I was experiencing the same problem with the program 'motion', and researching the web I found this little tidbit that solved the problem for me.
"I finally managed to solve this issue by adding my user to the 'video' group... Code: sudo adduser <myuser> video" source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7986190&postcount=16 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/984603 Title: Skype video freezes right after few first frames To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/+bug/984603/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
