Windows Camera app not recording sound

I have been trying to record video using the Windows Camera app (Windows version 1909), but no sound gets recorded. The default audio input device is the microphone in my webcam, and the audio preferences for Camera are set to default. I was able to use the same setup yesterday to have a Skype conversation with audio capture. I have tried replaying the video recorded in the Camera app in VLC, but there is no sound there either, so the problem is definitely with recording rather than playback. Why doesn't the Camera app record sound?

sygnus21 said:

Hi ricecrispies, I don't have a camera attached to my desktop so I can't test the app, but when you say "the audio preferences for Camera are set to default." have you checked to see what "default" actually entails? Perhaps you should have a closer look at those settings.

Windows audio settings say that the default audio input device is my webcam (Logitech Webcam Pro 9000) and the volume settings for individual apps say that the input for Camera is "default". I did try changing that to the Webcam Pro specifically, but that didn't make any difference.

I have also just tried installing ManyCam, but that doesn't capture the audio either, despite the fact that the microphone selected in ManyCam settings is the one on the webcam.

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One additional curious piece of information:
I tried messing about with Skype's audio capture settings, and set the input to ManyCam virtual microphone, and the sound level meter showed that sound was getting through. In other words, on the one hand, ManyCam fails to record audio just like the Camera App, but on the other hand, ManyCam is able to capture audio to be routed somewhere else. Or to put it another way, ManyCam is capturing sound, but failing to record it, just as the Windows Camera app fails to record sound.

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And another piece of information: I configured the XBox Game Bar to capture all audio, including mic, apps, and system sounds, and then recorded a few seconds while playing something on Spotify, and the captured video was silent. In other words my audio recordings don't include any sounds from anywhere.

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However I have been able to record audio using the audio recorder app. Is the problem something specifically to do with video recordings?

I've got it working now. I still don't quite understand what went on, but I think it is related to problems I have now and then with audio from Chrome. Sometimes I play a video in Chrome, but I get no sound through my bluetooth speakers, which are my default audio device. Switching the default audio device to the internal speakers gets it working, and it then stays working when I switch back to the Bluetooth speakers.

That is why I my Skype test calls were successful. My chosen audio output for Skype is my internal speakers. And the various video and audio files I recorded do in fact have audio in them.

What was confusing me, and something for which I have no explanation, was that, even though VLC, Camera, and various other apps I tried to use didn't succeeded in getting audio to the bluetooth speakers, Spotify and Voice Recorder did, which is why I thought the output to the speakers was working fine. Anyway, I switched the default audio output to the internal speakers and then back to the bluetooth speakers (just as I had done many times before when Chrome wasn't producing any sound), and now all the apps seem to be outputting sound successfully.

If you have any idea why sometimes some apps don't succeed in sending sound to the bluetooth speakers, that would be useful, seeing as how this is a recurring problem.

Anyway, thanks very much for helping me think this through. It probably would have taken me a lot longer to get to an answer if I hadn't been inspired by your suggestions.

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It just happened again. I fired up Vegas Pro but got no sound. I switched the default output to internal speakers and then back to bluetooth, and now it's working again. Very annoying.