The VideoLAN Forums

I'm looking for a way to use VLC to only record a segment of my desktop.

I've checked via google, the VLC wiki and the VLC forums, but I'm having a hard time finding some documentation. From the standard 11.04 Ubuntu repo, I have vlc 1.1.4 running, and I'm trying to record my desktop.
Under: Media->Open Capture Device, tab Capture Device: Capture mode: Desktop, there is a checkbox labeled "show more options".
In there there is an Edit Options box. I've got it to record, but nowhere can I find the documentation for the "Edit Options" section that will allow me to only record a segment of my desktop.

To capture a window: "vlc window://$XID" but you may be better off using the playlist entries under My Computer / Capture-
To capture a sub-rectangle of the desktop: "vlc screen:// --screen-left $X --screen-top $Y --screen-width $W --screen-height $H"

Thank you for replying, Rémi.

I'm using ubuntu's twinview feature, so the desktop space on both monitors are on the same X11 instance.

As for "My Computer / Capture-", I don't understand at all. Where would I find this? Keep in mind, I’m using an Ubuntu 10.04, as I stated in my original post.

I've tried the "vlc screen:// --screen-left $X --screen-top $Y --screen-width $W --screen-height $H" command, and I can get the stream, but I can't get it to output to a file. I'm comfortable using terminal, but I need a way to output the file as mp4 or such.

VLC 1.0 is not supported anymore. If you want support for that, please contact Ubuntu.