Skype video quality poor

My skype outgoing video quality is tanked. When i view just the webcam quality is good but when in skype everyone says quality is bad. It was fine a few days ago. The only thing i have done is installed vlc. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should do. Thanks in advance.

 

No idea...the web cam is not that good 0.3 mega pixels and it probably looks a lot worse on a bigger screen than on the 8.9" of the One
It is really unlikely for something like VLC to interfere with Skype in Linux unless VLC removed something during the install process..
The webcam that comes with the One seems to be picky about lighting so in dimmer or brighter setting the quality of the video might differ.

Can you tell if the quality the same in the preinstalled "webcam" app as it is in Skype or was before?
How exactly did you install VLC ?...so I can try to reproduce the conditions

 

The output has gotten worse . My mother told me she could hardly see my I eyes. Since i posted I reinstalled skype by downloading the zip file but still same prob. I set up my main laptop and video called it to see the problem and it was terrible I didn't even look like a person. I looked like someone on 60minutes who was running from the mafia . I followed these directions to install vlc .viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3770#p25335. thanks for the help

 

My cam quality on skype is good. The webcam doesn't light low light or light from behind the subject though, tends to make it look much worse. Looks much better in daylight or a well lit room. If you're getting horrible quality I'd maybe suggest getting it into an acer repair center to see about getting a new cam?

 

maybe something to look at:

By default skype will use only 320x200, that would make the picture quality quite bad!
In order to change it to 640x480 go to the .Skype folder under home ( cd ~/.Skype )
There you should see a folder with your skype user name ( cd yourusername )
edit the config.xml file with whatever editor you like
Make the Video section look like this

<Video>
<AutoSend>0</AutoSend>
<CaptureHeight>480</CaptureHeight>
<CaptureWidth>640</CaptureWidth>
<Fps>15</Fps>
</Video>

This will set skype for 640x480 15 fps.

This should improve your picture quality a lot.

Hope this helps !

 

My Camera is working OK on Skype but at a low resolution and slow frame rate - consistent with what you say are the defaults.
Unfortunately I dont have a <Video> section
The only mention of Video is <VideoEndPoints> and that seems to be nested within blocks
<config><Lib><Call>

Could you tell me what nesting is involved for <Video> please ?
Cheers

 

Ok now I can't get any video out on skype. Yet the webcam does work in the with the program listed in the fun box. Yet it don't work with skype even when i do the test. Does anyone have a clue what i should do besides just forgeting about it. Thanks for the help.

 

BJC,

If I remember well it's very possible this section is not there by default. Easiest way to create it is to start Skype - click on the botom Skype icon - options - video devices - check the box "start my video automatically when I am in a call" - close everything - exit skype look at the config.xml again.

This should create the video section and will set the AutoSend value to 1.

After that just apply the changes I wrote before and everything should be good.

Also for slow frame rate you have to set up the camera properly. In good lighting there is no problem but in low light the auto setting of the cameras will give you good picture but low frame rate. I normally adjust the cameras in luvcview before starting skype. Install the luvcview package and start it in a console by typing : luvcview -s 640x480 -f yuv

good luck !

 

thanks for the help. I would like to ask one more thing as you can see I am a nobbie. So where and how to I find the. xml file thanks for all your help.

 

I will try to complete what I wrote earlier :

Start a terminal window ( press alt-F2 - type "xterm" in the input box

go to the .Skype folder under home ( cd ~/.Skype )
There you should see a folder with your skype user name ( cd yourusername )
edit the config.xml file with whatever editor you like

For the editor I not sure if you are using Limpus or Ubuntu, I use Ubuntu so I would do something like gedit config.xml
Make the changes, save the file.

That's it !!

 

Thanks James_Mtl - that indeed created the video section and I have incorporated your lines in it.
For reference, the nesting is:

<Config>
...
<Lib>
....
<Video>
.. James_Mtl_Stuff
</Video>
</Lib>
...
</Config>

With adequate lighting the frame rate has improved to the point that it is reasonably lip-synced.
The resolution has improved a lot - may have to drop it again
With Thanks BJC

 

james_mtl, could you please tell how to install luvcview.
thanks

 

Likewise, please. The skype config file change alone still has me getting about 3 fps (like in the preinstalled webcam utility), and the luvcview site seems unmaintained (luvcview being unavailable through either default repo or livna).

 

I'm affraid I cannot be of much help for you guys. I have absolutely no knowledge of Limpus. First thing I did with my aspire one is to erase XP ( I have the hd version ) and install Ubuntu 8.04.1. All my machines run Ubuntu. In ubuntu luvcview is in the standard repo. It's a small application that let you adjust the cameras setting and see yourself but it does not reset the cameras setting when you exit so when you start skype you use the cameras the way it was just setup. It a a tool for UVCvideo camera ( which the what we have in the AAO ). I know there is a similar application with a gui named guvcview; here is the link to download the application : http://developer.berlios.de/project/sho ... up_id=8179

You will most likely have to download the tar ball and install it this way. I never done it so I cannot be of much help; I installed the software using the provided .deb file which work just great under Ubuntu.

 

I know .deb based distros like Debian and Ubuntu can install .rpm packages using a program called Alien. Anyone know if there's a similar tool for going the other way? This would let you install it on Linpus using the .deb file from Ubuntu.

 

Alien works both ways.