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    Take and Scrape Your Own Videos

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ideas and Development
    videosscraperruncommandemulationstatio
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    • N.A.R.E.K.96N
      N.A.R.E.K.96
      last edited by

      this will be great especially for making youtube videos

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • meleuM
        meleu @herb_fargus
        last edited by

        @herb_fargus said in Take and Scrape Your Own Videos:

        I'm thinking the correct way to go about it would be to have a launch perameter in runcommand like we do for netplay or verbose logging except have it be for running a core with recording enabled.

        Since the recording is not an official feature, I think it wouldn't be a good way to go. But I've got an idea: what about a runcommand-onmenu.sh?

        A script to be launched only if user invoke runcommand menu and choose the option to launch it. I'll try to submit a PR and let you guys review the code. I can think other use cases for such feature...

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        herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • herb_fargusH
          herb_fargus administrators @meleu
          last edited by

          @meleu it may not be official now but if/when we update to stretch and ffmpeg is in the repos rather than requiring a source install then yes it may actually be viable to include by default but in the interim yes onmenu is a good solution (which I was unaware of) I await your solution

          If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

          Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

          meleuM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • meleuM
            meleu @herb_fargus
            last edited by

            @herb_fargus said in Take and Scrape Your Own Videos:

            onmenu is a good solution (which I was unaware of)

            runcommand-onmenu.sh feature doesn't exist yet. I'll try to submit a PR for runcommand.sh implementing this later today.

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            • herb_fargusH
              herb_fargus administrators @meleu
              last edited by herb_fargus

              @meleu how would the on menu be any different than onstart unless there is some mechanism for modifying the dialog menu for runcommand?

              Or are you saying it's an option in the runcommand menu to run a script?

              If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

              Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

              meleuM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • meleuM
                meleu @herb_fargus
                last edited by meleu

                @herb_fargus runcommand-onmenu.sh would be a script to be launched only if user invoke runcommand menu and choose the option to launch it. runcommand-onstart.sh is always executed before the game is launched.

                edit
                by the way, I've submitted the PR and tagged you there: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/2009

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                herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • herb_fargusH
                  herb_fargus administrators @meleu
                  last edited by herb_fargus

                  @meleu Necropost AHOY!

                  • With the advent of raspbian stretch and subsequently ffmpeg integrated in the repos

                  • the runcommand onmenu functions integrated

                  • and Retroarch compiled with ffmpeg support:

                  I think I'm ready to give this another go. The integration is all pretty much handled as far as no more need for source compilations, now the trick is just configuring the onstart/onmenu scripts and optimal settings for ffmpeg to capture native res gameplay without degrading performance.

                  Runcommand OnMenu Options

                  As far as onstart/omenu scripts go, a few options:

                  • OnMenu that just launches the default config to the default video path with the saved video file being named after the rom.
                  • OnMenu that creates a videos folder for the system being launched, uses the default config, and saves the video in the created videos folder named after the rom.
                  • OnMenu with dialog options to select the saved video path and video config/container (mkv, mp4 etc), and maybe options to name based on rom, date, rom+date, etc.

                  Runcommand OnMenu

                  Per the docs, create a script called recordvideo.sh in `

                  opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-menu/`
                  

                  With the contents todo incomplete!

                  recordvideos.sh

                  #!/usr/bin/env bash
                  
                  system="$1"
                  emulator="$2"
                  rompath="$3"
                  launch="$4"
                  rom_file="${rompath##*/}"
                  rom="${rom_file%.*}"
                  mediadir="$HOME/RetroPie/roms/$system/images"
                  videofile="$mediadir/$rom-video.mkv"
                  
                  
                  # Create videos folder in system's rom folder
                  if [[ ! -d "$mediadir" ]]; then
                      mkdir -p "$mediadir"
                      dialog --msgbox "$mediadir created!" 20 60 >/dev/tty
                  fi
                  
                  # Launch to record gameplay on RetroArch Systems.
                  if [[ "$launch" =~ retroarch ]]; then
                  eval "$launch" "--record '$videofile'" 
                  exit 1
                      else
                      dialog --msgbox "Video recording is not supported for this system" 20 60 >/dev/tty
                  fi
                  

                  if you want to force ~30 second limits for your videos you can substitute the following code:

                  eval "$launch" "--record '$videofile'" & sleep 33
                  killall retroarch
                  exit 1
                  

                  Configs

                  The default path for recorded videos is:

                  /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/records/
                  

                  If you add a custom config for ffmpeg the default path is:

                  /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/records_config/
                  

                  Examples:

                  default.cfg:

                  vcodec = libx264rgb
                  pix_fmt = bgr24
                  acodec = flac
                  format = matroska
                  video_qp = 0
                  

                  optimised.cfg:

                  format = matroska
                  threads = 3
                  vcodec = libx264rgb
                  video_preset = ultrafast
                  video_tune = animation
                  pix_fmt = bgr24
                  video_qp = 0
                  acodec = flac
                  

                  mp4.cfg:

                  vcodec = libx264rgb
                  pix_fmt = bgr24
                  acodec = aac
                  format = mp4
                  video_qp = 0
                  

                  twitch.cfg:

                  vcodec = libx264
                  acodec = libmp3lame
                  pix_fmt = yuv420p
                  scale_factor = 2
                  threads = 3
                  video_crf = 25
                  video_preset = superfast
                  video_tune = animation
                  audio_global_quality = 75
                  sample_rate = 44100
                  format = flv
                  

                  If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                  Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                  ClydeC V 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 6
                  • ClydeC
                    Clyde @herb_fargus
                    last edited by

                    Hello @herb_fargus, I'm thinking about streaming my Retropie's screen to my Kubuntu desktop PC that's connected to my video projector, so that an audience of guests could watch the games. Can you kindly give me some hints how to set that up?

                    herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • herb_fargusH
                      herb_fargus administrators @Clyde
                      last edited by

                      @clyde haven't the foggiest. Could try the twitch thing, or there is some experimental streaming thing that doesn't use a vnc server. Can't remember what it is, never tried it myself though I imagine there would be some latency

                      If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                      Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                      ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ClydeC
                        Clyde @herb_fargus
                        last edited by Clyde

                        @herb_fargus Well, thanks anyway. I may look further into it when I have the time and leisure, since it isn't urgent at the moment. Latency wouldn't be a big issue as long as it's not more than a few seconds, since the audience wouldn't play but just watch. edit: On the players' side, there should be as little lag as possible, of course.

                        herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • herb_fargusH
                          herb_fargus administrators @Clyde
                          last edited by

                          @clyde I started a post specific to the whole streaming thing and I think I came up\with a viable software solution, the uv4l raspidisp driver / webrtc server enables you to stream video with not a terrible latency that can be accessed from any web browser on the same network. Audio may be a bit of a trick to sort but I've tested it and it functions.

                          Further discussion on this thread if interested.

                          If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                          Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                          ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • ClydeC
                            Clyde @herb_fargus
                            last edited by

                            @herb_fargus Wow, that's great. I'll check it out.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • V
                              Valente @herb_fargus
                              last edited by

                              Great post. Unfortunately, I'm having an issue with the recording function on the RetroPie while recording gameplay. When launching an NES game, the emulator is really slow.

                              Has anyone encountered this problem?

                              Thanks,

                              Valente

                              V 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • V
                                Valente @Valente
                                last edited by Valente

                                Just to follow up, I noticed a YouTube video of a user also complaining about lag when using ffmpeg. Even with my Raspberry Pi 3B+, the lag makes NES games unplayable.

                                I've tried using other core emulators and recording settings to no avail. Let me know if anyone has any positive experiences with RetroPie and recording.

                                Thanks,

                                @Valente

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • herb_fargusH
                                  herb_fargus administrators
                                  last edited by herb_fargus

                                  More necroposting,

                                  There have been some changes with RetroArch with the video recording where in theory we should be able to use a hotkey to start/stop recordings. The latest Raspbian also has ffmpeg with hardware decoding so I wonder if that could help with some of the performance issues people have been having. though video recording is encoding a video so that may not help if it only has hardware acceleration for decoding.

                                  If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                                  Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • C
                                    corezon
                                    last edited by corezon

                                    @herb_fargus I found that relying on sleep to properly time a 30 second video was getting mixed results so I modified your script a little to crop the video afterward for a more uniform recording length.

                                    It requires that you install ffmpeg beforehand though.

                                    #!/usr/bin/env bash
                                    
                                    system="$1"
                                    emulator="$2"
                                    rompath="$3"
                                    launch="$4"
                                    rom_file="${rompath##*/}"
                                    rom="${rom_file%.*}"
                                    mediadir="$HOME/RetroPie/roms/$system/images"
                                    tmpfile="/tmp/$rom-video.mkv"
                                    videofile="$mediadir/$rom-video.mkv"
                                    
                                    
                                    # Create videos folder in system's rom folder
                                    if [[ ! -d "$mediadir" ]]; then
                                        mkdir -p "$mediadir"
                                        dialog --msgbox "$mediadir created!" 20 60 >/dev/tty
                                    fi
                                    
                                    # Launch to record gameplay on RetroArch Systems.
                                    if [[ "$launch" =~ retroarch ]]; then
                                    eval "$launch" "--record \"$tmpfile\"" & sleep 120
                                    
                                    killall retroarch 
                                    
                                    # Crop video to 30 seconds
                                    eval "ffmpeg -y -t 30" "-i \"$tmpfile\"" "-acodec copy \"$videofile\"" &
                                    
                                    exit 1
                                        else
                                        dialog --msgbox "Video recording is not supported for this system" 20 60 >/dev/tty
                                    fi
                                    
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