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Mac Console: Using the Coach and Referee Review feature

Need to see the video of a play again? The Coach and Referee Review feature could be your most valuable player!

About the Coach and Referee Review feature

The SlingStudio Console Coach and Referee Review feature is a great way to get a quick second look at a section of video ... from any of your video sources. Here's how you can use it:

  • Video review for a referee: Without interrupting live streaming, a referee could review recent video for fouls, penalties, offsides, and so on. The official can review recordings from all of the video sources … in slow motion, and/or frame-by-frame, as desired … to see what's needed to arrive at a confident decision.
  • Coaching practice: During team practice or one-on-one drills, coaches can review recordings from all video sources to provide guidance to a single player … or to an entire team. Slow motion and frame-by-frame viewing make it easy to see the action.

The Coach and Referee Review feature gives you a way to review video from the most recent recording within your SlingStudio project file—while the recording is still taking place in the background.

You can choose to review any of these video types (if you selected them under RECORDING OPTIONS when you created your SlingStudio project file):

  • QUAD: A Quad-View displaying up to four of your video sources at once;
  • PGM: The currently-selected Program source;
  • 1/2/3/4 (individual sources): Up to four of your video sources.

Choose the duration of video that you want to see via the Coach and Referee Review feature settings. The default setting is one minute, but you can choose to review up to the previous ten minutes.

For example, if you set the video duration to be 1 minute, then every time you use the Coach and Referee Review feature, you'll be able to review the most recent 1 minute segment of video. While you're doing that, new video continues to be recorded in the background.

You can scrub back and forth, quickly or slowly. When you do that:

  • White hash marks indicate frames
  • Orange hash marks help you see whether the video is scrolling backward or forward
  • Red hash marks indicate the beginning/end of the video segment, so you can see when you're looping back to the beginning (or end).

Playback controls offer options for playback speed and audio volume (if the video source records audio).

Feature settings let you choose the default playback speed (0.25x, 0.5x, 1x and 2x) and the duration of the video (how far back from the present moment) that you want to review.

Using the Coach and Referee Review feature

The Coach and Referee Review feature is available at any time, as long as you're using SlingStudio to record video.

To use the Coach and Referee Review feature:

  1. Create a SlingStudio project file with the settings that you prefer. While you're doing that, choose at least one of these options in the RECORDING OPTIONS settings box:
    1. Program
    2. Quad-View
    3. Video Sources & Line-In Audio

    NOTE: The only requirement for using the Coach and Referee Review feature is that you choose at least one of those recording options. But to get the most from the Coach and Referee Review feature, choose all of them.

  2. Once you've got your SlingStudio project set up, begin recording video as you normally would.
  3. When you want to review a section of video, with the recording still active, click Review from the Shortcuts in the lower-right corner of the main screen.
    The Review window opens.
  4. Click the video that you want to review:
    1. QUAD—Quad-View
      Within Quad-View, you can click any one of the individual video sources (1, 2, 3, or 4) to review just that one source.
    2. PGM—The video source that is currently in the Program window.
    3. 1, 2, 3, 4—Video sources 1 through 4, as applicable for your project.
      Note: You see a message if your chosen video source is not available.
  5. In the lower-left corner of the Review Mode window, click the play arrow to begin reviewing your video.
  6. Scrub (move) back/forth as you like by dragging the white vertical cursor (along the blue/gray line).
  7. If you want to watch the video at a different playback speed: Use the control in the lower-right corner of the Review Mode window to adjust playback speed.
  8. If you want to lengthen or shorten the duration of the video segment that you're watching:
    1. Use the gear icon (in the lower-right corner) to access the Review Settings dialog.
    2. Use the controls to change the Review video duration setting.
    3. Click the Review video speed drop down and make a choice.
    4. Click OK when you're done.
  9. When you're done reviewing video in the Review Mode box, click its close box.

About the review video that you see

The video that you're reviewing is the most recently recorded video at the moment when you opened the Coach and Referee Review window.

The length of the video segment that you can review is the duration that is specified in the Review video duration setting.

When the Coach and Referee Review dialog box opens, SlingStudio Console continues recording video in the background—but the video that you see in the Coach and Referee Review dialog box is not updated.

To see video that was recorded while you had the Coach and Referee Review window open, close the Coach and Referee Review box and then immediately reopen it. You're now reviewing the most recently recorded video.

Doesn't SlingStudio Console already have an Instant Replay feature?

The Coach and Referee Review feature is very different from the Instant Replay feature:

  • The Instant Replay feature lets a creator re-broadcast the last few seconds of program video (and only program video) according to the Instant Replay settings that he or she has specified. If desired, SlingStudio Console broadcasts an onscreen "bug" that says REPLAY while the instant replay is happening.
  • By contrast, the Coach and Referee Review feature offers an opportunity to replay a segment of video privately (that is, without viewers seeing what you're doing) from all types of video sources: Quad-View, Program, and sources 1, 2, 3, and 4. While you are using the Coach and Referee Review feature, SlingStudio Console continues recording/streaming video in the background according to the project settings that you have specified.

Why am I getting an error about recording video?

The Coach and Referee Review feature is only available when SlingStudio Console is recording video. To use the Coach and Referee Review feature, start recording video, and wait long enough for a useful amount of video to have been recorded. SlingStudio Console alerts you if there is less than one minute of recorded video available.

Why can't I see a particular video type?

In SlingStudio Console project settings, under RECORDING OPTIONS, be sure to select any/all of these: Quad-View, Program, Video Sources & Line-In Audio. Only the ones that you select are available for use with the Coach and Referee Review feature.

NOTE: To get the most from the Coach and Referee Review feature, choose all recording types.

To add (or remove) a video type that you want to use with the Coach and Referee Review feature:

  1. Stop recording.
  2. Change project settings to add/remove the video type you want (if adding a video type, make sure that your recording media has enough disk space).
  3. Resume recording and record enough video to make the Coach and Referee Review feature useful.
    The Coach and Referee Review feature reflects the changes that you made.

I don't understand why the timer reads the way it does

Remember that the Coach and Referee Review feature includes a setting for Review video duration. This is the maximum amount of video that is available for use with the Coach and Referee Review feature.

If you begin recording, and then open the Coach and Referee Review feature before SlingStudio Console has recorded the amount of video set under Review video duration, the timer subtracts the amount of available video from the maximum that's been set.

Example: The Review video duration setting is currently 1 minute. You click the Coach and Referee Review feature when 28 seconds of video has been recorded. The timer starts at approximately 32 seconds.

If you close the Coach and Referee Review dialog box and then reopen it, you'll see that the timer now includes more video time, up to the point at which available video equals or exceeds the Review video duration setting. After that point, the Coach and Referee Review setting only displays the most recent block of video equal to the Review video duration setting.

So in this example, every time you open the Coach and Referee Review feature, you see the most recent 1 minute of video.

Can I use the Coach and Referee Review feature with recordings that I've made prior to the current one?

No, that's not possible. You can only review video that's been recorded since the most recent time that you clicked the record button.

See also:

iPad Console: Using the Coach and Referee Review feature
Coach Review feature freezes in Mac Console with the Pro60 production mode