Introduction
For some reason skype makes a mess of the signal that the webcam sends through.
The workaround is to get gstreamer to watch the webcam and then to output the video to a virtual device. Skype then gets its video stream from this new virutal device.
Install the Dependancies
apt-get install subversion build-essential libgstreamer0.10-dev
Get the source for gstfakevideo
svn checkout http://gstfakevideo.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ gstfakevideo-read-only
Compile and Install gstfakevideo
cd gstfakevideo-read-only
sudo make
su
make install
Move the real webcam device out of the way
sudo mv /dev/video0 /dev/video1
Start skype via gstfakevideo
gstfakevideo v4l2src device=/dev/video1
All done
Thats all there is to it, skype will now see clear video froun your logitech quickcam connect on linux.
Sources
It almost is works for me.
gst.c create_pipeline (155): pipeline created
gst.c create_pipeline (159): pipeline linked
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=80685600 nr 0
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=-1 error=515 Unknown error 515
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=803c7601 nr 1
gst.c shim_ioctl (208): VIDIOCGCAP
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
gst.c bus_callback (105): Error: Cannot identify device ‘/dev/video1’.
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Input/output error(5)
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2196:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=80685600 nr 0
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=-1 error=515 Unknown error 515
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=803c7601 nr 1
gst.c shim_ioctl (208): VIDIOCGCAP
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=800e7606 nr 6
gst.c shim_ioctl (236): VIDIOCGPICT
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=400e7607 nr 7
gst.c shim_ioctl (243): VIDIOCSPICT depth:24, colorspace:15
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=80207609 nr 9
gst.c shim_ioctl (255): VIDIOCGWIN
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
gst.c shim_ioctl (201): request=4020760a nr 10
gst.c shim_ioctl (259): VIDIOCSWIN
gst.c shim_ioctl (313): result=0 error=0 Success
Starting the process…
gst.c bus_callback (105): Error: Cannot identify device ‘/dev/video1’.
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 32
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 280
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Thanks so much for this – works like a charm.
Any ideas how i could write a script for this? It would be great to have an icon on my desktop so that I don’t have to retype this each time i open up skype…
Cheers!
Ange
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Worked perfectly! Thanks!
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@Ange
You can easily create a launcher with this fix. Just right-click on the desktop, select “Create Launcher…” and copy-paste “gstfakevideo v4l2src device=/dev/video1” to the “command” box.
You can give it the Skype icon by clicking on the icon on the left of the dialog box and telling it to look for /usr/share/icons/skype.png
Hope this helps.
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Works flawlessly. Now I can call home with video, from the comfort of my Linux box.
Thanks so much.
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