0

I am pretty new to Linux and would like to seek help from experts. My issue is that when ever I start my camera software/ Skype I either get a black screen or just that the webcam is not detected.

I tried following the forums and community in Ubuntu but reached to no solution in my case.

I have tried doing a unity --reset and found warning and error messages regarding the video

WARN  2012-10-15 11:39:28 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:283 Calling method "InfoRequest" on object path: "/net/launchpad/lens/video" failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface `com.canonical.Unity.Lens' on object at path /net/launchpad/lens/video
WARN  2012-10-15 11:39:28 unity.glib.dbusproxy GLibDBusProxy.cpp:283 Calling method "SetViewType" on object path: "/net/launchpad/lens/video" failed: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface `com.canonical.Unity.Lens' on object at path /net/launchpad/lens/video

Please could some one guide me through. My laptop is Acer Aspire 5710G and it uses Acer crystal eye webcam.

Best

Akshay

3
  • The video lens is probably not related to skype problems, which are probably not related to generic webcam problems. They are all already answered individually on site. Oct 15, 2012 at 10:55
  • Thanks AbrahamVanHelpsing. All these were working fine until I recently updated my ubuntu to the latest version. Does this mean that it is a problem within the Kernel and its set up? Oct 15, 2012 at 11:12
  • No. It means this is probably about three separate questions. each of which are already addressed separately ... Oct 15, 2012 at 11:38

1 Answer 1

1

Cheese has bugs Try this.

http://www.iasptk.com/ubuntu-ppa-repositories/18693-install-guvcview-gtk-uvc-viewer-to-ubuntu-1204-via-ppa-

Install Guvcview (GTK+ UVC Viewer) to Ubuntu 12.04 via ppa

Guvcview aims at providing a simple GTK interface for capturing and viewing video from devices supported by the linux UVC driver, although it should also work with any v4l2 compatible device.

The project is based on luvcview for video rendering, but all controls are build using a GTK2 interface.

You can also use guvcview (since version 0.9.9) has a control window only, (from console: guvcview --control_only), this allows image control on other apps, like ekiga, cheese, mplayer, skype, ...

Audio.

Guvcview audio support is based on the portaudio library, up until version 0.9.3 the blocking API was used for audio capture, since version 0.9.4 the callback method is used instead, this provides better performance, it is also the preferred method for the portaudio API.

All interfaces (ALSA, OSD, JACK, ...) supported by portaudio should be available in guvcview. Just make sure portaudio was compiled with the desired interfaces enabled.

UVC Dynamic controls.

The linux UVC driver has an implementation for extension controls (these are vendor specific controls and are supported in the UVC spec.), they are called dynamic controls since they must be dynamically loaded into the driver.

Until today only logitech has supplied specs for their UVC webcam extension controls, these are supported by guvcview.

In new driver revisions admin rights are needed in order to add these controls to the driver, so there are basically two solutions:

1- start guvcview has root (sudo for debian/ubuntu) at least once per session, since version 1.2.0 you can do this with the option --add_ctrls avoiding the need to fully launch guvcview

2- install libwebcam this software has a udev script that should add the necessary controls to your logitech camera.

Install Guvcview to Ubuntu 12.04 via ppa

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pj-assis/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install guvcview

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .