Webcam - sound
Neil Winchurst
supposed to work 'out of the box' on Linux. Well ...
Guvcview shows a picture. I can take a video but it won't play back. It
saves as an .avi file but will not play. Still photos are fine.
Cheese, shows a picture. Still photos are fine. I can take and play back
a video but no sound. Yes, I have looked around and also made sure that
all my microphones sliders are on in pavucontrol.
Anyone point me in the right direction please?
Neil
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gene heskett
> I have acquired a Logitech C310 webcam. Looking around Google it is
> supposed to work 'out of the box' on Linux. Well ...
>
> Guvcview shows a picture. I can take a video but it won't play back. It
> saves as an .avi file but will not play. Still photos are fine.
>
> Cheese, shows a picture. Still photos are fine. I can take and play back
> a video but no sound. Yes, I have looked around and also made sure that
> all my microphones sliders are on in pavucontrol.
>
> Anyone point me in the right direction please?
>
> Neil
FWIW Neil, I have a similar usb webcam, and cheese is likewise silent here.
So I'll be following this thread. :)
Cheers, Gene
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene>
Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them.
Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
-- Oscar Wilde
Nigel Ridley
> I have acquired a Logitech C310 webcam. Looking around Google it is
> supposed to work 'out of the box' on Linux. Well ...
>
> Guvcview shows a picture. I can take a video but it won't play back. It
> saves as an .avi file but will not play. Still photos are fine.
>
> Cheese, shows a picture. Still photos are fine. I can take and play back
> a video but no sound. Yes, I have looked around and also made sure that
> all my microphones sliders are on in pavucontrol.
>
> Anyone point me in the right direction please?
>
> Neil
>
I too have a similar webcam and also in the same boat -- but if you install audacity it will
record and play back sound files no problem..... so I don't know why sound and webcams doesn't
work......
I too hope there is an answer....
Nigel
Clay Weber
> I have acquired a Logitech C310 webcam. Looking around Google it is
> supposed to work 'out of the box' on Linux. Well ...
>
> Guvcview shows a picture. I can take a video but it won't play back. It
> saves as an .avi file but will not play. Still photos are fine.
>
> Cheese, shows a picture. Still photos are fine. I can take and play back
> a video but no sound. Yes, I have looked around and also made sure that
> all my microphones sliders are on in pavucontrol.
>
> Anyone point me in the right direction please?
>
> Neil
Something to check is if it is actually a software problem instead of a
webcam/audio problem. My similar c510 (which uses the same uvc driver) works
out of the box in Google talk, with audio, with nothing more than selecting
the correct sound device in the google settings. Same with web clients for
ustream and justin.tv. I did have skype working with the webcam's mic, but
cannot remember what I had to to to get it working correctly as I don't often
use Skype anymore, and on my phone if I do.
guvcview in Oneiric has some bugs, even crashes, in this unsupported Universe
package.
I used a more up-to-date package from this ppa:
https://launchpad.net/~pj-assis/+archive/ppa
and now get sound with my video recording on my Logitech. I don't think Cheese
does audio, nor does KDE's Kamoso.
--
Clay Weber
http://kubuntuforums.net
http://ubuntumaine.org
http://emacdogsports.com
Basil Chupin
> I have acquired a Logitech C310 webcam. Looking around Google it is
> supposed to work 'out of the box' on Linux. Well ...
>
> Guvcview shows a picture. I can take a video but it won't play back. It
> saves as an .avi file but will not play. Still photos are fine.
>
> Cheese, shows a picture. Still photos are fine. I can take and play back
> a video but no sound. Yes, I have looked around and also made sure that
> all my microphones sliders are on in pavucontrol.
>
> Anyone point me in the right direction please?
Pulse audio (pavucontrol) sits on top of alsa so what you need to do is
to use alsamixer first, select your audio card [use the F5 key to see
all channels and F6 key for the audio card] then make sure that you have
the appropriate channels selected (ie, unmuted and you mute/unmute them
by using the "m" key).
While doing the playing around with the channels have what you want to
hear playing so that when you unmute a channel you will hear the audio
being played.
Just a note here: there are situations where having a combination of 2
channels unmuted can actually prevent the audio from being heard - I
don't remember what they may be but just be aware when you start
fiddling with the channels; you will soon enough hit on the right setup.
Once you have sound thru alsamixer go back to pavucontrol and set that
up to get your sound using pavucontrol.
BC
--
I'd rather live one more day as a wolf than an entire life as a lamb.
Neil Winchurst
> guvcview in Oneiric has some bugs, even crashes, in this unsupported Universe
> package.
> I used a more up-to-date package from this ppa:
> https://launchpad.net/~pj-assis/+archive/ppa
> and now get sound with my video recording on my Logitech. I don't think Cheese
> does audio, nor does KDE's Kamoso.
>
Thanks for the info. Later today I will try this more up to date
package. And thanks for the warning re Oneiric. I have been told that
Cheese does do sound now. Again I must check the version I am using.
Perhaps if I upgrade later this year I will check Oneiric and guvcview
again.
Thanks again
Neil
Neil Winchurst
> Pulse audio (pavucontrol) sits on top of alsa so what you need to do is
> to use alsamixer first, select your audio card [use the F5 key to see
> all channels and F6 key for the audio card] then make sure that you have
> the appropriate channels selected (ie, unmuted and you mute/unmute them
> by using the "m" key).
>
> While doing the playing around with the channels have what you want to
> hear playing so that when you unmute a channel you will hear the audio
> being played.
>
> Just a note here: there are situations where having a combination of 2
> channels unmuted can actually prevent the audio from being heard - I
> don't remember what they may be but just be aware when you start
> fiddling with the channels; you will soon enough hit on the right setup.
>
> Once you have sound thru alsamixer go back to pavucontrol and set that
> up to get your sound using pavucontrol.
>
> BC
>
However, when I plug in the webcam and then F6 for the list of sound
cards I see one for the USB Device. When I choose that I get the message
'This sound device does not have any playback controls'. I try F4 and
get a slider for Capture. However I can get only one green square in it
when I try the up arrow. So I am puzzled by it all.
As I said in another reply I will try it with Skype to see if it works.
Neil
Basil Chupin
> On 03/03/12 01:31, Basil Chupin wrote:
>> Pulse audio (pavucontrol) sits on top of alsa so what you need to do is
>> to use alsamixer first, select your audio card [use the F5 key to see
>> all channels and F6 key for the audio card] then make sure that you have
>> the appropriate channels selected (ie, unmuted and you mute/unmute them
>> by using the "m" key).
>>
>> While doing the playing around with the channels have what you want to
>> hear playing so that when you unmute a channel you will hear the audio
>> being played.
>>
>> Just a note here: there are situations where having a combination of 2
>> channels unmuted can actually prevent the audio from being heard - I
>> don't remember what they may be but just be aware when you start
>> fiddling with the channels; you will soon enough hit on the right setup.
>>
>> Once you have sound thru alsamixer go back to pavucontrol and set that
>> up to get your sound using pavucontrol.
>>
>> BC
>>
> Yes. I have already looked at that. My default sound card works fine.
> However, when I plug in the webcam and then F6 for the list of sound
> cards I see one for the USB Device. When I choose that I get the message
> 'This sound device does not have any playback controls'. I try F4 and
> get a slider for Capture.
I didn't say F4 - I said F5.
> However I can get only one green square in it
> when I try the up arrow. So I am puzzled by it all.
>
> As I said in another reply I will try it with Skype to see if it works.
>
> Neil
>
BC
--
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Neil Winchurst
>>>
>> Yes. I have already looked at that. My default sound card works fine.
>> However, when I plug in the webcam and then F6 for the list of sound
>> cards I see one for the USB Device. When I choose that I get the message
>> 'This sound device does not have any playback controls'. I try F4 and
>> get a slider for Capture.
>
> I didn't say F4 - I said F5.
>
>
end of the screen there are two marked Mic and Front Mic. There are no
sliders for these. Is that relevant?
Thanks
Neil
Basil Chupin
> On 03/03/12 09:35, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>> Yes. I have already looked at that. My default sound card works fine.
>>> However, when I plug in the webcam and then F6 for the list of sound
>>> cards I see one for the USB Device. When I choose that I get the message
>>> 'This sound device does not have any playback controls'. I try F4 and
>>> get a slider for Capture.
>> I didn't say F4 - I said F5.
>>
>>
> OK. F5 for show all. All the sliders are activated. However at the right
> end of the screen there are two marked Mic and Front Mic. There are no
> sliders for these. Is that relevant?
>
> Thanks
>
> Neil
There are MIC, MIC1 <select> where you select MIC1 or MIC2 by using the
up/down key, and AMIC.
As I have had the need for any of these I don't know what they do except
to conclude that they have something to do with activating a microphone
(?for Skype, ?for webcam). Oh, there is also the Mic Boost setting in
all that.
BC
--
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Basil Chupin
> On 03/03/12 20:45, Neil Winchurst wrote:
>> On 03/03/12 09:35, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>>> Yes. I have already looked at that. My default sound card works fine.
>>>> However, when I plug in the webcam and then F6 for the list of sound
>>>> cards I see one for the USB Device. When I choose that I get the
>>>> message
>>>> 'This sound device does not have any playback controls'. I try
>>>> F4 and
>>>> get a slider for Capture.
>>> I didn't say F4 - I said F5.
>>>
>>>
>> OK. F5 for show all. All the sliders are activated. However at the right
>> end of the screen there are two marked Mic and Front Mic. There are no
>> sliders for these. Is that relevant?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Neil
>
> There are MIC, MIC1 <select> where you select MIC1 or MIC2 by using
> the up/down key, and AMIC.
>
> As I have had the need for any of these I don't know what they do
> except to conclude that they have something to do with activating a
> microphone (?for Skype, ?for webcam). Oh, there is also the Mic Boost
> setting in all that.
>
> BC
@Neil.
It would be nice to know that after asking a question here and getting
responses whether the help you were given solved your problem. Getting a
feedback as to success or otherwise makes it worthwhile providing help
to others.
Neil Winchurst
>
> It would be nice to know that after asking a question here and getting
> responses whether the help you were given solved your problem. Getting a
> feedback as to success or otherwise makes it worthwhile providing help
> to others.
>
> BC
>
You are quite right and I apologise. Yes I did get it sorted. In the end
I found a video on the internet which showed how to sort it with pulse
audio.
http://www.matthartley.com/audio-problems-with-skype-for-ubuntu/
I followed the suggestions on the video and it worked. I now have sound
with my webcam. Please note that this refers to pulse audio only.
By the way, I also have a laptop running Mint 9 Xfce. I tried the webcam
on that and it just worked. Then I found that the laptop was using Alsa
and not pulse audio!! So it seems that if you are using alsa for sound
there should not be any problems.
Thanks for the nudge about feedback. I will remember in future,
Neil
Basil Chupin
> On 12/03/12 04:55, Basil Chupin wrote:
>> It would be nice to know that after asking a question here and getting
>> responses whether the help you were given solved your problem. Getting a
>> feedback as to success or otherwise makes it worthwhile providing help
>> to others.
>>
>> BC
>>
> You are quite right and I apologise. Yes I did get it sorted. In the end
> I found a video on the internet which showed how to sort it with pulse
> audio.
>
> http://www.matthartley.com/audio-problems-with-skype-for-ubuntu/
>
> I followed the suggestions on the video and it worked. I now have sound
> with my webcam. Please note that this refers to pulse audio only.
>
> By the way, I also have a laptop running Mint 9 Xfce. I tried the webcam
> on that and it just worked. Then I found that the laptop was using Alsa
> and not pulse audio!! So it seems that if you are using alsa for sound
> there should not be any problems.
>
> Thanks for the nudge about feedback. I will remember in future,
>
> Neil
Thanks for this.
But the only hassle with the last para re Mint n the laptop: as I
already mentioned in my earlier suggestions to you re getting the mic
working is that pulse sits *ON* *TOP* of alsa - without alsa there is no
pulseaudio. Once you get alsa working then you can use pulseaudio and
its pavucontrol to control the audio.
BC
--
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Neil Winchurst
>
> Thanks for this.
>
> But the only hassle with the last para re Mint n the laptop: as I
> already mentioned in my earlier suggestions to you re getting the mic
> working is that pulse sits *ON* *TOP* of alsa - without alsa there is no
> pulseaudio. Once you get alsa working then you can use pulseaudio and
> its pavucontrol to control the audio.
>
> BC
>
Well, I am not very knowledgeable about how sound works in Linux. My
laptop made no mention of pulseaudio. When I was setting up the webcam
for Skype I went to the audio section under options and found a list of
possible inputs, stating that it was using Alsa. I chose the webcam from
the list and it just worked.
On my desktop, when trying to set up Skype sound, I found no such list
so I had to use the methods shown in the video as mentioned earlier. So
I found the sound set up for my laptop quickly and simply. For my
desktop it took three days of research to get there.
So, is it possible to use Alsa alone, without pulseaudio?
Thanks for the info,
Neil
Mark Greenwood
On 13 Mar 2012, at 08:32, Neil Winchurst wrote:
> On 12/03/12 22:02, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>
>> Thanks for this.
>>
>> But the only hassle with the last para re Mint n the laptop: as I
>> already mentioned in my earlier suggestions to you re getting the mic
>> working is that pulse sits *ON* *TOP* of alsa - without alsa there is no
>> pulseaudio. Once you get alsa working then you can use pulseaudio and
>> its pavucontrol to control the audio.
>>
>> BC
>>
>
> Well, I am not very knowledgeable about how sound works in Linux. My
> laptop made no mention of pulseaudio. When I was setting up the webcam
> for Skype I went to the audio section under options and found a list of
> possible inputs, stating that it was using Alsa. I chose the webcam from
> the list and it just worked.
>
> On my desktop, when trying to set up Skype sound, I found no such list
> so I had to use the methods shown in the video as mentioned earlier. So
> I found the sound set up for my laptop quickly and simply. For my
> desktop it took three days of research to get there.
>
> So, is it possible to use Alsa alone, without pulse audio?
If pulse audio is running, Skype will not permit you to use alsa directly (because to do so would break any application that tries to use pulse). You can't even kill pulse audio because it will restart itself. I don't think it's possible to remove pulse audio without removing a lot of other stuff either - however you might be able to find something on google that tells you how to disable pulse audio so it doesn't start. But pulse audio is generally a good thing so that would be a last resort. If you've got it working I'd just leave it.
Mark
Basil Chupin
> On 12/03/12 22:02, Basil Chupin wrote:
>> Thanks for this.
>>
>> But the only hassle with the last para re Mint n the laptop: as I
>> already mentioned in my earlier suggestions to you re getting the mic
>> working is that pulse sits *ON* *TOP* of alsa - without alsa there is no
>> pulseaudio. Once you get alsa working then you can use pulseaudio and
>> its pavucontrol to control the audio.
>>
>> BC
>>
> Well, I am not very knowledgeable about how sound works in Linux. My
> laptop made no mention of pulseaudio. When I was setting up the webcam
> for Skype I went to the audio section under options and found a list of
> possible inputs, stating that it was using Alsa. I chose the webcam from
> the list and it just worked.
>
> On my desktop, when trying to set up Skype sound, I found no such list
> so I had to use the methods shown in the video as mentioned earlier. So
> I found the sound set up for my laptop quickly and simply. For my
> desktop it took three days of research to get there.
>
> So, is it possible to use Alsa alone, without pulseaudio?
One of the first things I try and do is get rid of pulseaudio and just
use alsa. So, the answer is YES.
However, for some reason only known to some, it suddenly became
impossible to delete pulseaudio on some distros :-( . In this/these
cases I simply ignore pulseaudio and just go with alsa.
> Thanks for the info,
You're welcome.
BC
--
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Neil Winchurst
system. It works so I will leave it alone. I will just repeat that on my
desktop pulse appeared as the default sound system. On my laptop there
was no sign of it (pulse that is) only Alsa was there. I have not messed
around with anything re sound on either computer.
Thanks for all the help.
Neil
Basil Chupin
"If it isn't broke then don't fix" is a sound (excuse the pun) policy.
But I have to comment about the difference between your laptop which is
running Mint and your desktop which I presume is running Kubuntu (I
presume because nowhere do you mention what you are using on the
desktop). Anyway, Mint is based on Ubuntu which the Mint people make
"adjustments" to and call it Mint. Which is most likely why you have
this difference with alsa/pulseaudio between the desktop and the laptop.
BC
--
The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Neil Winchurst
> "If it isn't broke then don't fix" is a sound (excuse the pun) policy.
>
> But I have to comment about the difference between your laptop which is
> running Mint and your desktop which I presume is running Kubuntu (I
> presume because nowhere do you mention what you are using on the
> desktop). Anyway, Mint is based on Ubuntu which the Mint people make
> "adjustments" to and call it Mint. Which is most likely why you have
> this difference with alsa/pulseaudio between the desktop and the laptop.
>
> BC
>
Caught me out again. On my desktop I am running Mint 10 KDE, based on
Ubuntu Maverick. And the laptop is running Mint 9 Xfce. Perhaps the
difference is between KDE and Xfce.
Yes, I know that Maverick is getting a bit old now. So I am testing some
distros on VBox, including Kubuntu 11.10 and Mint 12 KDE. I must soon
decide which one to choose as my next distro. Or I may stay where I am
for the time being. One advantage with Linux is plenty of choice.
Neil
Mark Greenwood
On 13 Mar 2012, at 16:02, Neil Winchurst wrote:
> On 13/03/12 14:08, Basil Chupin wrote:
>> "If it isn't broke then don't fix" is a sound (excuse the pun) policy.
>>
>> But I have to comment about the difference between your laptop which is
>> running Mint and your desktop which I presume is running Kubuntu (I
>> presume because nowhere do you mention what you are using on the
>> desktop). Anyway, Mint is based on Ubuntu which the Mint people make
>> "adjustments" to and call it Mint. Which is most likely why you have
>> this difference with alsa/pulseaudio between the desktop and the laptop.
>>
>> BC
>>
>
> Caught me out again. On my desktop I am running Mint 10 KDE, based on
> Ubuntu Maverick. And the laptop is running Mint 9 Xfce. Perhaps the
> difference is between KDE and Xfce.
Not sure if Xfce requires pusleaudio (it's likely that it doesn't), but also Mint 9 is of an age where I don't even think pulseaudio would have been installed by default anyway.
Mark