Video Calls
From Ekiga
You don't need a webcam to run Ekiga.
Contents |
What type of camera can I use with Ekiga?
Every camera supported by the Linux kernel and compatible with the Video4Linux/Video4Linux2 APIs (Philips webcams, Creative webcams, and many others...), or any Firewire camera provided that you are using the appropriate plugin.
Ekiga makes use of plugins to provide access to video devices. They may be labeled under at least one of those names in your package manager: libpt or pwlib, plugins. Install them accordingly to your needs.
Here is a list of tested webcams and DV cameras.
Configuring Video
Ekiga has an assistant for configuring video support: just run the Configuration Assistant until the end.
If it doesn't work as expected, you can try to change those settings:
Choosing the right kernel API
The Linux kernel has two ways to communicate with video devices, the old v4l and the new v4l2. It's best to use v4l2, but some drivers only support v4l.
Ekiga has a plugin for Firewire based cameras.
Go to the menu Edit → Preferences → Devices → Video device
- Try "v4l2” or "v4l” as video plugin for most USB webcams.
Choosing the right video device
If you have several video devices (like a TV card and a webcam) you will need to tell Ekiga which one to use:
Go to the menu Edit → Preferences → Devices → Video device
Change the channel number until you find the right one.
Activate the video support in calls
Select Edit → Preferences → Video Codecs → Enable Video Support
Test your webcam
To test your webcam you can do this:
There are 6 icons on the left side of the main Ekiga window. Push the 4th button from the top (a grey round webcam). If eveything is ok, you'll see the output of the webcam. If not, you'll see the Ekiga logo bouncing slowly.
Controlling the Video Bandwidth
Ekiga is using a best-effort algorithm to maintain a low bandwidth when transmitting video. You can adjust the video quality settings following you prefer to have a good frame rate, or a good picture quality in Edit → Preferences → Video Codecs. It will permit Ekiga to dynamically adjust the video bandwidth and the number of transmitted images per second during a call while trying to respect the requested video bandwidth.
- The algorithm is a best-effort algorithm, which means that if you specify too low video bandwidth settings, it can be impossible to respect them. However, if the video bandwidth permits to transmit with a better quality, or faster than the requested values, then Ekiga will dynamically increase them so that the quality and the framerate are always the best possible.
Choosing a higher framerate and a lower quality will have the same result in terms of video bandwidth than choosing a higher quality with a lower framerate. It depends if you prefer using your bandwidth to transmit more lower quality images or fewer big quality images.
I have no webcam, can I send a picture to the remote client?
You can always select Edit → Preferences → Video Codecs → Enable Video Support with a plugin like MovingLogo or StaticPicture. Doing so, a test picture will be transmitted to the remote endpoint during calls. You can also choose to send a picture (e.g. of yourself) to the remote endpoint in the Edit → Preferences → Video Device section.
Troubleshooting
Supported Video Settings
| Software name | Codec | Transport | Resolution | Frames/s | bit/s | Configuration Options | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ekiga | H.261 | RFC 2032 | QCIF | 25 | 80k-240k | Target Bitrate = 128k, Quality = (is ignored) | ||
| QCIF | 25 | 80k-280k | Target Bitrate = 256k, Quality = (is ignored) | |||||
| QCIF | 25 | 80k-320k | Target Bitrate = 512k, Quality = (is ignored) | |||||
| QCIF | 25 | 80k-360k | Target Bitrate = 1024k, Quality = (is ignored) | |||||
| H.263 (1995) | RFC 2190 | QCIF | 25 | 80k-400k | Target Bitrate = (is ignored), Quality = (is ignored) | |||
| CIF | 25 | 400k-600k | Target Bitrate = (is ignored), Quality = (is ignored) | |||||
| MPEG 4 Part 2 Visual | RFC 3016 | QCIF | 25 | 120k-400k | Target Bitrate = (is ignored), Quality = (is ignored) | |||
| CIF | 25 | 512k-1600k | Target Bitrate = (is ignored), Quality = (is ignored) | |||||
| Windows Messenger | H.261 | RFC 2032 | QCIF | 3-5 | 24k-40k | none | ||
| H.263 (1995) | RFC 2190 | CIF | 3-5 | 24k-40k | none | |||
| X-Lite 3.0/eyeBeam | H.263 (1995) | RFC 2190 | QCIF | 5-10 | ~48k | Preset "Cable" | ||
| CIF | 5-15 | ~256k | Preset "Fast Cable" | |||||
| CIF | 15-25 | ~512k | Preset "LAN" | |||||
| Linphone | MPEG 4 Part 2 Visual | RFC 3016 | QCIF | 6 | 48k-80k | Target Bitrate = 128k | ||
| CIF | 10 | 80k-200k | Target Bitrate = 256k | |||||
| CIF | 10 | 320k-560k | Target Bitrate = 512k | |||||
| CIF | 18 | 800k-1600k | Target Bitrate = 1024k | |||||
| Kapanga | H.263 (1995) | RFC 2190 | QCIF | 5-10 | ~240k | Resolution = QCIF, bitrate = ??, framerate = (is ignored) | ||
| CIF | 5-10 | 480k | Resolution = CIF, bitrate = ??, framerate = (is ignored) |
