How to record and immediately play back a short video clip

August 14, 2011 12:25 PM

When I work on my golf swing on the driving range, I would like to be able to set up a recording device (e.g. a smartphone) to record my swing, then immediately play it back without me having to touch anything.

So how it would work, ideally, would be: (1) I start the software (2) It records five seconds or so, in which time I hit the ball (3) I look up and watch a live replay of the swing I just made. (Five seconds is an arbitrary guess at the time required; other numbers may be better.)

Is anyone aware of how I might be able to set up something like this? I have access to a Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone 3GS and Nexus S. I'd love the solution to be smartphone-based, but a PC could work.

Thanks!

posted by StephenF to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Smartphones are out, they're too tiny.

Get a laptop with a webcam and VLC, and put it on a stand.

Fire up VLC, select a capture device and pick your webcam. Pause the replay for the number of seconds you want it to pause, and then unpause it. VLC will buffer the playback for that amount of time, so when you unpause it, you'll be seeing yourself five seconds ago. You can record that stream too, if you're interested.
posted by mhoye at 12:41 PM on August 14, 2011

I think you'll be disappointed by what you'll capture using any standard video equipment. The frame rate is too low and the shutter time too great; all you'll see is a blur.

When pros do this, they use special high speed cameras with very high frame rates and very fast shutter speeds. (Which means they need big lenses.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:48 PM on August 14, 2011

Unsure if this would meet your needs but you might want to see if a GoPro cam could be adapted 720p widescreen at 60 fps 4 hours recording time and the size of a tiny cell phone. Under 400 bucks.
posted by Poet_Lariat at 1:14 PM on August 14, 2011

or alternatively this for $1400 - 240 fps
posted by Poet_Lariat at 1:20 PM on August 14, 2011

The hard part is the instant playback. The easy part is the video capture. Your phone is not too small to do this nor is the video going to be too blurry. I do this everyday except for figure skating and the motion there is more complex and faster. I use V1 Pro Golf on my android phone and Kinovea on my computer.

So getting the instant playback that you can look at is the catch. I would get a cheapo video camera with a remote, hook it up to my computer and set the whole thing up on a stand. Then record a bunch of swings and then use Kinovea to do analysis.
posted by yfatah at 2:30 PM on August 14, 2011

I'm not sure if it does exactly what you're asking, but there is a consumer grade high speed camera specifically designed to analyze golf swings.
posted by fake at 8:40 AM on August 15, 2011