CoolCamera:
Code:
http://www.ateksoft.com/features.html
A Blue Angel-compatible release is planned. Does anyone have experience with this program and/or any input on whether it will really give better resolution photographs?
maybe you should ask guys from ateksoft about that.
my opinion is that it may improve camera quality but not so much
tbh the only reason i've been waiting for is to use my BA as a webcam,
Something called Webcam for Pocket PC at http://zone1.de/PocketPC/index.html#webcam (lite and full) and Webcam for Pocket PC - WPS Edition (integrates with Skyhook Wireless for WPS (software-only Wireless Positioning System), which in turn can optionally interoperate with GPS.
In short, you can take a photo and have it automatically upload to your FTP with geographical coordinates.
That doesn't sound like a true webcam to me, but could be useful - particularly for journalists. (BA users will probably want to invest in a better cam via SD/IO.)
i have nokia 6600 it has vga camera, there is a lot of software for improving image resolution, but all of them are interpolating the 640x480 images to higher resolution but the quality is not so good, i believe that coolcamera will work in the same way
Does anyone know if it's possible to access the forward-facing video camera via software oneself, even if the Video Call feature is not available on your network ? I work for at a hospital and as a "pet project" ( telemedicine ) one of the doctors who has a Kaiser would like to be able to video conference in with the forward facing camera. I would like to pursue this ( and I just might get a Kaiser for myself in the process..hint..hint ), and am curious if anyone has attempted to access the QCIF camera directly.
Any suggestions will be welcomed. Thank you.
Yes
open the camera application, the open the camera menu. (little bar below in the screen) lower line in the middle shows camera, press this button and the camera switch to the forward camera...
And if you want the front camera to start up by default, I scanned the registry and you should change the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE --> software --> HTC --> Camera --> common
change the value of activecameraID from 1 to 2, voila front camera will start first.
offtopic: did anyone tried this already with an voip program and videovoiping? going to check it right away... Because it always starts the rear camera...
cheers
It doesn't work with MS Portrait
I have emailed MS regarding updates to Portrait and compatibility with front facing cameras. They replied saying they are aware of the Camera issue and that they would notify me of any updates.
I am not holding my breath... MS updates are few and far between compared to the rate of development achieved by some of the geniuses on here.
Thanks but....
Thanks for the replies, but I meant programmatically. I'm not trying to take pictures. I want to know where I can find information about how to programmatically access the camera, for a custom application that would run over 3G which would both stream video to the display, and capture and stream video out of the QCIF ....just as if the video call feature were available, but for networks where this is not possible.
As I said, this is for supporting a telemedicine application, that would allow the doctor to interact with a patient at bedside, when they are not physcially present.
For an application that would allow the video conferencing, you might want to consider MeBeam (www.mebeam.com). It's a flash based site that allows you to video conference with up to eight other people. I'm not sure if their flash application will be able to detect your hardware, but it's worth a shot.
Anyone try this out? Does it work? If so, what rom are you running, and did you need to change anything?
Link here.
I'm at work but I'm really curious; Skype says it will work with *some* 2.2 devices, and if you have 2 cameras the wrong camera will work but we have only one camera so we might be in luck.
Fingers crossed...
Just installed it.. Will try it out!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I tried it briefly in Vegan tab 5.1.1.
-Everything aside from video calling seemed to operate well. This includes voice calls.
-The video call function was not available in the settings menu.
When I read through the skype announcement I noticed that it will only show video of rear facing camera's in froyo. Can the front facing camera be spoofed to work like a rear facing camera?
jdoorny said:
Can the front facing camera be spoofed to work like a rear facing camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I think it can. I recall when trying to get Yahoo Messenger working for video calls, some genius developer modified the Yahoo app to add a "swap cameras" button. It worked, but the video was always transmitted and displayed sideways.
My fingers are crossed that it works out of the box, even if it's only in Froyo. This would get me to (sadly) downgrade from GtabComb.
Tested with ROMs:
- VEGAn-TAB 5.1.1 - No video option. Darn it.
- CM 7.0.3 (Stable) - No video option
- I wanted to try it on Clemsyn-Caulkin v5, but the keyboard was acting funky after loading that ROM. Pressing any numbers acted like I was pressing the BACK button. Weird. I might try it again later.
Skype has said that with 2-camera Froyo devices only the rear camera will work. We have only one camera, so here's hoping...
I'm under the impression that our front camera is actually the "rear" camera according to the system.
There is only an API for one camera by default, it wasn't until Gingerbread that they started differentiating between a front and rear camera. That's why older apps work with only certain front facing cameras- the developer had to figure out how to call the front camera on each device individually since it wasn't a standard system function.
This is why ReelPortal works on our tablets- Adobe Air (which the app was written in) recognizes only the rear camera currently, so most tablets can't be used for chatting with it. But on the G-tablet (and certain Archos tablets), there is only one camera and the system recognizes it as "the" camera.
I would assume that any app which uses the camera would see our front camera as the system camera (a.k.a rear camera). That has been my experience with market apps that use the camera, at least.
I think there is some other reason the video option is disabled. I just tried installing skype on an Optimus S as well (budget android phone with only a rear camera, also running froyo), and the option is not there either.
Skype says "Unfortunately, if you cannot see the video calling settings, it means your Android phone does not meet the minimum requirements needed to make Skype video calls". That's ridiculous. It looks like someone needs to rip open the app and find out where that restriction is.
This is beyond my realm of hacking ability. Anyone with skills willing to look at this?
Hey I found these posts while digging through a few different threads and thought i would leave it here for other G-Tab users who are following this thread. Thanks Dishe for asking all the questions in the other forums. Unfortunately it's not looking so hot for skype video calling on the G-Tab at this point. I will keep watching patiently hoping that someday it will work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16337833&postcount=399
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16338146&postcount=1061
Yes- just to update everyone, here's what I found out.
Skype chose to use something called the NEON instruction set for hardware-based acceleration of video encoding / decoding. Problem is, not every mobile processor supports this instruction set (usually lower end hardware, like my LG Optimus). The Tegra 2 does not support NEON at all, and that is why our tablets don't offer the video option, and the ones that are hacked to work (by skipping the device check) will just crash after trying to sign in.
So, it is currently not possible for Skype to work on the G-tablet as long as they are pushing NEON acceleration.
This is the first time I've ever been upset to have a Tegra. All this time I actually wanted the G-tab BECAUSE of the high end Tegra2 for such an inexpensive tablet.
Why Nvidia left out support for this (while other CPUs include it) is beyond me, but on the plus side there is hope for the future. The Tegra2 is used in a lot of high end tablets these days, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Acer Iconia, Moto Xoom, etc... Right now Skype won't work on any of them, and I'm sure the company does not intend to alienate such a large portion of tablet customers. When they get supported, so will we.
Meanwhile, someone posted in one of the other threads about a CES demo this past year in which NVIDIA and Skype showed off HD video calling hardware using what they call "Skypekit" framework to build an app on a Tegra-based demo tablet.
So, stuff is coming folks. We just have to wait it out I guess, as there is nothing that can be done now.
I wonder if Skype does a hardware test or just a device check; maybe we can set the device ID or use some other trick to fool the software into thinking our gTabs are worthy.
mike_ekim said:
I wonder if Skype does a hardware test or just a device check; maybe we can set the device ID or use some other trick to fool the software into thinking our gTabs are worthy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the post right about yours. It will crash because the Tegra CPU does not have the instruction set it needs. I've tried it.
Thanks for the info everyone. I was hoping to surprise the girlfriend abroad with a hacked apk to get skype to work, but I guess ooVoo will have to do for now.
Oovoo messes up my sound everytime. I've had good results with reelportal tho.
I have droid charge, I use skype everyday and it is so annoying to flip the phone to see the other person. Tegra chip wise everything is clear but how about the droid charge? Can any dev find workaround for this nonsense? I am willing to support that dev and donate some beer money.
This discussion is about the G-tab.
For other devices, there are threads here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1153285
and here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1148708
If you have architecture capable of NEON, one of those versions should let the software access the front camera.
mike_ekim said:
I'm at work but I'm really curious; Skype says it will work with *some* 2.2 devices, and if you have 2 cameras the wrong camera will work but we have only one camera so we might be in luck.
Fingers crossed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So..if we are on 2.3 and have this device...are they saying it will work then? Getting my Tab in 2 days. It already has 2.3 on it.
New version of skype (v2) supports videocalling in tegra devices such as Asus Transformee or Xoom.
I'll test as soon as I get home if it works for the Gtablet.
Enviado desde mi GT-I9000 usando Tapatalk
Still no video call support
I just tested the new version of skype (version 2.5.0.108 downloaded from market) on my Gtab running Brilliant Corners 1.3.1 and there was still no video call option. I will keep playing with it and see if I missed anything obvious.
jdoorny said:
I just tested the new version of skype (version 2.5.0.108 downloaded from market) on my Gtab running Brilliant Corners 1.3.1 and there was still no video call option. I will keep playing with it and see if I missed anything obvious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to activate the videocall options on settings first.
I tested it on honeycomb flashback rom but as the camera doesn't work on our honeycomb roms yer the test was useful, lol.
Please check on settings that videocalls are enabled and test back on your brilliant corner roms.
However it would be nice if someone using a gingerbread rom can test it
titooo7 said:
You have to activate the videocall options on settings first.
I tested it on honeycomb flashback rom but as the camera doesn't work on our honeycomb roms yer the test was useful, lol.
Please check on settings that videocalls are enabled and test back on your brilliant corner roms.
However it would be nice if someone using a gingerbread rom can test it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I missed that and didn't change the settings.
When I changed the settings to accept video calls it worked. It was very buggy tho. The video came in clear, but it was rotated sideways (flipping the gtab on its side wasn't enough to fix the problem). The video I received also covered all the buttons for ending the call/muting the microphone etc. This made it difficult to end the call without guessing where the button would be underneath the incoming video. Also, when I exited the skype app while in a video call, the application closed but the video stayed on top. This made it impossible to do anything else while having a video chat going on in the background.
Overall this is a huge step forward. Video calls with audio are now working. I can't give extensive reviews on video quality, as I was only calling myself from my laptop to my gtablet and didn't spend much more time than was needed to see if it worked.
Some work will definately be needed to iron out some of the bugs before this becomes perfectly useable. For now I am happy with the progress that has been made and will wait patiently for someone smarter than me to work out the bugs.
Gtab running Brilliant Corners 1.3.1
---------- Post added at 11:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:42 AM ----------
After playing with skype for a little while longer, I noticed that skype is placing the video from the Gtab over the video from skype.
Let me try explain.
In a normal skype call, you have the large video from the person you are talking too taking up most of the screen. In one of the corners you have a video of yourself that is being sent to the other person. This video is rotated sideways when I hold the Gtab in landscape mode with the camera on top.
When I use the skype for android app on my Gtablet (brilliant corners 1.3.1), I get a third video laid overtop of the other two videos. The video is the same as the small one of myself in the bottom corner of the video chat, but with the correct orientation. I know that the other two video's exist (outgoing and incoming that normally exist in skype) because there is some space beside the 3rd video.
If that was confusing, let me try explain a different way: It's as if the video camera application is running over top of skype whenever I am in a video call. The 'video camera app' is persistantly on top whenever I am in a video call. It will even stay on top when I close the skype application during a video call.
I failed to notice this during my initial testing, as I had the gtab and laptop pointing at me, and failed to differentiate which video feed I was seeing.
I think the app would be perfect if the following were fixed.
-Outgoing video rotation is fixed.
-video being captured on gtab was not over top of the video's skype is recognizing.
Has anyone on different ROM's experienced these problems? I don't feel like going through the hassle of changing ROM's to test.
Hi,
I was using a Samsung WB850F (smart camera as they call it) prior to Galaxy Camera. Now I miss some of the features that it has but GC does not. Maybe we could find equivalent apps on the Play Store which could bring these features on GC. I will try to update this thread with recommended apps for those missing features. Please share your ideas with me.
Also, I couldn't find how to activate digital zoom on Galaxy Camera. I don't believe that it is missing on GC. Do you have any ideas on how to activate it ?
Missing features and apps to get them:
- DLNA share (app: Skifta)
- 3D still photo
- 3D panorama
- Action panorama
- Remote Viewfinder
Hi,
it's surprising to have zero replies
I'd expect at least someone to answer my question about digital zoom.
There isn't a digital zoom on this camera, optical only I'm afraid.
AllShare is it's version of DLNA (as DLNA is the underlying technology of AllShare) is there something specific you're wanting to do?
You can't have true 3D without 2 lenses so I'm not sure what to suggest there?
Remote view finder/control, we're all gonna have to wait for Samsung to pull their fingers out before we get an official app, I know some people have used Remote Camera from the Play store but I dont rate it much.
Why do you need digital Zoom? That's something what you can do better with photshop and else. And, oh yeah, you have 21x optical zoom, u know?
Do you know Allshare? It's integrated and Samsung's way of dlna. For myself i use bubbleupnp. You'll find it within network-settings ---> more settings ---> nearby devices.
3D, ok that's a thing what can't be done, at the moment. With Android 4.1.2 Samsung brought some new smart-modes. That's the big deal with an android-camera, it can be upgraded and u can use other camera-apps. I use 360 camera for Tilt-Shift-Photography, but can only be used in portrait-mode.
Within 4.1.2 Remote-Viewfinder support is integrated but don't work with the available apps from Samsung. We have to wait for updates.
Regards, Martin
Sent from my GT-P5110 using xda premium
thanks for your replies. it's really suprising to see there's no digital zoom.
On the WB850F, I had 21x optic zoom and 4x digital zoom. It also had a smart zoom mode which supplies 26x zoom without any resolution loss.
I thought we should have it on GC too.
3D still photo and 3D panorama is also possible with one lens on WB850F.
I think it does it with some technology like sensor shifting.
You see, I thought GC would be an upgrade after WB850F but it (GC) has lots of missing features.
Maybe I should keep WB850F and sell the GC...
I know, to have Android on such hardware is really nice. It would be very customizable. But on the other hand, I really miss the features of WB850F.
Although the Nexus 4 works fine for the most part, the firmware seems to have been "rushed out".
Hopefully LG and Google will release an update soon but in the meanwhile it won't hurt if a few brave
souls dive in and attempted to fix things. I myself, learn best by trying to fix broken things, even if I don't always succeed.
I will put together a list of what is broken/needed and update it to the best of my knowledge. Please post to this
thread to tip me on possible issues and solutions. Please include credible links and pictures in your posts.
1) USB OGT does not work.
Google changed it's documentation to state that USB OTG is not supported on the Nexus 4.
Relevant thread --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1966864
Problem:
It's unclear whether this functionality was disabled in hardware or software.
However it was verified that the Nexus 4 is not able to supply power to external devices.
Any future solutions will most likely involve a powered USB hub.
2) FM Radio does not work.
The Qualcom SoC supports FM Radio and it is unclear whether this functionality was disabled in hardware or software.
Relevant thread --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1963623
3) Poor camera performance
Problem:
Low-light performance of the Nexus4 camera is noticeably worse than the LG Optimus 4X that uses the same camera sensor.
http://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=1&idPhone1=5048&idPhone2=4563&idPhone3=4238
Leads:
The camera needs to be properly calibrated. Since that is not a trivial task developers might instead
look into swapping the camera drivers on the Nexus 4 and the Optimus 4X.
4) Voice call recording disabled
Relevant thread --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2079016
Problem:
The Android SDK provides a Voice Call audio stream for recording. Many great apps already take
advantage of this feature. The Nexus 4 however does not implement this.
Leads:
ALSA could theoretically be used to open a Voice Call interface in the Audio Mixer and routed out to a PCM stream.
The stream could be exposed to the Android SDK "MediaRecorder.AudioSource.VOICE_CALL".
More on the subject --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2098066
5) Sound recordings are very noisy.
Problem:
Sound recordings, sound on video recordings and the sound of VoIP on the Nexus 4 are unusable.
Voice calls however sound OK so I'm confident that there's room for improvement.
Leads:
I'm using ALSA to look into the Audio Mixer. The recording streams seem to have the LP filter set too low
at 4Hz, I can try changing that. Another theory is that the gain is set too high causing distortion. So far I
did not see a control to enable AutoGain.
More on the subject --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2098066
6) Ability to switch to a preferred 3G band.
Problem:
The *#*#4636#*#* menu crashes when trying to change the preferred 3G band.
Relevant thread --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2057922
7) (FIXED) The screen colors exhibit a yellowish tint.
Problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2035788
Solution:
The following kernels allow adjusting the screen colors
Franco --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002782
Faux --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2008222
There is a spreadsheet with the preferred settings
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2039607
Give me a downgrade to 4.1.2 and a fix for the 3g connection issues.
everything else is fine