diff --git a/services/capture/src/capture-manager.js b/services/capture/src/capture-manager.js
index 6f3bafb..b0732ae 100644
--- a/services/capture/src/capture-manager.js
+++ b/services/capture/src/capture-manager.js
@@ -955,6 +955,14 @@ BMXPID=$!
 # harmless.
 ( exec 7>&- 8>&- 0<&0; exec ${ffLine} ) &
 FFPID=$!
+# CRITICAL: the parent shell must DROP its own copy of stdin (fd 0) now that
+# ffmpeg has inherited it. When video comes from fc_pipe (node pipes it to this
+# orchestrator's stdin), leaving fd 0 open in the parent means BOTH the parent
+# and the ffmpeg subshell hold the read end of that pipe — the kernel delivers
+# bytes to whichever reads first, so ffmpeg is starved of the raw video and its
+# filtergraph gets "No filtered frames" / empty output. Closing fd 0 here makes
+# ffmpeg the SOLE reader so all fc_pipe video reaches pipe:0.
+exec 0</dev/null
 # Forward a clean stop to ffmpeg; raw2bmx then gets EOF and finalizes the footer.
 stop() { kill -INT "$FFPID" 2>/dev/null; }
 trap stop INT TERM