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INSTALL.md

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Installation instructions for 'vrecordX'

For Xubuntu 20.04.6

The installation consists of 2 different components:

  1. vrecordX
    (bash-GUI + CLI tools in the background)

  2. Blackmagic drivers
    (DesktopVideo tools and MediaExpress)

vrecordX: Install "make":

Most of the setup and installation is done using Makefiles in the good old "GNU Make" syntax.

GNU make is a tool well-known and widely supported among program developers. You'll also need the git tool to checkout vrecordX's code:

Simply install make and git like this:

$ sudo apt install make git

Download (clone) git repository

Create a subfolder in /opt and assign full ownership (write access) to the currently logged-in user:

$ sudo mkdir /opt/vrecordX && sudo chown $USER /opt/vrecordX

Download the current copy of vrecordX from Github into that folder:

$ git clone https://github.com/ArkThis/vrecordX.git /opt/vrecordX

Install prerequisites

Each folder of vrecordX contains a "Makefile" that holds all the instructions necessary to perform the setup.

In the folder where you have the copy of vrecordX, run the following to build and install all required non-packaged dependencies (like FFmpeg, GTKdialog):

$ cd /opt/vrecordX

$ make all

Once that has completed successfully, run install:

$ make install

This will copy the built binaries into your operating system's folders.

Optional: Install pre-configured vrecord config profiles

Simply install the desired profile by "make $(CONFIG_NAME)"

  • $ make conf_pal: Installs a good starting profile for ingest of tape-based, (mostly analog) SD PAL video. Captures in FFV1.3/PCM in MKV - and is intended for long-term preservation.

Blackmagic Drivers

Download from Website

To download the Blackmagic Decklink drivers, go to their Support Page for 'Capture & Playback':

On the left-hand side, you should see the "Desktop Video" downloads: "Software Update" and "Developer SDK".

For example:

Desktop Video 12.4.1 => Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1.tar.gz

You may try the following download-link to get the right package directly (if Blackmagic allows): https://swr.cloud.blackmagicdesign.com/DesktopVideo/v12.4.1/Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1.tar.gz

The SDK source code files are already included in this git repository, so you only need to download the "Desktop Video" package - for Linux. You may skip entering your personal information for Blackmagic, and use the "Download Only" option in the lower-left corner:

Unpack the Debian Packages

Within the tarball (.tar.gz) file, extract only the following 3 packages in the subfolder deb/x86_64 (for 64bit Debian-based systems):

For example:

  • desktopvideo_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb
  • desktopvideo-gui_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb
  • mediaexpress_3.8.1a4_amd64.deb

Install the Debian Packages

$ sudo apt install \
./desktopvideo_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb \
./desktopvideo-gui_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb \
./mediaexpress_3.8.1a4_amd64.deb

(Update the command accordingly to match the version numbers you're actually installing)

You may need to follow apt's instructions for automatically resolving required package dependencies. After a successful installation, please open the Blackmagic configuration tool to see if your card(s) show up; Then reboot the machine to finalize the driver installation.

NOTE: It is important that you've started any Blackmagic Tool at least once after driver installation on a fresh system. Otherwise, other tools (eg FFmpeg) may say they cannot find any capture card.

Starting vrecordX GUI

$ cd /opt/vrecordX
./vrecord