Video Capture in VLC

v4l2 module cli.

Webcam Settings

Identify the resolution and formats supported by the webcam:

> v4l2-ctl --list-formats-ext
ioctl: VIDIOC_ENUM_FMT
        Type: Video Capture

        [0]: 'MJPG' (Motion-JPEG, compressed)
                Size: Discrete 640x480
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 848x480
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 960x540
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 1280x720
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
        [1]: 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
                Size: Discrete 640x480
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 640x360
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 424x240
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 320x240
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 320x180
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)
                Size: Discrete 160x120
                        Interval: Discrete 0.033s (30.000 fps)

Based on the above, one arrives at MJPG, 1280x720, as the best format for video capture.

Display Webcam

To display webcam in the default format:

vlc v4l2:///dev/video0

To specify the video capture format and metadata on the command line:

vlc --meta-title='Live Feed' \
    --meta-description='Straight from my desk' \
    'v4l2:///dev/video4:width=1920:height=1080:fps=15:chroma=H264:stereo=disabled:samplerate:44100'