I have a Logitech C920 and am looking to upgrade. Something suitable for streaming.

Some annoyances with the Logitech: sometimes autofocus fails and poor reproduction of blacks. Ex: Lack of detail when a black cat is on screen.

I already have a nice mic-- the webcam doesn’t need one.

  • You999@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    You will get leagues better picture quality using a camlink/capture card and a camera with clean HDMI out. A gopro is a good budget option but a used DLSR or mirrorless camera is going to be the best. Some DSLR and mirrorless cameras support video out over usb so you don’t even need a capture card. Here’s a guide on getting it to work on Linux with a camera capability list inside the guide. If you do want to go the capture card route I hear elgato’s camlink works in Linux.

  • Goun@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Wow, I’ve used a C920 and now a C930 and never had any issue, although I just do meetings.

    I’m interested on seeing opinions too.

    • markstos@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 months ago

      C920 is good enough for meetings. I solved the focus problem using the traditional Linux method of writing of udev rule which launches a timer when it’s plugged in, which periodically launches a systemd service, which runs a bash script to make sure it self-corrects at least every 5 minutes.

      cat /etc/udev/rules.d/90-video4linux-webcam-config.rules
      KERNEL=="video[0-9]*", SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0892", TAG+="systemd", RUN{program}="/bin/systemctl start video4linux-webcam-config@$env{MINOR}.timer" ENV{SYSTEMD_WANTS}="video4linux-webcam-config@$env{MINOR}.timer"
      
      ❯ cat /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
      # This file is managed by ansible-video4linux-webcam-config
      [Unit]
      Description=Periodically restart webcam config service
      
      [Timer]
      # Unit= defaults to service matching .timer name
      OnActiveSec=30
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=timers.target
      
      ❯ cat /etc/systemd/system/[email protected]
      [Unit]
      Description=Set webcam configs
      
      [Service]
      Type=oneshot
      ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/usr/local/bin/video4linux-webcam-config.sh %I"
      
      [Install]
      WantedBy=multi-user.target
      
      ❯ cat /usr/local/bin/video4linux-webcam-config.sh
      #!/bin/bash
      
      if [[ $# -ne 1 ]]; then
        echo "Expected minor device number as sole argument" 1>&2
        exit 1
      fi
      
         v4l2-ctl -d $1 --set-ctrl focus_automatic_continuous=0
        v4l2-ctl -d $1 --set-ctrl focus_absolute=0
      
      • TCB13@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I’m using a C920 on Debian and I don’t have focus issues. I remember that once it was permanently stuck out of focus but unplugging and plugging again fixed the issue. Never had any other issues in years.

    • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      My c920 now glitches out and refuses to stream video after about 10 minutes of use (mic still works tho). After some unknown long period of time, it resets and works for another 10 minutes

  • Tacostrange@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    I recently purchased the Anker PowerConf C200 2K webcam and it has been great on Linux. Crisp image and no issues with focusing. It’s currently on sale at Amazon

    • WMTYRO@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I recently found out about Anker and I bought a wired ergonomic vertical mouse as I had been experiencing wrist pain recently. High quality for a very low price point, and from the looks of it most of their products are like that. Also helped with the wrist pain!

  • punkcoder@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    i’ve had a lot of luck with the logitech brio which is a 4K WebCam, the only issue that I’ve run into is the fact that you have to make sure that it is plugged in to a USB 3.0 and not 3.1 port.