Question / Help Possible to capture from another X server?

I'm curious to know if OBS can somehow be setup to capture from a different x server than what it's running on. I'm asking because to solve my screen tearing issue with multi-monitors and other issues like games not launching on the correct monitor I can launch a separate x server with a game running Fullscreen in it which only displays on my 1 gaming monitor and I access it thru ctrl-alt-F8. Could OBS be told to capture that somehow? That would solve a lot of the linux multi-monitor issues that exist. Maybe a new source selection could be which display to capture, default is always :0, so the new display would be :1
 

dodgepong

Administrator
Forum Admin
I believe this was just added to the unstable PPA/latest git, if you want to try it out.
 
ok, i am testing out this new feature and it properly captures the other X server that's running BUT it's not capturing what's running fullscreen in that x server. for example borderlands 2 is currently running in fullscreen mode on that X server which is DISPLAY=:1 but it only shows this
obs_2nd_x_server.png


not sure how to capture what's being drawn fuillscreen on that particular X server
 

TiZ

New Member
I tested this out with mednafen and was able to reproduce this problem. Still though, thanks for implementing this so quickly.
 
some more testing revealed that it only captures when the X server is actively being displayed, so if it's running on tty8 and you're running obs in tty7, you can click record in obs, then switch over to tty8 play your game or what have you and as soon as you switch back to tty7, the only thing that's catprued in obs is the last image that was on screen within tty8 just prrior to switching to tty7
 

TiZ

New Member
That contradicts my testing. I started recording on tty7, switched to tty8 and started playing for a bit, then switched to tty7 to stop recording. There was no video at all.

In contrast, I have an ffmpeg script I've been using so far to do my recording and streaming. When I switch ttys, the video simply freezes until I switch back.
 
That contradicts my testing. I started recording on tty7, switched to tty8 and started playing for a bit, then switched to tty7 to stop recording. There was no video at all.

In contrast, I have an ffmpeg script I've been using so far to do my recording and streaming. When I switch ttys, the video simply freezes until I switch back.
for me the video is created (a .flv file) BUT it's only a still image of what was on tty8 when I added the screen capture source choosing display :1 and then at the end of the video a still image of what was on tty8 just prior to switching to tty7.
 
Top