cSwing - What Equipment is Required to Run cSwing?

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The purpose of this page is to provide information about the equipment used with cSwing.

Video Cameras and Equipment

• There are many types of video cameras and camcorders available. If you are purchasing a new camcorder, we strongly recommend getting a miniDV model. Canon and Sony are the two most popular brands. miniDV camcorders from other manufacturers like JVC, Panasonic, Samsung and Sharp generally work well too. All miniDV camcorders have a FireWire port which is the best way to transfer video to your computer.
• We do not recommend microMV format from Sony nor hard drive and DVD camcorders from any manufacturer because they do not provide good quality video for analysis and capture driver support in Windows isn't adequate. Because of the compression used in them you will see digital artifacts during fast motion sequences such as a golf club at impact.
• Webcams generally do not provide control through DirectX over shutter speed and most will not provide 640 x 480 at 30 frames/second. However, if you are on a budget you can try them with our trial. Security, CCT, analog and Hi8 cameras can work with cSwing but they don't provide the same video quality as miniDV and most don't have FireWire output. They work best with a DV FireWire bridge such as a Canopus ADVC 55 or 100.
• We do not recommend Network (IP) cameras because they don't provide adequate frame rates and they don't integrate well with Microsoft's DirectX. The High Definition camcorders from Canon, Sony and others are not currently recommended unless they support SD (standard definition) video like the Canon HV10. We are investigating HD support but most formats are not supported by default in Windows at this time. Some models such as the Sony HC3 and SR1 HD cameras only support 1/500 second shutter speed and are not recommended for this reason. We recommend Canon because all their miniDV camcorders have a manual setting for shutter speed.
• A shutter speed of at least 1/1000 of a second is important for getting a clear picture of a fast motion such as a golf swing or a baseball swing. Many cameras that don't have the manual shutter speed feature, including most Sony models, have a Sports mode. This mode automatically sets the shutter speed as high as it can be based on the available light. This works well in most lighting conditions, but where available light is sufficiently low you may experience some blurring of the clubhead at impact.
• We recommend shooting on a tripod because a steady picture works best for analysis. A UV filter will protect your lens and offer some glare protection.

FireWire

• The best way to get video into your computer is the long established FireWire standard. FireWire is a digital data transfer standard. It is also known as IEEE 1394 and i.Link. Although some camcorders come with a USB cable, the video quality obtained using USB is poor or in the MPEG-2 video standard and is not suitable for video analysis. FireWire's higher transfer rate allows full quality digital video to be transferred from your miniDV camcorder to your computer.
• There are two types of FireWire connections: 4-pin and 6-pin. The FireWire interface on miniDV and Digital8 camcorders is a 4-pin connection. Most laptops have a 4-pin connection and most desktops have a 6- pin connection. Be sure to check your set up to see what type of cable you need (4-pin/4-pin or 4-pin/6-pin). Some add-on cards include a cable, but most camcorders and computers do not.
  
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• If you want to use multiple cameras, due to a limitation of the way miniDV camcorders work with FireWire, you will need one FireWire card per camcorder. This is a hardware limitation, not a problem with Windows or cSwing.

Computers

• If you already have a PC, most PCs from the last four years will run cSwing. We recommend using the cSwing Free Trial to make sure the software runs well on your computer. Some PCs do not come with built-in FireWire ports so you may need to purchase an add-on card.
• We sell laptop PCs with some of our cSwing packages and we can answer any question you may have about memory and other technical specifications. We recommend at least 512 MB RAM, 160 GB disk and a 3.0 GHz processor.
• A good quality graphics card with at least 64 MB of dedicated video RAM is important for smooth video. FireWire is the best way to get video into your computer. A larger monitor helps if you are using the computer with students.
• Built-in FireWire is especially important if you plan to use multiple cameras because most laptops only have on PCMCIA slot.

Recording to CDs or DVDs

• You may want to record your video onto a CD or DVD for later playback or to send to your student or coach. cSwing comes with a built-in feature to record to CDs. This works best with Windows XP which has built-in support for CD burning and Windows Vista which supports CD and DVD burning.
• For recording voice overs and screen capture, cSwing works with the free Windows Media Encoder application (included on our CD or downloadable from Microsoft). It creates screen captures with voice recording from your sound card that play back in Windows Media Player. For more advanced screen capture options, we recommend Camtasia from TechSmith.
• We recommend that you set your display to 1024 x 768 at 32-bit or 16-bit color resolution to do screen captures. Larger display sizes will greatly increase the size of the video file. Combination DVD/CD and DVD writers are not universally supported by Windows XP. If you have a combination DVD/CD or DVD writer, we recommend testing the Burn to CD feature using our free trial with your hardware prior to purchase. A workaround for problem drives is to create the CD image in a folder using cSwing and then use the software that came with your drive or computer to burn that folder to the CD or DVD.
• CD: This is the easiest way to create a file that will play on another computer. You can create a CD of captured videos directly in cSwing or with Windows Media Encoder you can create a screen capture video that you send to the CD burner from your My Videos folder. The files can be played back in cSwing or using Windows Media Player.
• DVD: There are several competing DVD recordable standards and not all DVD players are capable of playing the different formats. The DVD-R format is the most commonly supported by newer home players and computers. In either case, we recommend an external DVD recorder. Using an internal DVD recorder is more time consuming and error prone. To use an external component recorder, your computer must have a video out port which you can set up to mirror your desktop display using Windows Start -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Displays command.
• For audio, we recommend purchasing an external audio mixer into which you plug in your microphone.The output from the mixer goes directly into the DVD recorder audio inputs bypassing the PC (which can cause configuration problems). We have found this is the best solution based on feedback from our customers.
  

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