Arch Linux

Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

[Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Hi,
I would like to use video chat with Pidgin, but it doesn't work on my computer.

I have a webcam (:D), and it seems that it is correctly recognized because ` vlc v4l2:// ' shows me my face. I'm using XMPP (with a GMail account, but this shouldn't matter) and want to chat with someone using Ubuntu and Pidgin 2.6.6 (she has a webcam which seems to work correctly)
In the "Voice/Video settings" plugin, there are three options in the field Video → Input → Plugins : "default", "Test Input" and "Video4Linux" (and only "default" in the field Device, for the three plugins)
"default" and "Video4Linux" give
(21:03:34) Error with your webcam
(21:03:34) Conference error
(21:03:34) The call has been terminated.
as soon as I try to start a video call, and "Test Input" only shows me a test pattern (but I guess this is the meaning of "Test Input" )
BTW, I wonder why there is only "Video4Linux" and not "Video4Linux2"
The Pidgin's FAQ says this

How do I configure my microphone/webcam?
Currently, the command-line gstreamer-properties program is used. This is only available on GNOME-based systems. On other systems, Pidgin makes its best guess as to which device to use. A plugin is planned to support this functionality on other systems.

But I don't use GNOME, my desktop environment is LXDE.

What could I do to make my webcam work with Pidgin?

Thank you!

Edit:
- my system is up to date
- I have farsight2 and gstreamer0.10-{good,bad,ugly} installed

Fractal

Last edited by Fractal (2010-06-13 15:50:01)

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English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Works fine here for me, I do have the V4L2 option though. You could try installing gnome-media, it doesn't seem to have many dependencies, and gives you the gstreamer-properties binary. Just as a test, though I do believe that the plugin you're using supersedes it.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
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Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

I installed gnome-media (11 dependencies), then restarted Pidgin and the V4L2 option was in the plugin

Thank you very much!

PS: one of the dependencies was gstreamer0.10-good-plugins, this is perhaps what was missing

Fractal

---

English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

I installed gnome-media (11 dependencies), then restarted Pidgin and the V4L2 option was in the plugin

Thank you very much!

PS: one of the dependencies was gstreamer0.10-good-plugins, this is perhaps what was missing

Fractal

Very likely. Try uninstalling (-Rsn) gnome-media, which will remove everything else which was installed, and just install gstreamer0.10-good-plugins.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

wonder

Developer

From: Bucharest, Romania

Registered: 2006-07-05

Posts: 5,941

Website

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

hint-> farsight2 has two optional dependencies

Last edited by wonder (2010-06-13 12:49:12)

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Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.

Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

hint-> farsight2 has two optional dependencies

Yep, but the two optional dependencies are gstreamer0.10-good and gstreamer0.10-bad and the missing package was gstreamer0.10-good-plugins.

Fractal

---

English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Well, the problem is not really solved actually.
Pidgin recognizes my webcam but I still cannot open a video chat.

When I try to start a video chat, the following errors are displayed in the debug window :

(17:38:41) mediamanager: gst pipeline error: Could not encode stream.
(17:38:41) mediamanager: Debug details: gstx264enc.c(737): gst_x264_enc_header_buf (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstBin:conf_0x306c000/FsRtpConference:fsrtpconference1/GstBin:discover_1_97/GstX264Enc:x264enc0:
Unexpected x264 header.

When the other person tries to call me, I have something like that :

(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: received codec: 32: video MPV clock:90000 channels:0
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: received codec: 26: video JPEG clock:90000 channels:0
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: received codec: 97: video H263-1998 clock:90000 channels:0
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: received codec: 34: video H263 clock:90000 channels:0
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: received codec: 98: video DV clock:90000 channels:0
(17:43:23) jabber: setting param stun-ip for stream using auto-discovered IP: 209.85.229.126
(17:43:23) jabber: setting param stun-port for stream using auto-discovered port: 19302
(17:43:23) mediamanager: Couldn't read fs-element.conf: No such file or directory
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: Couldn't read fs-codec.conf: No such file or directory
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: Creating hash table for sessions
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: connecting pad: success
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: Creating hash table for participants
(17:43:23) media: Creating hash table for sessions
(17:43:23) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: video-session name: (null)
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: state-changed: state 0 id: video-session name: (null)
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: got new local candidate: 1
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: got new local candidate: 1
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 1 state: GATHERING
(17:43:23) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 2 state: GATHERING
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: jingle_rtp_codecs_changed_cb: session_id: video-session jingle_session: 0x212b6a0
(17:43:23) jingle-rtp: jingle_rtp_candidates_prepared_cb
(17:43:23) jingle: jingle_iceudp_finalize
(17:43:23) jingle: jingle_transport_finalize
(17:43:26) backend-fs2: farsight-send-codec-changed: codec: 96: video THEORA clock:90000 channels:0 delivery-method=inline
(17:43:27) jingle-rtp: stream-info: type 1 id: video-session name: (null)
(17:43:27) jingle-rtp: stream-info: type 1 id: (null) name: (null)
(17:43:27) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 1 state: CONNECTING
(17:43:27) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 2 state: CONNECTING
(17:43:36) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 1 state: FAILED
(17:43:36) backend-fs2: farsight-error: 108: Could not establish connection
(17:43:36) backend-fs2: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 2 state: FAILED

It seems that my Pidgin want to encode the flux in H264 and the other wants Theora

Fractal

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English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Nobody knows what the problem is?

Fractal

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English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Sorry, beyond the range of my experience. Have you tried dropping by the IRC (only if you have quite a bit of time to spare)?

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Fractal

Member

From: Paris

Registered: 2009-09-01

Posts: 38

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

Sorry, beyond the range of my experience. Have you tried dropping by the IRC (only if you have quite a bit of time to spare)?

Not yet but I will try if I have the time.

BTW I found this topic which suggest using a STUN server. With the STUN server stun.ekiga.net, we can see each other, but the quality is very bad and we have one image every five seconds, this is not what I was hoping

Are you using a STUN server? And which one?

Thank you

Fractal

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English is not my native language, so fell free to correct my mistakes.

kgas

Member

From: Qatar

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 718

Re: [Not really solved] Video with Pidgin is not working

in openbox setup pidgin does not show the webcam icon to start the video conversation. But if  one of the contact sends the invitation for video chat then it works. In case I have to find how to enable the webcam icon.