Using a Webcam in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

This is a brief tutorial that details some useful ways to access your webcam in Ubuntu. The two programs I'm using are Cheese and MPlayer. Both are included within Ubuntu 10.04, so the only requirement is a Linux compatible webcam (and compizconfig-settings-manager if you'd like to bind some hotkey commands).

MPlayer Script:
mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0

Links:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam - contains helpful information for webcams in Ubuntu, whether you own one or not.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Webcams_that_just_work_with_Ubuntu_Linux

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ubuntu
• karmic
• webcam
• tutorial
• cheese
• mplayer
• linux

[KRAFTWERK2K6]

HAMA webcams doesn't seem to have linux drivers -.-

What camera are you using? I heard that most logitech cams seem to work flawless.

[chaide]

@KRAFTWERK2K6 I'm using a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000. It's a little laggier on Ubuntu in comparison to Windows for me, but it works right out of the box with no problems at decent resolutions (480p~ is stable, 720p~ is where it starts to get a little more choppy).

[chaoticink]

I tried cheese but sometimes after I make a video instead of an icon with my pic(video still shot) it shows either a clock or an icon of a video reel and it doesn't play.It does this every other video.Can you tell me why it only records SOME videos???

[XANA8446]

what screen recorder are you useing?

[betwords]

@chaide what program did u use to record this video? thnx !!

[deWillinja]

i tried to use the command

mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=720:height=5­60:device=/dev/video1

to access my second webcam and it wong start like the other one

mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=720:height=5­60:device=/dev/video0

and idea why ?

the second webcam is plugged in and i can only access it with cheese program

[MrEmanHdz]

my web cam works on cheese but not on skype =/ can you help?? please and thank you!

[theh8er1988]

hey i saw a few videos and testet it myself , my webcam seems just to record like 5 frames/sec and i cant change it, you know what to du ? thanks =)

[KRAFTWERK2K6]

@chaide Thanks for the reply :)