As you have probably noticed, we have finally released an update for Linux in the form of a new beta - 2.1.0.47, which also brings better video support, including high quality video.

You can download it from here, or wait until your distributions include it in their package repositories.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/linux/choose/

We would like feedback in this thread from users who are using video with Skype for Linux. Please compare your experience to that of 2.0 and let us know what you think, or if you are having any new problems with 2.1 that were not in 2.0.

We have tried to avoid any breakages with webcams supported in 2.0, and hopefully, will have support for a few more in 2.1 without workarounds.

Thanks,
Andrew.

i use a "046d:08d9 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam IM/Connect" on ubuntu 9.04 amd64. the webcam just shows garbage while testing and simply shows nothing in calls.

a workaround is to move /usr/bin/skype to /usr/bin/skype.real
install lib32v4l-0 via apt-get and create a new /usr/bin/skype with the following content:


after that the webcam works.

Unfortunately, for me, the "test" in Video options just shows a green image, that flickers, but no resemblance at all of an image of me.

Like the other poster, the work around is to:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype


My webcam is a logitech, USBID: 046d:08ad


thanks.

Fixes that worked for others do nothing for my webcam. It is a z-star microelectronics corp. UVCVIDEO compatible webcam 0ac8:3343. It works in cheese but gives me a black box when pressing the test button in skype and a completely gray screen when double clicking the box.

It's actually always done this even with 2.072

Linux Mint Gloria - 64-bit

Video doesn't work for me
My system is:
Linux 2.6.28-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 18 19:25:34 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

And my webcam is:
ID 046d:08f0 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Messenger

Also the workaround with gstfakevideo doesn't help.


Alessandro

I just installed Skype 2.1 just today, and so far it works great.

I noticed that HQ video is among one of the new features mentioned in the release notes, but it doesn't look like I'm transmitting high quality video. I don't see any way to enable it either. I'm using a Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF (USB ID 046d:0994) on a quad-core system with Ubuntu 9.04 and the UVC driver. Using this camera with HQ video worked on Windows when I tried it last.

Has anyone figured out how to make HQ video work on Skype 2.1?

Thanks in advance

I have a
0ac8:305b Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. ZC0305 WebCam

on Ubuntu 9.04 and it is working only with the ld_preload thingie mentioned before.
BUT the path is incorrect (maybe a distro thing?) the correct command is this one:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

So, does this update to v4l2 or is it still stuck with v4l1? Someone noted above that HQ video has been added, is this a hoax?

My cheap webcam:
Seems to work in Options > Video Devices > Test. Yet to test is in a real chat.

Are you running 32 bit? That command does not work for me running 64 bit.

I have a similar webcam:

0ac8:332d Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. Vega USB 2.0 Camera

which does not work in Fedora 11 x86_64 with or without the preload. Version 2.0 did work before a kernel upgrade a few months ago. Clicking on the test button does contact the webcam [the blue "on" light goes on], but that's it.

No changes with my webcam in the new Skype. It works, but only with



as mentioned in the first posts. Without it I just see "green snow" instead of a picture.

I have an Aspire One using the factory crystal eye webcam and nothing at all comes up when test button is pressed, the test button does not go away, no green screen no anything.

I haven't noticed any regressions or improvements on Ubuntu 9.04 32-bit, so in ways that is good! One thing that still happens for me that happened in 2.0 is that toggling between fullscreen will often cause my little preview of my cam in the corner to turn black or transparent, and I'll have to toggle the "Show myself" option a few times to get it back.

Dell XPS M1210, built-in webcam (ID 046d:08c6 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam for DELL Notebooks) doesn't work out of the box on Ubuntu Jaunty 64.

Downloading lib32v4l-0 and making a script to start Skype with "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype.real", as described above, solves the problem.

System: Ubuntu 08.04 32-Bit
Camera: "Generic Vmicro 303b" / TCA-4810
Driver: gspca

If I want to start the video call, it hangs some secounds and then crashes skype and the console prints out: "Segmentation fault"

The camera testing in the options is working.

Hi,

i am using a Logitech Quickcam pro 9000 (046d:0990) on Ubuntu 9.04 AM64bit with an Quadcore machine.

Internet speed is 6Mbit down and 700kbit up.

The cam driver is uvc.

My dialog partner have also an Quickcam pro 9000, Skype 4., Dual Core, WinXP and 6Mbit down and 600k up internetspeed.

With skype 2.1.0.47 and before video calls are working under Ubuntu 9.04.

Since 2.1.0.47 now HQ Video is also working. Receiving HQ Videos are working directly. Sending my video works after i restart sending my video again (restart cam).
In skype i set the option to see the technical information in a call. And there i see that i receive video in 640x480 with 30fps. Sending video in 640x480 with only 5 to 10 fps. Bandwith for sending are 400kbits +/- 100.
Like the technical information its showing, my personal impression of video reconfirmed that >> receiving video qualitiy is perfect and smooth. sending quality of the picture is also good, but its not smooth (to less fps).

CPU usage is very less. My QuadCore (AMD 940 BE) is anytime at the lowest speed (autospeed, Q&C) of 800MHz running and max 50% usage at 800MHz. Changing the speed of all core up to 3,4GHz have no change to the fps of sending video. I remember under Windows Skype will using much much more CPU power. So maybe here is the reason for my lower fps.


Thanks a lot that you have not forget the linux user and i cross fingers that this will be also in future


Best regards
Roadi

WHERE is the Lenny amd64 version???
Why not make it available at the same time as others?
Will it be available at some point?
Does the Ubuntu amd64 version work for Lenny?

Skype ver. 2.1.0.47-1 installed on Ubuntu Karmic 2.6.31-8 32-bit

This test configuration consists of a Sony Video Camera DCR-DVD301 connected to a Pinnacle Dazzle DVC100 (lsusb 2304:021a) red teardrop shaped adapter connected to my Asus P4C800 Delux with a ATI 9800 Pro [R350] video card

Just a reminder this movie camera doesn't have a firewire port to stream the video. I plug the the yellow RCA connector from it into Dazzle and the USB output into my Ubuntu box

The following images were taken with a still camera to show you what I see because the SS tool won't capture the video in the preview window

I believe the green stripe is nothing to worry about. It is not covering any part of my streaming video because when I was looking thru the view finder I could see a small portion of the three legs of the tripod just as skype shows. So this leads me to believe the the green area is nothing more than the difference in aspect ratio between my camera and skype. I think the difference is where no information is collected by skype and is colored in by the color green, no big deal. My friends sees the green bar.

This image shows a test pattern taped to a folder and a tripod stand 3' foot away
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1420/grnstrip.jpg

This image is when I optical zoomed in all the way. As you can see the video works and the new Pulse audio in this beta on Karmic is working too.
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4649/grnstripcamzoom.jpg

This is the first time in Ubuntu that I have been able to get my movie camera to transmit video thru Dazzle DVC100 into Skype.
I'm a very happy camper

Video in 2.1 is shiny and happy for me. Callers have commented on the improved smoothness.

For my Bus 004 Device 004: ID 041e:4052 Creative Technology, Ltd Live! Cam Vista IM on 64 bit Jaunty (9.04) I had to run the following:

after installing the lib32v4l-0 package.

My webcam is then no longer green static but I can only seem to run this command from the command line. How do I run it from the menu item?

The LD_PRELOAD fix works well for me.

I have this problem on Fedora 11.

My video works with Skype 2.0 (though the quality is poor, may be due to Ubuntu issue), it didn't work with SKype 2.1. All I get is a green screen or some garbled screen. I didn't try the solutions given here since I would like Skype to work out of the box. My webcam is ID 046d:092c Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Chat.

To get my Logitech Quickcam Messenger (046d:08f0) working I had to do the following:

Gstfakevideo is still needed to get the cam working, but Skype 2.1 doesnt seem to offer the fake /dev/video0 as an option to choose from in the video preferences. But 2.0 does! So you have to uninstall Skype 2.1 completely (also delete ~/.Skype to be sure) and reinstall 2.0, set up a gstfakevideo device as described on
http://www.kuhrti.de/index.php/article/log...on-ubuntu-9-04/
and choose the fakevideo device in the video preferences.
Close Skype and uninstall it again (but keep the settings in ~/.Skype). Reinstall Skype 2.1, start it with the script from gstfakevideo, go to the preferences and DON'T change the video device. It will still be shown as "Previous webcam not detected". Just leave it. You should be able to see a Test Video still. Changing it to "Logitech Quickcam USB" once will make the gstfakevideo device NOT appear anymore. At least for me.

Hope this helps others as well.

So far I've installed the ubuntu 64bit version to 4 different Lenny-machines without any problems whatsoever.

delete me

After testing the video with several i386 and amd64 Debian Lenny and Testing systems, I can only say it works way better than before. The first thing I noticed that the lag from starting the video is gone. The video quality with better web cameras is excellent. Another thing is, that now the self-view seems to work with all systems I tested video calling with. Earlier it only worked with systems that had NVidia's proprietary drivers. Another thing I noticed was that the button bar now works in full screen mode. Before it flickered and disappeared as soon as the mouse stopped moving.

The bottom line; job well done.

I can't use video with this version (I haven't tried with the 2.0 version). I have a Logitech QuickCam E2500:

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:089d Logitech, Inc. QuickCam E2500 series,

which is using the gspca driver (gspca_main and gspca_zc3xx are loaded) that is part of the 2.6.29.6 kernel. I'm using Slackware Linux (32-bit).

Installing libv4l and setting the LD_PRELOAD environment variable (as described in previous posts) allows me to see video from the webcam when testing (i.e. Options > Video Devices > Test), but I get a whole load of messages like

libv4lconvert: Error decompressing JPEG: unknown huffman code: 0000ffff

when doing so. If I try to use the webcam in a call, a segmentation fault occurs. I ran Skype with gdb and reproduced the seg fault. Some of the output is provided below (full output can be found at http://pastebin.com/f6190bb5d):

[New Thread 0xb2738b90 (LWP 10372)]
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
[New Thread 0xb3cffb90 (LWP 10387)]
[New Thread 0xb0f38b90 (LWP 10388)]
[New Thread 0xac738b90 (LWP 10389)]
[New Thread 0xabf38b90 (LWP 10390)]
libv4lconvert: Error decompressing JPEG: unknown huffman code: 0000ffff

Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
[Switching to Thread 0xabf38b90 (LWP 10390)]
0xb6f067d6 in _int_malloc () from /lib/libc.so.6

I also can't use video... I'm using Skype under CentOS 5.2 (64-bit) and video either causes a segfault, causes a spontaneous reboot (!!!), or causes a hard-hang (forcing a manual reboot).

To prevent cross-posting, the full details are described here:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic...t&p=1905951

Any help would be much appreciated.

I trashed my .skype directory and tried again from scratch. Video did not work until i added:

<CaptureHeight>480</CaptureHeight>

<CaptureWidth>640</CaptureWidth>

to my config.xml file between <Video> and </Video>.

I use a stk-11 driver camera. This works great in over applications. Unfortunately Skype is only supporting v4l1. The outcome is that the webcam image is flickering because Skype tries to set invalid brightness settings. This effect depends on the light conditions in my room and is independent if I use the v4l1 compatibility mode.

Skype supports both v4l1 and v4l2 since 2.0. However, some palette modes and capture formats still provide some problems irrespective of v4l 1 vs 2.

We've improved some of these with 2.1, but seems there are still some issues.

Andy.

If you add manual settings for the video mode means sliderbars for brightness and contrast my issue would have a workaround. This I know from over not compatible programs.

A report on skype crashing when starting your own video can be found in the other forums: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=412011

To summarize the problem: when starting your own video, when the screen has the 'normal size' skype 2.1.0.47 crashes.

Workaround: receive a video from someone else and change the screen to double or full size, then start your own video. Skype will not crash.

this worked for me, so now the other user can see me.

BUT I cannot see any incoming video: I just see a white window instead. I tried with a lot of different friends with different OS and I've never managed to see them. I'm running ubuntu 9.04.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

I add a clue, maybe it's useful to solve the problem:
if I hold the call and then release it I can see the other user video. My video in the corner then turns white, but the other user still can see me.
Any ideas for solving the problem?

I'm running this beta on ubuntu 9.04 on a dell mini 10 with built-in webcam. The 'Test' button in Options->Video Devices doesn't work. Nothing happens when I click it.

When I tried to video chat, my friend says can see me, but I cannot see myself. The lower left corner where I should see myself is a white box. I can see my chat partner just fine.

How can I fix this. I want to try LD_PRELOAD mentioned above, but I don't know how to. What do I edit to add this line? I have lib4vl package installed.

That fix worked for me as well. Dell Latitude D630, NVidia Quadro NVS 135M video card, Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks (046d:08dd), and Ubuntu 9.04 amd64 with the 64-bit Skype build. I am, however, getting some choppiness in the video I receive, some a/v sync issues, and had a couple crashes with the fix in place. But that's better than no video transmit at all.

@fatbaby:
To make the fix, cd to /usr/bin in a terminal, then "sudo mv skype skype.real". Next, "sudo pico skype" to create the script as specified in the very second post, save, then "chmod 755 skype" to make it run. That should do it.

Hi,

if you have a Logitech Quickcam Messenger (046d:08f0) and you run Ubuntu Karmic, you should use the gspca_stv06xx module combined with "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype" (add the quickcam_messenger to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf so that it's not loaded automatically).

This works perfectly here.

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 046d:08d7 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Communicate STX
is working on ubuntu 9.10 pre beta, but I have to use the LD_PRELOAD fix, otherwise I got only green screen.

The awsome is that on the 2.0.0.72 version, my webcam was working out of the box.
Two years waiting for the new release, the video was one of the strongest improvements, several tests has been made on it and... 10 % is working.
On italian Ubuntu forums the people that tried the new beta had to revert to 2.0.0.72 because their cam stopped working.
Unbeleaveble

Thank you. I tried this fix. It didn't solve my problem, but seeing that I can see my friend's video, and my friend can see my video, I guess this isn't the fix for my problem. I can live with not seeing myself in a video chat, hoping for better results in next version.

After playing with this beta enough I can report I can start video and audio fine, but it tends to crash within several minutes. Even if Skype doesn't crash completely, I'd get video still going, but lose audio. I can't hear my friend, and my friend can't hear me.

I'm giving up video chatting with this version, stick with text chat for now.

Same thing here (why do we need the 32bit compat library for a 64bit program? (it does not work with the PRELOAD using the lib64 version of v4l1compat.so).

Cam is ID:041e:401f Creative webcam. Using Jaunty ADM64, on a Toshiba Portege M400 laptop.

Oh, and sound settings are much improved, I used to really had to play around with 2.0.

on openSUSE 11.1 nothing works out of the box with this version. Can someone tell me where I can find the RPM with libv4l-32bit. It couldn't find it on the suse-repositories or on packman's.

thanks.

Hi! Try this Xv fix:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic...t&p=1932431

If so, I'd suggest Skype's choice of Xv becoming a override checkbox in options:video

Do i like i did, add it to the panel as a button and run with one click.

Go to the panel -> right mouse click -> Add to panel... -> Custom Application Launcher -> Add -> Application in Terminal -> now write in the command line :

bash -c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype'

and then click ok, that's it, you can run it in one click without writing this command every time when you need to run your skype with camera

For all those having trouble with V4L webcams and being annoyed by having to manually type in the preload thingie, please try this:

The answer is to install preload-manager from the repositories
Full name: ld.so.preload-manager

From your package manager
or type:
sudo apt-get install ld.so.preload-manager

Then get it to preload the V4l compatibility layer using this command so that you do not have to manually enter it every time:

sudo ld.so.preload-manager /usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so

After that everything works automatically, from launcher, applications, cli - whatever

Works for me anyway

Hi,

My system is: openSuSE 11.1, Linux 2.6.27.29-0.1
My Webcam is: UCV Camera - Logitech QuickCam E3500 (046d:09a4) on /dev/video0

Having installed Skype 2.1.0.47-beta, the following occurs:
- Skype video test function works OK. Video displays clearly.
- During a call my audio and the called party audio both work OK.
- During a call my video displays OK on my PC and displays OK on called party PC.
- During a call the called party video DOES NOT display on my PC (snow storm white noise displayed). THIS IS THE ISSUE!

NOTE: Webcam works fine using luvcview testing application.

Any suggestions???

What you didnt say is whether the video test from the calling party works ok
From what you wrote so far, the problem could be at the other end and nothing to do with your PC at all!

I can confirm the workaround:

Skype 2.1 beta running on Debian Squeeze. Video was just green snow until I launched:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

Now the video is fine

Unfortunately this is not the case. I have now tested from several caller's PCs (all on Skype for windows) having successfully passed the video test. In all cases their video does not display on my Skype 2.1. on OpenSuse 11.1.

Any further comments appreciated.

lynner, does any kind of video work for you? For example VLC player, Kaffeine etc?
If they cannot work either then the problem may be to do with your graphics card & driver.