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    Razer Blade 14 - Webcam Flashing Green/Red

    Discussion in 'Razer' started by sherifone, Sep 2, 2013.

  1. sherifone

    sherifone Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've seen a couple similar threads on the Alienware forum, and this seems to be an issue that people brought up in the owners lounge.

    Basically, anytime I am using the webcam indoors I get this wonderful "flicker" of green and red on the webcam. The video continues to display fine, but the colors alternate as if it is struggling to white balance. I've turned off adjust for low light (in Skype) but the slider, played with 50-60Hz anti-flicker, but the button to turn off white balance is completely disabled. I was able to access these settings from Skype and other webcam software.

    It is particularly bad if you have artificial light anywhere near the camera. This is a bit of a bummer, as none of my phones or Apple Cinema display suffer from this. Is this par for the course on all the Razer Blade 14s? Seems fairly useless indoors, since we'll always have artificial lighting.
     
    sherifone, Sep 2, 2013
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  2. sherifone

    sherifone Notebook Enthusiast

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    Figure I might draw some attention to it publicly. I also got a fantastic response from Razer support.

    Razer Blade 14 Webcam Sucks - YouTube

    Thank you for contacting the Razer Systems Support Center. This issue is caused by external lighting in your room. Compact florescent light bulbs are mainly responsible for it. Try to use the webcam under natural or normal light and see if you experience the issue.

    The webcam is trying to compensate for a bright light behind you, so it will occasionally flash green as it focuses on something.

    If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to reply directly to this email. I hope you have a great day!
     
    sherifone, Sep 3, 2013
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  3. riveale

    riveale Newbie

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    Hi, just pointing you to a way I fixed the red/green webcam flashing problem indoors.

    Unfortunately I'm using Linux (not windows), but at least it shows that it's possible to fix.

    Here's my note on how I fixed the webcam problem:

    --PROBLEM: WEBCAM FLASHING (red-green etc. when indoors). Also in VLC etc., regardless of nvidia/intel GPU. (this also happens in windows -- haha those poor suckers)
    FIXED by downloading guvcview and turning off white balance temperature/auto.


    Here's my full notes on getting linux etc. running on rb14 including nvidia optimus etc., getting 6-7 hours battery life, and using CUDA etc.:

    Linux Mint Forums • View topic - Linux Mint 15 on Optimus - Bumblebee works NVIDIA/Intel
     
    riveale, Sep 10, 2013
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  4. lukaskt

    lukaskt Notebook Consultant

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    Most of us don't have Linux nor do we want to install it. This is terribly annoying, and I don't have any idea how to fix it. Has anyone else had any luck in fixing this issue?
     
    lukaskt, Sep 15, 2013
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  5. lt051

    lt051 Newbie

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    Was this issue ever resolved on windows 8? Mine does the exact same thing. Razer support went as far as to have me send it in for repairs, only to send it straight back saying it was working correctly.... Any help on the issue would be appreciated.
     
    lt051, Nov 1, 2013
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  6. Inkydink

    Inkydink Newbie

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    Anyone every get this fixed? Its really annoying for such a nice laptop...
     
    Inkydink, Jan 7, 2014
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  7. NovaTornado

    NovaTornado Notebook Consultant

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    I called in since I had the flashing green issue. Never noticed any red flickering. Got it fixed the next day by a Razer rep. Haven't had it since, but only tested it twice so far. Its a firmware issue with the webcam, so they have to teamviewer in. Supposedly a incorrectly applied patch could brick your laptop, so they haven't released the patch for self application.
     
    NovaTornado, Jan 8, 2014
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  8. b0gd4n

    b0gd4n Notebook Consultant

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    b0gd4n, Jan 8, 2014
    #8