diff --git a/src/video_capture.c b/src/video_capture.c
index 8d0e06a0c..a24ac1355 100644
--- a/src/video_capture.c
+++ b/src/video_capture.c
@@ -612,6 +612,8 @@ static bool vidcap_dispatch_alias(struct vidcap_params *params)
                         char *delim = strchr(params->driver, ':');
                         params->fmt = strdup(delim + 1);
                         *delim = '\0';
+                } else {
+                        params->fmt = params->driver + strlen(params->driver); // is '\0'
                 }
                 ret = true;
         }
@@ -643,6 +645,8 @@ void vidcap_params_set_device(struct vidcap_params *params, const char *config)
                         char *delim = strchr(params->driver, ':');
                         *delim = '\0';
                         params->fmt = strdup(delim + 1);
+                } else {
+                        params->fmt = strdup("");
                 }
         }
 }
diff --git a/src/video_capture/import.c b/src/video_capture/import.c
index 4f6ba5e75..5b90dab48 100644
--- a/src/video_capture/import.c
+++ b/src/video_capture/import.c
@@ -307,9 +307,9 @@ vidcap_import_init(const struct vidcap_params *params)
         char *tmp = strdup(vidcap_params_get_fmt(params));
         char *save_ptr;
         const char *directory = strtok_r(tmp, ":", &save_ptr);
-        if (strcmp(directory, "help") == 0) {
+        if (!directory || strcmp(directory, "help") == 0) {
                 fprintf(stderr, "Import usage:\n"
-                                "\t<directory>{:loop|:mt_reading=<nr_threads>|:<o_direct>}");
+                                "\t<directory>{:loop|:mt_reading=<nr_threads>|:o_direct}");
                 return NULL;
         }
         char *suffix;