How to find a better driver for a webcam with a terrible quality?

Gottogetout

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Hi,
I have installed a wonderful “all in one” PC that a friend gave me.
It come from a company that renewed his computers.
It's a Lenovo Thinkcentre all in one E73Z. A racing car.
My issue : The only component of the PC that doesn’t works fine is the webcam. Terribly poor quality. Its seems to not match with the quality of machine.
The name of the camera, detected by Linux Mint, is :
Device-2: Acer Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.3:4 chip-ID: 5986:0542"

I know very well how to solve any problem on Windows PC. (years of experiences behind me).
On a Windows PC I would go to the driver page of Lenovo to find the latest driver, if it exists and so on. Another option would be to use a site that detects the latest drivers.
The Lenovo site has no driver for Linux? I have checked it.

What could I do under Linux Mint here, please?
Thanks for your help.
I hope I posted in the right section.
 
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check the BIOS and see if it has inbuilt Lenovo Communication Utility and try to adjust from there.
 
Thanks a lot. I'm gonna look right now.
...
Done. I just could raise the amount of 'pre-allocated memory' dedicated to the cam. I put the maximum in order to test. it changes nothing.
May be it doesn't come from the driver, the cam is very bad and there's nothing doable, except to may be change the cam :)
Could I something else?
 
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It's a difficult one, Linux works well with some Lenovo's, it works with many and there is a handful where it won't work at all
I have a list, but your E73z is not on it.
 
Okay, thanks a lot for your help.
My intuition is that the cam is of very low quality. The driver is not the problem.
This PC must be 8 years old. This can explain that.
 
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It’s a UVC webcam. Any UVC cam will work out of the box in Linux. No special drivers required. If the quality is bad - it’s most likely the camera is a low quality piece of crap, with terrible quality/performance!

The only way to improve it is to get a better webcam!
 
Okay, I see. Thanks.
UVC : "USB video class". Okay.
I will, may be do research to find out how to change the webcam inside, one day.
 
I will, may be do research to find out how to change the webcam inside, one day.
It would be quicker and cheaper to get an external usb webcam
 
It would be quicker and cheaper to get an external usb webcam
Yup, exactly!
I bought myself a Logitech C922 Pro-stream webcam. That thing’s much better than the crappy quality webcam on my laptop. Works flawlessly, out of the box. It even has built in microphones. So it’s a better source of audio than my laptops built in mic too!
 
@Brickwizard :-

It would be quicker and cheaper to get an external usb webcam

Yup, exactly!
I bought myself a Logitech C922 Pro-stream webcam. That thing’s much better than the crappy quality webcam on my laptop. Works flawlessly, out of the box. It even has built in microphones. So it’s a better source of audio than my laptops built in mic too!
Couldn't agree more. :D Laptop webcams are universally-known for poor quality output.

I treated myself to a c920 in the Black Friday sale around 4 years ago. Best investment I ever made.....I'd been after one for several years, but I drew the line at the 3-figure-plus price tag they went for here in the UK. PCWorld were clearing old stock to make way for the hyper-expensive "Brio" range, so I snagged it for just under £40 in the end. Picture quality is divine, and the recording quality is top-notch.

I know the c920 is regarded as the "basic" top-end model now, but you can see why it WAS 'top-of-the-range' for so many years. HD 1080p at a consistent 30fps; stereo microphones (good ones!); sapphire glass cover; top-quality Zeiss lens; full 'manual' OR 'live' autofocus; tripod camera mount (got one of those, too).....it ticks all the boxes. Very solid build-quality as well (they're heavy old things, but they're packed full of high-quality components. You DO get your money's-worth.)

-----------------------------------------

I've tried quite a number of cheaper ones over the years. All HP USB webcams are crap. Period. I've got a MyCrudSoft 3000 LifeCam kicking around someplace which I 'modified' the mount on......halfway-decent piccie, as it happens. I bought a cheapo Trust webcam a few years ago; the kernel didn't even recognise it. Curiously, I picked up the exact same item last year in a sale.......only £5! This time, it's recognised as a UVC-compliant camera, so they've obviously used a more 'mainstream' chipset in it now. Really good picture, as it happens....so although I bought it with the intention of cannabalising it for the flexi-grip mount, I've ended up with probably the best cam I've had, after the Logitech.

I think the best cheapo one I had for picture quality was a weird one I picked up in a Maplin's sale, a couple of years before they went bust. Strangest mount you ever saw, and only manual focus.....but despite being low-ish resolution - only 640x480 - it was pretty good image reproduction, when all was said & done.

USB cams are definitely "pot-luck", depending on the chipset in use. I've always bought hardware for use in Linux by doing my research; I couldn't give a monkey's what they look like, so long as the functionality is there.....unlike many folk, who are seduced by a dab of glitter & a flash of chrome, then spend countless hours trying to make something work which never will in a million years. The c920 not only LOOKS good, but it delivers in spades......and is pNp under Linux.

With webcams, look for "UVC-compliant". That'll tell you all you need to know.

This review by TechRadar says it all. Notice the introduction date (2012).....yet after a full decade it's still considered 'the' best all-rounder to measure up to.


And that says something about just how right Logitech got the c920 all those years ago; after all, it IS the most widely-used & popular webcam in the world. I'm very happy with mine......and it'll knock the spots off any 'built-in' cam. No two ways about it.


Mike. ;)
 
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Hi,
"USB cameras are definitely 'pot luck', depending on the chipset used."

I think you must be right.
I have a Logitech like that one. I can't remember the exact model name. May be 920. There is an SN on a tag attached to the wire but It didn 't work for long. I bought it may be 7-8 years ago, around €70 from memory. (I'm French)
Time passes. I kept it in a drawer for years, hoping it will work again one day. I plugged it into several computers, never detected. I'm finally going to put it in the recycling ! it's time.

The cam of my All In One under Linux Mint is not great but so, I have a decent cam on my laptop.
 
All the Logitech webcams I've had work fine on Linux, I currently have this one.
 

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