Using my laptop camera?

General system Newbie
1

What program is installed on EOS for using my laptop camera? If it is not installed, is there any suggestions? I would like to use one with some CLI support.

2

Look up v4l2-ctl and ffmpeg (you probably have everything installed already).

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

Lists all your webcams. It will probably be /dev/video0 or something like that.

Then you can do something like:

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -framerate 25 -video_size 640x480 -i /dev/video0 output.mkv

to record some footage. Adjust the options for your specific case (make sure you read the documentation and understand them), don’t just blindly run the above command.

3

wow. that looks amazing, so I can use it like all other devices. Is there a way to take a picture with it too? Like using that picture in a script?

4

Yeah. Probably something like

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -video_size 640x480 -i /dev/video0 -ss 0:0:2 -frames 1 output.jpg
5

hmm, showing two devices for me, eventho my laptop uses only one:

❯ sudo find /dev | grep video

/dev/v4l/by-path/pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:7:1.0-video-index0
/dev/v4l/by-path/pci-0000:00:14.0-usb-0:7:1.0-video-index1
/dev/v4l/by-id/usb-Generic_Integrated_Camera_0001-video-index0
/dev/v4l/by-id/usb-Generic_Integrated_Camera_0001-video-index1
/dev/video1
/dev/video0
6

What does

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

print?

7 
Integrated Camera: Integrated C (usb-0000:00:14.0-7):
	/dev/video0
	/dev/video1
	/dev/media0
8

Try video0, if it doesn’t work, try video1. Probably both will work.

9 
❯ ffmpeg -f v4l2 -video-size 640x480 -i /dev/video0 -ss 0:0:2 -frames 1 output.jpg
ffmpeg version n6.0 Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 13.1.1 (GCC) 20230429
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --disable-debug --disable-static --disable-stripping --enable-amf --enable-avisynth --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-lto --enable-fontconfig --enable-gmp --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-ladspa --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libdav1d --enable-libdrm --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgsm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-libjack --enable-libjxl --enable-libmfx --enable-libmodplug --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore_amrnb --enable-libopencore_amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librav1e --enable-librsvg --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtheora --enable-libv4l2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxcb --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-nvdec --enable-nvenc --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --enable-shared --enable-version3 --enable-vulkan
  libavutil      58.  2.100 / 58.  2.100
  libavcodec     60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100
  libavformat    60.  3.100 / 60.  3.100
  libavdevice    60.  1.100 / 60.  1.100
  libavfilter     9.  3.100 /  9.  3.100
  libswscale      7.  1.100 /  7.  1.100
  libswresample   4. 10.100 /  4. 10.100
  libpostproc    57.  1.100 / 57.  1.100
Unrecognized option 'video-size'.
Error splitting the argument list: Option not found
10

Sorry, it’s -video_size. My mistake :slight_smile:

1 Like
11

NOICE!!! thank you very much. FFMPEG is very fascinating program.

12

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