Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On 21:26:41 Nov 21, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: A while ago I needed to screencast a terminal to a class of students in real-time. It turned out to be quite straightforward with screen(1) in multiuser mode. screen(1) is really cool. :) Now I want to record screencasts and allow people to watch them later. I'm looking at recordmydesktop, but the innefficiency strikes me: I'm operating in text-only environment, there's no need to record every frame as a flat bitmap. Whatever codec I choose, the files will be huge and of low quality. How about ttyrec(1) and ttyplay(1) ? What I need is something like script(1) on steroids: - accurately record the complete state of my terminal window at any given moment - store it as a succession of updates, each represented in a text-based format (as opposed to pixel-based) If you want pixel based output then there are quite a few options but none to my taste. As you mention they all are bloated. - record timings correctly - allow for a method to record speech in the background This you have to do manually with sox(1). Not a big deal. A simple shell script can do what you want. - allow for a method to play it all back in sync This is no big deal either. If you want to create a video, then you have to go in for pixel based stuff. You can however do efficient compression and use a good codec like x264 or something. Has anyone heard about any tool which would help me achieve at least some of my requirements? Your idea seems good enough to create an open source tool that does exactly what you want. Best, Girish ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 03:29:55PM -0800, Kevin Downey wrote: On 11/21/07, Andrew Pantyukhin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A while ago I needed to screencast a terminal to a class of students in real-time. It turned out to be quite straightforward with screen(1) in multiuser mode. Now I want to record screencasts and allow people to watch them later. I'm looking at recordmydesktop, but the innefficiency strikes me: I'm operating in text-only environment, there's no need to record every frame as a flat bitmap. Whatever codec I choose, the files will be huge and of low quality. What I need is something like script(1) on steroids: - accurately record the complete state of my terminal window at any given moment - store it as a succession of updates, each represented in a text-based format (as opposed to pixel-based) - record timings correctly - allow for a method to record speech in the background - allow for a method to play it all back in sync Has anyone heard about any tool which would help me achieve at least some of my requirements? Oh man, do I have an idea for you: subtitles! use mjpeg for video with just a black frame use whatever audio you want a modern container format and a modern subtitle method will let you put whatever characters you want where ever you want on the video. Boom a video that plays and the textual information is kept intact and can even be demuxed from the multimedia stuff. There are basically two ways the subtitles are encoded: bitmap and text. Both will require a full screen dump on every update. Neither allow for colors (there are html hacks though). AFAIK, there's no way to store activity in form of updates in subtitles. Moreover, even in case of bitmaps, subtitles are still utterly unstandardized. Their look is very player-dependent. But the idea is cool, thanks! I might perform a few benchmarks with mplayer when I have time. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On 11/21/07, Andrew Pantyukhin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A while ago I needed to screencast a terminal to a class of students in real-time. It turned out to be quite straightforward with screen(1) in multiuser mode. Now I want to record screencasts and allow people to watch them later. I'm looking at recordmydesktop, but the innefficiency strikes me: I'm operating in text-only environment, there's no need to record every frame as a flat bitmap. Whatever codec I choose, the files will be huge and of low quality. What I need is something like script(1) on steroids: - accurately record the complete state of my terminal window at any given moment - store it as a succession of updates, each represented in a text-based format (as opposed to pixel-based) - record timings correctly - allow for a method to record speech in the background - allow for a method to play it all back in sync Has anyone heard about any tool which would help me achieve at least some of my requirements? Oh man, do I have an idea for you: subtitles! use mjpeg for video with just a black frame use whatever audio you want a modern container format and a modern subtitle method will let you put whatever characters you want where ever you want on the video. Boom a video that plays and the textual information is kept intact and can even be demuxed from the multimedia stuff. I leave the actual implementation as an exercise for the reader. -- The Mafia way is that we pursue larger goals under the guise of personal relationships. Fisheye ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On 11:44:49 Nov 22, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: There are basically two ways the subtitles are encoded: bitmap and text. Both will require a full screen dump on every update. Neither allow for colors (there are html hacks though). AFAIK, there's no way to store activity in form of updates in subtitles. Subtitles can be hard coded into the video with mencoder. The command line is straight forward. $ mencoder video.avi -sub subtitles.srt -o videosubtitles.avi -ovc lavc -oac copy Moreover, even in case of bitmaps, subtitles are still utterly unstandardized. Their look is very player-dependent. Not a problem if you hard code them. But the idea is cool, thanks! I might perform a few benchmarks with mplayer when I have time. But your basic problem remains unsolved. mencoder can build a video from frames and you can mux the audio with mplex or some such thing. All this means a bit of effort. regards, Girish ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On Thu, Nov 22, 2007 at 10:00:48AM +0530, Girish Venkatachalam wrote: On 21:26:41 Nov 21, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: A while ago I needed to screencast a terminal to a class of students in real-time. It turned out to be quite straightforward with screen(1) in multiuser mode. screen(1) is really cool. :) Now I want to record screencasts and allow people to watch them later. I'm looking at recordmydesktop, but the innefficiency strikes me: I'm operating in text-only environment, there's no need to record every frame as a flat bitmap. Whatever codec I choose, the files will be huge and of low quality. How about ttyrec(1) and ttyplay(1) ? Oh, yes. I've tried ttyrec a few years ago but have completely forgotten about it since. Thanks, it helps a lot! What I need is something like script(1) on steroids: - accurately record the complete state of my terminal window at any given moment - store it as a succession of updates, each represented in a text-based format (as opposed to pixel-based) If you want pixel based output then there are quite a few options but none to my taste. As you mention they all are bloated. - record timings correctly - allow for a method to record speech in the background This you have to do manually with sox(1). Not a big deal. A simple shell script can do what you want. - allow for a method to play it all back in sync This is no big deal either. If you want to create a video, then you have to go in for pixel based stuff. You can however do efficient compression and use a good codec like x264 or something. Has anyone heard about any tool which would help me achieve at least some of my requirements? Your idea seems good enough to create an open source tool that does exactly what you want. I'm still hoping to get by with some hacks, but you might be right. It's a pity and almost a surprise there's no widely available text-based video codec. Maybe I just need to try my luck on mplayer-related mailing lists. P.S. Please don't post to questions@ and freebsd-questions@ at the same time. It's the same list and you're just sending double mails. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On Fri, Nov 23, 2007 at 02:09:10AM +0300, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: I'm still hoping to get by with some hacks, but you might be right. It's a pity and almost a surprise there's no widely available text-based video codec. Maybe I just need to try my luck on mplayer-related mailing lists. I see there are at least Ogg Writ [1] which is in early development stages and Camtasia TechSmith Screen Capture Codec [2] which is a closed-source Windows-only thing. I hope there are more I don't know about yet. [1] http://wiki.xiph.org/OggWrit [2] http://www.techsmith.com/codecs/tscc/default.asp ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting
On 02:09:11 Nov 23, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: I'm still hoping to get by with some hacks, but you might be right. It's a pity and almost a surprise there's no widely available text-based video codec. Maybe I just need to try my luck on mplayer-related mailing lists. Best of luck! P.S. Please don't post to questions@ and freebsd-questions@ at the same time. It's the same list and you're just sending double mails. Many thanks for pointing out. Fixed the bug in my homebrew mailing system. mutt had two entries in the subscribe line. regards, Girish ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
