5

When I use skype the video looks really dark (both to me and the other person). But it doesn't seem to be a problem with the webcam itself, because with Cheese the image looks fine.

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  • i would look into color correction options within skype. i know cheese automagically adjusts for light on my box Nov 8, 2010 at 5:37
  • I agree, skype is pretty inflexible. Does the same problem happen with video chat in Empathy? Nov 8, 2010 at 8:57

6 Answers 6

4

v4l2ucp package contains a video-settings GUI. You can use it to alter the skype video settings during a video call (run v4l2ucp).

enter image description here

Checking "Exposure, Auto priority" helped me.

2

I had the same problem. Try this, it works on Ubuntu 10.10 64bit and I think it'll work on your computer too :)

http://severity1.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/fixing-skype-webcam-is-very-dark-problem-in-ubuntu-karmic-and-lucid/

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  • Please include details from the link.
    – nanofarad
    Sep 22, 2012 at 21:19
2

This may be a bit of a hassle but Webcam Studio is an amazing piece of software that will allow you to stream multiple video inputs (your webcam, with color correction and effects) to a virtual device that you can use within skype. You can get it/investigate here http://www.ws4gl.org/

1
luvcview

type it in the console and configure your webcam from there. At the end press F1 to save the changes.

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  • with skype 4 it seams, changes are no longer in sync between skype and luvcview
    – arved
    Jul 29, 2012 at 15:17
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I had this problem for a long time. Nothing (including Cheese, luvcview) worked and I almost gave up on using Linux Skype. I came across the following and the rest is history.

My Skype webcam is now very nice.

http://www.ubunturoot.com/2010/05/how-to-fix-webcam-problem-in-skype.html

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  • Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. May 19, 2013 at 23:38
0

This worked for me on Ubuntu 14.04:

  1. Open Skype
  2. Go to Skype -> Options -> Video Devices
  3. Turn off 'Enable Skype video' and 'Disable Auto-exposure'
  4. Click Apply
  5. Turn those options back on
  6. Click Apply

It works every time but it's not a permanent fix. It needs to be done after every boot session.

Hope this helped.

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