cheese and other webcam software malfunctioning with PWC webcam (was cheese doesn't work with my webcam (Philips PCVC740K ToUcam Pro))

I've opened the bug https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta/+bug/282641 on mjg59 advice

Could you please try the latest cheese and gstreamer packages, gstreamer is built with libv4l support which should make v4l1 devices work out of the box.

I don't think the point here is if it works good with gstreamer+v4lsrc.

As Baptiste said in the upstream bug report the webcam works with right colors using v4lsrc (v4l1) from gstreamer properties but it's tinted green using it as a v4l2 device. So the bug is the v4l2 green tint, forcing it to use v4l would workaround the issue but wouldn't solve it.

Anyway cheese uses hal to detect v4l devices (looking for the ones exposing video4linux capability), then it does a VIDIOC_QUERYCAP ioctl to find if the device is a v4l2 one, if it fails it does another ioctl (VIDIOCGCAP) to find if it supports v4l1. So if the device supports both (not sure how libv4l works) v4l2 is always preferred and there is no way to force v4l1 at the moment.

same problem with ekiga (hint: you don't need to register to test ekiga, just hit cancel when the configuration wizard appears).
works with skype

it is indeed a regression as it was working fine for me 1-2 months ago, in intrepid alpha something

Yep, i can confirm this too. Marking this bug as confirmed.

this could be related to the bug #290506 but with a different backend driver.

@Andres, no this bug really is a pwc specific one and it's not cheese related at all.
Bug #290506 is uvcvideo specific and maybe it has something to do with cheese but I'm still not sure.

as i just wrote in a duplicate of this bug: i've got the same problem with a logitech quickcam pro 4000.

and after some testing, i came to the conclusion that V4L2 is not working with pwc driver. i also remembered that as long as for the 4 last ubuntu release, V4L2 had never worked in Ekiga with this driver. So i would say to fix it, we need to disable or remove the V4L2 part from the driver or check upstream if there maybe are some new news on V4L2 support.

or has someone a different experience with V4L2 and pwc?

@bojo42,
i have some different experience with the V4L2, pwc and the logitech quickcam pro...I'm using the 8.10 Ibex release for x86_64 architectures.

Running VLC with these parameters will produce the right output (the webcam video etc etc):
v4l2:// :v4l2-dev=/dev/video0 :v4l2-adev= :v4l2-standard=0 :v4l2-dev="/dev/video0" :v4l2-width=640 :v4l2-height=480 :v4l2-fps=30

So I think VLC is capable to use v4l2 correctly (probably VLC doesn't invoke it through gstreamer as the other apps like cheese, skype do???).

However under Hardy (x86_64 version) the webcam worked well with Skype.

Any ideas? ;)

the logitech quickcam pro 4000 used through the pwc driver...I mean.

@Valerio,
I don't really think this is a gstreamer bug since both skype and xawtv users reported the very same issue (see duplicates of this bug).
I don't know why it still works with vlc (someone said it works with camorama too but I think it's using v4l1 api) but it's likely that this issue comes from a kernel regression with pwc driver.. I took a quick look at changelogs but I didn't find anything useful.

Did any of you reported the issue to bugzilla.kernel.org or to the v4l-dvb list?

Another thing, not sure if it is ok to ask it on a launchpad bug.. could anybody verify if the issue still stands with mainline drivers from the v4l-dvb mercurial tree so that we can understand if it is an ubuntu specific regression or an upstream one?

starting skype from console and testing the camera (history: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/292830) i 've found this:

ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
ALSA lib pcm_bluetooth.c:1619:(bluetooth_init) BT_GETCAPABILITIES failed : Be/kimeneti hiba(5)
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 17
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 66

('Be/kimeneti hiba' means: in/output failed)

when i run skype 2.0.0.72 from console, and going to Options -> Video -> Test i get:

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_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_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)
Skype V4L2: Failed to change capture framerate (15)
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 17
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 67

Yes I can confirm the same issue posted by bojo42 with the same output (skype 2.0.0.72):

[...]
Skype V4L2: Failed to change capture framerate (15)
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 32
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 280

Cheese and Ekiga show green for me but skype works fine.

I just built the uvcvideo from svn and still no change.

I have Logitech Quickcam Orbit, which also uses the pwc driver.

maybe we should rename this bugreport (if possible) or create a new one and mark this one as a duplicate, as the topic is somewhat misleading. this is for sure, because other bugreports with a more matching headlines are marked as duplicates of this one.

but it's about a bug in relation with the pwc webcam driver, intrepid and different "webcam apps. so it's not only about cheese and one special webcam. we should correct that and reassign the project affected, which should be rather the kernel than cheese.

@Chris S.: when you are sure that your webcam uses the pwc driver, then the uvcvideo driver won't help you, as your webcam won't be supported by it. you have either a pwc or a uvcvideo one. see here: http://www.quickcamteam.net/hcl/linux/logitech-webcams

Hi, as this is one of many of the bug reports concerning webcams malfunctioning in Intrepid, and looking for get a good vision of the issues presented these are the metabugs that should receive it's corresponding duplicates.

bug #260918 - libv4l issues with GSPCA neither cheese, ekiga, camorama work.
bug #290506 - gstreamer/cheese issues with UVCVIDEO. cheese only works with low resolution. ekiga and others work.
bug #287888 - issues with UVCVIDEO neither cheese, ekiga, camorama, kopete work.
bug #282473 - cheese, ekiga issues with green screen using PWC module.

Please don't hesitate in add more bugs or indicate something else.

Thanks a lot.

I dont know if this is relevant but I also have all these problems plus 8.10 (pwc) now installs the wrong webcam driver!
My bug no: #50721 refers.

Hi, in order to get the complete info for this bug, is it possible to add the output from this commands:

      uname -a > uname-a.log

      cat /proc/version_signature > proc_version_signature.log

      sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log (those are 2 v's not a w)

      dmesg > dmesg.log

      lsusb > lsusb.log

Thanks

Hi,

I had the same problem with the green screen on cheese, Ekiga and Skype. I added the following repositories

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lool/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lool/ubuntu intrepid main

I installed the following:
lib32v4l-0
libv4l-0

And the webcam now works. The only problem is that its in b&w, dunno how to set it to color; any ideas.

M

btw This is the original website I found the ppa's in : http://guiodic.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/risolvere-il-problema-della-webcam-su-ubuntu-intrepid-ibex/
Also I include the requested info:
2.6.27-8-generic x86_64
Ubuntu 2.6.27-8.17-generic

Oh my camera is a logitech pro 4000

This is the dsmesg post-fix maybe somebody could upload the one prefix to see if there are any differences in the pwc parts.

Yay, I fixed the B&W issue.

I downloaded setpwc from the repositories and ran
~$setpwc -x to restore the factory defaults.

Now Skype, cheese and ekiga are in full Technicolor!

Hats off to Loïc Minier.

we would need more testers to validate what mawabsa just said about the libv4l packages available in loc ppa.

https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/282473/comments/22

if this is the case this would be a dupe from bug #260918

s/mawabsa/mabawsa .. sorry :)

Hi !

I have a Logitech Pro 4000 and used to have a green screen with Skype. I follow the instruction of mabawsa (https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/282473/comments/22) + a setpwc -x and now it's working !

Thanks !

Seb

I can validate this fix, it worked for me with my logitech quickcam pro
4000 using the pwc driver and 2.6.27-7-generic kernel. All I had to do
was add the repos, and do the update. No reboot or other fussing around
needed. Pending other problems I'd call this bug fixed.

On Mon, 2008-11-17 at 21:53 +0000, Andres Mujica wrote:
> we would need more testers to validate what mawabsa just said about the
> libv4l packages available in loc ppa.
>
> https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/282473/comments/22
>
> if this is the case this would be a dupe from bug #260918
>
> ** Changed in: libv4l (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
--
|| James Cady, RN/EMT-P
|| <email address hidden>
|| (708) 691-9569

Great fix! I can validate this fix, it worked for my quickcam pro 4000 under the x86_64 intrepid running the 2.6.27-8-generic kernel. It worked straightfoward without rebooting.

Probably this is a dupe from #260918 for the pwc driver:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/260918

But why the main stream repo is publishing an old (not so much) version of libv4l?

Yes. Works for me too.
Camera: Philips SPC 900NC USB - ID 0471:0329 Philips ORITE CCD Webcam(PC370R)

Followed instruction of mabawsa (https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/282473/comments/22) plus a setpwc -x and both skype and cheese work fine.

Fix worked with Philips SPC 900 NC, running Ubuntu 8.10 2.6.27-7.16-generic, skype, cheese and camorama all fine. I only installed libv4l-0 from launchpad.

The ppa was updated today and although my logitech 4000 pro still worked my integrated laptop on my DELL (uvcvideo driver) failed with the following error using cheese:

~$ cheese

(cheese:8039): GStreamer-WARNING **: pad source:src returned caps which are not a real subset of its template caps

(cheese:8039): GStreamer-WARNING **: pad source:src returned caps which are not a real subset of its template caps

(cheese:8039): GStreamer-WARNING **: pad video_source:src returned caps which are not a real subset of its template caps
libv4l2: error converting / decoding frame data: v4l-convert: error destination buffer too small

This did not occur prior to the update. I fixed this by reverting to the ubuntu 5.03 library. Now the webcam works.

So I guess the library still has some issues for other webcams.....

Although my Intrepid didn't find lib32v4l-0, I installed libv4l-0 and did a setpwc -x and my Philips TouCam 740 started working again. Thanks a lot.

as it seems to be totally related to libv4l i'm marking as confirmed there and invalid in Linux. Also this seems to be a similar bug as #260918 (not marking as dupe because this have a valid fix for users)

Hi,

We were busy for some times: my daughter was born. :-)
So: here I send the log files.
Bests,
T

Andres Mujica írta:
> Hi, in order to get the complete info for this bug, is it possible to
> add the output from this commands:
>
> uname -a > uname-a.log
>
> cat /proc/version_signature > proc_version_signature.log
>
> sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log (those are 2 v's not a w)
>
> dmesg > dmesg.log
>
> lsusb > lsusb.log
>
> Thanks
>
> ** Changed in: cheese (Ubuntu)
> Status: Confirmed => Invalid
>
> ** Changed in: linux-meta (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Invalid
>
> ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
>

Congratulations Tamás!

I am not able to further participate to this bug testing, I joined Jaunty and here skype, cheese and ekiga work without problems.

Until the next bug,
Dan.

Thanx, Dan! :-)
Jaunty is early a bit, isn't it? :-) It is on Vbox at me, I try it.
Tamás

I did the lib32v4l-0 thing and now my HP integrated webcam is working, even without making the setpwc -x thing.
Thanks a lot!!

libv4l-0:
works with Skype, Cheese
does not work aMSN, Kopete, Camorama.
with this:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so xxx
camorama, kopete works, amsn does not.
none of this three works with LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so

Hi all, as confirmed by several reporters this issue is the same as bug #260918.

So please further development and comments on that bug.

Thanks a lot for all your help.

Regards,

I am not sure if I need to confirm https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libv4l/+bug/282473/comments/22. But it solved my problem.

The problem I had was that Cheese showed blank (no picture/video).

Thanks for the help.

It worked for me

Acer 4520 Cristal Eye

Thanks!!!