Re: [xmca] Video synchronization software

Noldus software make some good products that may serve your purposes. I
think there is a program called The Observer or ...I haven't used it
myself but from what I have read it may be something to consider. It can
however be expensive....

Here is the link to one of their newsletters -

http://www.noldus.com/support/nnl/latest_issue_human.html

Sarah

Mark Chen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is exactly what the Everyday Science and Technology Group at the U of
> Washington led by Phil Bell are doing for one of their studies for the LIFE
> center. The way the videos are being synced is through a video editor and
> exported (using Final Cut Pro), though an automated tool that does it on the
> fly would be terrific. The problem is that the audio feeds for the
> different camera angles are slightly different (multiple mics focusing on
> different locations in the room). Also, some of the kids were not consented
> so rendering it in Final Cut let us blur some of the kids' faces. (I'm not
> really part of the group but was hired over the past summer to do this video
> editing.) When the people doing the fieldwork started recording, they would
> slap their hands together or use a camera flash captured by both video
> cameras so that syncing would be easier back in the editing room.
>
> If you find something that can do the syncing automatically though, please
> share!
>
> mark
>
> On 11/4/07, Mark Smith <mpsmith@udel.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone-
>>
>>
>>
>> I am involved in a research project in which we are videotaping a
>> classroom
>> from 2 different vantage points. For our analysis, we would like a
>> software
>> tool that could display the two videos side-by-side, and synchronize them.
>> In other words, we want to be able to display the classroom events from
>> two
>> different recordings, and to synchronize what's recorded on the videos so
>> that what is being displayed on the screen in "Video 1" is going on at the
>> same time as what is displayed in "Video 2." We wondered if anyone is
>> familiar with a software tool that could do this.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here are the essential features:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. The ability to play two videos simultaneously and to pause,
>> rewind,
>> fast forward them both together. Video 1 would display in a window, and
>> video 2 would display in the other window. When you hit one "play" button,
>> both videos would play. When you hit one "pause" button, you could pause
>> the
>> two videos, or rewind them back the same amount of time. It's important
>> for
>> this to be one button, rather than 2 (which would be difficult to manage
>> during analysis).
>>
>> 2. An alternative would be a program that could synchronize two
>> videos
>> and allow them to be exported as one video file, which could be displayed
>> in
>> one window using a conventional video player. Ideally, it would be nice if
>> both features existed in the same program.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here are some optional features that would be nice to have:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. Ideally, it would be nice if you could "save" the synchronized
>> videos as a "project," so that the next time you open the program, the
>> videos are already synchronized. Alternatively, this could be done
>> manually
>> each time we opened the program if we could manually set parameters (but
>> this is an extra step, of course).
>>
>> 2. Perhaps there is some program out there with the ability to
>> synchronize two videos in time automatically based on sound patterns? The
>> same recorded sound wave pattern could signal the program to synchronize
>> the
>> 2 videos at the same point.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any help is appreciated, including what search terms to look for (video
>> synchronization?), any corporations that might make such software, or any
>> researchers you're aware of that may have done this kind of research
>> before.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for your help,
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark Smith
>>
>>
>>
>> -----------
>> Mark Smith
>>
>> School of Education
>>
>> University of Delaware
>>
>> Newark, DE 19716 USA
>>
>> mpsmith@Udel.edu
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Sarah Hyde 
Lecturer, Medical Education
Centre for Innovation in Professional Health Education and Research (CIPHER)
www.cipher.med.usyd.edu.au/ 
Faculty of Medicine & Faculty of Dentistry
The University of Sydney, 2006
Mailing Address: PO Box 1191, Orange, 2800
Ph. +61 2 6392 8737 Fax. +61 2 6392 8739
shyde@med.usyd.edu.au
http://www.medfac.usyd.edu.au/people/academics/profiles/sdean.php
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