From 8228e995adc0061255530a08ce0767a37dad50ad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Antonio Garcia-Dominguez Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:21:58 +0200 Subject: Improved with suggestions from Pavel - v4l2loopback is installed using a Debian Unstable .deb and DKMS, so the module is preserved over kernel upgrades. - if adb is in the $PATH, it is detected automatically, so no configuration beyond changing the port/Wi-Fi IP is required. - if the phone is plugged to USB and adb is available, the script starts up IP Webcam automatically by sending an intent. - and other small fixes and improvements. Thanks, Pavel! --- README.markdown | 14 +++++++++----- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) (limited to 'README.markdown') diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown index b6ebfc7..14c9c14 100644 --- a/README.markdown +++ b/README.markdown @@ -1,16 +1,20 @@ ipwebcam-gst ============ -This is a very simple shell script which allows Android users to use their phones as a webcam/microphone in Linux. The setup is slightly contrived, though: +This is a shell script which allows Android users to use their phones as a webcam/microphone in Linux. The setup is as follows: * [IP Webcam](https://market.android.com/details?id=com.pas.webcam) (on the phone) serves up a MJPEG live video stream and a WAV live audio stream through HTTP (port 8080 by default). -* Port 8080 in the phone is bridged to port 8080 in the computer that the phone is plugged to, using ADB port forwarding. You can use IP Webcam through Wi-Fi, but it's rather choppy, so I wouldn't recommend it. -* From local port 8080, a GStreamer graph takes the MJPEG live video stream and dumps it to a loopback V4L2 device, using [v4l2loopback](https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback). The audio stream is dumped to a PulseAudio null sink. -* Most videochat software in Linux is compatible with `v4l2loopback`: Skype 2.1 (*not* 2.2, it seems), Cheese, Empathy and the Google Talk video chat plugin should work. +* If the phone is plugged to USB and ADB is available, the HTTP port in the phone is bridged to the same port in the computer, using ADB port forwarding. This is much faster than using Wi-Fi, and the shell will be able to start the IP Webcam application on the phone directly. The script supports Wi-Fi as well, but it can be rather choppy with bad reception, so I wouldn't recommend it. +* From the local port in the computer, a GStreamer graph takes the MJPEG live video stream and dumps it to a loopback V4L2 device, using [v4l2loopback](https://github.com/umlaeute/v4l2loopback). The audio stream is dumped to a PulseAudio null sink. +* Most videochat software in Linux is compatible with `v4l2loopback`: Skype 2.1 (*not* the latest 2.2, it seems), Cheese, Empathy and the Google Talk video chat plugin should work. * The sound recording device for your videochat application should be changed to the 'Monitor of Null Sink' using `pavucontrol`. -This project includes `prepare-videochat.sh`, which does all these things, except for switching the recording device for your videochat application. It does open `pavucontrol` if needed, though. The script installs the GStreamer tools and `pavucontrol` if required, but you will have to install the [Android SDK](http://developer.android.com/sdk) and v4l2loopback by yourself. +This project includes `prepare-videochat.sh`, which does all these things, except for switching the recording device for your videochat application. It does open `pavucontrol` if needed, though. The script installs `v4l2loopback`, the GStreamer tools and `pavucontrol` if required, but you will have to install the [Android SDK](http://developer.android.com/sdk) by yourself. To use this script, simply run it with `./prepare-videochat.sh` and follow instructions. You may have to customize a few variables in the CUSTOMIZATION section before using it, though. Disclaimer: the script has only been tested in my local installation of Ubuntu 11.04. I can't really support other distributions, sorry! + +-- +Antonio +Twitter: @antoniogado -- cgit v1.2.3