# VLC Audio Capture



## bowjest (May 28, 2009)

Hi, everyone,

Can anyone offer advice on how to capture streaming audio with VLC?

Preferably in mp3 format, but ogg would be ok, too.

I've tried just about every configuration option I can find, but although the stream plays (RealAudio), VLC fails to capture it.

BTW - the VLC site says that if VLC can play it, it can capture. It's a shame it doesn't go on to say how (well, other than via come pretty hair-raising command line stuff that I really don't think applies to what I'm trying to get).

Thanks in advance,

Bowjest


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## icemanjc (May 28, 2009)

Although this is a not a free alternative. You can try Audio Hijack which will capture anything that you can hear.


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## bowjest (May 30, 2009)

Hi, Icemanjc,

Thanks. I've got Audio Hijack (free version), but only want to capture a couple of radio plays that are 90 minutes long, so VLC, if it will actually work, would be the ideal solution.


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## midijeep (May 30, 2009)

Save a stream with VLC

VLC can save the stream to the disk. In order to do this, use the Stream Output of VLC : you can do it via the graphical interface, or you can add to the command line the following argument:
--sout file/muxer:stream.xyz

where:
muxer is one of the formats supported by VLC's stream output, i.e. :
ogg for OGG format,
ps MPEG2-PS format,
ts for MPEG2-PS format.
and stream.xyz is the name of the file you want to save the stream to, with the right extension.
Receive a stream with a set-top-box

Some set-top-boxes with Ethernet cards can receive MPEG2-TS streams over UDP and support multicast.
Set-top-boxes known to work with VLC are :
Pace set top boxes. (Pace Micro DSL 4000)
Aminocom set top boxes. (all the models with mpeg2)
tuxia / gct-allwell (mpeg4 and mpeg2) sigma designs8174 chipset
i3micro mood200 (mpeg4 and mpeg2 in transport streams)


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## bowjest (May 31, 2009)

Hi, Midijeep,

I should have been clearer: saving the stream output to disk is exactly what I'm trying to do, but this fails.

Here is what I do:

1. Load the .ram file I have downloaded and start playing the program - I'm not using a set top box or trying to capture video, just a run-of-the-mill BBC online radio play
2. Save the program as a playlist (.m3u file)
3. Open the Streaming Wizard and select to use the stream that I have loaded (the .m3u file)
4. In the next window, under Audio, I select Transcode Audio mp3 and leave the Bitrate at the default 192
5. Choose container in next window as raw and finish - if I choose any other container format nothing writes to it.

This starts playing the data into the .raw file that is created, but when I then re-name this to .mp3 to open and edit in Audacity, it just sounds like a tape played in fast forward.

Can someone please let me know where I've gone wrong with the above?


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