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Using DualEyes

Video Tutorial

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. Getting Started
  3. Interface
  4. Sync Options
  5. Support

1. Summary

DualEyes™ can be used to sync video clips captured with a DSLR camara and audio clips captured with a recording device. DualEyes will generate audio files that are the same length as the video clips. For MOV and AVI video clips, DualEyes can replace the audio of those clips without any loss in video quality. New video clips are generated with the original video and new audio.

2. Getting Started

  1. Start DualEyes
  2. You need to give your project a name and select a location for the project file. The report file will be placed in the same location.
  3. Add files to the project by either dragging and dropping files into the window or clicking the add file button.
  4. Click on the scissors to start synchronizing clips

3. Interface

When DualEyes is loaded it will ask if you want to create a new project or open a new one.

You can either click the add file button or drag files into the file list to add media files to the project.

 

4. Sync Options

General Strategy for Syncing

First try to sync with none of the options checked. The Sync Options will say (none) in that case. If some clips don't sync and you are sure they should, consider whether the following apply to your project:

  • The Infer Chronological Order option is often very helpful and should be used whenever it can be. If the names of the clips reflect the order they were recorded in, choose this option.
  • If the audio varies a lot between the clips, choose the Level Audio option. DualEyes will do some extra processing to compensate. The results are almost always better but it takes a little longer.
  • If you don't have too many clips, try the Try Really Hard option. This tells DualEyes to do a lot of extra processing. It can often resolve difficult sync situations but it can take a lot of time, especially if there are a lot of clips that do not sync with each other. But if you don't mind waiting, try it out.

Correct Drift

Timing differences between audio and video can cause drift, which manifests itself as audio and video being synced on one segment of the video but unsynced in a different segment. The Correct Drift option corrects this so that everything is in sync all the time.

Level Audio

This option is useful when the audio levels vary a lot between clips. This can happen, for example, in an interview where the on-camera mic is close to one person talking and the audio from the other person comes from a lavalier mic. If you choose this option, DualEyes will do some extra processing to compensate. It is almost always safe to use this option, but it takes a little longer.

Try Really Hard

This whimsically-named option tells DualEyes to spend extra time trying to find the sync. It can take 5-10 times as long so you will want to use it only on the most stubborn sync problems or when you are willing to let it run for a long time. If you can tolerate the time penalty, this can be very effective.

Infer Chronological Order

It is often the case that the names of the media files, when sorted alphabetically, are in the same order that the recordings were made. If so, then checking this option will give a hint to DualEyes that will help it sync faster and more reliably.

Use Existing Extracted Audio

DualEyes extracts audio from each media file to a temporary file. Turning this option on will save time if you need to re-run DualEyes on the same project. It will re-use the file that has been previously extracted. If DualEyes can't find the file, it will extract the audio.

Replace Audio for MOV and AVI files

DualEyes can create a new file which contains the video from the original clip and the synced audio for MOV and AVI files. The video is not re-encoded, but the compressed data is simply copied from the original file resulting in no loss of quality.

Reset

This is a quick way to uncheck all the options.

5. Support

Please visit our support page.



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PluralEyes, DualEyes and Singular Software Presto are trademarks or registered trademarks of Singular Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.