
           Kazam Screencaster v1.0.6 "NCC-1701D"


Introduction
------------

Kazam is a simple screen recording program that will capture the content
of your screen and record a video file that can be played by any video
player that supports VP8/WebM video format.

Optionally you can record sound from any sound input device that is
supported and visible by PulseAudio.


Latest version
--------------

Kazam is always available from Launchpad under https://launchpad.net/kazam

Right now there are only unstable versions available, the project is still
in development and a stable release is planned for Ubuntu 12.04.


Installation
------------

For Ubuntu, the best way to install is to add a PPA repository and then
use apt-get command or Software Centre.

For distribution independent installation you will have to get the latest
tarball release from Launchpad:

http://launchpad.net/kazam/stable/1.0.6/+download/kazam_1.0.6.tar.gz

Unpack it and then run setup:

   $ tar -xzf kazam_1.0.6.tar.gz
   $ cd kazam-1.0.6

Run installation as root user, or use sudo:

   # python setup.py install


If you want bleeding edge, development version then you will have to get
source code from Launchpad by running the following command:

   $ bzr branch lp:kazam

Then you need to run setup.py to build and install Kazam:

   $ cd kazam
   # python setup.py install

You will have to run setup as root user or use sudo. Default installation
path is /usr/local.


Known Issues
------------

- Support for multiple monitors is there, but your mileage may vary. It
was tested only on two screen setup where both screens are side by side. With
Region recording the Video source is ignored.

- Placing Region selector outside of screen borders will produce unknown
results and you will probably end up with no video.

- Two warnings appear during the normal usage:

/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gobject/constants.py:24: Warning:
g_boxed_type_register_static: assertion `g_type_from_name (name) == 0' failed

This happens when Gtk.GObject was imported before importing gst in python
and is still being investigated. So far it appears to be mostly harmless.

Second warning comes from Gtk.FileChooser():

kazam:5144): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to retrieve the file info for <file>
Error stating file <file> : No such file or directory

This happens when you confirm file save in the dialog box. This is an error
in Gtk.FileChooser and in Precise Pangolin it is fixed.

- Trouble with recording from certain Monitor sources. I noticed this with
Logitech G110 USB Keyboard that can play audio. Pulse Audio will see two
devices: USP PnP Stereo Device and Monitor of USB PnP Stereo Device. When
recording from the monitor, volume controls for both devices will affect
the volume in the final recording.

- I have no idea where to put Mute/Unmute button, so you'll have to check
that in pavucontrol or sound settings. :)

- It was reported that sound is disappearing after couple of minutes into
the recording. I wasn't able to reproduce this bug and any more info is
appreciated. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/kazam/+bug/933835 for more
details.

Recording Tips
--------------

Framerates above 20fps are unlikely to work because of software and hardware
limitations. If you increase framerate and in resulting video
framerate actually drops, that is because encoder can't keep up with
the framerate.

Always do a sound check. Especially if you are recording a live commentary
with background sound. I got the best results when I used earphones to listen
to the audio while recording. This way your mic will not pick up any audio
coming from speakers.


Debugging & reporting problems
------------------------------

If you encounter a bug or any kind of unexpected behavior please try to
reproduce it while you run Kazam from standard terminal with --debug option.
Use Launchpad to report bugs (https://bugs.launchpad.net/kazam/+filebug) and
include generated output. It will also be helpful if you can attach generated
'dot' file. You will find this file in /tmp/kazam_debug.dot.

If you have graphviz package installed there is also /tmp/kazam_pipeline.png
file and you can inspect GStreamer pipeline if everything checks out ok.

