Using V1 Home and SnagIt and YouTube to video your golf swing

[timtim]

There have been some comments on some of the "Analyze My Golf Swing" threads here that say that the typical golf swing video posted on YouTube and then uploaded here is difficult to analyze because you can not draw lines or go frame by frame. So I thought that I would put together some of the stuff that I have been learning about digital cameras, golf swing software, screen capture software, and YouTube posting to help you improve your golf swing video uploading to YouTube, and then posting it here. The camera I use is the Canon SD800. It allows true 60 frames per second at 320 x 240 video, but only for 60 seconds maximum, but that is plenty for golf swing video. It has 28mm wide zoom equivalent to 35mm. It has a 2.5 inch LCD screen. It uses an SD memory card that I then simply plug into my laptop. It is a great camera. They do not make this camera anymore and the newer Canon SD cameras do not have 60 fps. And not all of the older Canon SD cameras have 60 fps. The SD750 and SD630 cameras have 60 fps and 3 inch LCD screens, but only 35 mm wide zoom equivalent to 35mm. They never made a camera that has 60 fps, 28mm wide, and 3 inch LCD. Darn. That would be nice. This wikipedia article has information on all the Canon SD cameras: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Digital_IXUS The Kodak Zi6 video camera is awesome, with 1280x720 resolution and 60 fps, but the lens does not zoom and the fixed focal length is not wide enough for me for the places I hit balls. The FREE swing analysis software I am using is V1 Home 2.0 that is available here: http://www.v1golfacademy.com/ The FREE screen video capture software I am using is SnagIt 5.0.2 that is available here: http://www.oldapps.com/SnagIT.php?old_snagit=21 And then the definitive description on how to post YouTube videos is copied here:

1. Get the YouTube URL. For this example, it's: http://www.youtube . com/watch?v=rHWaEjCO0Lg
2. Strip away everything but what v equals (including v=). That leaves you with rHWaEjCO0Lg .
3. Put that between [video=youtube;rHWaEjCO0Lg]http://youtube.com/watch?v=rHWaEjCO0Lg[/video] tags.

I would include that when you are posting there is a button at the top of the text edit box that is similar to the YouTube Logo except that it only says YT. You can click on that button to post YouTube videos. The key is getting that string of characters that is the YouTube video reference. When you are looking at a YouTube video, look at the URL and, well, based on the above figure out the characters that you need for that video.

[timtim]

So then this is my video of using V1 home to draw lines and to slo mo and step through the video:

[timtim]

And then this is a video about using SnagIt (The older 5.0.2 version is free):

[timtim]

One more thing, I am using Windows Vista and my camera takes .avi videos, so I had to install the VidX codec to play the videos. Don't install the software, just the Codec. It is free.

So then to make the video at the top of this page I put my camera on a tripod behind me and took the video. Then my camera allows me to edit the beginning and ending of the video and save to a new file. Then I took out my SD card and put it in my laptop. Then I opened V1 Home. Then I dragged the video into the open screen of V1 Home. Then I drew the lines. Then I started SnagIt with the input set as "region". So then when I went to V1 Home and did a Ctrl-Shit-P to start the SnagIt recording, it allowed me to window my region as only the video window. Then I pressed the next frame button in V1 Home to get the slo mo speed that I wanted. Pressed Ctrl-Shift-P to end the recording. Saved the .avi file. Uploaded that file to YouTube. Played the video on YouTube to get the URL as PBrNisEMds4 and then I wiped my mouse accross only the PBrNisEMds4 part to copy the important YouTube character reference. Then I started a new thread here, clicked on the YT button in the edit box, and pasted in those characters.

Buda bing. Buda bam. Buda boom.

[timtim]

So then there is always the discussion about where to draw the lines. I can only tell you what I am looking at on my swing. I draw the bottom line between the ball and where my hands are at 3 o'clock going back, and then the top line is between the ball and where my hands are when they are absolutely coming down. I want my clubhead to be at my hands going back (the bottom line) and I want my club to be coming down the plane at the ball (the top line) on my downswing.

This means that I can not draw the lines when I start out. I need to see the video. On the example V1 Home video above, I knew where to draw the lines on that video based on positions on the toolbar buttons above the video area that I had previously memorized by previously viewing that video and drawing those lines. On different videos those lines would end up in different places.

Of course I picked this video because it is a good example of what I would like to do all the time. I would like to have a straighter back but when I do I get back pain, I would like for my right knee to be more stable but I am not as flexible as I used to be, and I would like my right elbow to move toward the target more but when I do I do not turn as well and I push it a little bit to the right.

[timtim]

If you use the above information to draw some lines and post a video that is slower motion, like my frame by frame video, then I think that people would be able to pause your video, and restart it, and give you a better swing analysis.

[PingGKEN]

Thanks for the info. Another resource I like is swingacademy. Its sort of like the youtube for golf swings.
http://www.swingacademy.com

[Clambake]

For those that are doing self-analysis of their golf swing using video, I highly recommend "Picture Perfect Swing" by Michael Breed (the "Golf Fix" guy on Golf Channel). He wrote the book specifically as a guide for video swing analysis, and it has a lot of good descriptions of swing positions and how to use video in the analysis.

[lobsterzilla]

he Kodak Zi6 video camera is awesome, with 1280x720 resolution and 60 fps, but the lens does not zoom and the fixed focal length is not wide enough for me for the places I hit balls.

what does that mean exactly ?