Cannot get the webcam to work for gmail contacts in empathy

[Peppuzzo]

Binary package hint: empathy

Cannot get a MSN webcam connection working in Empathy. Connection get lost immediately when I try.

You are using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
                - the Lucid Lynx - released in April 2010 and supported until April 2013.

Installed: 2.30.0-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 2.30.0-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 2.30.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://nl.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: empathy 2.30.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-18.27-generic 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-18-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: i386
CheckboxSubmission: a31dfedb291401a5ac1f7f14e17978b7
CheckboxSystem: 46b132790c3fd0a9d0c0c0f4b1c4462c
Date: Mon Mar 29 22:30:28 2010
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/empathy
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.utf8
SourcePackage: empathy

[Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please answer these questions:
1. Is this reproducible?
2. If so, what specific steps should we take to recreate this bug? Be as detailed as possible.
This will help us to find and resolve the problem.

[Peppuzzo (peppuzzo)]

Thanks, I hope you can find it.

This is reproducible.

Open Empathy
click on the webcam symbol of one of the contacts having webcam (for instance a google talk contact)
select video call
a new window appears
I am able to see my own webcam operating
I do not see the other part webcam, neither any audio communication is possible.

I hope this is sufficient.

[Guillaume Pascal (guigui14100-deactivatedaccount)]

The answer to the problem is http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/Protocols%20Support

The protocol does not support webcam talk on msn protocol

"Audio/Video chat no longer works in MSN due to Microsoft removing the necessary servers. "

[Peppuzzo (peppuzzo)]

It does not manage in Gmail as well. Pidgin does, however; therefore I switched to Pidgin. It's a shame, as evolution is better integrated , anyhow I can live with it.

[John (raev33-deactivatedaccount)]

I use the final version of Ubuntu 10.04, and tried webcam with a gmail contact today. I can see myself and the person I'm "talking" to. But apparently the other person could neither see nor hear me. The other person used the Gmail-plugin. It used to work under 9.10...

[Emanuele Blanco (emanuele-blanco)]

Same as stated before with gmail contacts.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

for video chat to work over gtalk you need to update your lucid fully. then install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg and gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

[Tony Pursell (ajpursell)]

In my experience, GoogleTalk AV works Empathy > Empathy and Browser Plugin > Browser Plugin but with Browser Plugin > Empathy you connect, get a few seconds of sound with no video, then Empathy crashes. Doesn't matter if the Browser Plugin user is in Windows or Ubuntu, the outcomes are the same.

[Brian Curtis (bcurtiswx)]

I'm fairy sure that this works quite well in maverick, but lucid is a different issue. Please try installing the packages listed above and see if it helps your video conversation.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!