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In guvcview I can set up my webcam to be exactly how I want it to be. However, when I fire up Cheese or any browser-based video conferencing tool like Google Meet the camera image comes up with the initial settings.

Is there any way to make the configuration I set up in guvcview the default for all uses of the webcam?

David Durant
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2 Answers2

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Guvcview stores all options into a configuration file stored in the user home directory under .config/guvcview2/video0. The file is opened at start and it is rewritten at exit. By removing the file the default values will be loaded, and a new file will be written at exit.

The documentation for guvcview doesn't mention anything about systemwide configurations, so to make your configurations available to other apps, you can install "V4l2-ctl" using sudo apt-get install v4l-utils and create a startup script that uses v4l2-ctl commands to set your desired parameters. For instance:

v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl brightness=200
v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl auto_gain=0
farzado
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  • Thanks very much @farzado - that's got me some of the way. I can use v4l2-ctl on the command line to make changes that are now picked up in the browser video apps. But unfortunately it's just highlighted another weirdness. When I run guvcview and set zoom to maximum the cam window in that app looks like this : https://bit.ly/33WUHd8. But when I do : v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl absolute_zoom=9 (the highest setting) and fire up chrome the view I get is this (https://bit.ly/3kyk9M5). Any idea why they're different? – David Durant Aug 11 '20 at 21:58
  • I'd suggest first checking that your settings are successfully stored via v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 --list-ctrls then try it in a different browser as well. It might be a case that chrome is overriding your settings with its own default values. – farzado Aug 12 '20 at 01:32
  • They are being stored successfully. What's really weird is that while Chrome is running I can use the command line to change the zoom level of the webcam and it does change in chrome - just the effect is very different to Guvcview. In chrome it starts much more zoomed out and maxes out at halfwat. In Guvcview it starts fairly well zoomed in and at max is very close. – David Durant Aug 12 '20 at 20:23
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After guvcview installation open gucview in a regular preview mode way and adjust your video image settings: exposure, contrast, brightness, wb, saturation, etc...

I recommend saving those settings into your profile: File->Save Profile

then, from your terminal run

gucview --control-plane

or with a short flag

gucview -z

and now check you skype, teams, zoom, etc..

now you can use your software with image settings defined in gucview

Artem Kozlenkov
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