pikvm/docs/video.md

Working with video

Video recording

!!! info H.264 is available on Pi 3 and Pi 4. Older boards won't handle it. Best of all this feature only works for HDMI to CSI bridge. For the USB HDMI dongle, there will be a decrease in FPS to 10-15 for 1080p. Work in progress.

1. Perform full system update to get the latest uStreamer and install ffmpeg:

   # rw
   # pacman -Syu
   # pacman -S ffmpeg
   

2. For USB dongle only: Add line gpu_mem=256 to /boot/config.txt.

3. Perform reboot command.

4. Run rw after the reboot.

5. To record a video, you need to enable the stream (open the web interface or connect via VNC). Then run something like this in the console:

   # rw
   # ustreamer-dump --sink kvmd::ustreamer::h264 --output - | ffmpeg -use_wallclock_as_timestamps 1 -i pipe: -c:v copy test.mp4
   

6. Press Ctrl+C to stop recording. Your video will be in the file test.mp4.

7. After finishing work, do not forget to switch the file system to read-only mode using ro command.

Take a screenshot via console on PiKVM

!!! note You must have a stream running

# curl --unix-socket /run/kvmd/ustreamer.sock http://localhost/snapshot -o /tmp/screen.jpg