FRC Video Splitter (Beta)

[cbale2000]

I'm loving version 2, much easier to use and the data pull feature actually works correctly. Honestly I wish I had this a few weeks ago when I ran the stream for our local district, it would have saved us a lot of time.

A few suggestions:

• It would be nice if there was an option to add a fixed amount of time to the end of a match, since it seems the post result time does not always sync with when the scores actually appear.
• The current system doesn't appear to handle multiple source files very well (for when recording software automatically breaks up recordings into like 4gb parts). It would be great if there was a way to have multiple sources or to have the splitter recognize the length of the source file and prompt for the next file when it gets to the end of the source instead of just looping back to the beginning and generating incorrect match videos.
• Not sure if it's a limitation of the splitter or how the FIRST API is utilized at events, but it would be great to have more support for off-season competitions.

[EmileH]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

• Not sure if it's a limitation of the splitter or how the FIRST API is utilized at events, but it would be great to have more support for off-season competitions.

That's a limitation of the FRC API. If an event is not publishing it's match scores/times and other FMS data to the FIRST API then the video splitter cannot get time data, etc. You can however use manual match time inputs for off season events that don't have published match start times, which takes about 20 minutes to scrub through and find for a day of video.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by EmileH

That's a limitation of the FRC API. If an event is not publishing it's match scores/times and other FMS data to the FIRST API then the video splitter cannot get time data, etc. You can however use manual match time inputs for off season events that don't have published match start times, which takes about 20 minutes to scrub through and find for a day of video.

I figured as much, do you know if there are any limitations on which events can publish to the FIRST API (can an FTA just check a box and turn it on, or is it something that needs to be set up through FIRST)? I did notice IRI is on the list of supported events.

Does anyone know if there is, perhaps, a log file generated locally by the FMS that could be saved on a flash drive and loaded manually for match time data?

I have used the previous versions of FRC video splitter so I'm quite familiar with setting the times manually, but it would be nice if importing the data was a feature that I could make use of more than just one time a year.

[JohnFogarty]

I like this application quite a bit.

I did notice a problem with the synchronization from the TBA match times to the actual competition video. It didn't work for me at all with the GADAL event.

I tried inputting the start time in the video of the first match I wanted and then only included matches that I wanted the program to spit from the main video file. 5632's matches were the only ones I was interested in spitting from the video file and I got wildly wrong generated time stamps.

Everything worked great if I manually input the match start time-stamp.

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I'm loving version 2, much easier to use and the data pull feature actually works correctly. Honestly I wish I had this a few weeks ago when I ran the stream for our local district, it would have saved us a lot of time.

A few suggestions:

• It would be nice if there was an option to add a fixed amount of time to the end of a match, since it seems the post result time does not always sync with when the scores actually appear.
• The current system doesn't appear to handle multiple source files very well (for when recording software automatically breaks up recordings into like 4gb parts). It would be great if there was a way to have multiple sources or to have the splitter recognize the length of the source file and prompt for the next file when it gets to the end of the source instead of just looping back to the beginning and generating incorrect match videos.
• Not sure if it's a limitation of the splitter or how the FIRST API is utilized at events, but it would be great to have more support for off-season competitions.

• Great idea, I've added a setting for this.
• The current workflow for multiple source files is to add your first source, include only the matches on that source, split the videos, and then repeat for subsequent sources. When you're done, include all videos before uploading to YouTube.
• I think Emile answered this well.

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

I like this application quite a bit.

I did notice a problem with the synchronization from the TBA match times to the actual competition video. It didn't work for me at all with the GADAL event.

I tried inputting the start time in the video of the first match I wanted and then only included matches that I wanted the program to spit from the main video file. 5632's matches were the only ones I was interested in spitting from the video file and I got wildly wrong generated time stamps.

Everything worked great if I manually input the match start time-stamp.

This wasn't one of the intended use cases for Splitter when it was conceived, but it shouldn't be too hard to implement. I'll work on this for the next release.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

• The current workflow for multiple source files is to add your first source, include only the matches on that source, split the videos, and then repeat for subsequent sources. When you're done, include all videos before uploading to YouTube.

Would it be possible then to add the ability to select multiple matches on the match list at once and check or uncheck them as a group? Not a deal breaker obviously, but it would be a nice way to eliminate the tedium of unchecking 60+ matches one at a time every time you load a video file.

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

• I think Emile answered this well.

Any thoughts on my followup comments:

...do you know if there are any limitations on which events can publish to the FIRST API (can an FTA just check a box and turn it on, or is it something that needs to be set up through FIRST)? I did notice IRI is on the list of supported events.

Does anyone know if there is, perhaps, a log file generated locally by the FMS that could be saved on a flash drive and loaded manually for match time data?

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Would it be possible then to add the ability to select multiple matches on the match list at once and check or uncheck them as a group? Not a deal breaker obviously, but it would be a nice way to eliminate the tedium of unchecking 60+ matches one at a time every time you load a video file.

Already there! Shift-select multiple matches, right click, and include/exclude away.

Example

Also, shift-selecting, then checking/unchecking the include checkbox will set all selected matches to that checkbox's state.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

Already there! Shift-select multiple matches, right click, and include/exclude away.

Example

Also, shift-selecting, then checking/unchecking the include checkbox will set all selected matches to that checkbox's state.

Good to know, I attempted to select multiple boxes and then left click one of them (works with some other programs) but had not tried right click.

Originally Posted by plnyyanks

FMS does provide a cycle time report, which (IIRC) gives the elapsed time between match starts. I bet this could be used.

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

The cycle time report (which is able to be generated on the off-season FMS) includes the start time of each match. It usually has the elapsed time between matches, the exception is if there is a break between the matches such as an audience selection, field time-out or lunch.

I'll have to remember to ask the FTAs for this during our next off-season event. Ty, any chance FRC Video Splitter could have a feature to load this data from a file to generate times?

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I'll have to remember to ask the FTAs for this during our next off-season event. Ty, any chance FRC Video Splitter could have a feature to load this data from a file to generate times?

If someone can get me an example report, I'll give it a shot. No guarantees on when it'll be done by, GameSense is pretty busy between now and the end of CMP.

[Jean Tenca]

This is an awesome tool. Thank you for this!

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

If someone can get me an example report, I'll give it a shot. No guarantees on when it'll be done by, GameSense is pretty busy between now and the end of CMP.

To be fair, since it would only need to be used for off-season events there's no real rush to have it done between now and CMP.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

I figured as much, do you know if there are any limitations on which events can publish to the FIRST API (can an FTA just check a box and turn it on, or is it something that needs to be set up through FIRST)? I did notice IRI is on the list of supported events.

I believe that use of the FIRST API has to be sorted out with HQ in advance. Most (if not all?) builds of the Offseason FMS have data publishing disabled, so it's more complex than the FTA just checking a box in FMS. Additionally, I don't know if the API is just returning events on their calendar, or if they're actually planning on posting live data for it.

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Does anyone know if there is, perhaps, a log file generated locally by the FMS that could be saved on a flash drive and loaded manually for match time data?

FMS does provide a cycle time report, which (IIRC) gives the elapsed time between match starts. I bet this could be used.

[rtfgnow]

Originally Posted by plnyyanks

FMS does provide a cycle time report, which (IIRC) gives the elapsed time between match starts. I bet this could be used.

The cycle time report (which is able to be generated on the off-season FMS) includes the start time of each match. It usually has the elapsed time between matches, the exception is if there is a break between the matches such as an audience selection, field time-out or lunch.

[plnyyanks]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

The cycle time report (which is able to be generated on the off-season FMS) includes the start time of each match. It usually has the elapsed time between matches, the exception is if there is a break between the matches such as an audience selection, field time-out or lunch.

Right you are. I can confirm that this year's Cycle Time report contains the start and end timestamps for each match (it also has the Referee score commit time, ref elapsed time, and cycle time)