[SOLVED] Web Cam: GearHead Model WC735i - Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450) Z-Star Microelectr - sound?
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Web Cam: GearHead WC735i - Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450) and Winbook WB-7142 04f2:a14
//
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// Please note that i was not able to get the original camera to work . instead in the post #15 i documented steps to how to get Winbook WB-7142 (04f2:a143) to work under Centos 5.5.
//
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Hello,
i cave in and bought a webcam GearHead Model WC735i. To my surprise Centos5.2 (2.6.18-194.17.1.el5.centos.plus) identified it:
Code:
Mar 6 20:51:50 server kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
Mar 6 20:51:50 server kernel: usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Mar 6 20:51:51 server kernel: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
Mar 6 20:51:51 server kernel: uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450)
Mar 6 20:51:51 server kernel: input: Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) as /class/input/input3
Mar 6 20:51:51 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver uvcvideo
Mar 6 20:51:51 server kernel: USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)
and i was able to get video from it without an issue by pointing to the /dev/video device.
But i can't get it to record a sound.
I have other questions regarding the things i see in the log here, but for now i just need to get the sound working.
I also checked http://mxhaard.free.fr/, but it's ( 3450 ) is not on the list.
Please advise.
Code:
// recoding
mencoder tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=64:mode=3 -o webcam.avi
<skip>
Pos:35907.9s 868405f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [644:0]
3 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35908.1s 868406f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [644:0]
4 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35908.2s 868407f ( 0%) 24.18fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [644:0]
3 duplicate frame(s)!
<skip>
Pos:35875.2s 868171f ( 0%) 24.20fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [645:0]
Error reading audio: Input/output error
3 duplicate frame(s)!
Pos:35875.3s 868172f ( 0%) 24.20fps Trem: 0min 0mb A-V:0.000 [645:0]
// playback
mplayer ./webcam.avi
MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
Playing ./webcam.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
AVI: ODML: Building ODML index (1 superindexchunks).
AVI: No audio stream found -> no sound.
VIDEO: [FMP4] 640x480 24bpp 30.000 fps 644.4 kbps (78.7 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
Software: MEncoder VERSION
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 640x480 => 640x480 Planar YV12
V:12822.6 384679/384679 5% 0% 0.0% 0 0
Exiting... (Quit)
I was able to put some more hours towards this annoyance.
I went a purchased a few more cameras 0 WinBook WB-7142, Quick 1.3 MP WebCam with night vision ( by GearHead) and Microsoft LifeCamVX-6000 v1.0.
I loaded snd_usb_audio:
As of right now i'm playing ( and referring here ) to WinBook.
first - i can get the video without an issue from that camera using mplayer command (see above).
The trouble with sound :
Code:
cat /proc/asound/card
cat: /proc/asound/card: No such file or directory
[root@server ~]# cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [ICH ]: NFORCE - Intel ICH
Intel ICH with ALC850 at irq 11
1 [Camera ]: USB-Audio - USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera at usb-0000:00:0b.1-3, high speed
cat /proc/asound/devices
2: : timer
3: : sequencer
4: [ 0- 2]: digital audio playback
5: [ 0- 1]: digital audio capture
6: [ 0- 0]: digital audio playback
7: [ 0- 0]: digital audio capture
8: [ 0] : control
9: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
10: [ 1] : control
-- PC was booted ~8:30 pm..
And at the same time :
Code:
ls -l /dev/mixer*
crw------- 1 az audio 14, 0 Mar 18 08:35 /dev/mixer
crw------- 1 az root 14, 16 Mar 18 23:33 /dev/mixer1
[root@server bin]# ls -l /dev/audio*
crw------- 1 az audio 14, 4 Mar 18 08:35 /dev/audio
crw------- 1 az root 14, 20 Mar 18 23:33 /dev/audio1
based on above i concluded that i have alsa controlled device 1 and i should read from port( or whatever it's called ) 0 :
Code:
9: [ 1- 0]: digital audio capture
and:
Code:
mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=1280:height=960:device=/dev/video0:alsa:adevice=hw.1,0
MPlayer SVN-r31628-4.1.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.
Playing tv://.
TV file format detected.
Selected driver: v4l2
name: Video 4 Linux 2 input
author: Martin Olschewski <olschewski@zpr.uni-koeln.de>
comment: first try, more to come ;-)
v4l2: your device driver does not support VIDIOC_G_STD ioctl, VIDIOC_G_PARM was used instead.
Selected device: USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
Capabilites: video capture streaming
supported norms:
inputs: 0 = Camera 1;
Current input: 0
Current format: YUYV
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: ioctl set format failed: Invalid argument
tv.c: norm_from_string(pal): Bogus norm parameter, setting default.
v4l2: ioctl enum norm failed: Invalid argument
Error: Cannot set norm!
Selected input hasn't got a tuner!
v4l2: ioctl set mute failed: Invalid argument
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [raw] RAW Uncompressed Video
Movie-Aspect is undefined - no prescaling applied.
VO: [xv] 1280x960 => 1280x960 Packed YUY2
Selected video codec: [rawyuy2] vfm: raw (RAW YUY2)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
v4l2: ioctl set mute failed: Invalid argument
v4l2: 18 frames successfully processed, 38 frames dropped.
Exiting... (Quit)
I still remember the embarrassment I felt after spending ridiculous amount of time, trying to enable the sound in xwindow. And the key was - to start the KMIX. Now i'm very aware of the existence of this little evil app.
So i clicked on it - but i'm afraid that KMIX options are beyond my understanding (at least now, at 1am in the morning) - is light green means the option is on? what if the dark read is clicked ?? I'm totally confused with KMIx plus it seemed to point to Intel ICH card, not to USB one.
recap : guy had trouble with VX-6000 (PCI ID 045E:00F4) which were not recognized by usb subsystem.
Solution: he compiled the sn9c20x.ko ( from repo.or.cz/r/microdia.git" for 2.6.28-8 kernel.
But i'm trying to get the gearhead models and/or winbook to work.
I found that site initially when doing a search on the output of lsusb realting to my video device. After reading what was here, I decided to try something else.
lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0ac8:3450 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp.
Oddly enough, my unit with that ID is configured as a video microscope. I'd seen references to uvcvideo, and did a quick look using:
aptitude search uvc
on the basis that just because it would make sense to have uvcvideo installed by default in our respective distros doesn't mean that it is.
I assume the rpm based distros have an equivalent command for repository search.
if you do this from a netbook or laptop with built-in webcam, you'll have to select the video device, and you'll need to use guvcview because luvcview doesn't allow choice of video sources. I think the uvccapture and the dependencies it picked up was the critical part.
So my video microscope (really a webcam using fixed focus 10x magnifying optics.) went from not working to working with multiple apps, it's open in the kopete video config window right now.
That is the project dealing with the increasing number of UVC spec USB video devices coming out. Their project works with v4l2 (NOT v4l) but is not part of it.
So just because a UVC video device isn't listed on the v4l2 site is no cause for alarm now that you know where you should be looking. Long list of UVC devices supported at the URL.
Alizard, thank you for the link. the site above is pointing to linuxTV project. I didn't look into why they spawned it. Outside of this this is what i've been trying to do - i'm trying to compile the l4v2 drivers. And because i have centos it is not going as smooth as i hoped for.
But thank you for sharing your positive experience - a some light @ the end of the tunnel ..
(Fedora Core) to Debian-based distros over driver issues 3 or so years ago. I had a new motherboard for which there were *no* rpm-based video drivers and the source builds just weren't working out.
While IMO, what the best server distro is is arguable, if one is an end user whose immediate concern is keeping a desktop workstation going with maximum uptime and a minimum of hassle, I see no downside to Debian-based distros. Other than the three miserable days it took me to switch from Fedora to Debian. Apt-get works a lot better for me better than yum ever did, or even setting up apt-get to run in Fedora.
I now run Kubuntu 10.10.
Note that there are tarballs available at the uvcvideo site I pointed you at, though they probably won't help if you don't have v4l2 running first.
I spent some completely inappropriate amount of time trying things from recompiling the v4l and patching the source code of drives to rebooting the poor pc zillion times. anyway, enough of b%ing.
Here are the results of my work:
1. I'm sure i was able to produce video ( post 1),but now, using the same model, just physically different unit, i can't reproduce my own results. in other words - for GearHead Model WC735i - Vimicro USB Camera (Altair) (0ac8:3450) product i have inconclusive results for Centos.
2. I was able to get the WinBook WB-7142 (04f2:a143) to work.
3. I didn't try to get MS cam to work, but according to EDDY1 ( post #6 ) that should be working too.
Everything below this line concerns only Winbook camera (04f2:a143).
1. I run Centos 5.5
lsusb ( after camera was plugged in)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 04f2:a143 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04f9:000d Brother Industries, Ltd HL-1440 Laser Printer
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:c018 Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 058f:9360 Alcor Micro Corp. 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 413c:2003 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard
4. and the log is :
Code:
Apr 6 23:27:23 server kernel: usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
Apr 6 23:27:23 server kernel: usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: 6:3:1: cannot get freq at ep 0x84
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver snd-usb-audio
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera (04f2:a143)
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: input: USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera as /class/input/input3
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: usbcore: registered new driver uvcvideo
Apr 6 23:27:24 server kernel: USB Video Class driver (v0.1.0)
Make sure that ehci picked up your camera or you will "enjoy" jerky self with quite some delay. Note that the camera is recognized as UVC - sort of important...
1. i plugged the cam in and got the results ( see above). Camera didn't produce any exciting behviour once been attached to the source of energy - it didn't jump, didn't sign, didn't even lit it's "ears" with the special green light of excitement. Oh well...
2. as a regular user :
and this is where the fun begun for me.
first, i had no clue what the params in bold were. In other words - i had to learn how ALSA works (from user's perspective) and how to get ALSA and then later mencoder to record from the 2nd sound card.
Before i could get the sound to be recorded i had to :
Code:
cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [ICH ]: NFORCE - Intel ICH
Intel ICH with ALC850 at irq 11
1 [Camera ]: USB-Audio - USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera
USB2.0 2MP UVC AF Camera at usb-0000:00:0b.1-3, high speed
alsamixer -c 1
<tab> to "Capture" and increase the volume to 100.
also check that snd_usb_audio is loaded ( lsmod is your friend)
now let's go back to the options in bold above: alsa:forceaudio:adevice=hw.1,0 -ovc lavc -oac mp3lame -lameopts fastreset=standard
here you say - for audio input use alsa system; i don't care what you (v4l) know about device, but you will do what i say; use card 1 ( second card) with port 0. For video output use lavc codec, for audio output use mp3lame. and i selected to use "standard" option for all other (mp3lame) parameters and found it working pretty well.
As you can see -it's easy once you know how to get it to work. But the path for me was way too long.
hope this long and boring thread will be helpful to somebody.
// Off to virtual drinking party (cuba libre rocks) with my friend on another side of the globe.
cheers!
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