Best webcams for Linux?

[Cuvou]

What are the best webcams for Linux these days?

I've seen the UVC compatibility chart, but the definition of "works" can mean varying degrees of what actually works.

For example, the webcam I have now which I wanna upgrade is a Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX. The camera supports 1.3 MP, but under Linux it can only get a resolution up to 640x480. So, it "works" on Linux, it just doesn't work to its full potential. I want a new webcam to work better than this.

Another criteria of "works" would be the Cheese webcam app. I've tested this app with many different cameras (most of which were integrated into notebooks), and in almost all cases when trying to record video, it doesn't work very well: maybe for a half second it works, then Cheese starts freezing and stuttering and needing to be forcefully shut down, and the resulting ogv file is just as bad as Cheese looked while recording. Maybe a frame or two gets into the video, but then it lags for a long time and there's usually not even any audio that was captured.

I've only seen one camera work with video recording, and it was an integrated one. So, ideally, a new webcam I get should be able to record video just fine on Cheese too (if there's some known issue with Cheese in particular where almost no cameras can record video very well, then ignore this point).

So, Fedora users, what have been your experiences with webcams? Any suggestions for cameras that work to their full potential under Linux?

[george_toolan]

Whatever you do please read the data sheet carefully. Your camera only supports a max video resolution of 640x480 @ 30 fps.

If you want to record movies have you considered a "real" camera instead of a webcam?

[Cuvou]

I wasn't expecting it to record video > 640x480 @ 30 fps (the Windows driver can't do this either); only to be able to take still snapshots at 1.3MP, as the Windows driver can.

The video part was mentioned because I've rarely had any luck recording video in Cheese with any webcams.

I found out though that my webcam doesn't support UVC, which might be at least half the problem. So, I'll just go with one of the webcam models that is marked as "works" on the UVC list and see how well it actually works (comparing its capabilities on Linux to the Windows driver, as far as: whether Cheese can use the full resolution for still pictures that the camera supports, and whether Cheese can record video without it freezing and crashing (and recording at the same resolution that the Windows driver would support)).

[Wilker]

i have already recorded a video message using cheese and that worked good.
i use a microsoft webcam, anyway.

[Cuvou]

I ended up getting a Logitech HD Webcam C525 (046d:0826) which was marked as "Works" on the UVC list.

Interestingly, on Linux it's able to take still pictures at a higher resolution than Windows. On Linux it can take pictures at 1920x1080, but on Windows it only gets up to something x960 (I don't remember the width off-hand).

When starting up Cheese, the program hangs for several minutes before the camera lights up and Cheese shows the image. After that it's fine for taking still pictures. Apps like Skype have no problem activating the camera quickly.

Recording video on Cheese doesn't work with this camera though. Switching to video mode makes Cheese hang for a few minutes again, then it continues showing the live preview from the camera. When clicking the Record button, the camera light turns off and the image in Cheese stops updating (freezes; but the Gtk GUI is still responsive). Then nothing happens. If I click "Stop recording" now, Cheese hangs completely and has to be force quit, and no file appears in my ~/Videos/Webcam folder.

Is it a known problem with Cheese that it just *doesn't* record video for the majority of cameras? Or do I just have really bad luck?

[droidhacker]

Originally Posted by Cuvou

I ended up getting a Logitech HD Webcam C525 (046d:0826) which was marked as "Works" on the UVC list.

Interestingly, on Linux it's able to take still pictures at a higher resolution than Windows. On Linux it can take pictures at 1920x1080, but on Windows it only gets up to something x960 (I don't remember the width off-hand).

When starting up Cheese, the program hangs for several minutes before the camera lights up and Cheese shows the image. After that it's fine for taking still pictures. Apps like Skype have no problem activating the camera quickly.

Recording video on Cheese doesn't work with this camera though. Switching to video mode makes Cheese hang for a few minutes again, then it continues showing the live preview from the camera. When clicking the Record button, the camera light turns off and the image in Cheese stops updating (freezes; but the Gtk GUI is still responsive). Then nothing happens. If I click "Stop recording" now, Cheese hangs completely and has to be force quit, and no file appears in my ~/Videos/Webcam folder.

Is it a known problem with Cheese that it just *doesn't* record video for the majority of cameras? Or do I just have really bad luck?

If cheese is recording to ogv files, then its encoding/compressing video into ogg theora on the fly. You may need a very powerful processor in order to do this successfully.

[secipolla]

Look, I don't have experience with this, but I suppose you could record with ffmpeg.

[Cuvou]

Actually, it looks like the latest updates to Cheese and gstreamer have fixed that problem. Cheese no longer takes forever to start up and it's able to smoothly record video. This is the first time it's ever worked (and it's about time, too; can't believe Fedora's been shipping Cheese by default for so long when it's been broken for almost everybody).

Edit: also, it looks like Cheese records video as webm now, and not ogg.

[lmcogs]

hi just got a TeckNet c016. Both video and audio work in skype. Cost about £8.