Why is there no good webcam video capturing programs?

[w1ll1am]

I purchased a logitech cheap webcam that i was going to use to record some youtube videos and for skype and in Cheese the video was slow and glitchy. So I went out and bought a very nice 5mp HD widescreen HP webcam because I thought that maybe I just did not have a good enough webcam. The resolution for my new webcam goes up to 1280x720 but the highest I can get to work in Cheese without major slowness is 432x240. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better program or maybe a way to make cheese work better? Thanks

[no2498]

try using vlc to record
open vlc click media open capture device click play then record


hope that helps some

[w1ll1am]

I tried that before I posted this but then my computer freaked out so I am reinstalling and I will get back to you.

[BicyclerBoy]

ffmpeg

http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC27
# Grab and show the input of a video4linux device.
ffplay -s 320x240 -f video4linux /dev/video0

# Grab and show the input of a video4linux2 device, autoadjust size.
ffplay -f video4linux2 /dev/video0

# Grab and record the input of a video4linux2 device, autoadjust size.
ffmpeg -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 out.mpeg

or does it have to have a GUI interface ?

[w1ll1am]

ffmpeg

http://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-doc.html#SEC27
# Grab and show the input of a video4linux device.
ffplay -s 320x240 -f video4linux /dev/video0

# Grab and show the input of a video4linux2 device, autoadjust size.
ffplay -f video4linux2 /dev/video0

# Grab and record the input of a video4linux2 device, autoadjust size.
ffmpeg -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 out.mpeg

or does it have to have a GUI interface ?

I tried this and it works okay but it is still kind of slow and I could not get sound on the video. Can you tell me how to get the sound working?

[BicyclerBoy]

Depends on your audio setup etc
ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:0 alsaout.wav

First try this for audio recording..

Open the ffmpeg doc link in the previous post.
Scroll up a couple pages to the audio stuff

When you join the video & audio stuff together, you will
need to select an audio codec to use with the output container type.

[sdowney717]

I found sound on the webcam input was muted. Open sound applet icon and explore to see

you can also test the sound input using that sound preferences

guvcview also expose v4l2 settings

[gordintoronto]

The best solution would be a faster CPU! I have one of the world's crummiest webcams, but I can record 640x480 videos just fine in Cheese.

[w1ll1am]

The best solution would be a faster CPU! I have one of the world's crummiest webcams, but I can record 640x480 videos just fine in Cheese.

I have a 2.4Ghz intel Core2Quad is this not fast enough?

[w1ll1am]

Okay I got the sound working but now how do I get both the sound and the video together I tried this

 sudo ffmpeg -f alsa -i hw:1 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 /home/w1ll1am/Desktop/out.ogg

but I get this error

 [video4linux2 @ 0x1f353a0]Cannot find a proper format for codec_id 0, pix_fmt -1.
/dev/video0: Input/output error

So I am not too sure but I guess I am not setting the codec?

Also the /dev/video0: input/output error just started happening and i can no longer get the video to show up it was working and then I tried to run it again and it stoped working any thoughts?