New Skype with video support! - G Tablet Themes and Apps

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.

Related

Cam/Video request

I have made some canges to my carholder for the Touch Pro.
Before when it was in the carholder the camera lins was hidden. Now its not.
I'm looking for a program that uses the camera for video recording in sync with the gps.
I want to be able to record what's in front of me together with info like speed date and time.
I dont know if a program like this exits if not is it possible for someone with knowledge to make one perhaps?
=)
//Markus
http://qik.com/
Have your tried http://qik.com ? I've recently tried program and its pretty good.
It streams video to online and also has GPS tracking.
Rigo 001 said:
Have your tried http://qik.com ? I've recently tried program and its pretty good.
It streams video to online and also has GPS tracking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite what I was looking for. Let me try to draw you a picture of it. You all have seen cops yeah? You know the steady cam police cars have in the window that records what they are chasing. When you look at the recording it displays current speed, date, time etc.
something like that is what I'm looking for =)

[Q] How in the world do I do video calling on this thing?

I admit it. I'm an idiot. I sold my Nook Color and bought the wi-fi Tab because I wanted a front facing camera. I got it, set it up, rooted it, tweaked the build.prop file so the icons aren't so freaking huge, added Zeam, and installed the apps I wanted/needed.
So, I'm all good to go now I think except for video calling. This I can't get to work. I need to do video calling from the Tab to a PC and possibly to an iOS device as well. The Tab to PC is what is critical though. I can't find oovoo in the market, but I found an APK posted here and tried it out. It didn't work. It used my rear facing camera instead of my front facing camera and video from the Tab never made it to the PC I was calling. I checked and the tick box is checked to use the front facing camera. No matter what I check, it goes to rear facing though. Plus, Oovoo never picked up my BT headset as a microphone. (Tested the headset with google voice search and confirmed it was working later.) Qik is pre-installed on the Tab, but when I click it I get a message that says, "service coming soon." I don't think that lets me call PCs anyway. Yahoo Messenger has been suggested to me, but I don't see it in the market for my device. Any ideas?
Oovoo seems to work for everybody on here
Maybe your Res is to low I know below 182 the camera forcloses try putting it above 182
I changed my build.prop back to 240 just to test if that was the problem. It made no difference so I set it back to 190. My phone and my Tab are on the same wifi network. I have no camera on my computer, but I don't see that as causing the problem. When I call my computer, or vice versa, this is what happens. On my Tab, I see a blank avatar for my computer caller. This is to be expected of course. On the upper left of the screen, I see an image of what my rear facing camera is seeing. This appears whether I check the box for front or rear facing camera. Doesn't matter, I still see the rear facing camera. On my computer I see a completely black screen on the left and a blank avatar on the right. The video from the Tab never ever gets to the computer. The BT headset I'm using doesn't get picked up as an audio source. I here just noise over my computer speakers. When I mute the microphone on my Tab, the noise on the computer speakers goes away so I know this is the problem with the audio.
Edit: Are there any apps I can use just to confirm the front facing camera is working?
A. Nonymous, i see you downloaded the oovoo.apk from here, is it the new mobile version that was released Wed. 27th April ?
bartlaroc said:
A. Nonymous, i see you downloaded the oovoo.apk from here, is it the new mobile version that was released Wed. 27th April ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea. I'm looking at it now, where do I need to go in the app to look?
You must be in a different country then the USA. I tried everything you complained about and everything works. GST Sprint 3g
I'm in the US and I'm using the wifi Tab.
To test the front facing camera, you can simply turn on the camera and then set it to self portrait... There's a white blob in the top left corner when you hold the tab wide ways. Clicking on it will give you camera options - including self portrait.
Sometimes the camera gets stuck and I find that you need to clear soom Ram...
Hope this helps
T
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
immaterialman said:
To test the front facing camera, you can simply turn on the camera and then set it to self portrait... There's a white blob in the top left corner when you hold the tab wide ways. Clicking on it will give you camera options - including self portrait.
Sometimes the camera gets stuck and I find that you need to clear soom Ram...
Hope this helps
T
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. That is a huge help. Let's me confirm that the front facing camera is indeed working. So to summarize:
Rear camera works.
Front camera works.
ooVoo can't be found in the market and sideloaded APK doesn't work. Doesn't recognize my BT headset for audio. Doesn't recognize the front facing camera for video. I don't know what version of the app it is.
Yahoo Messenger can't be found in the market.
Any other ideas to do video calling from the Tab to a PC?
this is the ooVoo 27th April release app
there are things i use
Kik
qik
oovoo
tango
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
bartlaroc said:
this is the ooVoo 27th April release app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the APK. When I run it, I get the message "Sorry, your device is not supported yet." But their website says it is. I guess I'm left to contact their tech support.
deadlyheart4u said:
there are things i use
Kik - Doesn't seem to support video chat
qik - Can't call computers.
oovoo - Doesn't work as documented earlier
tango - Can't call computers, just other mobile devices.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sideloaded Yahoo Messenger (loaded it to my phone, backed it up, restored on my Tab). It doesn't pick up audio either. This may be because I'm in so close proximity to the computer I'm calling. I may simply be picking up feedback from my computer's microphone. It also picked up the video from my rear facing camera and not the front facing one. I couldn't find any settings to change that.
received the same message on my Verizon SGT-I800
"Sorry, your device is not supported yet."
Tango works for me as I have 3g, but I'm trying to get this to work on my step fathers I800, it's a Verizon tab but doesn't have 3g service. Was hoping WiFi video calling would work! Ugh...
I think if I was doing calling to another Android device or another iOS device, things like Qik (sideloaded probably) or Tango might work. You'd think they would have some program pre-loaded on the Tab that would do video calling. I can't believe they don't.
If it helps anyone, I contacted ooVoo tech support and got the following response, "Thanks for the info. Currently this model -Galaxy Tab GT-P1010 is not on our supported list of units and I'll escalate to engineering to research and get it added to the list."
install skype and qik which is from skype and you have a perfect working video chat application which I use to see my grandchilds in philipinnes from the netherlands in almost perfect video quality
Second possiblity is using a cobinnation of voip with video
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
Hi. I have a new SGT (wifi & cellphone) which I bought in Australia & using in Philippines. I am using both YSM & ooVoo successfully. YSM only uses rear camera. ooVoo uses rear & front. I set ooVoo to front camera in settings but first few times I ran the app, it used rear camera! This confused me for a while but after manually switching to front camera (you touch the screen over camera image) it stayed using front camera. Manually switching back to rear camera again usually results in the avatar you mention for the PC viewer... only occasionally does the rear camera actually work and then it's in the wrong orientation for the person you are talking to on PC. Strangely, rotating the SGT does not rotate the image on the PC! It must be using the motion sensor to "correct" orientation. I'm also using SGT & PC on same network.
One more thing that may be of significance is that sometimes when I've viewed an AVI video (can't tell you if encoding format matters) both the cameras stop working. The "viewfinder" only shows a corrupted image of the last frame of the video that I viewed?! The only thing I can do is power off/on to fix this.
I hope this info helps & doesn't add to your confusion! By the way, every time I start ooVoo it tells me my device (SGT-P1000T) is not supported, so it's no surprise that there are a couple of glitches but it works pretty well.
Sent from my GT-P1000T using XDA App
I just picked up my tab today.......US here.....tried fring firstand that works fine......just a fyi....
Does Oovoo allow Oovoo to PC (skype) connections by chance?
- is there an application that allows for tab - skype or tab to google video chat connectivity as well?
I'll try out these options, just curious, thank you,
dimov000 said:
install skype and qik which is from skype and you have a perfect working video chat application which I use to see my grandchilds in philipinnes from the netherlands in almost perfect video quality
Second possiblity is using a cobinnation of voip with video
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything I've read about Skype says they don't support the front facing camera on the Galaxy Tab. You're saying this is incorrect? Qik doesn't let you call computers.
flyers2114 said:
I just picked up my tab today.......US here.....tried fring firstand that works fine......just a fyi....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fring doesn't let you call computers.

Oovoo alternate to skype

So I've been running the sense 3 previews of bamf 2 and wishing I still had skype cause my wife likes to video with her parents. Anyways, came across oovoo, works like a champ, my video quality isn't quite a good with the ffc as it was with skype but hey, I can video chat to pc, and it works both ways! Unlike gtalk etc. adding contacts was screwy but I made 2 accounts and talked to myself on my laptop, worked on 3g and wifi. Just thought I'd give a heads up. Supposedly it works to skype, but I haven't tested this yet. Rear camera also works and of course gives better quality than front, but then its not really chatting is it?

Revolution commercial.......

Anyone notice in the lg revolution commercial airing now that they show the phone using a video chat app, however as far as i know there are none that use the front camera... Im sure an update on many of the usual video chat apps will eventually come, but it feels like salt in the wound at this point anyways maybe big red will put out a skype app with video chat and end my complaints! .... Not holding my breath
As far as I know, the Tango, Google Talk and Yahoo messenger apps work for video chat, I just havn't been able to find anyone to test them with. Theres also Qik but I had problems with the app so I never got it to work.
none of the apps use the front facing camera yet. The way revo handles the front facing camera is different. The apps will be updated soon and it will work.
Tango has gotten a sample phone to test with and should have their app updated soon.

Capturing seminar while taking notes

So, I really want to be able to attend a seminar with a whiteboard or projected powerpoint... record the video and audio and text on the whiteboard - WHILE using Note to take handwritten and/or typed notes.
My solution - thought I'd share this accessory structure for recording:
1 piece double sided clear 3M stickies;
1 right angle prism (about 5-8mm) with an aluminized hypotenuse (about $5 on ebay).
Then I just apply the prism to the sticky and on to the front facing camera.
Works GREAT for taking pictures/video while the note stays flat on the desk. Also great for traffic black box video with note 2 on the dash for heads up display hud.
Problems to solve:
1) background video/audio recording THAT ALLOWS S-memo or Polaris Office or similar to be on (still looking - advice greatly appreciated).
2) self-portrait camera shows orientation on screen correctly, but it transposes or mirror flips the image when saving such that text on powerpoint is mirror reversed.
3) FFC has no way to zoom in stock app.
willfck4beer said:
Problems to solve:
1) background video/audio recording THAT ALLOWS S-memo or Polaris Office or similar to be on (still looking - advice greatly appreciated).
2) self-portrait camera shows orientation on screen correctly, but it transposes or mirror flips the image when saving such that text on powerpoint is mirror reversed.
3) FFC has no way to zoom in stock app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats pretty creative.
1) You could setup Multi windows to have camera and S-memo running at the same time, then just minimise( drag the divider bar) the window with the camera. (not sure if that would work)
2) Use any video editing program you have (i.e Windows Movie Maker) and use that to flip the video to how it should be
3) stick the prism to the main rear facing camera, and use that to record and be able to zoom. If the video appears mirrored, then use the video editing program to un-mirror it.
Optimistic Pessimist said:
Thats pretty creative.
1) You could setup Multi windows to have camera and S-memo running at the same time, then just minimise( drag the divider bar) the window with the camera. (not sure if that would work)
2) Use any video editing program you have (i.e Windows Movie Maker) and use that to flip the video to how it should be
3) stick the prism to the main rear facing camera, and use that to record and be able to zoom. If the video appears mirrored, then use the video editing program to un-mirror it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I'm on stock because this is a work phone - waiting for the warranty to expire before rooting so can't add camera app to multiwindow yet. This was a great idea though!
The rear camera was a great idea too but it wouldn't let me keep the liveview comfortably on the desk for writing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuKlVKZgQc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This background configurable Secret Video Recorder SVR seems almost perfect;
Seems to lack orientation setting in exif metadata though. Would be tits if I could control horizontal and vertical (maybe with orientation lock?) mirroring flipping transpose live on android itself rather than reencoding on desktop pc in post processing.
willfck4beer said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuKlVKZgQc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This background configurable Secret Video Recorder SVR seems almost perfect;
Seems to lack orientation setting in exif metadata though. Would be tits if I could control horizontal and vertical (maybe with orientation lock?) mirroring flipping transpose live on android itself rather than reencoding on desktop pc in post processing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like a cool app. Might come in handy
willfck4beer said:
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I'm on stock because this is a work phone - waiting for the warranty to expire before rooting so can't add camera app to multiwindow yet. This was a great idea though!
The rear camera was a great idea too but it wouldn't let me keep the liveview comfortably on the desk for writing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't sweat it man, no one at your work will even know that your phone is rooted. Well, that is unless they're into rooting phones themselves and really dig into your phones information.
1-You shouldn't let your coworkers dig into your phone like that.
2-If they're into rooting phones, then they won't care anyways.
Go ahead and take the plunge man, you'll be glad that you did!!!
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium
Look at an app called Arcnote. Does exactly what your want and more
This is a good point. Just haven't had the need yet. And I'm concerned about a hardware failure... warranty not being honored due to root... and having to pay our have firm pay. Maybe this is obviated by insurance though?
Arcnote is awesome but seems to require focus and manual capture of pictures of slides.
Secret video recorder svr from zero noise dev team is exactly what I was looking for for background video and audio recording. This thing is sweet! Five stars. Arc note would be badass if it could post process video... detecting each slide transition, capturing a photo and then doing its auto zoom, keystone magic. Thank you for the recommendation nonetheless!
willfck4beer said:
This is a good point. Just haven't had the need yet. And I'm concerned about a hardware failure... warranty not being honored due to root... and having to pay our have firm pay. Maybe this is obviated by insurance though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solutions for your warranty problem :
1. Use a a one click root & unroot program called framaroot v 1.4.1 : See this link for tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mQz4n-Z-M
download : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2130276
3. When ever your sending this phone for any repair just one click unroot.
2. Use Trainagle away app from play store to reset your binary ( this is what your warranty guys check) - Now you are back to factory Cheers !
Thanks good call

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