How Does FaceTime Work? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#31

Post by webmobdev » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

lqet wrote: post #16

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit I don't understand - are landline phones not in use anymore? I only use a landline phone to communicate with the family, because I simply cannot stand the audio quality of cellphones for calls which last longer than a few minutes. Edit: In Germany, there are about 40 M a…

It is on the decline in India too:

> In the past decade, landline subscriber base has been on a decline, with connections reducing from 36.76 million as of 31 January, 2010 to 20.58 million as of 31 January, 2020. Of the total telecom 1.18 billion connections, only 20.26 million, or less than 2%, were landline as of February. - https://www.livemint.com/industry/telecom/trai-says-declinin...

(And yes, landline phones do offer better voice quality. Even if I am calling from a cellphone, I prefer to call someone on their landline. )

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#32

Post by trompetenaccoun » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

sgt wrote: post #3

FaceTime is amazing. I keep in touch with my entire family using FaceTime video, often across thousands of kilometers. It's also such an equalizer, allowing even the non-computer literate to use it and focus on the actual conversations. In fact, my 103 year old grandmother is able to do video calls with me, which is great because I rarely see her in person these days. I don't think there exists an alternative she wou…

It's so great and easy to use it even works for video calls with a person in China, while all other foreign communication apps are blocked there. Isn't that interesting.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#33

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:18 PM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #21

lqet wrote: post #16

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit I don't understand - are landline phones not in use anymore? I only use a landline phone to communicate with the family, because I simply cannot stand the audio quality of cellphones for calls which last longer than a few minutes. Edit: In Germany, there are about 40 M a…

Landlines have been digitized too, a distinct difference to what an analog landline offered. It was more intimate, you could hear breathing for example.

[deleted]

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#34

Post by stephen_g » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:20 PM UTC

I just wish FaceTime on macOS would let me use virtual webcams and not do weird things to audio inputs if you you keep also using them in other apps. I have a Blackmagic converter that works to bring a high quality external camera into other software, but FaceTime won’t let me use it (it just doesn’t show up in the list, and neither does the OBS virtual camera). That and the weird stuff it seems to do to the audio subsystem on Mac (this is all in 10.14 so maybe this isn’t the case in later versions?). We were trying to use it as a back channel for podcasting/streaming but trying to send audio to FaceTime somehow messed with the input in a way I’ve never seen with any other application, and broke it in Logic and OBS. It was almost as if audio processing was happening outside the app for some reason, so you get really weird results (messed up levels etc.) in other apps sharing the audio device inputs… Goes away when you start an audio app without FaceTime active.

We found a free app Sonobus that works really well for low latency audio for what we were doing in the end. FaceTime is great for just calling the family on the iPad though.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#35

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:24 PM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #21

lqet wrote: post #16

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit I don't understand - are landline phones not in use anymore? I only use a landline phone to communicate with the family, because I simply cannot stand the audio quality of cellphones for calls which last longer than a few minutes. Edit: In Germany, there are about 40 M a…

Landlines have been digitized too, a distinct difference to what an analog landline offered. It was more intimate, you could hear breathing for example.

[deleted]

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#36

Post by jonathanlydall » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:26 PM UTC

I find FaceTime video calls really superb, but for whatever reason the audio only calls have short (sub-second length) moments where it cuts out and it's very disconcerting. This happens when calling both my parents and my brother, both of which are only KMs away and like me have 25Mb/s or faster fibre connections.

Strangely I've never noticed this audio problem during video calls.

So I tend to do voice only calls using WhatsApp and video calls with FaceTime.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#37

Post by wanderingstan » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

the-dude wrote: post #21

lqet wrote: post #16

> For those of you old enough to remember landlines, it reminds me of those [...] When we all switched to cell service audio quality took a huge hit I don't understand - are landline phones not in use anymore? I only use a landline phone to communicate with the family, because I simply cannot stand the audio quality of cellphones for calls which last longer than a few minutes. Edit: In Germany, there are about 40 M a…

Landlines have been digitized too, a distinct difference to what an analog landline offered. It was more intimate, you could hear breathing for example.

I had forgotten about hearing breathing; you’re absolutely right it was more intimate.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#38

Post by dylan604 » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:40 PM UTC

jonathanlydall wrote: post #36

I find FaceTime video calls really superb, but for whatever reason the audio only calls have short (sub-second length) moments where it cuts out and it's very disconcerting. This happens when calling both my parents and my brother, both of which are only KMs away and like me have 25Mb/s or faster fibre connections. Strangely I've never noticed this audio problem during video calls. So I tend to do voice only calls us…

If you have 25Mb/s connection while anyone on the other end has only 1.5Mb/s connection, then you have a 1.5Mb/s connection. Just because you pay for fiber doesn't mean you always get that speed. Most benefits of highspeed badwidth at home allows for multiple connections to reach their "full" speed without forcing other connections to lower speeds.

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#39

Post by throwthere » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:40 PM UTC

sgt wrote: post #3

FaceTime is amazing. I keep in touch with my entire family using FaceTime video, often across thousands of kilometers. It's also such an equalizer, allowing even the non-computer literate to use it and focus on the actual conversations. In fact, my 103 year old grandmother is able to do video calls with me, which is great because I rarely see her in person these days. I don't think there exists an alternative she wou…

Semi-related question since I'm looking to get my grandma setup. Waffling between an iPhone and iPad, maybe an iPad mini but don't know if the air would be better (lighter I think). What device does your grandma use to FaceTime? Do you know does she do anything else with it?

Re: How Does FaceTime Work?

#40

Post by randomopining » Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:42 PM UTC

trompetenaccoun wrote: post #32

sgt wrote: post #3

FaceTime is amazing. I keep in touch with my entire family using FaceTime video, often across thousands of kilometers. It's also such an equalizer, allowing even the non-computer literate to use it and focus on the actual conversations. In fact, my 103 year old grandmother is able to do video calls with me, which is great because I rarely see her in person these days. I don't think there exists an alternative she wou…

It's so great and easy to use it even works for video calls with a person in China, while all other foreign communication apps are blocked there. Isn't that interesting.

CCP doing analysis on foreigners' faces and call contents so that they can cull dissention after they take over in 10 years. But Apple wants to do business there!