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VisioForge Video Capture SDK .Net — Cheat Sheet

Video Capture SDK .Net captures from webcams, IP cameras (RTSP/ONVIF), screens, Decklink, and GenICam/GigE Vision devices on all 5 .NET platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS). VideoCaptureCoreX is the cross-platform engine; sources are configured via typed settings classes such as VideoCaptureDeviceSourceSettings, and devices are listed asynchronously with DeviceEnumerator.

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Platform support

  • Windows x64 / x86 — WinForms, WPF, MAUI, Avalonia, Console. Full DirectShow sources + NVENC / AMF / Intel Quick Sync hardware encoding.
  • macOS / macCatalyst — MAUI, Avalonia, Console. AVFoundation camera sources + VideoToolbox hardware encoding.
  • Linux x64 — Avalonia, Console. V4L2 camera sources + NVENC / VA-API hardware encoding.
  • Android — MAUI. Native camera sources + MediaCodec hardware encoding.
  • iOS — MAUI. AVFoundation camera sources + VideoToolbox hardware encoding.

For the full codec × source × platform matrix see platform-matrix.md.

NuGet packages

Main SDK package (required, all platforms):

<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.DotNet.VideoCapture" Version="2026.*" />

Platform-specific native runtimes — add the ones you target:

<!-- Windows x64 -->
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.Windows.x64" Version="2025.11.0" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Libav.Windows.x64" Version="2025.11.0" />

<!-- Windows x86 -->
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.Windows.x86" Version="2025.11.0" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Libav.Windows.x86" Version="2025.11.0" />

<!-- macOS / macCatalyst -->
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.macOS" Version="2025.9.1" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.macCatalyst" Version="2025.2.15" />

<!-- Linux x64 -->
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.Linux.x64" Version="2025.11.0" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Libav.Linux.x64" Version="2025.11.0" />

<!-- Android / iOS -->
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.Android" Version="15.10.24" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.CrossPlatform.Core.iOS" Version="2025.0.16" />

UI integration (pick the one that matches your UI stack):

<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.DotNet.Core.UI.MAUI" Version="2026.*" />
<PackageReference Include="VisioForge.DotNet.Core.UI.Avalonia" Version="2026.*" />

WinForms and WPF VideoView controls ship inside the main package. For the complete package list (including redistributables for the Windows-only VideoCaptureCore engine) see the Installation Guide.

Primary API classes

Class Role See also
VideoCaptureCoreX Cross-platform capture engine — owns the pipeline, source, outputs, preview Quick Start
VideoCaptureDeviceSourceSettings Configures a webcam / USB / DirectShow camera source Enumerate and select device
DeviceEnumerator Async enumeration of video sources, audio sources, and audio outputs via DeviceEnumerator.Shared Video sources overview
VideoView WinForms / WPF / MAUI / Avalonia preview control bound to the capture engine Installation — video controls
MP4Output Muxes captured streams to .mp4 with H.264 / H.265 + AAC (GPU-accelerated when available) Webcam → MP4 tutorial

Additional source settings classes: RTSPSourceSettings (IP cameras — construct via RTSPSourceSettings.CreateAsync(uri, login, password, audioEnabled), not new), ScreenCaptureD3D11SourceSettings / ScreenCaptureGDISourceSettings / ScreenCaptureDX9SourceSettings (Windows screen), ScreenCaptureMacOSSourceSettings (macOS), ScreenCaptureXDisplaySourceSettings (Linux), DecklinkVideoSourceSettings, GenICamSourceSettings, NDISourceSettings.

Canonical minimum example

Record the first webcam + default microphone to recording.mp4:

using VisioForge.Core;
using VisioForge.Core.VideoCaptureX;
using VisioForge.Core.Types.X.Sources;
using VisioForge.Core.Types.X.Output;

// 1. Init SDK once at application startup.
await VisioForgeX.InitSDKAsync();

// 2. Enumerate connected devices (async — never block the UI thread).
var videoDevices = await DeviceEnumerator.Shared.VideoSourcesAsync();
var audioDevices = await DeviceEnumerator.Shared.AudioSourcesAsync();

if (videoDevices.Length == 0)
    throw new InvalidOperationException("No video capture devices found.");

// 3. Create the capture engine, bound to a VideoView for live preview.
//    Pass null instead of videoView for headless recording.
var capture = new VideoCaptureCoreX(videoView);

// 4. Configure video + audio sources.
capture.Video_Source = new VideoCaptureDeviceSourceSettings(videoDevices[0]);
capture.Audio_Source = audioDevices[0].CreateSourceSettingsVC();
capture.Audio_Record = true;

// 5. Add the MP4 output BEFORE calling StartAsync.
capture.Outputs_Add(new MP4Output("recording.mp4"));

// 6. Start capture — preview renders into videoView immediately.
await capture.StartAsync();

// ... later, when the user clicks Stop:
await capture.StopAsync();     // Finalizes and closes the MP4 file.
await capture.DisposeAsync();  // Releases the pipeline.

// 7. On application shutdown:
VisioForgeX.DestroySDK();

Swap VideoCaptureDeviceSourceSettings(...) for await RTSPSourceSettings.CreateAsync(new Uri("rtsp://..."), login, password, audioEnabled) for IP cameras, or new ScreenCaptureD3D11SourceSettings() for desktop recording (Windows) — the rest of the pipeline is identical.

Typical workflow

  1. Init — await VisioForgeX.InitSDKAsync() (once per app).
  2. Enumerate — DeviceEnumerator.Shared.VideoSourcesAsync() / AudioSourcesAsync().
  3. Configure source — pick a settings class (VideoCaptureDeviceSourceSettings, RTSPSourceSettings, ScreenCaptureD3D11SourceSettings / ScreenCaptureMacOSSourceSettings / ScreenCaptureXDisplaySourceSettings, DecklinkVideoSourceSettings, ...) and assign to capture.Video_Source.
  4. Create engine — new VideoCaptureCoreX(videoView) for preview, or new VideoCaptureCoreX(null) for headless.
  5. Add outputs — capture.Outputs_Add(new MP4Output(path)), or MKVOutput / WebMOutput / AVIOutput / RTMPOutput / HLSOutput.
  6. Run — StartAsync() → StopAsync() → DisposeAsync(), then VisioForgeX.DestroySDK() on shutdown.

Common pitfalls

  • Device enumeration is async. Always await DeviceEnumerator.Shared.VideoSourcesAsync() — calling .Result or .Wait() on the UI thread can deadlock. Audio uses its own AudioSourcesAsync() / AudioOutputsAsync() calls; the video enumerator does not cover them.
  • Outputs must be added before StartAsync. Outputs_Add(...) during an active capture is not supported — stop, add the output, and start again.
  • Virtual Camera needs extra registration. The VirtualCamera redist package must be registered (see the deployment guide) before the virtual camera becomes visible to external applications like Zoom or Teams.
  • AnyCPU apps need both x86 and x64 redistributables. On Windows, ship both architectures or force a specific one via <PlatformTarget> — partial deployment silently fails at source init time.
  • Mobile permissions must be granted before enumeration. On Android and iOS, camera and microphone permissions must be requested and granted before DeviceEnumerator runs — otherwise the returned list is empty. See the MAUI camera recording guide for per-platform permission setup.

See also

FAQ

How do I list connected cameras?

var cams = await DeviceEnumerator.Shared.VideoSourcesAsync(); — returns a list of VideoCaptureDeviceInfo with friendly names, supported formats, and frame rates.

Does this SDK support IP cameras?

Yes. Build settings via the async factory — await RTSPSourceSettings.CreateAsync(new Uri("rtsp://..."), login, password, audioEnabled) — and pass to VideoCaptureCoreX.Video_Source. The constructor is private, so new RTSPSourceSettings(...) will not compile. ONVIF and HTTP-JPEG cameras are also supported. See the IP camera brands directory for vendor-specific URLs.

What file formats can I record to?

MP4 (H.264 / H.265 + AAC), MKV, WebM (VP8 / VP9 / AV1 + Opus / Vorbis), AVI, GIF, plus live RTMP / RTSP / HLS / SRT / NDI streaming. See the output-format tables in the SDK overview.