Comment 1 for bug 774287

Hope that helps:
When I want to open the webcam with vlc via terminal I usually get this message:

simon@eeerika:~$ vlc v4l2:///dev/video0
VLC media player 1.1.9 The Luggage (revision exported)
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_ADDRESS")
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_BUS_TYPE")
[0x929d92c] main libvlc: VLC wird mit dem Standard-Interface ausgeführt. Benutzen Sie 'cvlc', um VLC ohne Interface zu verwenden.
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")
Warning: call to srand(1303797074)
Warning: call to rand()
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")

(process:3188): Gtk-WARNING **: Locale not supported by C library.
 Using the fallback 'C' locale.
[0x963bcf4] v4l2 demux error: cannot open video device '/dev/video0' (Device or resource busy)
[0x963bcf4] v4l2 demux error: cannot open video device '/dev/video0' (Permission denied)
[0x963c414] v4l2 access error: cannot open video device '/dev/video0' (No such file or directory)
[0x963c414] v4l2 access error: cannot open video device '/dev/video0' (No such file or directory)
[0x9370cec] main input error: open of `v4l2:///dev/video0' failed: (null)

If the camera is in a good mood, it will sometimes start showing the webcam video output in vlc, I get the following output in the terminal:
simon@eeerika:~$ vlc v4l2:///dev/video0
VLC media player 1.1.9 The Luggage (revision exported)
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_ADDRESS")
Blocked: call to unsetenv("DBUS_ACTIVATION_BUS_TYPE")
[0x9db492c] main libvlc: VLC wird mit dem Standard-Interface ausgeführt. Benutzen Sie 'cvlc', um VLC ohne Interface zu verwenden.
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")
Warning: call to srand(1304304020)
Warning: call to rand()
Blocked: call to setlocale(6, "")

(process:2740): Gtk-WARNING **: Locale not supported by C library.
 Using the fallback 'C' locale.
[0x9e70e44] signals interface error: signal 17 overriden (0x54904c0)
[0x9e70e44] signals interface error: /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4(?)[(nil)]
[0x9e70e44] signals interface error: signal 17 overriden (0x54904c0)
[0x9e70e44] signals interface error: /usr/lib/libQtCore.so.4(?)[(nil)]