Android Smartphone as a Webcam (Tutorial).

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Cryonic

Member
Just had some free time and i made a short tutorial how to use an android smartphone as a webcam.
Its pretty easy to set up, but has some limits (it needs a powerful phone and it works only with WLAN & Mobile Internet [and we have a 5gb traffic limit here in Germany] - it can be used all over the world, but i would prefer a laptop & OBS for mobile streaming, while using the android phone via Ad-Hoc WLAN connection).
And its free, just an android app and a simple transcoder-software on your Windows PC (both free, no paid versions - but feel free to donate when you like it!).


Anything can be found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGfPhIK3wRM&feature=youtu.be

Just uploaded it, so you may see a low resolution video. Youtube is kinda slow today.
Feel free to try it and maybe experiment a bit, because i dont get this working with skype and other software (and it should work - at least the transcoder tutorial show it)..

P.S.: This may work with anything that use an IP Camera protocol - there are some really good and expensive IP Cameras out there, but OBS is not supporting it right now. Feel free to test it if you have an IP Camera in your network (mostly these used as a security cameras over Ethernet).
 
Jack0r

Jack0r

The Helping Squad
For the ones, lazy as me, and not liking chip.de:
http://ip-webcam.appspot.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... bcam&hl=en

And if you need an alternative for your phone:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .cam&hl=en
(can stream to an rtmp server like nginx)

Btw, for 720p/1080p streaming the phone has to be powerful. But my pretty old Galaxy Spica is just fine for streaming 640x480 at 30 fps and slightly higher resolutions at lower fps, which is fine for a small webcam picture.
 
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Cryonic

Member
I use my Xperia Acro S with a dualcore on the newest android. Its working fine with 30 FPS and 720p, but quality is capped at 40 - with higher quality i will get FPS drops and lags. Maybe you can tweak this a bit - currently dont use it, was just a video that i made. There is also an option for overclocking the CPU on your android phone, never tryed this because its getting hot enough without OC.
 
C

Cryonic

Member
sabinex1 said:
Is it possible with Samsung GAlaxy? I'm not sure if this model is good for such tricks.
Click to expand...

Its possible. The android app need Android OS 1.6 or higher to work.
Depends on your CPU you will reduce the quality and/or resolution to get a smooth 25-30FPS videostream.
Just test it, the whole software is free - and you need only the android app to test the video (before you start streaming) - just try the app. You can check the videostream with browser (i use Chrome) or VLC player (there is a media link when you connect to your phone).
 
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DanMcDermott

New Member
I have the same issue as Corleon. Not sure what is wrong but it shows up in the shot list but there is no video. (I am able to see it in a browser window so I know it is transmitting.)
 
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BaronOfHell

New Member
For you guys getting a blank screen try installing both the 32bit and 64bit version of alax. I'm on win 7 64bit and installing both version allows OBS to capture the video from my Galaxy S3.
 
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Onomatoid

New Member
This does not work for Alcatel One Touch Idol.
I have tried both 32 and 64 bit versions. My camera streams and I can see the video in my browser but OBS only shows black screen.
Any suggestions?
 
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