There are many reasons to need to record a video or take a screenshot of the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick’s screen. Whether you are having an issue and want to show someone what’s happening or just want to record your gameplay, the process is very easy. This guide will show you how to take screenshots and record videos of your screen.
Screen Image Recording
To save a screenshot image of your Fire TV or Fire Tv Stick screen, you simply need to connect to the device via ADB and run the command:
Your screenshot will be saved in the
and delete it from your device by running the command:
On macOS, this can all be done in a single step by running the command:
Screen Video Recording
Hardware Method
For the best recording of the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick’s screen, it’s best to use an external hardware video capture device. This is superior to apps that record via software. I personally use the Elgato HD60. The main thing to be aware of is the Fire TV’s HDCP copy protection. Most capture devices, including the Elgato HD60, will see only a blank black screen from the Fire TV. To remedy this, you need to connect an HDMI Splitter in between the Fire TV and the capture device. So the connection order is: Fire TV > HDMI Splitter > Capture Device > TV.
Software Method
There are several apps that can be sideloaded onto the Fire TV to record a video of the screen. If your device is running Fire OS 5, it does not need to be rooted for these apps to work. One such app that I’ve been told works well is Rec. (Screen Recorder). You can download the APK here. I have not thoroughly tested many screen recording apps, so there may be others that work better. Chime in below in the comments with suggestions of other screen recording apps you’ve tried.
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adb shell screenrecord –size 1280×720 /sdcard/video.mp4
Doesn’t seem to work on my FireTV for some reason.
sh: screenrecord: not found
Any clues to why?
If you haven’t added the android tools to your path then this might work for you;
./adb shell screenrecord –size 1920×1080 –bit-rate 13000000 /sdcard/video.mp4
If adb shell screenrecord –size 1280×720 /sdcard/video.mp4 records, what is the command to stop the recording?
Just press Ctrl + C to stop the command from executing. Btw, I tried screen recording. The recording is choppy at best and also any content shows up just black. The later may be due to DRM, but can we get a non choppy recording using some change in pamameters?
the recording app that was sugested works fine for me. It does create some minor glitches but nothing to prevent from still making a decent review video. I’ve made several and they are pretty much fine.
Okay thanks later
Okay thanks later What All Do You
This was recorded on my Fire Stick using the suggested screen recording app. Everything works. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxb2T7Z7LmpASjNKSE9WTl9qYms/view?usp=drivesdk
How did you transfer the video from Fire TV onto your PC? And how did you control the app? Did you use a cursor app?
Install the aptoide app on your fire stick. You want ot get this app right here: https://com-screen-rec-recorder.en.aptoide.com/
You will need a cursor app on a smart device like Mouse Toggle or Cetusplay to navigate most of the recording app. I commonly set the recording app to about 15 to 20 seconds to give me time to prepare for what i’m recording. Install ES File explorer from Amazon store and scroll to Network/click it and then down to network manager/turn on. Using an ftp client you can wirelessly connect adding in the ftp number which is basically the ip address of the fire stick. If you are using Windows 10 you should also be able to connect Fire Stick to PC USB and open just like you would a smart phone that’s connected.
Doesn’t work. Tell me I must specify output file for adb shell screenrecord –size 1280×720 /sdcard/video.mp4. Can you help?
Figured it out. The magic word is screen.mp4. Not video. So it’s like this….adb shell screenrecord /sdcard/screen.mp4
You can also specify bitrate by calling
adb shell screenrecord –bit-rate 12000000 /sdcard/screen.mp4
which now makes it 12mp/s recording.
OK skip the bitrate line. It didn’t work for me. but this command works fine as it records the video already at 12 mb/s with a 1920×1080 ratio anyhow. This is my first full video review recorded from the Fire Stick using the suggested app called Rec. (Screen Recorder) https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bxb2T7Z7LmpASVRtN0F6SEtvYWc/view?usp=sharing
I get screen record error. I can’t believe there is still no tutorial on how to actually screen record or even cast the fire TV screen to your PC. I have searched everywhere.
I use SCR Pro 2.
Donwload: https://apkpure.com/scr-pro-2/com.jostltd.scrpro2
It also works without root privileges.
The Settings can not be called. Therefore, no sound can be recorded.
This app captures video as MP4 in 720p (see result in folder ‘ScreenRecorder’ on your sdcard.
Attention, the app requires a mouse.
It doesn’t work when I stop recording it says error then I can’t play video says it’s unplayable
At least you get an error. just crashes on me when I execute a function.
I think this one here will be the best you’ll get until someone develops a third party recording app specifically for the Fire TV/Stick. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectrl.rec and I have put the bug for it in a developers ear so we’ll see what happens.
How about on an amazon tablet? Thanks
Are you sure about the hardware method? The amazon page you link to in this article explicitly says “HDCP COMPLIANT – WILL NOT BYPASS HDCP SIGNAL”. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks,
Ben
By “WILL NOT BYPASS” they mean it will not ignore HDCP. It will perform the HDCP handshake correctly and allow you to record.
I’ve been trying the command lines to record and I keep getting “Must specify output file” then refers me to the help which has nothing for it.
Is this method still working? I’ve tried the SOFTWARE method with both the REC app and the command line method. I can record everything on the screen except for the actual video and audio. Trying this on a rooted Fire TV 2.
If you get the recording app I listed in a previous comment from Aptoide, you can record everything.
I did use that, I tried the app (REC) as well as the command line. It records movements, menues, everything except the Amazon video and audio. I’ve tried this on both a FireTV and a ShieldTV and it’s just black video.
So nothing? no clue why it would have a black screen?
I will try it on my fire stick. But I’m really not comfortable about discussing recording the Prime app other than for review purposes. I know it captures the video screen of a lot of third party side loaded apps. This is however on the 2nd gen fire stick.
I get it, but not really :) I’m a Prime subscriber, I paid more for the episodes, they’re not available on home media. I’m not sure what moral line this crosses, but it seems like not a very important one…
I tried it and couldn’t record the screen either. It’s a safe guard to prevent piracy of Prime video content.
OK, well thanks for confirming it’s not working for someone else!
Yep sure thing.
Where do I get the mouse app from? I was able to get a screen capture with anoth app but just a black screen like everyone else. I am about to just mirror it to the pc and be done with it, but I am picky.
I managed to get this working 30 mins later by fooling around. It can be done with software only. It is very glitchy and you have to know exactly what buttons it likes to be pressed. Once I got the hang of it I was able to do it I just recorded a 10 minute video.
Mind sharing how you did it??
It was a total pain Leon. I ended up using the REC app as mentioned above. Coupled with a APEK that allowed me to use the remote as a cursor. I then had to take it a step further and change some of the settings in our EC because it would record but give me a black screen. I change the video resolution to what was mentioned at the beginning of this thread and I disabled audio recording for some reason changing those to settings started capturing the screen. The Fire TV runs a lot slower than it normally does but it gets the job done
The best thing is to just get a decent HDMI capture device and HDMI splitter to records fire stick to pc. Everything else is redundant but I have spoke with cetusplay developers about a video mirroring function.
I don’t know what APEK and EC are ;)
Does the splitter + elgato capture card setup only work for Fire TV Stick (Gen 1 or 2) because that device version only has HDCP 1.4 instead of 2.2? I tried this setup using later FTV devices running HDCP and when the video plays, the copy protection blocks it.
I think, depending on the splitter, it should work universally. I used an Nvidia Shield TV, though I never actually tried a Fire TV.
Thanks. I used a Rocketfish HDMI splitter with the Elgato capture card and the copy protection blocked the video (it appears green). Is it because my splitter is too “high quality” and therefore still lets the copy protection pass through?
This is what I use and it strips HDCP from anything
https://amzn.to/2vhYuik
Thanks. I’ll try that. But have you actually tried capturing video from Fire TV Cube with this splitter?