AFM Home | The Staff Report | July 2004

TD Video is a software product by B.W. Software for managing football video. B.W. Software has provided PlayMaker Pro – play diagramming software to all levels of football, from the NFL to grade school since 1990. Through my contacts with the NFL and NCAA schools (especially the University of Michigan), I have observed the introduction of non-linear video systems that cost each team hundreds of thousands of dollars. I concluded that there must be some affordable piece of this technology that I could bring to the high school coach. In April of 2000, I started developing TD Video with help from the Saline High School (MI) coaching staff and here is what I learned along the way.

Invest in a new Digital Video Camcorder. In the fall of 2000, we shot a game with my miniDV digital camcorder and Saline’s industrial grade Super-VHS camcorder. The digital camera produced video with superior focus and color. You know the value of clear jersey numbers, and distinct side lines and yard makers. Today, a good miniDV camcorder (better than mine) costs about $800. Its time to retire VHS and S-VHS camcorders.

Get a Good Tripod. The best video comes from the cameraman that smoothly follows the action with his camera. A smooth moving tripod makes that possible.

Eliminate fast forward and rewind time - Go Non-Linear. Tape based systems are linear. To find something on a tape, you have to fast forward or rewind. Non-linear systems store your video on a computer hard disk, providing instant access to any video in a game. Watching a play over and over is faster with a non-linear system because you don’t waste time rewinding. This helps the Saline High School staff review a game with their players in 2 hours instead of 4. With a non-linear system, you can cutup a game into offense, defense, and special teams faster too. A tape based linear system has to fast- forward through the master tape to get the plays you want. The Grand Valley State staff used to sleep in front of their linear system while it did cutups. With non-linear, they sleep at home.

Watch video on your computer instead of a television. When you watch the key part of a play forward and reverse in slow motion, you will get less flicker watching it on a computer display. Televisions display an interlaced picture, which is difficult to freeze frame or slo-mo without flicker. Reverse motion video is also smoother coming from a computer hard drive than from slower devices. Use a computer projector to make your video large and flicker free.

Use FireWire to capture your non-linear digital video. Most digital camcorders have a FireWire port so you can copy your digital video into your computer without any quality loss. Non-linear systems that use a frame-grabber to digitize analog video will produce video that is lower quality than your original. Original quality digital video does require lots of disk space - 8.4 gigabytes for a 40 minute game (1 camera). Disk space has become very affordable. I recently purchased an internal hard drive that will hold 12 games for $80. The quality of video captured with FireWire is limited only by your camera.

Use a Macintosh Computer. You’ll find Macs doing video in schools that generally use Windows. Every Mac comes with Apple’s iMovie software, a FireWire port and a hard drive that’s fast enough to make iMovie work. You’ll need less support with a Mac.

To learn more about TD Video, visit www.bwsoftware.com.