type of directshow softcam

[Mr-Jerry]

Why is type recognition in ffmpeg 'none' instead of displaying video like an obs virtual camera
After using the command ffmpeg - hidebanner - list_device true - f dshow - i dummy, I found that the type of directshow softcam is none
Thank you for your help

[tshino]

Thank you for asking!

I'm not an ffmpeg expert but I could get the following results.

> ffmpeg -hide_banner -list_devices true -f dshow -i dummy
...
[dshow @ 0000020e1a16fd40] "DirectShow Softcam" (video)
[dshow @ 0000020e1a16fd40]   Alternative name "@device_sw_{860BB310-5D01-11D0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\DirectShow Softcam"
[dshow @ 0000020e1a16fd40] "OBS Virtual Camera" (video)
[dshow @ 0000020e1a16fd40]   Alternative name "@device_sw_{860BB310-5D01-11D0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\{A3FCE0F5-3493-419F-958A-ABA1250EC20B}"
...
> ffmpeg -hide_banner -list_devices true -f dshow -i dummy
...
[dshow @ 000001836119fd40] "DirectShow Softcam" (none)
[dshow @ 000001836119fd40]   Alternative name "@device_sw_{860BB310-5D01-11D0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\DirectShow Softcam"
[dshow @ 000001836119fd40] "OBS Virtual Camera" (video)
[dshow @ 000001836119fd40]   Alternative name "@device_sw_{860BB310-5D01-11D0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\{A3FCE0F5-3493-419F-958A-ABA1250EC20B}"
...

The first is when the softcam is running, and the second is when not running.
Did you mean the 'none' in the second result?

I don't know but I guess the different behavior comes from whether the camera has a default image.
The softcam camera exists only when some application created it.

[Mr-Jerry]

Thank you for your help. It should be due to an issue with the default image of the camera. Can I set the default image for it using Python

[tshino]

Unfortunately, a default image is not a feature of this library.
See #22.

[Mr-Jerry]

ok thanks

[tshino]

I think this is an informative thread to keep in Discussions, so I do.