Dell Inspiron 15 3593 Webcam problem on Linux

De Octet.ca

I've just intalled Lubuntu 20.04.1 (Focal Fossa) on a brand new Dell Inspiron 15 3593. No dual boot. I have a problem with the webcam: while it is working, the image is very noisy (grainy).

Described on the feature section on the Dell website as Integrated widescreen HD (720p) Webcam with Single Digital Microphone.

It is a Realtek device that seems to be supported for Ubuntu 20.04:

The device is supported by kernel versions 2.6.26 and newer according to the LKDDb

Sample[modifier]

Screenshot[modifier]

What I get

What is expected:

Video[modifier]

This is a video taken with this camera (native size, we can see that images are noisy).

Solutions already tried[modifier]

  1. Update the BIOS to version 1.12
  2. Look for new drivers on Dell web page
  3. Installation of guvcview and QT V4LU to check if the camera settings are ok
  4. Connect another camera with USB (image resolution is fine)

May help to find a solution:

Hardware[modifier]

>:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:5520 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Integrated_Webcam_HD
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0cf3:e009 Qualcomm Atheros Communications 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
~$ lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 8a12 (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 8a56 (rev 07)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 8a03 (rev 03)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP USB 3.1 xHCI Host Controller (rev 30)
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Device 34ef (rev 30)
00:15.0 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 30)
00:15.1 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 30)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Management Engine Interface (rev 30)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 30)
00:19.0 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP Serial IO I2c Controller #4 (rev 30)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev 30)
00:1d.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 34b1 (rev 30)
00:1d.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 34b4 (rev 30)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP LPC Controller (rev 30)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Smart Sound Technology Audio Controller (rev 30)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP SMBus Controller (rev 30)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Ice Lake-LP SPI Controller (rev 30)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 07)
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 31)
03:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device a809
~>$ dmesg | grep video
[    4.445737] videodev: Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[    4.586687] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Integrated_Webcam_HD (0bda:5520)
[    4.599008] uvcvideo 1-6:1.0: Entity type for entity Realtek Extended Controls Unit was not initialized!
[    4.599012] uvcvideo 1-6:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 4 was not initialized!
[    4.599014] uvcvideo 1-6:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 7 was not initialized!
[    4.599016] uvcvideo 1-6:1.0: Entity type for entity Processing 2 was not initialized!
[    4.599018] uvcvideo 1-6:1.0: Entity type for entity Camera 1 was not initialized!
[    4.642601] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 1996.712768] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Microsoft® LifeCam VX-2000 (045e:0761)
[ 1996.716658] uvcvideo 1-1:1.0: Entity type for entity Processing 2 was not initialized!
[ 1996.716659] uvcvideo 1-1:1.0: Entity type for entity Camera 1 was not initialized!
[ 1996.716659] uvcvideo 1-1:1.0: Entity type for entity Extension 4 was not initialized!

External links[modifier]