HOW TO: Use VLC to capture video from your webcam to a file

[anil_robo]

I tried the VLC wizard tonight on Ubuntu Dapper Flight 5 and I was able to capture the webcam video to a file.

Do this:

Connect your webcam.

Open VLC
File--> OPen capture device
Go to Video4Linux tab
Specify your video device name (mine was /dev/video0)
(My webcam audio doesn't work, so I left audio device as it is)
Norm: Automatic

Check "stream output" box
Click settings
Specify a filename (make sure you have write permissions there - usually a file on desktop or home directory is the best bet)
Unselect "dump raw input" (it must reamain empty)
Encapsulation method: MPEG1
Video codec: mp1v
Audio codec: mpga
"select all elementary streams" should remain empty.

Press OK

Press OK

Now press PLAY button on VLC.
The video should start recording. You can check this while VLC is recording video by right clicking on the recording file and selecting properties (it will show increasing file size).

Notes:
1. You can do an HTTP streaming by a similar method you are able to capture to a file.
2. Powerusers:
Media resource locator:
v4l:// :v4l-vdev="/dev/video0" :v4l-adev="/dev/dsp" :v4l-norm=3 :v4l-frequency=-1
Destination target:
:sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=1024,scale=1}:dupl icate{dst=std{access=file,mux=mpeg1,url="FULL PATH NAME HERE"}}

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Keywords: VLC, Video, Capture, Record, Encode, Save, V4L, Video for Linux, Streaming

[s57nev]

Works fine ...but still you can't see yourself while recording and that's not acceptable. We need such application !

[cvmostert]

Works fine ...but still you can't see yourself while recording and that's not acceptable. We need such application !

I totally agree with you... I need to see how stupid i look while recording... and what i am doing... and where to position myself.

Cheers.

edit: thanx anyway... a step in the right direction.

[insub2]

i tried this and got the sound recorded but video is just a blue screen. though i am using a pci card with a vcr hooked up trying to record from a tape. any suggestions?

[insub2]

i tried this and got the sound recorded but video is just a blue screen. though i am using a pci card with a vcr hooked up trying to record from a tape. any suggestions?

figured out that it has to do with my video capture card not working nicely with VLC (and this may be related to not working well with xawtv, also) but this method would work otherwise. thanks for the tip.

[insub2]

SOLUTION!
for video capture card (as opposed to the webcam) set to NTSC (as opposed to NORM)


BUT the recorded quality isn't quite as good as the regular play quality. any thoughts?

[stateq2]

Thanks! I've been trying this w/ mplayer, but the video output kinda fades away after a few seconds....but vlc worked perfect w/ better video quality.

[kowal]

Works fine ...but still you can't see yourself while recording and that's not acceptable. We need such application !

You should try Freej

[skanchi]

you can also select "play locally" in the outputs section. This enables both recording and viewing simultaneously

[raphinou]

I have posted a howto about recording a webcam stream with vlc at http://blog.raphinou.com/2007/08/bui...h-vlc-ion.html