fswebcam: Unable to find a compatible palette format

Question

I am unable to use my webcam. Running fswebcam out.png, I get the error:

Unable to find a compatible palette format.

What would be the origin of the error and how to fix it?

• It can be a missing package issue.
• It can be a missing module issue (uvcvideo and videodev are both loaded)

You may already stop here to answer. Please provide any micro-information that would allow me to debug this

---

More detailed output

# fswebcam out.png
--- Opening /dev/video0...
Trying source module v4l2...
/dev/video0 opened.
No input was specified, using the first.
Unable to find a compatible palette format.

Selecting the device number directly, I get:

# fswebcam -v /tmp/1.jpg -d /dev/bus/usb/001/011
--- Opening /dev/bus/usb/001/011...
Trying source module v4l2...
/dev/bus/usb/001/011 opened.
/dev/bus/usb/001/011: Not a V4L2 device?
Trying source module v4l1...
/dev/bus/usb/001/011 opened.
/dev/bus/usb/001/011: Not a V4L device?
VIDIOCGCAP: Inappropriate ioctl for device
/dev/bus/usb/001/011 closed.
Unable to find a source module that can read /dev/bus/usb/001/011.

Verbose fswebcam output

# fswebcam -v out.jpg                       
--- Opening /dev/video0...
Trying source module v4l2...
/dev/video0 opened.
src_v4l2_get_capability,87: /dev/video0 information:
src_v4l2_get_capability,88: cap.driver: "uvcvideo"
src_v4l2_get_capability,89: cap.card: "GENERAL - UVC "
src_v4l2_get_capability,90: cap.bus_info: "usb-3f980000.usb-1.4"
src_v4l2_get_capability,91: cap.capabilities=0x84200001
src_v4l2_get_capability,92: - VIDEO_CAPTURE
src_v4l2_get_capability,103: - STREAMING
No input was specified, using the first.
src_v4l2_set_input,181: /dev/video0: Input 0 information:
src_v4l2_set_input,182: name = "Camera 1"
src_v4l2_set_input,183: type = 00000002
src_v4l2_set_input,185: - CAMERA
src_v4l2_set_input,186: audioset = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,187: tuner = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,188: status = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,520: Device offers the following V4L2 pixel formats:
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,533: 0: [0x47504A4D] 'MJPG' (MJPEG)
Unable to find a compatible palette format.

My webcam is clearly supporting MJPG since it figures in the v4l2-ctl:

Driver Info (not using libv4l2):
    Driver name   : uvcvideo
    Card type     : GENERAL - UVC 
    Bus info      : usb-3f980000.usb-1.4
    Driver version: 4.1.19
    Capabilities  : 0x84200001
        Video Capture
        Streaming
        Extended Pix Format
        Device Capabilities
    Device Caps   : 0x04200001
        Video Capture
        Streaming
        Extended Pix Format
Priority: 2
Video input : 0 (Camera 1: ok)
Format Video Capture:
    Width/Height      : 1280/960
    Pixel Format      : 'MJPG'
    Field             : None
    Bytes per Line    : 0
    Size Image        : 614400
    Colorspace        : Default
    Transfer Function : Default
    YCbCr Encoding    : Default
    Quantization      : Default
    Flags             : 
Crop Capability Video Capture:
    Bounds      : Left 0, Top 0, Width 1280, Height 960
    Default     : Left 0, Top 0, Width 1280, Height 960
    Pixel Aspect: 1/1
Selection: crop_default, Left 0, Top 0, Width 1280, Height 960
Selection: crop_bounds, Left 0, Top 0, Width 1280, Height 960
Streaming Parameters Video Capture:
    Capabilities     : timeperframe
    Frames per second: 30.000 (30/1)
    Read buffers     : 0
                     brightness (int)    : min=1 max=255 step=1 default=-8193 value=16

The same goes with ffmpeg: I get a Input/output error:

  ffmpeg -debug 56  -f video4linux2 -s vga -i /dev/video0  /tmp/a.png 

 matched as AVOption 'debug' with argument '56'.
Reading option '-f' ... matched as option 'f' (force format) with argument 'video4linux2'.
Reading option '-s' ... matched as option 's' (set frame size (WxH or abbreviation)) with argument 'vga'.
Reading option '-i' ... matched as input url with argument '/dev/video0'.
Reading option '/tmp/a.png' ... matched as output url.
Finished splitting the commandline.
Parsing a group of options: global .
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Parsing a group of options: input url /dev/video0.
Applying option f (force format) with argument video4linux2.
Applying option s (set frame size (WxH or abbreviation)) with argument vga.
Successfully parsed a group of options.
Opening an input file: /dev/video0.
[video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x564aef20] fd:3 capabilities:84200001
[video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x564aef20] Current input_channel: 0, input_name: Camera 1, input_std: 0
/dev/video0: Input/output error

Answer 1

It was a DV webcam:

apt-get install dvgrab
dvgrab - | mplayer -j

They may be modules to install or load too (e.g modprobe raw1394)