Can any of the early adopters here confirm whether the Pixel (not XL) is capable of recording stereo audio when capturing videos? All of the example videos I've seen on YouTube seem to be recorded with monaural audio.
This could be the only deal breaker for me. I take my HTC M8 to concerts frequently, and it captures phenomenal stereo audio that doesn't distort or clip in loud venues. As much as I like the Pixel, I would probably have to buy the HTC 10 instead if the audio recording capabilities were overlooked by Google.
bjamerican said:
Can any of the early adopters here confirm whether the Pixel (not XL) is capable of recording stereo audio when capturing videos? All of the example videos I've seen on YouTube seem to be recorded with monaural audio.
This could be the only deal breaker for me. I take my HTC M8 to concerts frequently, and it captures phenomenal stereo audio that doesn't distort or clip in loud venues. As much as I like the Pixel, I would probably have to buy the HTC 10 instead if the audio recording capabilities were overlooked by Google.
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I just did some testing for you. The built in video recorder records in mono. However, the Pixel obviously has the ability to record in stereo because I just tried the "Sony Audio recorder" on Google Play and it records stereo audio. If you just need audio and not video this has the ability to record very high quality stereo recordings.
gadgetgaz said:
I just did some testing for you. The built in video recorder records in mono. However, the Pixel obviously has the ability to record in stereo because I just tried the "Sony Audio recorder" on Google Play and it records stereo audio. If you just need audio and not video this has the ability to record very high quality stereo recordings.
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Wow thanks for looking into this!
I'm really disappointed to learn that the "best phone camera ever" doesn't record videos in stereo! Google really needs to address this in an app update quickly.
Good to know that the hardware is capable, at least. The Pixel also seems to do well in very high sound pressure levels too, based on concert clips I've seen posted on Youtube (this is something HTC has always excelled at).
bjamerican said:
Wow thanks for looking into this!
I'm really disappointed to learn that the "best phone camera ever" doesn't record videos in stereo! Google really needs to address this in an app update quickly.
Good to know that the hardware is capable, at least. The Pixel also seems to do well in very high sound pressure levels too, based on concert clips I've seen posted on Youtube (this is something HTC has always excelled at).
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Okay.... It is not very meaningful as "stereo" it is not an XY or A-B studio recording physical pattern.
It is more useful for most people as a mono recording, less noise that is heavy left or right from handling phone to record a "home video" (of a meowing cat or cute baby etc)
That said I am an audio engineer and musician, and I can see a usefulness in having two sources, in case one is better. Mixing them might be better with some of each side panned to the other.
I just consider it two channel recording. Stereo is about perceiving a binaural field L+R, not just two paired signals. The analogy isn't moot. A single mic close to a sound source in a studio and one mic in a distant point that provides "room noise" or "reverb" is 2 channels, not a stereo.
So I think it better to know that there are many options and considerations to make when you do use an app to record with both mics as to how to mix the sources knowing they aren't intrinsically just stereo. That's why I prefer the built in camera app to just stick to mono which is overall better sound for most people. 2 channels only sound good if you do some "audio mixing" in a DAW....
Sent from my sailfish using XDA Labs
nednednerb said:
Okay.... It is not very meaningful as "stereo" it is not an XY or A-B studio recording physical pattern.
It is more useful for most people as a mono recording, less noise that is heavy left or right from handling phone to record a "home video" (of a meowing cat or cute baby etc)
That said I am an audio engineer and musician, and I can see a usefulness in having two sources, in case one is better. Mixing them might be better with some of each side panned to the other.
I just consider it two channel recording. Stereo is about perceiving a binaural field L+R, not just two paired signals. The analogy isn't moot. A single mic close to a sound source in a studio and one mic in a distant point that provides "room noise" or "reverb" is 2 channels, not a stereo.
So I think it better to know that there are many options and considerations to make when you do use an app to record with both mics as to how to mix the sources knowing they aren't intrinsically just stereo. That's why I prefer the built in camera app to just stick to mono which is overall better sound for most people. 2 channels only sound good if you do some "audio mixing" in a DAW....
Sent from my sailfish using XDA Labs
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Great information and very useful
gadgetgaz said:
I just did some testing for you. The built in video recorder records in mono. However, the Pixel obviously has the ability to record in stereo because I just tried the "Sony Audio recorder" on Google Play and it records stereo audio. If you just need audio and not video this has the ability to record very high quality stereo recordings.
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In your tests, did you compare the waveform of both channels to see if differences exist? How do you know the Sony app didn't just take the mono input and record it to both left and right channels?
Hi I didn't compare the waveforms I just listened to the audio. If you record a single sound source and rotate the phone while recording you can hear the sound going from one ear to the other on playback. If it was a mono recording you wouldn't be able to tell that the phone was being rotated at the time the recording was made.
So which mic is left, and which one is right?
Solutions Etcetera said:
In your tests, did you compare the waveform of both channels to see if differences exist? How do you know the Sony app didn't just take the mono input and record it to both left and right channels?
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You can easily tell immediately if a video was recorded with 1 or 2 channels of audio, especially when wearing headphones. Here is a clip I recorded with my HTC M8... Notice how the sound pans when I turn the camera away from the stage!
https://youtu.be/-yqL9uD2oxY
2 channels is simply more lifelike... We have two ears, so the Pixel should be using two mics for the most realistic audio.
Device: Pixel (sailfish) running Android 7.1 Nougat
One of our users (we are developers of an audio recorder app on Google Play) is reporting that the top microphone on the Pixel has a slight hiss (when he records stereo audio).
Is this an exception (maybe just a bad device) ? Or are other Pixel users seeing this as a general behavior on Pixels ?
This is confirmed when he records mono audio as well, by using the top microphone (aka "Camcorder" microphone). In our app, the user can choose the "Audio Source for Mono" and set it to Camcorder for the top microphone. For stereo, the user can modify the "Audio Source for Stereo" to find a setting that works best. Even the best setting there had a hiss when recording audio. Hiss was less obvious in certain environments.
Hiss in the top microphone on Android phones can be due to interference from the antenna. One can test if this is the cause, by turning on the Airplane Mode (which shuts off the antenna). Usually the hiss will disappear.
However, in his case the top microphone persisted in having that slight hiss (even with Airplane Mode set to On).
Thanks.
EDIT:
To test this with our app, you can search "mp3 recorder" on Google Play - our app is the "Amazing MP3 Recorder Pro" app there.
EDIT 2:
I have heard back from one person who is suggesting the problem is NOT universal to Pixel - and may just be a problem with that user's device (thus warranting a RMA - Return Merchandise authorization i.e. a return candidate).
hi. i just got this phone and flashed lineageos right out of the box so i dont know if this is a hardware or software problem.
when i for example watch youtube videos in landscape mode, sound only comes from the (real) bottom of the phone. making it appear as if the sound comes from left/right direction depending on how you hold the phone.
pretty annoying with mono sound appearing to come from left or right.
i feel like this should be a premium phone and have stereo sound in landscape mode for watching videos and playing games.
can anyone enlighten me on this?
The only loud speaker used for media is at the bottom of the phone, if you want to use the earpiece speaker you need to flash a mod (If one exists)
I know this is a late reply,
but I'm having the same issue - although I'm on a custom stock ROM, where nothing but bloat is removed.
Have I disabled this somehere?
What's the feature called?
It's been known for a while that, on the original Lollipop-based stock Rom for this phone, when the screen rotation was in secondary landscape mode, the audio mix would be adjusted accordingly so that the right channel of audio would be played out of the top speaker and the left channel of audio would be played out of the bottom speaker (for all other orientations, the left channel would be played out of the top speaker and the right would be played out of the bottom). Unfortunately, this seems to have been broken as of the official Marshmallow stock Rom release on the phone, and nobody has found a solution...
Until now! I happened to be reading a thread from 2015 in XDA's NEXUS 6 forums, in which somebody actually complained about the momentary period of silence that would occur during this transition. Senior member springer.music stepped forward with the answer saying that "ro.audio.monitorRotation" in the build.prop was the location of the hidden setting for turning this feature on and off. Changing it to "true" yields the desired effect, allowing the stereo mix to be corrected in landscape. Turns out that the same value is just as relevant under Marshmallow on the Pure Edition as it was for Lollipop on the NEXUS 6!
Here's a direct quote of springer.music's original post with further background:
springer.music said:
Code:
ro.audio.monitorRotation=true
If I got it right, this makes it so that the left speaker always plays the actual "left" audio channel and the right speaker plays the "right" channel in landscape mode regardless of the screen position (landscape or reverse landscape).
If this were not in place, when the device is in reverse landscape, the left speaker would play the "right" audio channel, and the right speaker would play the "left" channel.
In order to avoid this, the system must swap the audio channels on the fly, hence the short pause when you rotate the screen.
...
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the short audio pause when rotating the device happens only when playing music through the built in speakers, and it doesn't happen when using a headset. It further proves that this is due to the system adjusting the L/R audio channels and it is actually a feature, not a bug.
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It is worth mentioning that "ro.audio.monitorRotation" was not originally present in my device's build.prop file, so it was simply a matter of adding the entry. To my surprise, it was a runaway success. As springer.music pointed out, this tweak is only for the speakers and (thankfully) does not affect the headphones, so you can feel free to apply this without risk of messing up the headphone-based listening experience. I used JRummy Apps's "BuildProp Editor," available on the Marketplace, to make the change.
Hello! I need some help. It seems that my Tanix TX3 Mini-H Android box device turns off audio output when sound volume is low. If I watch a movie and audio dynamic range is high (some scenes are too low volume, you can barely hear them) on low volume parts the sound cuts off with a distinctive click sound. It comes on as soon as the volume gets a bit higher with the same click (crackle, pop) sound, like the audio output is turned back on. In some scenes sound goes on and off for a few times and all you can hear is that clicking, crackling noise. If audio stream in a movie is normalized (low dynamic range, i guess) everything sounds ok. There is no desync or anything. Device has s905w chip, Android Nougat 7.1.2 and is hooked up to a FullHD TV with a HDMI cable and nothing else. I tried different cables and different HDMI inputs on TV, still the same. Changed around audio options (PCM, HDMI Raw, SPDIF Raw) - always the same. Only thing that helps is to amplify the volume of a video in Kodi. I can clearly hear this issue in Android menu, when I am selecting app icons. Before and after every "select sound" (sound Android makes when i select icon with a remote) I can hear that same click. It's like the device turns on it's audio output, plays the sound, then turns it off. At least that's what I think it's happening. First i thought it was the tv but I have an IPTV box hooked up on HDMI for a quite some time now and it never made such a problem. Can I do something to fix this?
Whenever I play any media the sound is complete fine - unrelated to speaker crackle or bluethoot crackle. I don't think it is a hardware issue or an app issue. Not headphones either - I tried a few.
The thing is whenever the sound cuts off (or is extremely low) - depending on how the media was made, I hear a crackle like when you put a needle on a record player. As if the lack of sound makes the phone try to boost it instead of cut it off and I get noise.
For example I get crackle when changing songs or when a Youtube video starts and stops and some of them have it in the video itself, because audio can be cut on multiple places throughout the video.
You can see (hear) how this can get annoying.
I tried all the sound options, but nothing seems to change it, one guy even suggested sound issues can be related to the dinamic oled screen option, but that doesn't fix it either.
Does anyone know something about that?