Ubuntu – Using a GoPro as a Webcam

It looks like you have two problems.

The first is an ordering problem. Reading the kernel.org manpage on udev, it mentions:

All rules files are ... processed in lexical order

Meaning rules are processed in alphabetical order. The first rule that triggers for a device creates the device file. It looks like you've named your rule file jj-video.rules. Looking at the output you provided of udevadm --debug test, it shows that this file is parsed LAST of all the rule files on your system.

Try renaming your file 00-jj-video.rules. That should put it first in the udev rule list, and make it trigger before the other rules.

The second issue is with the rules themselves. The rules read that you're trying to create /dev/webcam2 when the Logitech QuickCam Pro 3000 is plugged in and when the kernel puts it on /dev/video2. From what you said, you don't want to match on the device name. Another problem is that you aren't always using hexadecimal notation in your ATTRS.

This rule should work for the Logitech QuickCam Pro 3000, based on the information you provided in the question:

SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0x046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0x08b0", SYMLINK+="webcam2"

The following may work for the other webcam. I can't be sure, because you didn't provide full information on it:

SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux", SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0x1d6b", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0x0001", SYMLINK+="webcam1"

The most useful tutorial I've found on writing udev rules is http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html.

We can not directly grab a live video signal from a HDMI-out port of a video camera without the help of a hardware video capture device.

These come in a wide variety ranging from full HD HDMI capture devices to low budget (720 x 576 pixels) video converters.

For me a low budged solution (less than € 15,-) based on the Easy CAP DC60 device worked fine. The device comes in various brands (e.g. LogiLink, Mumbi) with the same hardware to be connected to USB2.0 on the computer, and to the AV-out jack of the camcorder.

In the usual case most (but sadly not all) of these devices are recognized out of the box using the qv4l2 kernel driver, which is installed by default.

We can then use any webcam application (e.g. Cheese) capable of adressing the qv4l2 driver. Recordings including audio can be done with VLC.