Arch Linux

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Webcam: Any suggestion?

Hi all!

I'd like to buy a webcam for me and another one for my gf. She uses windows, I use arch.

I'd like to have some suggestion on webcam. I don't want to pay too much, but I still want it to work under linux and have good image quality.
-How's the quality of them?
-The linux support?
-What options do I have to communicate with a webcam on linux/windows? I think it's possible through MSN, does Kopete is compatible? Skyp would be great, but no video support on linux

Any suggestion on models? Price range?

Thanx!!!

SchwarzeKrause

Member

Registered: 2007-09-18

Posts: 6

Re: Webcam: Any suggestion?

Probably not the most comprehensive list, but anyway:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Webcam_Setup
Well, I wouldn't be really optimistic about the compability between MSN and Kopete. But there should be a certain compability between different SIP-based IP-telephony solution. Linux has things like Ekiga for GNOME and surely something for KDE - KPhone or something. Windows provides things like Windows Live! AFAIK, Mac OS X has iChat AV out-of-box, so these things are more likely to be willing to co-operate (but me myself never tested). If not, there are a lot of other solutions, even the cross-platform ones, like Wengo and Gizmo. You can look on Wikipedia for a list of SIP-clients, their features and platforms supported.

My personal experience: I've got a built-in webcam in my HP laptop (Suyin). I've made it to work with linux-uvc under Fedora 8 test 3 and now I'm installing Arch on this laptop again. Looks like it doesn't really support big resolutions - it looks ok in a thumbnail but it gets worse when it comes to bigger modes - it really goes into blocks. However, my internal mic doesn't seem to work, so I'm not using it yet

Last edited by SchwarzeKrause (2007-11-03 21:31:11)

ise

Developer

From: Karlsruhe / Germany

Registered: 2005-10-06

Posts: 404

Website

Re: Webcam: Any suggestion?

Hi,

you can have a look here: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html
That's a list of webcams which works with gspcav1 package from community. But there are other packages as well with others webcam models. I have bought a "Typhoon Webshot II" for ~25-30€ (I think) and works great here with the above pacakge. Image quality is good.
Video with MSN works in "amsn", that's the only one I tested it. I don't know in kopete, but I think it works there, too. It works in OpenWengo (VoIP Software for LInux,Windows,Mac), maybe a replacement for Skype.

example picture:

Daniel

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big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Webcam: Any suggestion?

Any comments on drivers and how well they support the webcams?

I see here: http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/ that a UVC device is a kind of standard? Is this a good thing? If the device support a standard, only 1 driver needs to be created, like for usb keys. Any comments on that driver?

ise

Developer

From: Karlsruhe / Germany

Registered: 2005-10-06

Posts: 404

Website

Re: Webcam: Any suggestion?

Any comments on drivers and how well they support the webcams?

If a webcam is listed on this list: http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html or on that: http://linux-uvc.berlios.de/, the cam will work on Linux with the corresponding driver. Look through the list and decide which cam you want to buy.

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23 page
My blog

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Webcam: Any suggestion?

I finally went for the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000.

Works great out of the box with "linux-uvc-svn" from community with skype video beta and kopete!