Got a Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera lying around? Want to set it up in Ubuntu?
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to setup a Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera on a Ubuntu 7.10 server. I managed to get it working using the latest UVC driver and streaming it using uvc_streamer.
This is the end result:
My Xbox Live Vision camera streaming from my Ubuntu server over the network on port 8080.
Setup Guide:
- Install the latest UVC driver using SVN. Follow the guide on this page.
- After you’ve installed and run “sudo modprobe uvcvideo“; verify that the module is loaded by running:
# lsmod uvcvideo 52996 0 compat_ioctl32 2304 1 uvcvideo videodev 29312 1 uvcvideo v4l1_compat 15364 2 uvcvideo,videodev v4l2_common 18432 2 uvcvideo,videodev usbcore 138760 6 uvcvideo,usbhid,xpad,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
It’ll be a long list but you should have those few things loaded.
- Next, plug your Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera into a USB port and verify that it’s there.
# lsusb Bus 005 Device 005: ID 045e:0294 Microsoft Corp. # ls /dev | grep video video0 <- this should be the Xbox camera (/dev/video0)
- Finally, you’ll need to install uvc_streamer.
# mkdir uvc_streamer # cd uvc_streamer # wget http://naaa.de/programme/uvc_streamer/uvc_streamer_2007_09_17_20.34.02.tgz # tar xzvf uvc_streamer_2007_09_17_20.34.02.tgz # make clean # make all # sudo cp uvc_stream /usr/local/bin/
- You’re done! Now test to see if it works by running:
# uvc_stream -d /dev/video0 -f 15 -r 640x480 Using V4L2 device: /dev/video0 Resolution.......: 640 x 480 frames per second: 15 TCP port.........: 8080
At this point, your Xbox Live Vision Camera should lit up (the round green light). Point your web browser to “http://ipaddress:8080″ and you should be able to get live streaming video feed from your webcam.
Press Ctrl+C to quit. If you want to leave it running all the time, just add a -b to make it a daemon process.
Notes:
- This is running on a Ubuntu 7.10 Server (linux kernel - 2.6.22-14-server). I’m not sure if it will work for other versions but I think it should.
- I’ve tried streaming it using VLC but to no success. Seems like UVC driver only supports V4L2 and VLC does not support it.[ link ].
- Naturally, you’ll need TCP port 8080 to be open and available for this to work.
References:
How to install Linux UVC Driver
How to install UVC_Streamer
Linux-UVC Driver
UVC-streamer and MJPG-streamer
Microsoft Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera, Ubuntu 7.10, 045e:0294, UVC, uvc_streamer, howto
Hmmm the cam still wont work and i get no video0 :/
wait… i got video0 now but its zero kb in size and im not sure of a program to test it with camorama says: could not connect to video device (dev/video0) please check connection
ill try the streamer.
Hi there Josh.. good to know that you got the video0 listed now. Yes, try it with the uvc_streamer first. So far that’s the one I know works but I’ve not had the chance to try other softwares with it.
Best of luck~
Thanks, I did the streamer and runed it and the light came on! so it works kind of, but didnt bother to open the ports etc
scifijerry@scifibox:/usr/local/bin$ uvc_stream -d /dev/video0 -f 15 -r 640×480
Using V4L2 device…..: /dev/video0
Resolution…………: 640 x 480
frames per second…..: 15
TCP port…………..: 8080
motor control TCP port: 8081
Unable to set format: 5.
Init v4L2 failed !! exit fatal
init_VideoIn failed
im stumped
when you said edit the make file i couldnt find it
is that the problem or what?
went back and edited the make file but is staill get the same error
any ideas
Hi Jerry… just wondering do you happen to have more than 1 webcam connected to your linux box? The thing is because when you started uvc_stream with video0; it shows a motor-control option. There is no motor-control on the Live vision camera.
Another thing is that can you double check that you got all the V4L2 module loaded with modprobe (step 2) ?
Hey PsyCHZZZ — much thanks for the guide. Followed it, and it works wonderfully on my xubuntu 7.10 machine. One thing I’ve noticed, and I assume this is just a failing in the uvc_stream application, is that I get varying quality connections. That is, sometimes the web browser seems to fail and stop streaming. Did you have this issue at all? It’s easy to fix, of course, by refreshing the page, but it’s an annoyance nonetheless.
Thanks again for the helpful guide!
Hi Pebby… you’re most welcome.
I never had that problem but then again I didn’t stream it for long… just occasionally for 1 min or so… what is the framerate that you set in uvc_stream? Perhaps a different framerate might improve the stability?
Unfortunately, I gave the camera away already… so, I won’t be able to do any further testing on it.
Glad that the guide helped. ^.^ Cheers~
Yeah, I tried playing with the framerate a bit - I assume it’s just a problem with Firefox, honestly. Using VLC (or another media player) works perfectly, in any case.
Hi I’m not able to get anything to load up when I enter sudo modprobe uvcvideo
Nothing happens at all can anyone help? I’m a noob at linux sorry guys.
Hi Tristan, apologies for the late reply… just wondering if you’ve solved the problem?
ya real cool ubuntu, you wanna hook it up in windows? here is my tut for that
PLUG IT IN
Very cool. Great tutorial. Thanks.
linux is wack: Yeah~ it works great in MS Windows … perhaps cause it’s a Microsoft product?
Anyway, there are lots of webcams that works out of the box with Linux as well, this is just one of those that requires a bit of tweaking around.