I get an X11 BadAlloc (full run output below) when recording desktop areas.  I think this has to do with large desktop areas.  It happens with istanbul on my 1280x800 screen.  I also see this error when running any GTK app on my work screen (1600x8 x 1200x3...yeah it's huge).  So this specific error is to do with istanbul but I suspect it may be even deeper in GTK.

How to reproduce the bug
* launch istanbul
* start recording the whole desktop
* stop the recording
* note that the save dialog pops-up (briefly)
* the application crashes with the below error.  The application crashes with or without attempted user input.

I've had a look at X, but I'm no expert.  The output below seems to be a dump of the XSyncAlarmError struct in extensions/sync.h.

This is a report for istanbul version 0.2.1 available in feisty fawn.  O.2.1 dosn't seem to be a version option in bugzilla.

DEBUG: final pipeline: istximagesrc name=videosource ! video/x-raw-rgb,framerate=10/1 ! videorate ! ffmpegcolorspace ! videoscale method=1 ! video/x-raw-yuv,width=1280,height=800,framerate=10/1 ! theoraenc ! oggmux name=mux ! filesink location=/tmp/tmp8JQvNK
SaveWindow with file: /tmp/tmp8JQvNK
The program 'istanbul' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)'.
  (Details: serial 45 error_code 11 request_code 141 minor_code 19)
  (Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
   that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
   To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
   option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
   backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)