). My hypothesis like others have suggested, seems to be noise cancellation issues. Especially since the issues vary app to app. These mics are right beside each other and I assume they're pretty much hearing the same thing, and the rear is trying to cancel what it hears, which is the same as the front! End result being filtering what it hears, ie filtering everything? FAIL.
Test 1: Using Recorder and Skype Test call, I tested different distances talking to the front/back, covering front mic, covering back mic, case on, case off, headphones plugged in/out, etc. In some instances you could hear some, and other hear nothing, some sound ok, some sound horrible. I wasn't satisfied with ANY.
Test 2: Popped off back of tablet and disconnected REAR facing mic. They are side/side, make sure you disconnect the correct one, the one with the diaphragm pointing out. Simple connector. Then tried Recorder/Skype Test call and both sounded Excellent. I have not tried a call with Skype, just the test. EDIT: Tested a real Skype call last night. No sound issues on my end or other end.
Conclusion: Removal of rear mic provided the best quality. There is zero filtering/cancellation/etc.
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Click to collapse
I did and I agree this is a fix if you want to use recorder, Skype, talk, tango, etc. But I also learned to forget using the video camera UNLESS you have it using the rear camera (this is one you use by default when you Skype). Looks like it uses the microphone that points in the direction of the active camera.
So I would suspect the noise cancelling algorithm settings are to blame for poor sound recordings.

I solve this issue by using my stereo earphone with mic that came with my Nokia phone. I have tried a bluetooth stereo headset with mic and another wired earbuds with mic, there was either still a lot of noise or the sound level was very low. Basically, it is the same as using a headset. Finally I found one earphone with mic that works well. I actually have two of the same earbuds from 2 identical Nokia 5230. I tested them on two Iconia A500 with voice chat and video chat, it works very well both ways. I have also tried to turned off the Dolby Mobile as suggested by someone. It actually makes it worse and the sound level went down a lot.

acer a501 microphone fix
hi all
today i finally got to the bottom of the microphone issue
versions 3.x had some issues with the mic that cant be fixed - tried different internal and external mics but no good - i thought it was a hardware issue
and not able to solve but after ota update of ics the external mic is perfect - crystal clear and no noise and heaps of level.
the internal mic is crap so i decided to change the microphone with anything i could find - it has to be electret mic.
I had a few lying around and some worked well and some did not - i eventually found one that worked really well will heaps of level - the
only prob was that it was twice the size of the original.
i had to cut some of the plastic away but eventually got it installed.
The internal mic works great now - much better than the muffled one that came with the unit.
I left the second mic connected as it seems to make no difference in or out.
So what i have found -
firmware on 3.x no good for mic
ics makes mic work well if you use exeternal.
internal mic - get rid of it as it is useless.
hope this helps someone as i spent lots of time trying to fix this

OK but...
jzaiter said:
hi all
today i finally got to the bottom of the microphone issue
versions 3.x had some issues with the mic that cant be fixed - tried different internal and external mics but no good - i thought it was a hardware issue
and not able to solve but after ota update of ics the external mic is perfect - crystal clear and no noise and heaps of level.
the internal mic is crap so i decided to change the microphone with anything i could find - it has to be electret mic.
I had a few lying around and some worked well and some did not - i eventually found one that worked really well will heaps of level - the
only prob was that it was twice the size of the original.
i had to cut some of the plastic away but eventually got it installed.
The internal mic works great now - much better than the muffled one that came with the unit.
I left the second mic connected as it seems to make no difference in or out.
So what i have found -
firmware on 3.x no good for mic
ics makes mic work well if you use exeternal.
internal mic - get rid of it as it is useless.
hope this helps someone as i spent lots of time trying to fix this
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Click to collapse
HoneyComb 3.2 disconnected the rear microphone, Resulted in Better Quality without helicopter noise specially better for skype Etc.
Video recording still Just hardly acceptable. but quality is still bad.
Wont buy from acer anymore.

Distorted audio on video capture

I have my Verizon S5 currently sitting on 4.4.4 NK7. I've noticed no matter what video recording app I use, whether it be Snapchat or the native camera app, that audio on video playback always seems a bit distorted if the video was captured in a loud environment. Yet I see friends with other newer android phones and iPhones that have recorded footage the same venues (concerts) where their audio is much more tolerable. Has anyone else experienced this? I've been holding off on updating to lollipop, but if that is a known fix I might go that route.
For example, even recording a video on my car with the audio at a normal volume results in distorted audio quality.

Lollipop won't change anything, cause that's a big problem to not fix immediately. Are you possibly covering a mic when recording? Are phone calls clear? I'm not sure how to fix your problem, I'm just throwing out ideas. A search didn't bring up anything.

Apparently it's a common problem within the Samsung phones:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2711008
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5/395746-awful-concert-audio.html
Was hoping there was a software option to adjust the gain level it records at.

darklavalizard said:
Apparently it's a common problem within the Samsung phones:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2711008
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5/395746-awful-concert-audio.html
Was hoping there was a software option to adjust the gain level it records at.
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I saw the xda thread but wasn't sure if it was the same. Someone said disable the noise reduction option, and that should fix it.