External camera is choppy/lagging on MacOS

Question

I use an external webcam that was working fine a couple months ago.

For some reason, it is now choppy (low frame rate). I'm not sure what caused the changed since I haven't used Teams recently, maybe some software update (I did use Skype a couple days ago with the internal camera). Skype is also giving the same choppiness.

Teams/Skype works well with the internal camera.

The external camera works well with other apps (like FaceTime or Zoom).

What can I do to fix this issue?

Answer 1

Hi, I'm Sergio, it's a pleasure to help you.

you can see other answer for an user in our comunity with similar problem. This answer was useful for some users.

"Some MS Teams users (here and elsewhere) have noted poor outgoing video quality and the app doesn't provide any settings to address the issue.

We've just discovered a workaround for getting 720p on camera in MS Teams (desktop) that will likely work in other platforms as well.

On a MacBook Pro, in any video app, the moment one clicks the video icon to 'go visible' it requests an HDMI format from the capture card. From what we

can see:

• Zoom asks for '1280x720, 30.00 fps, YUY2' (If 'Enable HD' is checked in settings)

• Facetime asks for '1280x720, 29.97 fps, YUY2'

• MS Teams asks for '640x360, 30.00 fps, YUY2'

From what we can see, the most recent app to request the video feed affects the feed going to all the apps currently receiving video from the same source.

So, once you're in your Teams meeting and on video, you can open another video app and have it request a feed. For example:

• Open Zoom and go to Video Settings (where it gives you a preview), this will update the feed format

• Open FaceTime (and request the appropriate video source if needed), this will update the feed format

The only "gotcha" here: When in Teams, if you go "off video" and come back "on video", the moment you "go visible" it will make the "most recent" video

request, instantly lowering the feed quality in all the apps using the same source (until you re-request the feed in one of the other apps).

Not a perfect solution, but enough to address the issue until Microsoft provides an update."

the original information is:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/for...

Greetings.

Answer 2

Thanks for the hack, same here and solved through this

I will share it on the french section as none found it yet

Cheers

Answer 3

Thanks Sergio, I had the same problem and this hack worked for me. I hope MS fixes this.

Answer 4

Hi. I feel cheerful that you solved the problem. Thank you to share the solution with our community.

Greetings and happy new year!

Answer 5

Thanks Sergio!

I was about to try this method but it seems the video is now working fine now, without doing this hack.

My assumption is that it got fixed when I re-installed Office (for another unrelated issue I have with Outlook).

My camera is a 4K one (I don't need 4K, just got the camera for its low light quality) and I wonder if Teams was downsizing the resolution on the fly instead of setting the camera at a lower rez. I'll keep that trick in mind though in case I have a similar issue in the future.