Ubuntu webcam?

[Joseki]

Hi, I was just wondering if anyone could suggest a free program to capture some avi files from a Microsoft webcam in Ubuntu. I've been trying James' oacapture but the avi format is causing problems (though I'm sure I'm doing something wrong) tonight is looking good on the forecast though so it would be nice to have something to play with even if the program isnt the most sophisticated.

Cheers, John

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[hobsey]

You could try Sharpcap, thats what a lot of people use.

http://www.sharpcap.co.uk/

[cgarry]

What is the issue with the issue with the AVI format from oacapture?  The files it produces have always been fine when I have checked them.

Depending on the issue you are having with oacapture's AVI files you could run the file through PIPP which works under Wine if the .NET Framework v4 is installed before PIPP is installed.  Native versions of PIPP should be available for Linux and OS X soon but until then it should run with Wine.

To be honest AVIs are generally a pig for application developers to support because it is usually the codecs installed (or not installed!) on the users system that are the problem rather than the application generating the file.

Cheers,

Chris

[Joseki]

Hi Hobsey, thanks for the tip. I've heard of sharpcap but I've been a bit confused about which software to use in which order and which runs in Linux on wine etc - I'll give it a go.  Doesn't look like I'll get out tonight anyway so plenty of time to try it out.

Hi cgarry - yes I'm fairly confident it's something I've not set up right, I'm not blaming oacapture (but I was in a bit of a rush to write that post as I had to go out).  The problem is it generates AVI files but then no software can open them.  - I went ahead and spent a couple of hours last night generating files in the hope that some cloudy night in the future I would figure out what I was doing wrong (and for the practice) and could get the data out .. however 

To be honest AVIs are generally a pig for application developers to support because it is usually the codecs installed (or not installed!) on the users system that are the problem rather than the application generating the file.

you've just explained my problem nicely I think   thanks.  - programs like XINE or Registax6 running under wine report errors something like "codecs not recognised".  This is on a machine I did a fresh Ubuntu 13.something (13.10? the latest) installation.  I'll see if PIPP has any better luck - though it sounds like I need to install or re-install the codecs.

[cgarry]

I have had RegiStax6 installations on Windows systems that would not handle raw AVIs, so I am not surprised you are having issues on you Linux/Wine install.  Of course on your system you will need codecs installed for Linux if you want the Linux video players to handle the AVIs and Windows codecs installed in Wine for RegiStax6 to use.

[AstroTux]

Joseki,

I had a similar problem to you when using James's oacapture, and found that Registax would not recognize the .avi files being produced. After some discussion with him I installed the utvideo codec http://umezawa.dyndns.info/archive/utvideo/utvideo-13.3.1-win.exe under XP and Registax was happy.

I then thought I would try and take this a bit further, so I installed the same drivers under Wine on Linux Mint, a Ubuntu derivative. Simply download the driver using the link, then click on it so that the Wine Programme Installer can run it and you're good to go. To my surprise Registax V6 ( also installed under Wine ) would now quite happily open the .avi files and allow me to process them.

hope this helps,

Alan

[Joseki]

Thanks Alan, I'll give that a try.

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[Joseki]

It looks like that should do it, Registax6 displays a preview - however it also seems my desktop is waaay out of date (it's usually just used as a terminal to log in to other machines), and stalls when I try and open a file.  Registax4 loads the files okay though :grin:

[JamesF]

I think the problem with avi file compatibility across Linux applications is that support for UtVideo is only relatively recent and for raw frame formats (especially raw colour) is only in some of the latest libraries.  Because these library versions are so new they can't be used as drop-in replacements for those against which the standard video player utilities such as xine and totem are linked.

The only solution is really to re-compile the applications against the later libraries, but that's a real pain in the neck.  It would actually be easier from my point of view just to put together a simple AVI player that would work just for the file formats that oacapture uses.  It could then perhaps also be used to play back SER files, too.

James

[Joseki]

Well, I think you've got plenty of things to do anyway by the sounds of it, perhaps a quick viewer would be handy to check what you've got but if you were to include a comment about the utvideo codec on your website pointing Linux folk to the codec download it should be sufficient.  I'm not sure I'd use a viewer often now that I can open it in Registax.  I'm one of the Ubuntu masses I'm afraid and have a hard time figuring this stuff out for myself (netcdf is as complicated a file format as I've dealt with in the past   - and it wouldn't take long to confuse me about that).  Registax works fine for me (pending memory upgrade*) and I'd imagine a lot of people would just want to open the avi files in that.  Personally I'm quite happy to accept I can't post it on YouTube or open it with Xine in return for lossless format.  I only tried Xine because I'd never used Registax before and wasn't sure if I'd installed it correctly in wine.

many thanks,

John

* 3 hours to align 1000 frames seems a little excessive ..

[JamesF]

Good point.  I shall add something to the release notes etc.

You may find AutoStakkert!2 a better bet for stacking, btw.  I still use Registax for wavelets etc., bit for planetary imaging type stuff I'd say that AutoStakkert!2 is the preferred tool.

James