Webcam¶

Changes the board

Allow access installs a system-wide udev rule for supported camera identifiers. A per-user service loads camera firmware when the camera connects. The udev rule is removed when the app is uninstalled.

Makes a supported Sony USB camera a webcam on Bazzite: the PS5 HD Camera (CFI-ZEY1), and the PS4 Camera (CUH-ZEY1 or CUH-ZEY2) on Sony's PlayStation Camera Adapter (CFI-ZAA1). The app loads the camera's firmware and shows its picture, with picture settings, screenshots and recordings. After that, OBS, a browser, Discord or any other app can use the camera like any USB camera.

It has not been validated on PS5 hardware. Recognition of these camera identifiers does not establish that every PS5 Bazzite system, USB port or adapter is compatible.

How the camera works¶

The camera has no memory of its own. When it is plugged in, it is only a boot loader, an OmniVision OV580 that waits for its firmware:

lsusb | grep 05a9           # ... ID 05a9:0580 OmniVision Technologies, Inc. USB Boot

The host sends the firmware each time the camera is plugged in, and this app does that. Then the camera leaves the bus and comes back within a few seconds as a USB video camera:

lsusb | grep 05a9           # ... ID 05a9:058c OmniVision Technologies, Inc. USB Camera-OV580

From there on Linux's own uvcvideo driver drives it, so it needs no kernel driver. It shows up as /dev/video<n>.

The camera needs a USB 3 port (5 Gbit/s, usually blue). The boot loader also starts on a USB 2 port, but the video does not fit through it. The header's USB box shows the port's speed and flags a port that is too slow.

The window¶

The header shows four boxes: Camera (the model and its USB port), USB (the port's speed), Firmware (the firmware file the app has) and Video (the camera's video node, once it is ready). Beside them, the Load firmware pill sends the firmware now. The state beside the title says where the camera is:

State	What it means
No camera	No supported camera is found. If it is connected, unplug it and reconnect it.
No access	The camera waits for its firmware, and your user may not send it yet: see Access to the camera.
Needs its firmware	The app has no firmware file for this camera: see The firmware.
Waiting for its firmware	Everything is there; Load firmware sends it now.
Loading the firmware	The firmware was sent; the camera comes back as a camera in a few seconds.
Firmware not loaded	Sending it failed; the window says why.
Starting, Ready	The camera is back; when it is ready, other apps can use it while the preview is off.

USB bandwidth¶

The firmware asks for the largest video stream USB 3 has, reserved whatever mode is used. A USB controller that cannot give that sends no picture. USB bandwidth in the Firmware box chooses what the camera asks for:

Setting	What it asks for
Reduced (the default)	two thirds of it, for USB controllers that cannot handle the full bandwidth; some modes or rates may not fit
Full	the firmware as it is: every mode at every rate, if the USB controller allows it

The app changes only the copy of the firmware it sends (2 bytes of the camera's USB description), not the file. A change takes effect the next time the firmware is sent: unplug the camera and plug it in again.

Access to the camera¶

The boot loader belongs to root. The first time, the window shows Access to the camera: Allow access… asks for your password in the system's password dialog and adds a system-wide udev rule that gives the logged-in user the boot loader, for its USB ID only. The same rule starts the load service when the camera is plugged in (see Loading by itself). It takes effect at once; there is no need to unplug the camera or log out. The app and its firmware loader run as your user, never as root.

The rule is /etc/udev/rules.d/70-ps5-webcam.rules:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="05a9", ATTR{idProduct}=="0580", TAG+="uaccess", TAG+="systemd", ENV{SYSTEMD_USER_WANTS}+="ps5-webcam-load.service"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", ATTR{idVendor}=="05a9", ATTR{idProduct}=="058c|058a", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"

The second line keeps a camera with its firmware out of USB autosuspend while it is plugged in. When the app finds a rule from an earlier version, it offers Allow access… again to update it. install.sh --uninstall removes the rule again (with sudo).

The firmware¶

The firmware is Sony's, so the suite does not include it. The Firmware box offers two ways to get it:

Download… gets the firmware of the camera that is plugged in, from a project that publishes it, after asking. The app downloads one fixed version of each file from GitHub (raw.githubusercontent.com) and checks its size and SHA-256, so it uses the file it expects or nothing:

Camera Firmware From

PS5 HD Camera 21.01-03.20.00.04 (67 KB) prosperodev/hdcamera

PS4 Camera from PS4 system software 1.50 to 3.15 (65 KB) psxdev/luke_firmwares
Use a file… takes a firmware file you have.

The app checks the SHA-256 of the file it has and names the files it knows. A known file turns the header's Firmware box green, with the version, and the line under the file's name says "SHA-256 checked: it is the known file", with the hash; a file of your own turns the box orange. The SHA-1 is the hash the projects that publish the files quote.

Firmware	SHA-256	SHA-1
PS5 HD Camera 21.01-03.20.00.04: the download	`10af1aee76fe0057a88db7ebf5f3ebf32430633effb93722be4cd0a9ed4fce54`	`0fa4da31a12b662a9a80abc8b84932770df8f7e1`
The same with the Discord and gamma fix	`42ce5f7033a1115988cada3ebb8e0a143e8b241661f203a12275354dd2ba0bf6`	`a5d8aadab91d78e33f4c038798c047066e6713d7`
PS4 Camera, from PS4 system software 1.00 to 1.05	`8262c2a785128a04273bbcf360e29e30c10c9f3b1c3e2571a5eea5b929f41e16`	`7390be76a163c2d4a68d939577d46d7c20165881`
PS4 Camera, from PS4 system software 1.50 to 3.15: the download	`d550c4abc416385810ca181867f4dd650198e1214d371ba058005a10f420fd9b`	`fe86162309518a0ffe267075a2fcf728c5856b3e`
PS4 Camera, from PS4 system software 3.50 to 5.05	`a6f99b283b707ece098602aea823415e614db3d64b21a22c53d45476e5405b24`	`c556911796202deef1cbb051390b5c3a2e6c0a7a`
PS4 Camera, from PS4 system software 6.00 to 7.02	`09513d1068b9b5e23b09e03bca5640ed4d01830b034b9802395006b14a927b01`	`8b8a6621d358f6782c2e3b31aac2cdfb25102c00`

Any other file of a sensible size is your choice, and the app says it is not a file it knows. It refuses a file it knows to be the other camera's firmware. The files are kept in ~/.local/share/ps5-webcam/firmware/: cfi-zey1.bin for the PS5 HD Camera, ps4-camera.bin for the PS4 Camera.

Loading by itself¶

With Load it by itself when the camera is plugged in on (the default), you do not need to open the app again once the camera has its firmware file and access. The installer adds a service for your user, ~/.config/systemd/user/ps5-webcam-load.service. It sends the firmware:

when the camera is plugged in, started by the udev rule;
at login, for a camera that was plugged in before.

It runs as your user, not as root. To see what it did:

journalctl --user -u ps5-webcam-load.service

With the option off, the service does nothing and the Load firmware pill in the window's header sends the firmware. While the window is open it also sends the firmware itself, once per plug-in, when the service could not (for example because the firmware file or the access came later).

Without the window, the same is a terminal command:

ps5-webcam --load      # sends the firmware to every camera that waits for it

When no camera is found although one is connected, unplug it and plug it in again: it starts as a boot loader, and the load service sends the firmware as usual.

The picture¶

Once the camera is ready, the header shows its video node and the Picture box offers every mode the camera reports, each frame size at each of its rates. The camera has two image sensors, and its modes are of two kinds:

Kind	For example
One camera	1920 × 1080, 1280 × 800
Both cameras, side by side in one frame	3840 × 1080, 2560 × 800

The list shows what your camera reports, the one-camera modes first, the largest at the top. Not every mode gives a picture. A mode may need more USB bandwidth than the system gives, and then its frames arrive damaged; in some modes a camera sends nothing at all. After a few seconds the window says which, and stops the preview: choose a slower rate or a smaller mode.

Start preview shows the picture. For a side-by-side mode, Show picks the whole frame or either half. Each half is the lens on that side as you face the camera. Save picture… saves what the preview shows, at the camera's own size, as a PNG, where you choose. The preview shows up to 30 frames a second; other apps get every frame the camera sends.

While the preview runs, the app holds the camera, and other apps cannot use it. Stop preview (or closing the window) gives it back.

Full screen¶

Full screen shows the picture over the whole screen, and starts the preview when it was not running. The row at the bottom holds its buttons, and the line above it shows the mode, the zoom and, while it records, the recording's time:

Button	What it does
Screenshot (S)	Saves what the screen shows as a PNG in your Pictures folder
Record, Stop (R)	Starts a recording of what the screen shows, and stops it; it goes to your Videos folder
Gray, Color (G)	Black and white, or color again; the app remembers it
Zoom −, Zoom + (−, +, or the mouse wheel)	Zooms out or in: 1x, 1.5x, 2x, 3x and 4x
the arrow keys, or a drag with the mouse	Move the zoomed picture
Mode −, Mode + (PageUp, PageDown)	The mode before or the next one; the picture starts again in it
Close (Esc)	Back to the window; a recording stops and is kept

Screenshots and recordings show what you see: zoomed in and black and white too. Each goes in a Webcam folder, named with the date and the time (Webcam 2026-11-01 21-04-09.png); the line above the buttons says where the file was saved. A recording is an MP4 with at most 30 frames a second, written with the video encoder Qt brings. The mode does not change while it records: stop it first. If the camera stops sending, choose another mode with Mode − or Mode +. Closing the app while it records stops the recording and writes its file first.

Picture settings¶

Beside the preview, Picture settings shows the camera's own settings, as it reports them, such as brightness, contrast, gain, white balance and exposure. A setting the camera does not let be changed now is grayed, for example one that an automatic setting decides. Defaults puts every setting back.

The app sets the camera's exposure to automatic unless you choose otherwise; Defaults keeps that too.

The camera forgets its settings when it is unplugged. The app keeps the ones you changed and sets them again each time the camera is ready, so other apps get the same picture.

Using it in other apps¶

Any app that uses a webcam finds the camera as a USB video device (the PS5 HD Camera as USB Camera-OV580). In OBS, add a Video Capture Device (V4L2) source and choose that device. A one-camera mode such as 1920 × 1080 gives an ordinary webcam picture. Many apps pick the camera's first mode by themselves; choose the resolution in the app if it offers one.

PS4 Camera¶

The PS4 Camera (CUH-ZEY1 or CUH-ZEY2) on Sony's PlayStation Camera Adapter (CFI-ZAA1) starts as the same boot loader. The app knows it by the adapter between them and shows PS4 Camera; the adapter does not say which of the two models it is. It has its own firmware, which Download… gets for it, and the same USB bandwidth setting applies. Once loaded, it is USB ID 05a9:058a. A PS4 Camera on another adapter, without Sony's, looks like a PS5 HD Camera to the app and is not supported.

Install¶

Install it from the portal, on its Utilities tab, or run the installer from a repository checkout, as your own user:

apps/webcam/install.sh                         # app menu entry and Desktop icon
apps/webcam/install.sh --no-desktop-shortcut   # app menu entry only
apps/webcam/install.sh --uninstall             # remove the app, its udev rule and its load service; keeps its settings and firmware
apps/webcam/install.sh --uninstall --purge     # also remove its settings and firmware

Installing needs no root and changes no system permissions; only Allow access… in the app does. It installs:

the app in ~/.local/share/ps5-webcam/app;
PyQt6 in the suite's shared environment ~/.local/share/bazzite-console-suite/venv;
the launcher ~/.local/bin/ps5-webcam, an app menu entry and a Desktop icon;
the load service ~/.config/systemd/user/ps5-webcam-load.service, enabled for your login.

Settings are kept in ~/.config/ps5-webcam/ps5-webcam.ini.

Credits¶

The upload protocol was found by the PS4EYECam driver (Antonio Jose Ramos Marquez) and is used by PS Move API, whose camera firmware loader this app follows. The PS5 HD Camera's firmware file and the camera's USB description come from prosperodev/hdcamera; the PS4 Camera's firmware is published by psxdev/luke_firmwares.

Firmware and license¶

GPL-3.0-or-later, see LICENSE. The camera's firmware belongs to Sony and is not part of the app.

Camera	Firmware	From
PS5 HD Camera	21.01-03.20.00.04 (67 KB)	prosperodev/hdcamera
PS4 Camera	from PS4 system software 1.50 to 3.15 (65 KB)	psxdev/luke_firmwares