diff --git a/services/mam-api/src/routes/capture.js b/services/mam-api/src/routes/capture.js
index 39d9d9a..6cdf0e0 100644
--- a/services/mam-api/src/routes/capture.js
+++ b/services/mam-api/src/routes/capture.js
@@ -7,67 +7,58 @@ router.use(requireAuth);
 
 const CAPTURE_URL = process.env.CAPTURE_URL || 'http://capture:3001';
 
-// Helper to proxy requests
-const proxyRequest = async (method, path, body = null) => {
+async function proxyRequest(method, path, body = null) {
   const options = {
     method,
-    headers: {
-      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-    },
+    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(8000),
   };
+  if (body) options.body = JSON.stringify(body);
 
-  if (body) {
-    options.body = JSON.stringify(body);
-  }
+  const response = await fetch(`${CAPTURE_URL}${path}`, options);
+  const text = await response.text();
 
+  let data;
   try {
-    const response = await fetch(`${CAPTURE_URL}${path}`, options);
-    const data = await response.json();
-    return { status: response.status, data };
-  } catch (err) {
-    console.error('Capture service error:', err);
-    throw err;
+    data = JSON.parse(text);
+  } catch {
+    // Capture service returned non-JSON (HTML error page, plain text, etc.)
+    data = { message: text.slice(0, 300) || '(empty response)' };
   }
-};
 
-// POST /start - Forward start request
+  return { status: response.status, data };
+}
+
+// POST /start
 router.post('/start', async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
     const { status, data } = await proxyRequest('POST', '/start', req.body);
     res.status(status).json(data);
-  } catch (err) {
-    next(err);
-  }
+  } catch (err) { next(err); }
 });
 
-// POST /stop - Forward stop request
+// POST /stop
 router.post('/stop', async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
     const { status, data } = await proxyRequest('POST', '/stop', req.body);
     res.status(status).json(data);
-  } catch (err) {
-    next(err);
-  }
+  } catch (err) { next(err); }
 });
 
-// GET /status - Forward status request
+// GET /status
 router.get('/status', async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
     const { status, data } = await proxyRequest('GET', '/status');
     res.status(status).json(data);
-  } catch (err) {
-    next(err);
-  }
+  } catch (err) { next(err); }
 });
 
-// GET /devices - Forward devices request
+// GET /devices
 router.get('/devices', async (req, res, next) => {
   try {
     const { status, data } = await proxyRequest('GET', '/devices');
     res.status(status).json(data);
-  } catch (err) {
-    next(err);
-  }
+  } catch (err) { next(err); }
 });
 
 export default router;