Desktop Video Recording
Submitted by mike on Sun, 2011-09-18 15:08

VERY simple guide to grab desktop with FFMPEG
(Copied from shantiq's Ubuntu message post - for safekeeping)

How to grab desktop with FFMPEG

1. just desktop no sound
2. desktop with microphone sound
3. webcam with sound
4. desktop with onboard sound (music or video)

1.

Code:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 25 -i :0.0 -sameq ./Desktop/mydesktop.mkv

higher quality

Code:
ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 30 -qscale 1  -i :0.0  ./Desktop/mydesktop.mkv

2.

Code:
ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 2 -i pulse -f x11grab -r 30 -s 1024x768 -i :0.0 -acodec pcm_s16le -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_ultrafast -threads 0 ./Desktop/mydesktop.mkv

3.

Code:
ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 2 -i pulse  -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_ultrafast -threads 0 -s 320x240   -r 30  -y  ./Desktop/mywebcam.mkv

higher quality (uncompressed)

Code:
ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 2 -i pulse  -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -acodec pcm_s16le -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_ultrafast -threads 0 -s 320x240   -r 30  -y  ./Desktop/mywebcam.avi

4.

Code:
sudo apt-get install pavucontrol

find pavucontrol in applications/sound and video

click on recording/click on box/pick monitor of internal audio

Nota Bene: you may need to run the code below in your terminal first to bring up the options on pavucontrol

Then run as in 2.

Code:
ffmpeg -f alsa -ac 2 -i pulse -f x11grab -r 30 -s 1024x768 -i :0.0 -acodec pcm_s16le -vcodec libx264 -vpre lossless_ultrafast -threads 0 ./Desktop/mydesktop.mkv

DO NOT forget to reset your pavucontrol at the end otherwise next time you try do microphone recording settings will be wrong

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