Before recording, a guest might get an error message that reads ‘error accessing microphone or webcam’ or ‘problem accessing your mic or camera’.
In this article:
Issue
When the guest is in the green room they get an error message that says ‘Error accessing microphone or webcam’ or ‘problem accessing your mic or camera’.
Causes
Zencastr needs access to the guest’s microphone for all recording modes and also needs access to the guest’s camera for the ‘Record Audio Only, Show Video’ and ‘Record Audio and Video’ modes.
‘Error accessing microphone or webcam’ or ‘problem accessing your mic or camera’ are errors that appear when Zencastr is not able to access the guest’s microphone and/or camera.
This most frequently happens when:
Microphone and/or camera access has not been allowed in the browser.
The browser has not been allowed access to the microphone and/or camera in the computer’s security/privacy settings.
Note: Microphone and/or camera access permissions often need to be redone after updating a computer’s operating system version, and sometimes after updating the browser version.
Less frequently, this might happen when:
The wrong microphone and/or camera is selected in the guest’s Zencastr settings.
Another application that uses the guest's camera (e.g. Zoom, Skype, etc.) is open at the same time as Zencastr.
There is a problem with the actual microphone and/or camera that is causing it not to work.
Troubleshooting
Camera access is needed for the ‘Record Audio Only, Show Video’ and ‘Record Audio and Video’ modes. If the recording is in the ‘Record Audio Only’ mode, the guest can skip any troubleshooting steps for a camera, marked below with *.
The guest tries in this order:
1. Enable microphone (and camera*) access in the browser
On the green room page, the guest clicks the lock icon on the left side of their browser address bar.
For Microphone, the guest selects Allow or toggles this to on.
For Camera, the guest selects Allow or toggles this to on.*
The guest may need to refresh the page for the changes to take effect.
2. Enable the browser to access microphone (and camera*) in the computer’s privacy settings
The guest clicks the Apple menu on their computer.
The guest clicks System Preferences.
The guest clicks Security & Privacy.
The guest clicks the Privacy tab.
On the left, the guest locates Microphone.
On the right, the guest locates the browser they are using - Chrome, Edge, or Brave - and checks the box to allow that browser to access the microphone.
On the left, the guest locates Camera.*
On the right, the guest locates the browser they are using - Chrome, Edge, or Brave - and checks the box to allow that browser to access the camera.*
The guest restarts (closes and reopens) their browser for the changes to take effect.
The guest clicks the Start menu on their computer.
The guest clicks Settings.
The guest clicks Privacy.
On the left, the guest locates Microphone.
In the middle, under ‘Allow apps to access your microphone’ the guest toggles this to On.
Under ‘Choose which apps can access your microphone’, the guest locates the browser they are using - Chrome, Edge, or Brave - and toggles it to On.
On the left, the guest locates Camera.*
In the middle, under ‘Allow apps to access your camera’ the guest toggles this to On.*
Under ‘Choose which apps can access your camera’, the guest locates the browser they are using - Chrome, Edge, or Brave - and toggles it to On.*
The guest may need to restart (close and reopen) their browser for the changes to take effect.
3. Check Zencastr settings
The guest should check that the correct devices are selected in their settings for microphone, speakers, and camera.
Some audio interfaces or mixers have multiple options for microphone/audio input. If the guest is using one of these devices, they should make sure the correct microphone/audio input is selected.
For Rodecaster Pro, ‘Rodecaster Pro Stereo’ not ‘Rodecaster Multitrack’ should be selected as both the microphone/audio input and the speaker/audio output.
On the green room page, the guest checks the microphone bar to see if the correct device is selected for the audio input.
The guest checks the speaker bar to see if the correct device is selected for the audio output.
The guest checks the camera bar to see if the correct device is selected.*
Note: To change a device, the guest clicks on the dropdown bar and selects the new device.
4. Close any programs besides Zencastr that are using the camera*
On some computers, particularly those running Windows, the camera cannot be used by two applications at the same time.
The guest should close any other programs that are using the camera, such as Zoom, Skype, etc.
5. Test the microphone (and camera*)
To confirm that there is not an issue with the microphone (and/or camera*) itself, the guest can open another browser-based program/app that uses the microphone (and camera*), such as Google Meet.
In Google Meet, the guest should test that the microphone (and camera*) can be selected and the input and output is working correctly.
6. Contact Zencastr Support
If none of the above steps work, contact Zencastr Support via chat or email.