Hardware Requirements

USB 3.0 is Mandatory

The Elgato Facecam requires USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (5 Gbps). On USB 2.0, the camera presents a different product ID (0x0077 instead of 0x0078) with the string USB3-REQUIRED-FOR-FACECAM and exposes no video interface.

UYVY 1080p60 requires ~249 MB/s — over 60% of USB 2.0's theoretical maximum and well beyond its practical throughput.

How to Identify USB 3.0 Ports

• Blue USB-A ports are USB 3.0+
• USB-C ports are usually USB 3.0+ (but verify with lsusb -t)
• Thunderbolt ports support USB 3.0+

Verify After Connecting

lsusb | grep 0fd9

• 0fd9:0078 on an even-numbered bus (002, 004, 006...) = USB 3.0, correct
• 0fd9:0077 on an odd-numbered bus = USB 2.0 fallback, move the cable

Or use the probe:

facecam-probe detect

Cable Quality Matters

A USB-C to USB-C cable must be USB 3.0 rated. Common failure mode: a USB 2.0 cable causes the camera to fall back to PID 0x0077 even when plugged into a 3.0 port. If you see the fallback, try a different cable first.

USB Topology

Avoid sharing USB controllers with other high-bandwidth devices. UYVY 1080p60 at ~249 MB/s leaves little headroom on a shared USB 3.0 controller.

facecam-probe topology    # Shows sysfs path, speed, bus info
lsusb -t                 # Full USB tree

Thunderbolt docks are a known source of instability due to bandwidth sharing.

Bandwidth by Mode

MJPEG mode drastically reduces bandwidth and is recommended when sharing USB controllers.