Webcam configuration

English Hardware
1

I have a Philips SPC 200NC webcam connected to my OpesSuSE 11.3 box.

I want to use this camera with Skype. Testing video in Skype 2.1 beta 2 doesn’t show anything.

xawtv displays the image.

Cheese opens with ‘No device found’ - the Help suggests using gstreamer.properties. This also doesn’t find the camera when attempting to test - the terminal output is:

gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'artsdsink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'glimagesink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'v4lmjpegsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'qcamsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'esdmon'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'Video for Linux 2 (v4l2)': Could not negotiate format [gstbasesrc.c(2756): gst_base_src_start (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstV4l2Src:v4l2src1:
Check your filtered caps, if any]

The gstreamer.properties video tab shows
Default Input
Plugin: Video for Linux 4 (v4l2)
Device: SPC 200NC
Pipeline: v4l2src device="/dev/video0"

The following are installed (as well as quite few other gstreamer packages):
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-gnomevfs
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-hal
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good

I guess the above messages ‘Skipping unavailable plugin’ mean that I have missed installing something, but I don’t know what so would appreciate enlightenment from the more knowledgeable.

Thanks

Anthony

2

My guess (and its only a guess) is that it might be a v4l or gstreamer issue. What is the output of:


rpm -qa '*v4l*'
rpm -qa '*gst*'

Its possible you are missing an app there.

3

rpm -qa ‘v4l’

libv4l2-0-0.6.4-6.1.i586
v4l-conf-3.95-214.2.i586
libv4l-0.6.4-6.1.i586
libv4l-devel-0.6.4-6.1.i586
libv4l1-0-0.6.4-6.1.i586
v4l-tools-3.95-214.2.i586
libv4lconvert0-0.6.4-6.1.i586

rpm -qa ‘gst’

gstreamer-0_10-utils-0.10.29-1.7.i586
python-gstreamer-0_10-0.10.18-1.14.i586
libgstsignalprocessor-0_10-0-0.10.18-6.2.i586
libgstinterfaces-0_10-0-0.10.29-1.9.i586
libgstreamer-0_10-0-0.10.29-1.7.i586
libgstbasevideo-0_10-0-0.10.18-6.2.i586
gstreamer-0_10-libnice-0.0.11-1.25.i586
gstreamer-0_10-0.10.29-1.7.i586
libgstapp-0_10-0-0.10.29-1.9.i586
gstreamer-utils-0.10.29-1.7.i586
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-0.10.29-1.9.i586
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-0.10.22-1.16.i586
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad-0.10.18-6.2.i586
banshee-1-backend-engine-gstreamer-1.6.1-1.15.i586
libgstphotography-0_10-0-0.10.18-6.2.i586
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-gnomevfs-0.10.29-1.9.i586
PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin-0.6.3-5.4.i586
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mp3-2-106.2.i586
libgstfarsight-0_10-0-0.0.17-4.2.i586
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-hal-0.10.22-1.16.i586

Thanks

4

Those look fine to me. You have some extras that I do not have (such as v4l-conf and v4l-tools) but I don’t see that as a problem. It might even be necessary as your webcam is a different type of webcam from mine.

Well here we have a significant difference. You have no gstreamers from Packman packagers, and I have replaced most of mine with Packman packager versions. You can tell a Packman packager version by the “pm” in the version number. Here is what I get:


oldcpu@core-i7:~> rpm -qa '*gst*'
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-ugly-0.10.17-999.pm.1000.4.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-lang-0.10.27-999.pm.1002.2.noarch
libgstsignalprocessor-0_10-0-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.x86_64
libgstapp-0_10-0-0.10.32-999.pm.1005.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-ffmpeg-0.10.11-999.pm.999.4.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-0.10.27-999.pm.1002.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad-lang-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.noarch
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-0.10.32-999.pm.1005.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-gnomevfs-0.10.32-999.pm.1005.2.x86_64
libgstphotography-0_10-0-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mpegdemux-0.10.57-42.pm.42.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-hal-0.10.22-1.16.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mpegmux-0.10.4-43.pm.43.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-extra-0.10.27-999.pm.1002.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-ugly-lang-0.10.17-999.pm.1000.4.noarch
gstreamer-0_10-0.10.32-1000.pm.1000.2.x86_64
PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin-0.6.3-5.4.x86_64
libgstvdp-0_10-0-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-lang-0.10.32-999.pm.1005.2.noarch
libgstinterfaces-0_10-0-0.10.32-999.pm.1005.2.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mp3-0.10.14-42.pm.42.2.x86_64
libgstreamer-0_10-0-0.10.32-1000.pm.1000.2.x86_64
libgstbasevideo-0_10-0-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad-0.10.21-999.pm.1014.1.x86_64
gstreamer-0_10-lang-0.10.32-1000.pm.1000.2.noarch
phonon-backend-gstreamer-0_10-4.4.2-1.6.x86_64

Unfortunately Packman is in transition right now as they restructure their download site/mirrors with a different repository setup, so it may be a day or two before that settles down.

I confess, I did not have cheese installed on my 64-bit openSUSE-11.4 PC (which has a much easier to configure UVC compatible webcam). So I just installed it now and it appears to work:
http://thumbnails37.imagebam.com/12248/b26a32122479249.jpg](http://www.imagebam.com/image/b26a32122479249)

Unfortunately, I can’t say EXACTLY what gstreamer app it is that you are missing, nor can I say for certain it is a gstreamer application (as your webcam is a different make from mine) but I suspect it might be one of the gstreamer apps that I have installed.

5

Apologies - I’m getting my threads confused. Its Skype that you are trying to get working and not cheese.

Is there any possibility that your webcam is not v4l compatible ?

6

I’m half asleep … :frowning: … a bit of surfing indicates this should be v4l compatible: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html

ie the Philips 0471:0325 (SPC200NC) should be work with : spca5xx/LE gspca (v4l1/v4l2).

Take a look here: HCL:Web cameras - openSUSE

You may need to use a preload command:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so <application>

ie
for a 64-bit system:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libv4l/v4l1compat.so <application>

although Skype being 32-bit I don’t know what to use …

You could try:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

and if that fails try:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

… apologies for the confusion. I’m tired and I long since gave up on using gspca webcams, as I MUCH prefer webcams that use the UVC driver.

7

duplicate post

8

Thank you oldcpu.

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

gets video into skype without any extra gstreamer installation.

The equivalent also enables cheese to use the camera.

Anthony

9

GREAT news. Glad to read you did not end up messing around with gstreamer.

Apologies for a bad recommendation initially. I was very tired yesterday, and I did not immediately identify your web cam as a gspca driver webcam (as sometimes Phillip webcams use different drivers). If you have further problems with your webcam, be certain to include in your post the device-id and vendor-id that you get from running:

lsusb

Thats very important, and I had to surf a fair amount to figure that out (which eventually lead me to realize that “LD_PRELOAD” was a possibility). With the vendor/device ID I think I would have ‘come to the chase’ a lot qucker.

For example, on my PC, lsusb gives the following line for my webcam:


Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:0821 Logitech, Inc.

from which 046d:0821 is very important when trying to research for details on my webcam.

10

For completeness, and to help anyone searching, lsusb returns:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0471:0325 Philips SPC 200NC PC Camera

for my camera.

thanks again for the help.

Anthony