Re: [xmca] Video synchronization software

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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>

-- 
Mark Chen | grad student | games researcher/designer | tech instructor | U
of Wa.
My games research and life in academia blog: markdangerchen.net
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