Spectacle Crashes for Screenshots of Video

[Tom_ZeCat]

I do video conferences with people in other countries to help them with English, and they help me with French or German. I used to do all of these in Skype, but since its discontinuation, I do the videos in Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. The same problem occurs with Spectacle in all of these programs. I hit the PrintScreen button to take a screenshot, and it freezes up sometimes. It doesn't freeze every time. For example, today it did the first screenshot fine, but on the second one, Spectacle froze and greyed out. After I killed it and did further screenshots it worked.

I'm wondering what I might do to solve this problem. Other than this problem, everything else in Kubuntu is ultra stable. Should I try reverting to an older version of Spectacle? Or would I be better off finding a PPA for it and maybe go with a newer version? Or should I dump Spectacle and use something else? If I did that, I would need to figure out how to tie it to the PrintScreen button (or some other hotkey that works).

[Snowhog]

What video card/GPU are you using? Are you in Wayland orX11?

[Tom_ZeCat]

graphics:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06)

display protocols:
X11

[Snowhog]

Desktop, laptop, or does it happen on either? Single monitor or multiple (more than one)? If multiple, are you taking screen shots on the 'other' monitor?

[Tom_ZeCat]

Desktop, laptop, or does it happen on either? Single monitor or multiple (more than one)? If multiple, are you taking screen shots on the 'other' monitor?

Desktop, just one monitor. It's a Dell desktop and a Dell monitor. It doesn't happen if I'm doing a screenshot of something that's not a video conferencing program. It's done it in Skype (back when that worked), Teams, and Zoom. It may have done it in Google Meet, but I rarely use that one so I'm not sure.

[Snowhog]

claydoh will do a head slap for my posting an AI 'answer', but it might lead you down a path that provides a solution.

AI Overview

Spectacle, the KDE screenshot tool, crashing when taking screenshots of videos is a known issue, often related to how it handles external monitors or specific video player interactions. A common workaround is to use the "Rectangular Region" capture mode instead of "Current Screenshot".

Here's a breakdown of the problem and potential solutions:

Possible Causes:

• External Monitor Issues:
  Spectacle can sometimes struggle with screenshots on external monitors, particularly with the "Current Screenshot" option.
• Video Player Interactions:
• The way video players handle screen updates or compositing can interfere with Spectacle's ability to capture the desired frame.
• Security Policy:
• In some cases, the message bus security policy might block Spectacle's access to the video frame.
• Timeout Issues:
• The reply from the video player might timeout, causing Spectacle to crash.
• Recent Updates:
• Recent updates to Plasma or Spectacle might have introduced regressions affecting screenshot functionality, particularly when dealing with videos.

Workarounds and Solutions:

• Use "Rectangular Region": Instead of "Current Screenshot," try selecting a rectangular region to capture. This often bypasses the issues associated with the full-screen capture.
• Restart Spectacle: Sometimes, a simple restart of Spectacle can resolve the problem.
• Switch to Flameshot: If the issue persists, consider switching to another screenshot tool like Flameshot.
• Check for Plasma Updates: Ensure your system is up to date, as fixes might be included in newer Plasma versions.
• Check for Spectacle Updates: Look for updates to Spectacle itself.
• Adjust Refresh Rates: If using external monitors, ensure they have the same refresh rate.
• Disable and Re-enable: Try disabling and re-enabling Spectacle in your system settings.
• Restart your computer: Sometimes a reboot can resolve underlying issues.
• Clear Clipboard: In some cases, a large or problematic clipboard content might cause issues. Try clearing the clipboard before taking a screenshot.
• Check for Hotkey Conflicts: Ensure your hotkeys are not conflicting with other applications or Spectacle's own settings.
• Consider X11: If using Wayland, try switching to X11 to see if the problem persists.
• File a Bug Report: If none of the above work, consider filing a bug report with KDE, providing details about your system and the specific steps to reproduce the issue.

By trying these solutions and workarounds, you should be able to resolve Spectacle's crashing when taking screenshots of videos.

[Tom_ZeCat]

Thanks for the very detailed help. I'm going to try switching to Flameshot. If I hate it, I can always switch back. I'm not so in love with Spectacle that I feel like I have to use it. It was easy to set Flameshot to come up via the PrintScreen button instead of Spectacle. The interface is quite different, but I can adapt. It has you select the screen area by default. I can live with that. Then Ctrl+S saves it to the Pictures folder by default, or you can change it. I think this will work. I appreciate your help. The real test will be in tomorrow's video conference. We'll see what happens.

[claydoh]

claydoh will do a head slap for my posting an AI 'answer', but it might lead you down a path that provides a solution.

Only if you didn't double-check it
6 months ago, it probably would have been wrong, and thus a slap


But. without digging int, this seems odd:

Use "Rectangular Region": Instead of "Current Screenshot,"

If nothing else than the unhelpful link, but mainly for "current screenshot" which does not seem right/is odd