Camera busy error

[Suganya Ramesh]

I installed SimpleCV for Python and tried some image manipulations as
listed in the Examples section. When i tried to use my in-built webcam
of my Sony Vaio laptop it showed a list of errors. I got the following
when executed the "cam = Camera()" command :

SimpleCV:8>cam = Camera()
libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
HIGHGUI ERROR: libv4l unable to ioctl S_FMT

libv4l2: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
libv4l1: error setting pixformat: Device or resource busy
HIGHGUI ERROR: libv4l unable to ioctl VIDIOCSPICT

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SystemError Traceback (most recent call
last)

/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/SimpleCV/Shell/Shell.pyc in <module>()
----> 1
2
3
4
5

/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/SimpleCV/Camera.pyc in __init__(self,
camera_index, prop_set, threaded, calibrationfile)
292 self.capture = pygame.camera.Camera("/dev/
video" + str(camera_index))
293
--> 294 self.capture.start()
295 time.sleep(0)
296 self.pygame_buffer = self.capture.get_image()

SystemError: ioctl(VIDIOC_S_FMT) failure: no supported formats

Please let me know the possible solutions to this problem as soon as
possible.
Thanks in advance. :)

[Nathan Oostendorp]

Hi Suganya,

Generally, this error means some other process (skype, your browser,
guvcview, etc) is trying to access the camera and has a lock on it.
You may want to try logging out and logging back in, in case it's a
program that didn't close correctly.

hope this helps,

Nate

[Nikit Saraf]

I am too getting the same error.And I searched the whole internet but could not find a solution. Were you able to solve your problem?

If yes, then will you please let me know, as i have started snatching my hairs!!!

[Nathan Oostendorp]

if all else fails, and you can see the camera with other software (guvc, cheese, etc) try rebooting and running as root

[Nikit Saraf]

Thank you much! I dont know how, but now the camera have started working.But there is another problem.I think I have older version of SimpleCV that is why I was not able to use the live() instance of Camera.

Can you tell the easiest way to update SimpleCV so that the live() instancee starts working.

[Jay Rambhia]

Go to https://github.com/ingenuitas/SimpleCV
Easy instructions are given regarding how to install latest version of SimpleCV.

On 22-Jun-2012 9:05 PM, "Nikit Saraf" <nikit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you much! I dont know how, but now the camera have started working.But there is another problem.I think I have older version of SimpleCV that is why I was not able to use the live() instance of Camera.

Can you tell the easiest way to update SimpleCV so that the live() instancee starts working.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:40 PM, Nathan Oostendorp <na...@ingenuitas.com> wrote:
>

> if all else fa...