Skype problem on webcam
 

Here's the error log when I ran skype in command;

Skype V4L2: Could not find a suitable capture format
Skype V4L2: Could not find a suitable capture format
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 33
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 158
Skype Xv: No suitable overlay format found

I'm using ArkMicro FSC WebCam V30S,so I do think it's supported in linux.Furthermore,my web cam can be detected so I think it's just down to some tricks to get my cam working.Any idea?

Found this page which is for Linux USB devices and mentions your camera as being supported. Check it out !

I know it's supported in linux,but I can't get it working,and about the errors I did state them in my first post.Skype detected my cam but it just display a blank screen.

Have you tried other programs that use the webcam ? skype is not the best program to determine if the camera works, because it doesn't work well.

Not really.I have VLC but I don't really know how to test my camera with VLC.What other program can be used?Kopete on the other hand crashed immediately when I clicked video section of the configuration.

I use VLC with my webcam to capture to a file and view locally.

To use just goto "File->Open Capture Device" and choose the correct "Video device name". Mine is /dev/video0. Then click "Stream/Save" and select "Settings" next to "Stream/Save" select "Play Locally" and you should get your camera output displayed in a window.

Nope,it doesn't work too.

How did you install the uvc drivers ? I recommend you try the latest version.

The uvc driver should be available from my kernel itself.By the way,I use kernel 2.6.29.4 and I'm sure my kernel has built-in support of v4l and uvc.

To get my camera (not the same as yours) working I had to make some changes.

If I recall correctly -- and I STRONGLY suggest you check these ideas out before you jump right in -- the following might do the trick:

rm /lib/udev/rules/60-persistent-v4l.rules
rm -r /dev/v4l

Now it works with 2.6.29 and SW 12.2, tested on Konqueror and Skype.

Good luck!

Doesn't work too.

In this page someone solves his problem in a stange way:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=192616

He basically reverts to an older version, but I don't think that's the ideal solution. I'd suggest that you check the following points:

- Check that you are using the correct and latest drivers for your video card.
- Do you have compiz etc. on? If so, try turning it off.
- When compiling your kernel, did you enable v4l1 compatibility support?

-I'm sure that I use newest driver for my video card
-I have KWin compositing turned on,but I turned them off and ran skype again and the problem did not go away.
-I'm sure I enabled v4l1 compatibility support in my kernel.

Again, I recommend trying different versions of the uvc driver. With my camera some versions work, some don't ...

But isn't the uvc driver is in the kernel?How to change the uvc driver?

And I installed luvcview and another error when I ran luvcview;

luvcview version 0.2.1
Video driver: x11
A window manager is available
video /dev/video0
Unable to set format: 22.
Init v4L2 failed !! exit fatal

There may be a uvc driver that comes with the kernel, check 'lsmod' for any spca or gspca modules. To install another version, make sure you have the kernel source and headers installed, and then compile it and install it. You may have to blacklist some modules. Post the output of 'lsmod'.

I don't understand,do you mean I have to recompile a new version kernel e.g 2.6.30?All modules like spca and others you mentioned is built in the kernel itself.So I don't think they will show up with lsmod.

have u tried using the libv4l package? (available at slackbuilds.org)

basically it works by loading specific libv4l libraries before program execution. in my case i typed "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype" to launch skype.

http://freshmeat.net/projects/libv4l

I'm sorry to say it's not working too,here's the error log;

libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Input/output error
Skype V4L2: Could not find a suitable capture format
Skype V4L2: Could not find a suitable capture format
Starting the process...
Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 33
Skype XShm: XShm support enabled
Skype Xv: Using Xv port 158
Skype Xv: No suitable overlay format found

have u tried "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype" ?

Yes,but it returned same error to me.

The uvc driver page says some cams with the same device ID do not work, but the one with the brand name you gave should be working. I still suspect the video driver. If your card is ATI, are you using the proprietary drivers?

Oh, so you compiled the kernel and built them in ?

Well, that's a problem then, yes you would have to recompile the kernel. You shouldn't have built them in, that way you could update them and swap them out and stuff.

So where I should get the new modules?

the modules come with the kernel package itself. they get built according to which ones u choose when configuring the kernel. i would say a safe bet would be to choose everything under "Video Capture Adapters" and "Video for Linux" as modules and build the kernel again. (or if u know exactly which module u need, just choose that one) btw it's better to have modules instead of built in for device drivers because sometimes u need to pass parameters when loading them.

In newer kernels, just compile a new kernel, it is included in 2.6.26 and newer.

Try wxcam or the ivtv tools: http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Main_Page

A quick google also turned up this bug report:

http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/rev/a9...8aa1d30e49f991

It's probably not in the latest kernel yet.