I’m willing to make a small bet that a majority of Dartfishers got their software to be able to efficiently integrate video into analysis or feedback by recording directly to their PC.
I’ll also bet that just a few years back you wouldn’t have bothered taking my bet; a tool which could do this was immeasurably valuable. Furthermore, it would be exactly the right video, defined by pre-record and recording duration; the replay would be automatic and in slow motion if desired; capture could be hands-off by remote control or hands-free by sound trigger.
Then, six years ago, almost to the day, the arrival of the iPhone 4 led a big step forwards in instant video analysis on a mobile device. Today, the convenience of apps like Dartfish Express and Dartfish Note have perhaps made the connection of computers and cameras seem as inconvenient as trying to find the right spot on a miniDV tape used to be. But only for some of you. Others are asking if we have Dartfish Express available for Windows. The old conveniences may have been trumped but the possibilities of the PC and a high quality camera cannot be beaten.
Accordingly, Dartfish 9 offers a new way to get a video stream directly from a camera or camcorder. The HDMI output (that which you would usually use to connect the camera directly to a television) is passed into a little red box from AVerMedia called the Live Gamer Portable (LGP).
Out the other side comes a converted video feed which can be recorded by Dartfish via a USB connection. Because the LGP does its own conversion and compression, the data load on the computer is less than it would be with devices which rely on software to do the encoding. This makes the LGP particularly suitable for InTheAction live feedback because that tool takes whatever you give it without converting it.
If you are already doing something similar, chances are that you are using the Blackmagic H.264 Pro Recorder. The Live Gamer Portable has a couple of advantages over that: First is price; on Amazon today I’m seeing $140 US versus $470. The second is that the LGP requires no additional power source other than the USB connection to the computer.
The H.264 Pro Recorder has a pro level price but it also offers pro capabilities such as the ability to configure the output and receive SDI or analog inputs (from an event broadcaster for example). By contrast, the LGP makes all the decisions for you, including one you may not agree with, converting a 60fps 1080p input to a 30fps output. That’s probably fine for match analysis but for technical analysis of rapid movement it’s a more difficult call because, although we have plenty of gait analysts and bike fitters using the 30 fps Logitec webcam, others will tell us that they cannot see the exact moments of interest at lower frame rates. One solution would be to change your camera recording resolution to 720p (if this option is available) for which the LGP will retain the 60 fps of the source. It should also be noted that the LGP cannot be used to provide simultaneous capture from two camcorders.
If these limitations don’t limit you then the Live Gamer Portable is a cost effective way to use your camcorder with InTheAction and Live Tagging. You can read more about how it is used on the Dartfish Customer Care Platform and also discover how the LGP can also be used to record a web stream. For other live recording options, see our Live Requirements guide.
