I have spending problems. I don’t blow my cash on fancy cars, extravagant dinners, or even speedy motorcycles. The “s” there is important, as I do have one speedy motorcycle. Anyway, it’s almost always tools that get me.

Software I finally pulled the trigger on

I’ve been performing video analyses for many years, generally using iNPUT-ACE (now Axon Investigate) and FFmpeg to assess frame health and timing, and PhotoModeler to determine vehicle position in each frame. As I wrote about in this email, PhotoModeler made some huge improvements late last year, streamlining position determination.

In pursuit of continuing to improve my video analysis process and kit, I gave Amped Software’s FIVE a hard look last week. I’d heard excellent things about the program from colleagues and the team/product seemed super pro. After some experimentation, I decided the juice was worth the squeeze. The ubiquity of video makes a reliable, comprehensive tool for assessing frame health and timing very valuable. The interface is well laid out, making it very straightforward to:

  • Load almost any video

  • Navigate frame by frame

  • Establish if frames are I, P, or B

  • Determine frame timing

  • Perform macroblock analyses

  • Adjust exposure and color, deblur, deinterlace, stabilize, etc.

Your mileage may vary, but the program set us back $3,975/yr. The perpetual license was quoted at $9,975, but with an additional support cost of $2,175/yr, the subscription made more sense for our situation. It’s no small fee, but video is a crucial aspect of modern recon. Like many aspects of this profession, we have to decide whether to invest the time and money to perform the task in-house or sub it out to a trusted colleague. So much to know, so little time!

Keep exploring,

Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | Axiom

P.S. If you decide to dive down the video rabbit hole, LEVA is hosting an online version of Mark Crouch and Stephen Cash’s Video Analysis in Collision Reconstruction course this September. Registration details can be found here.