Hack to select microphone for recording? - Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo, Pro

The Xperia Neo (as many other SE models) has two microphones. The one on the front side used for speech during a call and one on the back used for movie recording (and noise surpression). Would it be possible to somehow disable the mic in the back in a non destructive way and use only the front one for recording?
The reason i am asking is because the mic on the back produces very distorted sound in loud environment, so basically what i need is to record the sound from a direction which is not facing its source.
I really need to find a solution for this, otherwise i would need to pick another phone. This feature is really important for me, i regret for selling my Nokia N97 which produced much clearer sound in loud environments - see here

molnartibor said:
The Xperia Neo (as many other SE models) has two microphones. The one on the front side used for speech during a call and one on the back used for movie recording (and noise surpression). Would it be possible to somehow disable the mic in the back in a non destructive way and use only the front one for recording?
The reason i am asking is because the mic on the back produces very distorted sound in loud environment, so basically what i need is to record the sound from a direction which is not facing its source.
I really need to find a solution for this, otherwise i would need to pick another phone. This feature is really important for me, i regret for selling my Nokia N97 which produced much clearer sound in loud environments - see here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Moved to proper forum

Related

[Q] Poor audio quality in camera record. There's a reason?

HI,
I want to see if the problem is only with me. Right now I'm really disappointed from Samsung. here shows comparison of camera quality:
iphone 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKm-7rzfS2g&feature=player_embedded#at=124
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGAteITuZVo&feature=player_embedded#at=59
s2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TFm93qvGnU&feature=player_embedded#at=65
Quality absolutely awful compared to the iPhone 4, there are quite strong background noise (Even I was recording in a completely quiet room I can hear background noise)...
* I will note that the Hacked Camera.APK mod of Potatoman still did not help
Is my cell phone is broken or simply Samsung had blown it???
it seems that you were standing right infont of the left loud speaker, were with the iphone it seams the guy way in the middle. so it wont get so much distortion.
I have the same problem with my S2 when the outside audio level is high.
NIK516
i far from the speakers , the iphone 4 is closer to the speakers
and you can hear the different.
and i have more video that you can hear that iPhone better if you wants..
i try to fix the S2 problem mic record not to compare.
thanks
Are you certain you installed the Camera.apk correctly? 6 seconds should equal roughly 12Mb (stock is about 9). If anything this is either the modded camera (When I used it the audio was very shrill, much like the video you recorded. This is due to the larger sampling and bit rates.), Samsung screwed up (maybe this is just how the mic records), OR you were standing in a poor location (the two video weren't recorded in the same place from the look of it).
I think that being close to a speaker should not be a problem if the auto-volume adjustment worked properly. What we are trying to understand here is if this is just a problem with our devices or a general issue. Is there anybody who can confirm that videorecording live music performances with the S2 does NOT produce distorted audio?
haka.it said:
I have the same problem with my S2 when the outside audio level is high.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem here as well...
same problem, please help
Same problem! I would love to see a fix for that. Even a little bit of wind will screw up the sounds completely. I'm also looking for an external mic now....
It looks like you can't use an external mic either...
outofmyelement said:
I just did a test with 2 different earbuds w/mic. the Camera app doesn't seem to use the external microphone when recording video, it just uses the internal mic. When I used the voice recorder app it does indeed use the external mic and makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
somebody can help us?
Problems with the sound during a video recording ?
Welcome to Samsung
No during,
after we record video
we wants to hear and we have a lot of white noise and loud audio,
you can hear the video i upload, the iphone 4 is better.
" welcome to samsung "
noo, i believe that the best developers can help us
maormark said:
Quality absolutely awful compared to the iPhone 4, there are quite strong background noise (Even I was recording in a completely quiet room I can hear background noise)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem (record in a quite room with no noise, then when i play it back there's a hiss)
I've checked Youtube and there's only 1 video demonstrates this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pePAqjgugHM
Now is this a fault with the phone or can I fix it? Just wanted to ask before I send it back to Samsung.
The white noise (hissing sound) comes from a plastic piece inside the phone that is over the microphone. Removing it removes the white noise. You cannot do this without voiding the warranty, so bringing it down to the service center would be a good idea.
The plastic piece over the mic is like cupping your ears with your hands. HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
ipsy13 said:
It looks like you can't use an external mic either...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I am on Android 2.3.4, recording video using an external microphone works. I used your headphone mic and I got rid of the distortion. Has anyone tried the Brando Mini Capsule Microphone (or any other mini microphone) on their SII?

[Q] Lumia 920 Mics

Hi, I have three questions.
1. On the Nokia Lumia 920 datasheet it's there saying "Audio: 3 distortion free high amplitude mics" but I can only find two of them. One on the down side and one at the top. Where is the third?
2. The output audio from video is Mono, are any news or tweaks that can change that to stereo? I would be great! Maybe some update. I thought that would be present in Portico update...
3. Also the output audio from video is unbalanced, the bass is very strong and the treble and midrange are very weak. Update coming maybe?
I just think the WP8 is more like a standard basic OS right now and with more time maybe they can tweak it to every single features that the phones have like Lumia 920.
Please let me know what you think
cheers
digipix said:
Hi, I have three questions.
1. On the Nokia Lumia 920 datasheet it's there saying "Audio: 3 distortion free high amplitude mics" but I can only find two of them. One on the down side and one at the top. Where is the third?
2. The output audio from video is Mono, are any news or tweaks that can change that to stereo? I would be great! Maybe some update. I thought that would be present in Portico update...
3. Also the output audio from video is unbalanced, the bass is very strong and the treble and midrange are very weak. Update coming maybe?
I just think the WP8 is more like a standard basic OS right now and with more time maybe they can tweak it to every single features that the phones have like Lumia 920.
Please let me know what you think
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do not know but 1080p video is still in MONO :crying:
Im sorry, I dont know where the third mic would be, but the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo sound, but for active noise cancellation. I suppose that when recording video, noise cancelation isnt needed, but that is the reason for multiple mics.
I personally thought that the sound from the mics sounded quite good, at least in comparison to other phone recording.
Moylans said:
Im sorry, I dont know where the third mic would be, but the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo sound, but for active noise cancellation. I suppose that when recording video, noise cancelation isnt needed, but that is the reason for multiple mics.
I personally thought that the sound from the mics sounded quite good, at least in comparison to other phone recording.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that the point of having multiple mics is not for stereo but like the 808 PureView I thought that would record in stereo on the movies...
And the sound from mics are good but seems the levels recorded are too low for the standard sensivity that we hear...
Hopefully they send a patch to fix that :S
The 808 supports stereo Audio recording, the 920 does not - by specification so I guess it won't change anytime soon if at all. They would have designed it another way if they intended to Support it. It's possible that the Placement of the Mics simply does not lend itself well to recording balanced Stereo Sound.
Well I don't know really about that but I have experienced that the upper mic turns into the main mic to pick up the voice when you have hands-free call...

[Q] Microphone issues on Xperia Z2?

Hi everyone,
One of my motivations for moving from LG G2 to the Xperia Z2, is for 4K video. But in watching the different 4K clips posted on YouTube from the Mobile Congress, there appears to be a significant microphone issue.
It sounds as if there are no lows or mid-frequencies. The sound is very squashed and unlike anything I've heard from any cellphone I've ever owned. My concern also extends to phone calls. If the same mike and processing is used for phone calls, this doesn't bode well for call quality.Are there any Z1 owners having the same microphone issue?
i
debrandman said:
Hi everyone,
One of my motivations for moving from LG G2 to the Xperia Z2, is for 4K video. But in watching the different 4K clips posted on YouTube from the Mobile Congress, there appears to be a significant microphone issue.
It sounds as if there are no lows or mid-frequencies. The sound is very squashed and unlike anything I've heard from any cellphone I've ever owned. My concern also extends to phone calls. If the same mike and processing is used for phone calls, this doesn't bode well for call quality.Are there any Z1 owners having the same microphone issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
however i didn't see and hear about mic. problem But the point is those phones were demo units.
there were lots of bugs in ROM and kernel so maybe bad result for someones.
& as XZ1 user I didn't have any problem with mic.
:good:
x102x96x said:
however i didn't see and hear about mic. problem But the point is those phones were demo units.
there were lots of bugs in ROM and kernel so maybe bad result for someones.
& as XZ1 user I didn't have any problem with mic.
:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really hoping that is the case. The audio quality we've seen in the Z2 camera test clips in Youtube is just unacceptable. But then I think that isn't something Sony could mess up that bad, especially when the camera is a big selling point.
+the Z1 etc. were able to record nice audio.21 82299658
God damn can't post links since I'm a new user...
I've noticed that too and it sounds very weird to me.
But on this one it doesn't sound bad at all.
@chesterr
in crowd it s little bit low but it s so clear for me.
i don't know exactly but isn't it because of built-in digital-noise cancellation??
x102x96x said:
@chesterr
in crowd it s little bit low but it s so clear for me.
i don't know exactly but isn't it because of built-in digital-noise cancellation??[/Q
Z2's built-in digital-noise cancellation, works only with Sony's MDR-NC31EM Digital Noise Cancelling Headset.I just hope that this microphone issues that can be heard in the demo units, won't affect overall call quality!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's always the stereo microphone accessory you can get? Surely with that it will blow every other phone away for video? I'm sure for calls it'll be fine.
debrandman said:
Hi everyone,
One of my motivations for moving from LG G2 to the Xperia Z2, is for 4K video. But in watching the different 4K clips posted on YouTube from the Mobile Congress, there appears to be a significant microphone issue.
It sounds as if there are no lows or mid-frequencies. The sound is very squashed and unlike anything I've heard from any cellphone I've ever owned. My concern also extends to phone calls. If the same mike and processing is used for phone calls, this doesn't bode well for call quality.Are there any Z1 owners having the same microphone issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there
I just bought the Z2 and everyone I have called or talked to over the phone, has complained that I talk too low :crying:
Right now I'm actually investigating if others had this issue and stumbled over your thread I too had a LG G2 and I changed, because the camera was so bad when taking pictures of people moving or not standing COMPLETELY still etc.
Anyway I haven't found anything yet with Google about the problem, But I do hope it's a software issue and not hardware, because everything else is just so good.
ken4000 said:
Hi there
I just bought the Z2 and everyone I have called or talked to over the phone, has complained that I talk too low :crying:
Right now I'm actually investigating if others had this issue and stumbled over your thread I too had a LG G2 and I changed, because the camera was so bad when taking pictures of people moving or not standing COMPLETELY still etc.
Anyway I haven't found anything yet with Google about the problem, But I do hope it's a software issue and not hardware, because everything else is just so good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because most users tend to pretend the issue doesn't exist if they don't use a particular feature often...i mentioned about the lousy mic and got ignored by everyone
For your benefit here's an example of the audio recording abilities for the Z2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoCAJXDL_9k
To test the mic you really need the worst conditions possible..and there you have it. sounds exactly like my samsung galaxy S1 4 years ago, and possibly the worst among the flagships out there(iphone still has the best audio recording...damn. lol) no idea why sony messed this up. buying the STM10 mic doesn't change the fact that the mic is there to ENHANCE the sound...not cover up a subpar standard feature lol.
SexyIceCream said:
because most users tend to pretend the issue doesn't exist if they don't use a particular feature often...i mentioned about the lousy mic and got ignored by everyone
For your benefit here's an example of the audio recording abilities for the Z2 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoCAJXDL_9k
To test the mic you really need the worst conditions possible..and there you have it. sounds exactly like my samsung galaxy S1 4 years ago, and possibly the worst among the flagships out there(iphone still has the best audio recording...damn. lol) no idea why sony messed this up. buying the STM10 mic doesn't change the fact that the mic is there to ENHANCE the sound...not cover up a subpar standard feature lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damit, I didn't saw your early post about the mic. I don't experience it that bad as in the youtube clip, but it's not the best handling of sound. I do hope they or an xda member fixes it in the future. I'm still glad I chose this phone and wouldn't change it for a One M8 or a Galaxy S5...
debrandman said:
Hi everyone,
One of my motivations for moving from LG G2 to the Xperia Z2, is for 4K video. But in watching the different 4K clips posted on YouTube from the Mobile Congress, there appears to be a significant microphone issue.
It sounds as if there are no lows or mid-frequencies. The sound is very squashed and unlike anything I've heard from any cellphone I've ever owned. My concern also extends to phone calls. If the same mike and processing is used for phone calls, this doesn't bode well for call quality.Are there any Z1 owners having the same microphone issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Z2 records perfect sound. With all the frequencies apparent and clean.
Any news about terrible sound quality?
Hi.
I record some videos on a festival last week. The sound is absolutely terrible. Especially if there is loud music.
If i see videos from the Festival that are all record with other phones, they sound very good . Even my Xperia ZL makes fantastic sound if i record a video.
So is there any solution for this?
To buy the "Sony STM10 Stereo Microphone" cannot be a solution.
Thanks
Not good is it? I find the G3, M8 and almost all Lumia's adjust the levels for better audio where the Z2 does not. So perhaps you are supposed to buy the mic!
All sony phones have the same problem.
Mic working great
It's well known that Xperia Z2 has a very sensible high gain microphone because of water isolation. That makes your recordings, specially high decibels recordings such as gigs, sound awful. There is a great solution for this, install niaboc's rom (Existenz 3.1.0) and change the microphone gain to low, that will make you record with great quality.
I made some video recordings at a music festival with my z2. And it was awful. I was abit disappointed. It was all distorted. But then again that's very loud noise at a festival. Although it should be better than it is. Like I say it was all crackly and distorted and can't hear the music properly at all from what I recorded.
Will probably sound and record alot better with the mic accessorie. Though in my opinion, it should be fine without it.
But other videos recorded not at festival sound fine
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

How do your friends find your mic quality?

All my friends tell me my pocophone mic quality is horrible when I call them like muffled and distanced voice..
dezzadk said:
All my friends tell me my pocophone mic quality is horrible when I call them like muffled and distanced voice..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems fine for me.
I have similar problem with Microphone on POCO F1 . It works fine on Calling and PUBG, but works very poor,compared to other phone, in Voice Recorder app , and Video recording, and even voicemail on facebook messenger. In order to get better Sound , I need to place the microphone very near my mouth, or source of sound. I am not sure whether the microphone on all POCO F1 is like this , or it is just in mine. And is it a hardware or software problem?
No problem with me. Sound is good and clear and loud too (atleast for me). While listening in ear plugs also, it's good. I usually don't prefer too loud. So, yeah it's quite good for me.!
I don't have any problem with that. I live in India and I even talked to my friends in US. From my side everything is clear.
I also have issues with the microphone quality. Would you guys, who don't have a problem, try the internal voice recorder and let us know the quality?
When I use the internal voice recorder, the recording quality is so bad, that I am mostly unable to understand myself. This is how other people hear me, when I am using the hands-free mode on either WhatsApp or Skype, even on cell the quality drops a lot, but at least they can understand me a little bit.
When using another recording app, the quality is fine, so it seems the problem is not hardware related.
Yes. Experiencing the same thing. From what people have told me it is worse when I'm using the loud speaker. They say I sound so muffled that they can't understand what I'm saying. Not great. Does anyone have any idea how we get this sorted? Cheers
It is probably the noise cancelation messing with it. I think a lot of different xiaomi phones have mic and screen problems that not many will notice because I've seen many complaints for other models not just the poco. For some people with loud voices, maybe it isn't a problem for them and they are able to live with it compared to others with soft voices.
For my redmi note 4, someone from the community released a disable noise cancelation mod which can be flashed through twrp/magisk and seems to have fixed this problem. Someone might eventually do it for poco as well depending on who is part of the community and if there's enough complaints for it
This is probably new to people who are trying xiaomi for the first time because xiaomi brand seems like it just started getting popular with users in the US thanks to all the hype but it looks like only those on ATT are able make use of it due to limited bands
it is generally too quiet and too thin for me in the recording

Strange hiss/noise from camera system

Someone else is listening a noise like a fan coming from the rear camera when starting the camera app? It's normal or a product fault?
When recording a video the hiss is recorded too in background...
Same, someone help ?
Hi kristian12 for my experience I decided to not send rhe phone to assistance. After some weeks of daily use the noise/hiss has become slightly less and with a protective rear cover it's now better and not too annoying, but still present. Let me know what you think to do too.
Same problem here. Has it got any better since your last post (maybe the camera just has to warm-up )? Nevertheless, I am concerned about it and I think I will make a complaint...
Had the same issue with the Nokia 7.1 I received today. (4GB version, steel, in Denmark).
Went to the store and got the money back (the didn't have any other 7.1's in the store).
Went to another store and got another 7.1. Same issue.
Exchanged it for another one. Same issue again.
Ended up getting my money back.
So 3 out of 3 phones with audio noise coming from the camera itself. So weird.
Here's a guess for what might be causing the noise:
It might be from the ceramic capacitor used for the flash?
It doesn't pick up in any video recording I've done (super rare I record video anyway) but I can confirm mine has a strange almost-speaker sound hiss on my TA-1085 anytime the camera is active for photo or video. Almost sounds like listening in a seashell and more bass-y than I expected.
Today I went to yet another store that had the 7.1 on display.
And that too had noise from the camera. So for me it is now 4 out of 4 tested 7.1's that have had noise from the camera.
This leads me to suspect that it is an issue with all 7.1's. So I don't understand why there isn't a lot more people talking about this?
Do people not notice? or care? or maybe it is only in some versions, like the ones available in Denmark...
If the noice isn't picked up by the mic, like UCFJake experiences, then I could live with it myself.
I only had the opportunity to test the phone in a quiet area for a short time, so maybe I was mistaken by that part, and the noise I heard in a recorded video was just normal background noise amplified.
So to those of you with a 7.1, I would really appreciate it if you could help me by checking if your phone has noise from the camera, and then record a video in a quiet place, and see if there's audio noise picked up in the recording?
Because if there's not, I will go back and get the 7.1 anyway.
Morton_Fizzback said:
So to those of you with a 7.1, I would really appreciate it if you could help me by checking if your phone has noise from the camera, and then record a video in a quiet place, and see if there's audio noise picked up in the recording?
Because if there's not, I will go back and get the 7.1 anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
I got 7.1 in Germany yesterday and the noise is present. When you record a video, yes, there is a noise picked up but to hear it when playing you have to put the volume almost to the 70% level and then the noise from the loudspeaker is on the same level as the original one from the camera (you have to get really close to the loudspeaker to hear it). Hope that explains...
Also, a lot of people in the Russian forum complain for the same.
The biggest concern for me is that the noise won't get worse over time (like the dying capacitor in PSU, if one ever heard it) or the camera won't stop working.
Thanks for the info!
For me it's absolutely unacceptable that such a defect has been allowed to be present in the finished product.
So I'll start looking for another phone to get.
(If anyone in the Copenhagen area wants an unused clear 7.1 back cover, they can get mine)
From the other hand, I tried to record the video from the front camera and there's also a small noise when you play it on high volume, but that camera is silent. So this recorded noise might be a microphone issue (it's normal, more or less, you will never get an absolute silence). The difference in noise level between videos made on main and front camera is not significant, I can hardly tell, it's rather different frequencies of the noise - one is a little bit higher, another one is lower, like purple vs white noise.
So I don't know, @Morton_Fizzback, maybe you've heard exactly that noise on your recording when you had it, maybe you can still live with it...
I was just at the store looking at the ASUS ZenFone Max Pro M1, since it should have near stock android, but I was a bit annoyed by the pre-installed Facebook and Instagram apps that could only be disabled and not removed. So I'm considering the 7.1 again. Thanks for the testing @Summer Son !
So I tried again with another 7.1.
Again, as expected, it had the noise from the camera, but I think I might have been wrong with it being picked up by the mic.
I did some comparisons with another phone in a quiet room, and when recording and then playing a video with the volume turned up, they seemed to have about the same level of noise. So I guess what I heard the first time, might just have been normal static noise amplified.
So like others, my only small concern now, is that the noise isn't an indication that a part in the phone will be more prone to fail early.
Hi everyone
I have bought my 7.1 from France and i have notre had any noise problem from the camera until Pie update last weekend.
Since last sunday, noise from caméra is awful.
I suppose an update will arrive soon.
@Nathan03, it was there before, you just haven't noticed it.

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