How to record screencasts?

dugan · 09-21-2012, 12:05 PM

What do Slackware users use to record screencasts? Just ffmpeg? A recordmydesktop frontend?

clifford227 · 09-21-2012, 12:40 PM

I use ffmpeg, and this commandline:

Quote:

ffmpeg -f x11grab -y -r 45 -s 1680x1050 -i :0.0+0,0 -vcodec libx264 -sameq ~/screencast.avi

mrascii · 09-21-2012, 12:54 PM

Try recordMyDesktop from SlackBuilds. It's excellent. You can run it from the command line or use a GUI front end. I find it easiest to record without audio then create an audio track in Audacity. The noise removal function is great if you don't have a professional recording environment and it's simple to clean up mistakes. Combine the audio and video in a video editor when you are done.

By the way, the GNOME 3 desktop has a recording function built in. Just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+r to start recording video only.

DNA
AKA mrascii

H_TeXMeX_H · 09-21-2012, 01:03 PM

I use a similar method:

Code:

ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 854x480 -r 25 -i :0.0+400,280 -vcodec libx264 -vpre special -crf 15 -s 854x480 -aspect 854:480 -r 25 -threads 4 -y tmp.mkv

Code:

coder=1
flags=+loop
cmp=+chroma
partitions=+parti8x8+parti4x4+partp8x8+partb8x8
me_method=hex
subq=6
me_range=16
g=250
keyint_min=25
sc_threshold=40
i_qfactor=0.71
b_strategy=1
qcomp=0.6
qmin=10
qmax=51
qdiff=4
bf=3
refs=5
trellis=1
wpredp=2

frankbell · 09-22-2012, 08:04 PM

I'm another vote for recordmydesktop. I would recommend installing one to the GUI frontends (there's a GTK one and a QT one, both on Slackbuilds).

It makes managing the application a little easier. You can use the mouse to select a window or an area of the screen.

ruario · 09-23-2012, 09:13 AM

To record terminal based stuff you could use http://shelr.tv/. For example:

http://shelr.tv/records/5001ee4396608020cf000003

Alien Bob · 09-23-2012, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrascii

Try recordMyDesktop from SlackBuilds. It's excellent. You can run it from the command line or use a GUI front end. I find it easiest to record without audio then create an audio track in Audacity. The noise removal function is great if you don't have a professional recording environment and it's simple to clean up mistakes. Combine the audio and video in a video editor when you are done.

By the way, the GNOME 3 desktop has a recording function built in. Just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+r to start recording video only.

DNA
AKA mrascii

recordmydesktop is in the /extra section of Slackware ... but only in the 64-bit edition. It is an inheritance from the early days of the 64-bit port when it was not yet public and I needed some non-Slackware tools to play with.

Eric

manwichmakesameal · 09-23-2012, 02:35 PM

Just an FYI for anyone wanting to try recordmydesktop with gtk-recordmydesktop, you WILL need jackd installed. It's not listed as a dependency though.

mrascii · 09-23-2012, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruario

To record terminal based stuff you could use http://shelr.tv/. For example:

http://shelr.tv/records/5001ee4396608020cf000003

Thanks for the link, ruario. I didn't know about that site. Slackware does have a utility for recording the command line called scripts.

From the manpage:

Quote:

script makes a typescript of everything printed on your terminal. It is useful for
students who need a hardcopy record of an interactive session as proof of an assign-
ment, as the typescript file can be printed out later with lpr(1).

DNA
AKA mrascii

D1ver · 09-23-2012, 06:29 PM

I almost had ffmpeg at the point where I could livestream myself playing Starcraft II in wine to twitch.tv, but I couldn't get it to capture desktop audio (Ie, game sounds and music). It seemed to be able to pick up the microphone though. So if you're looking to do live streams, ffmpeg seems to be a good idea.

parcox · 09-26-2012, 09:26 PM

Hi,
I use recorditnow. Yes, basically this is just a frontend for recordmydesktop and ffmpeg. But, almost of the time I use ffmpeg-recorder as the backend, since recordmydesktop doesn't work well with KDE effects on my laptop. Take a look of my short video recording by using recorditnow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWaj0lWxp68

kikinovak · 09-27-2012, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manwichmakesameal

Just an FYI for anyone wanting to try recordmydesktop with gtk-recordmydesktop, you WILL need jackd installed. It's not listed as a dependency though.

I tried RecordMyDesktop with the GTK frontend and kept wondering why I had no sound. Is this because of the missing jackd dependency you mention? If this is the case, which package on SlackBuilds.org does it correspond?

manwichmakesameal · 09-27-2012, 07:39 AM

@kikinovak: I think it's just something with gtk-recordmydesktop. I think it builds all the jack stuff to enable jackd backend for recording sound. If you build without jackd, you'll be able to build it and start it, but cannot access advanced settings or start recording. At least I couldn't.

stormtracknole · 09-27-2012, 08:07 AM

Has anyone been successful in building recorditnow on Slackware14RC5? I've been researching the error, but none of the stuff that I have tried has worked. Here's the error:

Code:

/usr/lib/gcc/i486-slackware-linux/4.7.1/../../../../i486-slackware-linux/bin/ld: note: 'XFree' is defined in DSO /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 so try adding it to the linker command line
/usr/lib/libX11.so.6: could not read symbols: Invalid operation
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [src/recorditnow] Error 1
make[1]: *** [src/CMakeFiles/recorditnow.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

Alien Bob · 09-27-2012, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormtracknole

Has anyone been successful in building recorditnow on Slackware14RC5? I've been researching the error, but none of the stuff that I have tried has worked. Here's the error:

Code:

/usr/lib/gcc/i486-slackware-linux/4.7.1/../../../../i486-slackware-linux/bin/ld: note: 'XFree' is defined in DSO /usr/lib/libX11.so.6 so try adding it to the linker command line
/usr/lib/libX11.so.6: could not read symbols: Invalid operation
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [src/recorditnow] Error 1
make[1]: *** [src/CMakeFiles/recorditnow.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

You have to add one line to the cmake command:

Code:

    -DCMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS:STRING="-lX11 -lXext -lXfixes -lrecorditnow_plugin" \

I will upload packages for recordmydesktop (since this is not available in the 32-bit Slackware /extra directory) and recorditnow - as soon as I have time.

Eric

Eric