Skype dies with two-way video

[neddie]

I've got a Philips webcam, and if I test it with mplayer, with cheese, or with the Skype internal test function, everything works fine. But when I try to use it with Skype for two-way video calls, Skype just dies immediately.

After some searching, it appears to have something to do with xv ports. When I'm just running Skype's test function, it says "Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 1" and it works. When I'm already receiving video and then try to activate mine, it says "Skype Xv: Xv ports available: 0" and then "Aborted".

So it seems that I've only got one Xv port (whatever that is) and it's being used up by my incoming video. So when I try to send my video, there isn't a free one available and Skype throws a fit.

 

Is there any way round this? Can I increase the number of Xv ports somehow or is that a hardware limitation (I've got Intel on-board video 855-something)? Can I use something else apart from Xv ports? Is there a way to disable my video preview so that I only need one Xv port? Are there any other hacks I could try?

 

I'm using version 2.0.0.72 from skype.com which is apparently the latest.