Capture video of a linux desktop

hmm... wtf? :

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-x11grab --prefix=/usr --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-strip --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaadbin --enable-liba52 --enable-liba52bin --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-altivec--disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static

libavutil version: 49.6.0

libavcodec version: 51.50.0

libavformat version: 52.7.0

libavdevice version: 52.0.0

built on Oct 3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2

[x11grab @ 0xb7ec4388]device: :0.0 -> display: :0.0 x: 0 y: 0 width: 1280 height: 1024

No protocol specified

[x11grab @ 0xb7ec4388]Could not open X display.

:0.0: I/O error occured

Usually that means that input file is truncated and/or corrupted.

Sad -:( now I have to read mans...

FFmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3, Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-x11grab --prefix=/usr --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --disable-strip --enable-libfaad --enable-libfaadbin --enable-liba52 --enable-liba52bin --enable-libdc1394 --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-altivec --disable-vis --enable-shared --disable-static

libavutil version: 49.6.0

libavcodec version: 51.50.0

libavformat version: 52.7.0

libavdevice version: 52.0.0

built on Oct 3 2008 22:40:31, gcc: 4.3.2

[x11grab @ 0xb7f8f388]device: :0.0 -> display: :0.0 x: 0 y: 0 width: 1366 height: 768

[x11grab @ 0xb7f8f388]shared memory extension found

X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)

Major opcode of failed request: 148 (MIT-SHM)

Minor opcode of failed request: 4 (X_ShmGetImage)

Serial number of failed request: 9

Current serial number in output stream: 9

Doesn't work for me too

I confirm that it doesn't work on Ubuntu Intrepid (ffmpeg version r11872+debian_3:0.svn20080206-12ubuntu3). I get the same trace as manspaceunix. It's because you haven't set the size to fit your needs. For example, my screen is 1024x768, so instead of "-s sxga", I have to use "-s xga" and it does it.

Hmm, actually, I ended up using

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s sxga -r 24 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mpg

on Ubuntu Intrepid and it works, although I find that the result blinks horribly.

you can also use -s XxY, for example i use -s 1680x1050 on my machine.

Or, assuming you have randr, use this for the general case:

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xrandr | grep "Screen 0" | awk '{ print $8 }'`x`xrandr | grep "Screen 0" | awk '{ print $10 }' | sed 's/,.*//'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg

Seemed to have the same video quality as gtk-recordmydesktop, but with a crappier mouse pointer.

This works on machines without gtk-recordmydesktop (ubuntu doesn't have it, not to mention kde, xfce, etc. based environments)

Also, recordmydesktop doesn't work well with compiz.

I've used vlc in the past to record like this... Open screen:// with vlc and use its streaming features to save it.

looks the same with this command http://www.commandlinefu.com/commands/view/1618/record-your-desktop

I found the video looks better if played back on a different computer.

Also if you don't know the size of your scree and want to record the whole thing this variation works well.

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq /tmp/out.mpg

Doesn't work in my Ubuntu 8.04

FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2007 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-pp --enable-swscaler --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora --enable-libogg --enable-libgsm --enable-dc1394 --disable-debug --enable-shared --prefix=/usr

libavutil version: 1d.49.3.0

libavcodec version: 1d.51.38.0

libavformat version: 1d.51.10.0

built on Mar 16 2009 21:16:26, gcc: 4.2.4 (Ubuntu 4.2.4-1ubuntu3)

Unknown input or output format: x11grab

Debian: may abort ("ffmpeg: symbol lookup error: ffmpeg: undefined symbol: ffm_nopts") if you use the debian-multimedia.org repository

See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=489209

this is what worked for me on debian unstable and...

FFmpeg version SVN-r20547, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.

built on Nov 18 2009 19:13:44 with gcc 4.3.4

configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-cflags='-Wall -g ' --cc='ccache cc' --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-libfaad --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libgsm --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libtheora --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libspeex --enable-nonfree --disable-stripping --enable-avfilter --enable-libdirac --disable-decoder=libdirac --enable-libschroedinger --disable-encoder=libschroedinger --enable-avfilter-lavf --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-version3 --disable-altivec --disable-armv5te --disable-armv6 --disable-vis

libavutil 50. 4. 0 / 50. 4. 0

libavcodec 52.41. 0 / 52.41. 0

libavformat 52.39. 2 / 52.39. 2

libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0

libavfilter 1. 8. 0 / 1. 8. 0

libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1

libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1440x900 -r 15 -i :0 -vcodec libx264 -vpre normal -threads 0 ~/videofile.mp4