I want to know if this is possible.
1 attach a good quality video camera to record directly to a laptop so that it can record to the hard drive. (with a macro???)
1.5 if this isnt possible I want a very very easy way to pull them off the camera, rename them, then move to step 2
2 auto name the recorded files and compress them to a decent quality size.
3 either ship them off to another computer via wireless network at this point or store them on the laptop and ship them off at the end of the day.
to go along with this
the laptop will have a form filled out that has the same filename (well almost the same) and that form will have similar requirements. the form will be used around every hour and sent off to the network where it will update files for that student and send off emails to the parents.
my goal here is to automate the process, as it is the forms are filled out by hand, then after 5 lessons (or more) the form is turned in where the data is then entered (by hand) into the database. its stupid time consuming and prone to mistakes. I am trying to speed up and improve things all the way around.
the video files will be stored in a separate location (they wont go to the database as they are for a different purpose) so they dont “Have” to be updated hourly but I do want this process to be as painless and easy as possible.
Not that I have an answer, but you’re definitely going to have to supply more information. You already have some process to do this manually, right? If so, it would be helpful to provide an outline of those steps; if not, it would be helpful to provide info on what you do have.
Also, some information about the setup:
[ul]
[li]What OS (it sounds to me like you’re using Windows)?[/li][li]What is the output from the camera (both the physical wiring and file format)?[/li][li]The “form” you mention…is it on paper? A .pdf? Simple computer text?[/li][/ul]
Again, it’s doubtful that I’ll be able to supply an answer, but the above might help someone else help you.
Windows for the os,
the cameras output is unknown at this point. (looking to do this down the road)
and yeah the form is pen and paper. I would like to make it something that can be used to update a database.
I dont need the exact how too’s just the general idea that this is doable in some way or another.
I don’t know diddly about video-recording under Windows, but it’s been effortlessly possible on a Mac for about 8 years so I assume it’s not a problem on any modern platform.
Your “good-quality video camera”, not being an antique, presumably has digital video out to external device, probably via an IEEE 1394 (“FireWire”) port. You plug a FireWire cable into that, the other end into your laptop (which, if it’s a Mac that’s also not an antique, has at least one FireWire port; if it’s a non-Mac it may or may not have such a port, and if it doesn’t you buy a card for it and stick it in your PC Card slot and attach the cable to that).
Then you launch iMovie, if it’s a Mac, or something of a more premium variety like Final Cut Pro; or the Windows equivalent(s) perhaps Adobe Premiere or some Microsoft offering that comes with Vista perhaps; and click the setting over to monitor attached camera, and you hit ‘play’ (or, for live feed, ‘record’, I guess) on the camera and ‘import’ in your little movie editing program. It’ll probably ask you to specify a location for the digital file and the name for it at some point in the procedure.
ETA: I do something a bit more primitive, I play old VCR tapes into my computer. Since that’s not digital I need a Canopus card sitting in between computer and VCR player. Analog video in, digital video out. If your camcorder doesn’t have digital video out for some reason, you’d do that too.
Forgot about the post-processing requirements. I’d say obtain your video footage in this fashion first then batch-process the resulting “movies” and do your file transfers & all. I’d use AppleScript for that, I guess you’d use vB or an old-fashioned batch file on a PC.
But to do this automatically? Under Mac OS X, you can use Automator or Applescript to command programs. I believe there is a similar program on Windows called Windows Scripting Host, but I don’t think it comes standard with Windows. And I don’t know whether it is usual for Windows programs to provided scripting capability to their environment.
:: flips over to Windows ::
Ahh, here we are. From the MSDN Network:
Now, what scripting capabilities individual Windows programs have, I don’t know.
Well, that pretty much guarantees I’ll have no real solutions. Sorry, I’m a linux guy.
However, just about anything is possible (given some unknown quantities of time, effort, and money). You’ll need a video camera with digital output and (it sounds like) the ability to activate/deactivate from the computer (would a webcam be acceptable?). Again, not being Windows savvy, I can’t say much about details.
Also, it sounds like you want this to be for an arbitrary student; that is, you want “roving” capability with little actual structure. The less constraints there are, the more difficult it’ll be to automate.