Skype/14.04: no sound output in conversations

Question

I installed Skype 4.2 via PPA on my fresh 14.04 system. Skype itself makes notification sounds (though distorted), but when I am in a conversation, I receive neither sound, nor video. I tested it with my mom, she could hear and see me, but I couldn't see or hear her, and the sound test is quiet too. I didn't install any additional drivers yet, as I'm much of a newbie I'm not sure which ones to choose. Please let me know if you need any command outputs.

Solution 1

Obeying this workaround i am able to not only talk but also to listen to my interlocutor what makes $kype a far more useful application, indeed. The fresh dude advises instead of simply running it by entering skype in terminal (respectively pushing the blue colored button) to just launch it this way:

env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 skype

Tested on Trusty Kubuntu. Tux 4 president!

Solution 2

env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 skype

the answer as provided by elf12

I don't have the reputation to upvote, so have to resort to a separate "answer"

ONE ADDITIONAL THING TO NOTE:

the problem I had was with running 2 skype instances simultaneously which used to work fine under 12.04, but under 14.04:

1. no sound
2. touch some sliders in the volume control under applications
3. get awful buzz until skypes are killed

the above solution fixed that for me.

and just in case here is my updated script for starting 2 skype instances:

    sudo modprobe -r uvcvideo
    sudo modprobe uvcvideo
    env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 skype --dbpath=~/.Skype.profile1 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
    env PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 skype --dbpath=~/.Skype.provile2 > /dev/null 2>&1 &

the reason for modpobe ucvideo .... you guessed it - the webcam wouldn't show up

Hope this helps someone.

Solution 3

For me, just installing pavucontrol and switching the output to "Built in stereo" worked instantly.

Comments

[joe]

Make sure the sound settings have the right output, or use pavucontrol for some more options.

[user272554]

Thanks! the output was always set correctly. I installed pavucontrol and now everything works perfectly (including distorted sounds).

[Hatoru Hansou]

In my case I already had pavucontrol installed. I was about to run it and check configuration but I'd read that only installing it solved the problem for this user, then I decided to reinstall it, sudo apt-get install --reinstall pavucontrol, and close and open Skype again. Problem solved. It seems that something in audio config got screwed during upgrade to 14.04.

[Rmano]

If you install skype via the "partner" repository, it has the latency setting already took into account in the .desktop file, so it works out-ot-the-box (well, if you do not start it in a terminal).