Camera Audio
PanoPaper can play the audio from a camera's microphone. It plays from the start; mute it any time.
Which camera you hear
You hear the camera on your main display - the one with the menu bar in System Settings ▸ Displays ▸ Arrange - on the Space you are looking at. Switch to a Space with another camera and the audio switches with the picture; a Space without a camera is silent. Only one camera plays at a time: several microphones at once would just be noise. For the same reason All Cameras plays no audio: the menu bar panel's Audio box then shows a red cross and No audio beside All Cameras, greyed out, and the mute shortcut shows "No audio with All Cameras".
On a UniFi NVR, the account needs the Livestream Audio permission for that camera in UniFi Protect (see What the account may do) - the Audio column of the camera list in Settings ▸ Cameras shows it for each camera. Without it, the menu bar panel's Audio box shows a red cross and No audio permission before the camera's name, and its controls are greyed out, and the mute shortcut shows "No audio permission for camera" instead of switching.
Muting and unmuting
- Click the speaker in the Audio box of the menu bar panel - it has a slash while muted.
- Or press your mute shortcut, in any app.
- Or use the 'Mute' checkbox in Settings ▸ General ▸ Audio.
The shortcut shows a short notice - "Camera audio ON" or "Camera audio OFF" - on the screen with the pointer.
While audio plays, the menu bar icon has waves on both sides; the more waves are solid, the louder it plays.
Two volumes
Settings ▸ General ▸ Audio has two volume sliders:
- Volume - in Full Screen.
- Behind windows - while you work. It starts at 20%, so the camera murmurs along.
Under it, 'Also when no windows cover the desktop' (on at first) keeps the Behind windows volume when you close your last window or show the desktop, so the camera never suddenly gets loud. Turn it off and Volume plays whenever no windows cover the main display, too.
When the volume changes, the audio glides from one to the other. The slider in the menu bar panel sets the volume you hear right now - usually the Behind windows one.
Output
Output chooses the speakers: System Default follows the output chosen in macOS (System Settings ▸ Sound), or pick a specific device to keep the camera there. While that device is disconnected, the camera plays through the system default, and the device is listed as "(not connected)" until it is back.
Mute shortcut
A keyboard shortcut that mutes and unmutes the camera from any app. Record it in Settings ▸ Shortcuts ▸ Mute Audio: click 'Record' and press the keys. 'Clear' removes it, and gives the keys back to other apps at once. See Shortcuts Settings for which keys a shortcut may use.
When the audio stops
The audio stops while the cameras are hidden, and while nobody can see the video: displays asleep, screen locked, screen saver running.
