# Webcam Creative labs. vf 0220 ID 041e:4053 don't work

## Red-Eyes

Hi,

I'm trying to get my Creative Labs. vf 0220 USB webcam to work. The exact identification of my webcam is:

```
$ lsusb

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 041e:4053 Creative Technology, Ltd Live! Cam Video IM
```

and when I plugin it I see:

```
$ dmesg

[  756.036050] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4

[  756.206458] PM: Adding info for usb:2-1

[  756.206509] usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[  756.209880] PM: Adding info for usb:2-1:1.0

[  756.209924] gspca: probing 041e:4053

[  756.209930] zc3xx: Sensor Tas5130 (VF0250)

[  756.214403] PM: Adding info for No Bus:video0

[  756.214432] gspca: probe ok

[  756.214459] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ep_81

[  756.214482] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ep_82

[  756.214512] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev2.4

[  756.214560] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ep_00
```

I found that my webcam uses the gspca drivers and I installed them in the kernel:

```
Symbol: USB_GSPCA_T613 [=m]                                               

Prompt: T613 (JPEG Compliance) USB Camera Driver                   

Defined at drivers/media/video/gspca/Kconfig:242                     

Depends on: MEDIA_SUPPORT [=y] && VIDEO_CAPTURE_DRIVERS [=y] && V4L_U 

   Location:                                                             

     -> Device Drivers                                                   

       -> Multimedia support (MEDIA_SUPPORT [=y])                          

         -> Video capture adapters (VIDEO_CAPTURE_DRIVERS [=y])     

           -> V4L USB devices (V4L_USB_DRIVERS [=y])                     

             -> GSPCA based webcams (USB_GSPCA [=m])
```

My webcam seem that uses the zc3xx drivers of gspca, but for being sure I loaded before only the zc3xx drivers and after also all the drivers of gspca; but it doesn't work in any case.

The modules seem to be loaded:

```
$ lsmod | grep gspca

gspca_zc3xx            35236  0 

gspca_main             13628  1 gspca_zc3xx

usbcore                77008  5 gspca_zc3xx,gspca_main,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
```

And the video device is created:

```
$ ls -l /dev/video0 

crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 0 22 mar 17:39 /dev/video0
```

The permissions are ok and my user is in the video gruop and the /dev/video0 device is the correct device:

```
$ v4l-info 

### v4l2 device info [/dev/video0] ###

general info

    VIDIOC_QUERYCAP

   driver                  : "zc3xx"

   card                    : "USB Camera (041e:4053)"

   bus_info                : "usb-0000:00:1d.0-1"

   version                 : 2.7.0

   capabilities            : 0x5000001 [VIDEO_CAPTURE,READWRITE,STREAMING]
```

If i try to use the webcam with streamer this is what i get:

```
$ streamer -c /dev/video0 -b 16 -o outfile.jpeg

files / video: JPEG (JFIF) / audio: none

no way to get: 320x240 JPEG (JFIF)

movie writer initialisation failed

```

If i try to use camorama i get "Unable to capture image".

I tryed also to install "camsource" like in this post https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-638546-highlight-webcam+creative.html but without luck.

I don't know what I missed or where I am in wrong, I'm not expert in these things.

I hope that someone can help me  :Smile: 

----------

## Red-Eyes

Well ... I went one little step further   :Smile: 

I tried to do

```
$ cat /dev/video0 
```

and I saw a flow of symbols that seems to react if I move the cam... so I thinked that my cam was working, so I lunched

```
$ cat /dev/video0 >> /tmp/image
```

and after  some seconds I killed it... when I checked /tmp/image it was really a jpeg file... and It was a snapshot of my cam... therefore my cam CAN work  :Very Happy: .

The problem isen't the driver, because my cam can work, but something also about the softwares that use my cam; and I discovered that was libv4l indeed if I lunch mplayer with v4l this is what I get:

```
 $ mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l:width=352:height=288:outfmt=rgb24:device=/dev/video0:noaudio

Warning unknown option a52drc at line 23

MPlayer SVN-r30554-4.4.2 (C) 2000-2010 MPlayer Team

Riproduco tv://.

Rilevato formato file TV!

Scelto driver: v4l

 nome: Video 4 Linux input

 autore: Alex Beregszaszi

 commento: under development

=================================================================

 WARNING: YOU ARE USING V4L DEMUXER WITH V4L2 DRIVERS!!!

 As the V4L1 compatibility layer is broken, this may not work.

 If you encounter any problems, use driver=v4l2 instead.

 Bugreports on driver=v4l with v4l2 drivers will be ignored.

=================================================================

Selected device: USB Camera (041e:4053)

 Capabilites: capture 

 Device type: 1

 Supported sizes: 48x32 => 640x480

 Inputs: 1

  0: zc3xx:  (tuner:0, norm:pal)

ioctl set chan failed: Invalid argument

ioctl set chan failed: Invalid argument

Errore: Impossibile impostare la norma!

L'input scelto non ha un sintonizzatore/tuner!

FPS non specificato (o non valido) nell'intestazione! Usa l'opzione -fps!

Nessun flusso trovato

In uscita... (Fine del file)
```

instead if I lunch it with v4l2 like driver it works !!!

I found that the right library is v4l1compat.so, so if I lunch the softwares preloading that library they work, for example:

```
LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so" camorama
```

Anyway the cam is always dead, the led is turn off, untill when I start the recording then the led become red.

So now the problem is:

How can I fix it in a smarter way? because not always I can preload the library, for example when I use some softwares or  flash webchats.

Can it be a bug between libv4l and my webcam model ?

Maybe if someone know what is the default library that usually the system calls, I can substitute it with v4l1compat.so that works.

Thanks for your help  :Smile: 

----------

## raket

This webcam gave me a real headache. after some googling i found out about.

Sorry for bumping such a old thread, but this post really fixes it.

v4l2-ctl -L

```

User Controls

                     brightness (int)    : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128 flags=slider

                       contrast (int)    : min=0 max=255 step=1 default=128 value=128 flags=slider

                          gamma (int)    : min=1 max=6 step=1 default=3 value=3 flags=slider

                 gain_automatic (bool)   : default=1 value=0

           power_line_frequency (menu)   : min=0 max=2 default=0 value=1

                                0: Disabled

                                1: 50 Hz

                                2: 60 Hz

                      sharpness (int)    : min=0 max=3 step=1 default=2 value=2 flags=slider

JPEG Compression Controls

            compression_quality (int)    : min=50 max=87 step=1 default=75 value=50

```

The key to success is 

v4l2-ctl -c power_line_frequency=2 

or

v4l2-ctl -c power_line_frequency=1

having this value to zero will just give a very black screen.

Works with skype.

Thank you.

[edit]

mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=352:height=288:outfmt=rgb24:device=/dev/video0:noaudio

works as well.

----------

