Capture video from a USB webcam

[Marcio]

Hi All!
A few months ago, somebody sent a tutorial to this forum telling how to capture video from a USB webcam using VLC, but I can't find it..
Does anybody could help me and explain how do I capture video from my webcam (again)?

Thanks in advance,

Marcio

[markfm]

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="CompUSA PC Camera" :dshow-adev="none" :no-dshow-config :dshow-size="320x240" :sout=#transcode{vcodec=DIV3,vb=128,scale=1}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=asf,url="c:\temp\my_output_file_name.asf"}}

Replace "CompUSA PC Camera by whatever your camera is seen by in VLC (do an Open Capture Device, Refresh next to the Video Device area, look at the choices that are available)

vb=128 sets the output nominal bitrate

You can also add:
--sout-transcode fps # where "#" is a real number, to set the frame rate.

For instance, maybe the camera is able to output 30 fps, but you're happy with 5 -- setting the smaller number lets you use a lower bitrate for a given quality of output

http://videolan.org/doc/misc/VLC%20Streaming.pdf might be the doc you wanted, though there's a brand-new streaming guide on the docs page, too.

[Marcio]

Ok, but now, how could I create a live streaming?
I set the output to http stream and mpeg-1 encoding, and use another VLC do receive the media, but the connection closes after few seconds and no video appears.
What am I doing wrong??

Marcio

[markfm]

For a live stream, change the :duplicate to:
:duplicate{dst=std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,url=:1234}}

Then, connect using vlc mmsh://server_IP_address:1234
or, from Windows Media Player, do an Open URL,
mms://server_IP_address:1234

[Guest]

I found this thread from a search and I tried following your directions... they seem to work but I'm not able to open the stream in WMP from another computer, it just says "unable to open file" or something like that.

I'm attemping to unicast a live feed from a usb webcam from computer A to computer B on the same subnet.

Any further help is greatly appreciated!

[markfm]

In WMP, go into your Properties/Options page, make sure that "TCP" is checked as a valid network protocol.

If you have an older copy of WMP, say 6.x to 8.x, make sure you use a newer build of VLC (there was a compatibility issue that was fixed).

Nightly builds (latest software) are available at:
http://vthr.via.ecp.fr/~videolan/

You just unzip it over the current copy of VLC. If the current copy of VLC is before 0.8.1 (an older VLC), launch VLC with vlc --reset-config

This deletes the older vlcrc (initialization) file.