I've installed ffmpeg on an AWS instance and have been unsuccessfuly trying to record an X session, to which I've connected over x11rdp, with the client being Microsoft Remote Desktop.
Here's the terminal command I am using and its output:
$ ffmpeg -f x11grab -s `xdpyinfo | grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'` -r 25 -i $DISPLAY -pix_fmt yuv420p out.mp4
ffmpeg version N-80023-gd55568d Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3)
configuration: --prefix=/home/ubuntu/ffmpeg_build --pkg-config-flags=--static --extra-cflags=-I/home/ubuntu/ffmpeg_build/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/ubuntu/ffmpeg_build/lib --bindir=/home/ubuntu/bin --enable-gpl --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-x11grab --enable-nonfree
libavutil 55. 24.100 / 55. 24.100
libavcodec 57. 42.100 / 57. 42.100
libavformat 57. 36.100 / 57. 36.100
libavdevice 57. 0.101 / 57. 0.101
libavfilter 6. 45.100 / 6. 45.100
libswscale 4. 1.100 / 4. 1.100
libswresample 2. 0.101 / 2. 0.101
libpostproc 54. 0.100 / 54. 0.100
[x11grab @ 0x315b520] XFixes not available, cannot draw the mouse.
[x11grab @ 0x315b520] Stream #0: not enough frames to estimate rate; consider increasing probesize
Input #0, x11grab, from ':11.0':
Duration: N/A, start: 1463527353.437056, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (BGR[0] / 0x524742), bgr0, 1920x1080, 25 fps, 1000k tbr, 1000k tbn
File 'out.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX AVX2 FMA3 LZCNT BMI2
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] profile High, level 4.0
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] 264 - core 142 r2389 956c8d8 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2014 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
[mp4 @ 0x3162e20] Using AVStream.codec to pass codec parameters to muxers is deprecated, use AVStream.codecpar instead.
Output #0, mp4, to 'out.mp4':
Metadata:
encoder : Lavf57.36.100
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 1920x1080, q=2-31, 25 fps, 12800 tbn
Metadata:
encoder : Lavc57.42.100 libx264
Side data:
cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
Stream mapping:
Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (rawvideo (native) -> h264 (libx264))
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame= 306 fps= 63 q=-1.0 Lsize= 27kB time=00:00:12.12 bitrate= 18.2kbits/s speed=2.51x
video:22kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 19.554649%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] frame I:2 Avg QP: 7.50 size: 426
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] frame P:77 Avg QP: 9.14 size: 77
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] frame B:227 Avg QP:12.67 size: 69
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] consecutive B-frames: 1.0% 0.0% 1.0% 98.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] mb I I16..4: 100.0% 0.0% 0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] mb P I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% P16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip:100.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] mb B I16..4: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% B16..8: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% direct: 0.0% skip:100.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] 8x8 transform intra:0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% inter: 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] i16 v,h,dc,p: 99% 0% 1% 0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] i8c dc,h,v,p: 100% 0% 0% 0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0%
[libx264 @ 0x31644e0] kb/s:14.61
Opening out.mp4 in vlc results in a black screen.
I've reviewed a series of forum posts as well as probably all of the questions/answers in stackexchange and have attempted just as many solutions, but none seem to do the trick.
Interestingly, this question lists attempting the following:
$ xwd -root -silent -display :99.0 | xwdtopnm |pnmtojpeg > screen.jpg
That command definitely worked as well, substituting $DISPLAY for :99.0.
