Still capture from EasyCap

[g3zgz]

I cannot capture stills from the EasyCap dongle.

Using latest software in PI.

If I press SNAP I get a message at the bottom of the screen

loading FAILED

I do see that the frame count in snap_index.txt is updated each time I press SNAP.

View and check both come up with the same message at the bottom.

Any Ideas what may be wrong?

Thanks

Dave.

[G8GKQ]

Hi Dave

The most likely thing is that the /home/pi/tmp folder where the snaps and view images are temporarily stored has not been created or is read only for the pi user..

If you do

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ls -l

at the command prompt, you should see that one of the entries is:

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drwxrwxrwt 2 root root    40 Oct  9 12:00 tmp

It's very important that the first part is drwxrwxrwt with 3 w. If the entry is not exactly as that, have a look at the file /etc/fstab and it should include the line

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tmpfs           /home/pi/tmp    tmpfs   defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=10m  0  0

If it does not, you could insert it by copying and pasting this text into the command line and running it:

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sudo sed -i '4itmpfs           /home/pi/tmp    tmpfs   defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=10m  0  0' /etc/fstab

Then re-check that /etc/fstab includes that line. You will need to reboot and the folder should be created at next boot up. It's a temporary folder in RAM used for storing the snaps and viewed video so that the SD Card does not get hammered with too many writes.

Let me know how you get on.

What worries me is how you ended up with this problem. Did you upgrade or do a clean build? Did you see any errors?

Dave

[g3zgz]

Hello Dave,

Thanks for your quick reply.

drwxrwxrwt with 3 w - exactly as yours.

Tried to find the file etc/fstab but could not - where are you hiding it?

The problem is common to a SD card that Ted G4MXR bought from BATC and also my card that I made as per the instructions on the wiki.

I even made up another card and tried that but to no avail.

The PI seems to work in other regards.

Thanks

Dave.

[G8GKQ]

Hi Dave

fstab is in the /etc folder, up at the root of the disk (2 levels above /home/pi).

I've just looked at the scripts that do the snap and the view and have remembered that they need a Pi Camera connected to the Pi for them to work. Something that I need to fix!

Do you have a Pi Camera connected?

Dave

[g3zgz]

Dave,
No PI camera connected, although Ted did have one and as far as I know he cannot capture - I'll ask him.

OK on the /etc location. Somehow I missed it before, sorry.

The line tmpfs is there three times.

I'll let you know what happens when Ted tries.

Do you want me to PM you rather than use this topic?

Thanks
Dave

davenumber13@gmail.com

[G8GKQ]

Hi Dave

It's good for others to see details of the issue on the forum.

I have written a fix for this and will add it to the update that I was hoping to put out before the end of the week. The update will also increase the displayed framerate to about 2 fps, and eliminate most of the flicker.

In the meantime, if you edit "/dev/video1" to "/dev/video0" on line 17 of rpidatv/scripts/view.sh and line 23 of rpidatv/scripts/snap.sh it should work for you. The bottom 100 lines of the picture will be cropped due to the same bug in a place that's not so easy to fix, but you should see most of the frame.

Multiple versions of the tmpfs line in /etc/fstab is not a problem, but I'll make a change to stop it increasing any more!

Thanks for the bug report. It's satisfying that so many people are trying all the software features.

Dave

[F1NST-Bernard]

Hi,

Same little issue than G3ZGZ, I have check the various files as you stated but nothing visible either on check or snap.
I have a Pi camera connected and it is registered under video0, the EasyCap is under video1.

In view.sh and snap.sh, the default was video0, thus i change by video1 but nothing change.
In fact, the use of EasyCap is functionning on the air with an analog camera but I have not any control on my screen.
I can only see the result with the help of Minitiouner.
Thanks your advice.

Bernard F1NST

[G8GKQ]

Hi Bernard

First of all, do you have the latest software? Version 201710081 introduced automatic switching between /dev/video0 and /dev/video1 for the EasyCap. This should ensure that snap and view work properly for everybody.

When using the EasyCap to transmit, the picture is not displayed on the touchscreen. The Raspberry Pi is too busy to display the picture and transmit at the same time. It can display the Pi Camera picture during transmit by using its own hardware.

Dave

[F1NST-Bernard]

Hi Dave,

You have answered to my query, with EasyCap, no visual on touchscreen.Thanks

Regarding still capture, yes I have the last version 201710081. It is not critical but it is better when all options work .

May be something strange with my HDMI screen

Thanks again for your patience in helping.

Bernard

[G8GKQ]

Hi Bernard

You guessed right. "View" does not work with an HDMI screen - it writes directly to the framebuffer for the touchscreen to save time. Snap and Check should work I think...

Dave