Webcam capturing at 640x360

Software & Operating Systems Linux
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1

I bought the Anker Powerconf C300 webcam, but it appears all I get out of programs on Linux is a 640x360 YUYV RAW output. On Windows 10 I’m able to get the full 1080p60fps output.

Here’s the output of v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video1 --list-formats-ext

ioctl: VIDIOC_ENUM_FMT
Type: Video Capture

[0]: 'MJPG' (Motion-JPEG, compressed)
	Size: Discrete 1920x1080
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 1280x720
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 640x360
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 320x180
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
[1]: 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
	Size: Discrete 320x180
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 640x360
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
[2]: 'H264' (H.264, compressed)
	Size: Discrete 640x360
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.040s (25.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.050s (20.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 1280x720
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.040s (25.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.050s (20.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
	Size: Discrete 1920x1080
		Interval: Discrete 0.017s (60.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.040s (25.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.050s (20.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.067s (15.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.100s (10.000 fps)
		Interval: Discrete 0.200s (5.000 fps)
[3]: '' (35363248-0000-0010-8000-00aa003, compressed)

Running v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video1 -V I get this:

Format Video Capture:
	Width/Height      : 640/360
	Pixel Format      : 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
	Field             : None
	Bytes per Line    : 1280
	Size Image        : 460800
	Colorspace        : Default
	Transfer Function : Default (maps to Rec. 709)
	YCbCr/HSV Encoding: Default (maps to ITU-R 601)
	Quantization      : Default (maps to Limited Range)
	Flags             :

So then trying v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video1 -v width=1920,height=1080,pixelformat=H264 and then running v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video1 -V again I get this:

Format Video Capture:
	Width/Height      : 1920/1080
	Pixel Format      : 'H264' (H.264)
	Field             : None
	Bytes per Line    : 0
	Size Image        : 4147200
	Colorspace        : Default
	Transfer Function : Default (maps to Rec. 709)
	YCbCr/HSV Encoding: Default (maps to ITU-R 601)
	Quantization      : Default (maps to Full Range)
	Flags             :

But then running OBS, Cheese, Teams, anything in Chrome to capture the webcam it goes back to this output:

Format Video Capture:
	Width/Height      : 640/360
	Pixel Format      : 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
	Field             : None
	Bytes per Line    : 1280
	Size Image        : 460800
	Colorspace        : Default
	Transfer Function : Default (maps to Rec. 709)
	YCbCr/HSV Encoding: Default (maps to ITU-R 601)
	Quantization      : Default (maps to Limited Range)
	Flags             :

Anyway to force using MJPG or H264? Or make those the default that applications use? I’ve seen some others use v4l2loopback for similar things, is this the solution?

2

Which kernel are you running?

3

I’m using kernel version 5.11.13 on Fedora 34.

4

I actually discovered if I set it to MJPG and not H264 Chrome will stick with MJPG. It won’t do 60fps, but for Teams meetings that isn’t a big deal.

I found in OBS I need to select BGR3 (Emulated) as the video format and then I get the higher framerate and resolution options.

5

I use a cheap USB HDMI capture card and I’ve used webcamoid with great success.

Setting it to RGB makes it run like a crippled rock at 2-5 FPS maybe. BGR3 emulated makes it go 30-60 depending on resolution.