How to get VLC to show your Video Capture Device

In this video, I show how to get a video capture device, in this case, the Elgato HD60S capturing a PS4 Pro, to show up in Video Lan(VLC) on Windows at full 1080p HD with audio.

This is also a great alternative to PS4 Remote Play if you don't have a great connection or can't use the app for any reason.

Also works with PS5, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and almost any console that can output HDMI.

🕒 Timestamps

0:00 Introduction
0:23 Getting set up
0:53 Getting VLC Shortcut Target code
1:38 Configuring the VLC Shortcut options for your capture device
3:27 Applying the capture device options to the VLC Shortcut
4:01 Testing the Capture Device feed

🧑‍💻 The Gist:

This was configured for VLC 64-bit on Windows 10.

These options are also configured for a PS4 Pro, so you may need to tweak your audio sample rate to match the device; otherwise, you may get audio problems/distortion.

✅ Confirmed working on the following capture devices:

For those getting that error "Capture failed: The device you selected cannot be used, because its type is not supported." see @SupaRush's answer

🔗 Links:

[Eraknelo]

Thx for the vid, an important note that made this not work for me: I bought a really cheap HDMI USB capture card and its name is "USB Video". The dshow arguments that VLC makes is :dshow-vdev=USB Video. If your capture card has a space in the name, it has to be manually changed to: :dshow-vdev="USB Video" (add the quotes around the capture card name) otherwise VLC will tell you it doesn't recognize the capture card, as it'll be looking for a card named "USB", not "USB Video".
If you could pin this comment @Sam Carlton, that'd maybe help a few people.

[janslavik]

I used this to stream the signal from VCR to PC because the software provided with the VHStoDVD connector was absolute trash, thank you!

[NonaRoe]

worked perfectly (with a few tweaks) for my j5create and my nintendo switch. I'm using the direct capture into OBS for streaming, but this way i can have the console on a monitor without having to disconnect it from my 2 monitor pc setup. saves a lot of hassle!

[TheStudioKidA]

Thanks so much for this. I got this to work flawlessly with my Elgato 4K60 mk.2 with the following VLC shortcut Target:

"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2" :dshow-adev="Game Capture 4K60 Pro MK.2 Audio" :dshow-aspect-ratio="16:9" :dshow-audio-samplerate=48000 :dshow-audio-bitspersample=16 :live-caching=0

[philippeweltz]

Thanks to you and other comments, I finally got a clear picture from a Guermok usb capture (from my raspberry pi to my laptop for debugging...) I used this command:
"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" dshow:// :dshow-vdev="USB Video" :dshow-aspect-ratio="16:9" :live-caching=0 :dshow-fps=60 --dshow-size=1920x1080

[Qilue]

Thank you sooo much! I was having a lotof trouble getting VLC to properly stream from my cheap arse capture card to Discord, these instructions were easy to understand, and worked out perfectly!

[Doodoomonger]

Poggers now I can stream my switch to my friends on discord

[SupaRush]

For those getting error
Capture failed:

The device you selected cannot be used, because its type is not supported.

What worked for me was going to windows 10 settings, privacy, camera, turn on allow apps access to your camera. Also microphone, allow apps access to microphone.
I did all of this after I followed all the steps in this video first and then it worked.

[tsukinoyume_]

Amazing video! For those who are experiencing lag, just close vlc and open it again.

[SophieSquid]

1:53 when I click "capture device" my capture card doesn't show up even though I've set it up and it's worked in other programs. It's an older version of the elgato capture card, do you think it's outdated or is there something else I can do

[chrisliddiard]

Liked and Subscribed. I was looking for a way to get VLC to decode 3D capture at the higher resolutions via hdmi directly from a blu ray player. Before i found this, VLC could only manage 480p. Then i found this gem. I now have VLC on my desktop fullscreen in TAB mode, going to VR quest 2. All at 1080p. The view in the VR cinema really is something. I even fixed the green banding which seperates the two screens. Once again the old gal VLC comes good. Thanks again.

[woolfy]

Do you know if this is possible to do on Arch Linux? I've tried OBS and VLC but I can't seem to get it to work. (I have the HDTV video capture device plugged in via USB-C). It recognizes it just don't get any video feed.

[Hynds]

Thanks for the video it works as intended however the video is really pixely (ive sorted out the resolution settings but the image just looks awful through vlc) any tips?

[FiftiesDad]

This is awesome dude... works for my $18 usb cap card. thanks a lot

Confirmed working on TKHIN capture card (amazon)

[arcticular]

I have been trying to figure out a way to Discord stream capture card inputs to friends and since I use VLC to stream videos over this is great.

[pedroaraya]

Hi there, It works fine but the quality of the video is lower :c any ideas how to fix it?

[Jake_Makes]

This is helpful, but for some reason there's a delay with my inputs. Its affecting how I play the games I play. Is there a way to fix this? I tried closing and opening but never had luck.

[szempek]

Thank you for the video it helped alot. I setup up everything as instructed in the video and it all works, but everytime I close VLC everything disappears and I always have to set it up again. Is there something I can do to fix this?

[brianuuuSonicReborn]

my capture card is a Avermedia LGP Lite, when I load it on VLC the audio plays before the video, there's a desync

[panduino]

Elgato Game Capture HD doesn't show in the sources list, but it does show up in any other program. Have any fixes? I've been looking into it for a few hours now and found nothing