Matchflow Prototype 🏉

Sports video ⏩ analysis platform

Getting Started

You will need to install:

• Node.js : Download here
• MongoDB: Download [here] (https://www.mongodb.org/downloads) and follow these instructions to install.

1. Install the above requirements. Confirm that Node.js was installed correctly by typing the following in Windows Command prompt/Powershell:

node --version

A version should be displayed.

2. Clone this repo using 'git clone https://github.com/kimeshan/mf-proto.git' in your chosen directory. e.g C:/mf-proto.

3. Run MongoDB server, from Command Prompt on Windows, navigate to the directory where you installed MongoDB which contains the mongod.exe file.

• Now, specify the data directory using the command:

  .\mongod.exe --dbpath "C:/mf-proto"
  

  This should get the MongoDB server up and listening to the default port. Do not close this command prompt window.

4. Open a second Powershell/Command Prompt on Windows

• Set the current directory to the chosen directory in step 2 (i.e. our Git repo). e.g cd "C:/mf-proto"
• Run the command "node server.js".
• "Magic happens at port 3000" should be displayed. Your firewall may pop up with a notification - if so proceed to allow Node.js to use port 3000.
• "Connection successful to MongoDB" should also be displayed indicated that the Mongo server has been connected to.

5. Open your web browser (preferably Chrome), and go to 'localhost:3000'. This should start the mf-proto web application! That's it.

6. Videos uploaded will automatically upload to: your-chosen-directory-in-2/public/Video Uploads

7. Converted videos can be located in your-chosen-directory-in-2

Technical Overview

mf-proto is a sports match and player performance video analytics platform. It's a web application built on the MEAN stack. Node.js and the Express web framework is used on the backend while AngularJS, HTML 5 and CSS are used on the front-end. MongoDB will be used as the database. mf-proto can be used offline and online in the browser while a sync process will ensure the online server is updated.

The completed web application will consist of three main components:

1. Project, Collections & Events Management (CRUD)

• Project Manager: CRUD for projects. Each project is stored in 'projects' table consisting of the following columns:
  • "name": {"type":"String","unique":true}
  • "date_played":{"type":"Date"}
  • "local_team":"String"
  • "opposition_team":"String"
  • "season":"String"
  • "competition":"String"
  • "local_team_score":"Number"
  • "opposition_team_score":"Number"
  • "collection_name": "String"
  • "video": "String"
• Collections Manager: CRUD for collections of events. Collections are stored in 'collections' table which has just two columns:
  • "name":{"type":"String","unique":true}
  • "date_created": {"type":"Date","default":Date.now}
• Events Management: CRUD for events under a collection. Events are linked to a collection by the "collection_name" column which matches the "name" column in 'collections' table:
  • "collection_name":"String"
  • "event_name":"String"
  • "lead_time":"Number"
  • "lag_time":"Number"

2. Video Manager

• Uploader - Performs video upload (offline and online). Offline uploads will be stored in the mf-proto application folder (which will ultimately be in C:/Program Files when the completed product is distributed). When an internet connection is available uploaded videos will be syncrhonized with a cloud-based server.
• Converter - Converts original uploaded video using fluent-ffmpeg module. The goal here is to compress large video files (such as those from HD camcorders) to obtain a smaller file size while maintaining an acceptable viewing quality for later analysis in the Editor.

3. Video Analysis Mode - User can tag segments of the video with these events. Events are defined by the user in a Collection visa the Collections & Events Manager (CRUD), for example an event called "Penalty Team Blue" might be created with a lead time of 10sec and lag time of 20 sec. When a time point (say 00:05:02) in the video is tagged with this event, the tag stored will define start time (lead time) as 10 seconds before (00:05:52) and end time (lag time) as 20 seconds after (00:05:22). A 'tags' table in the database will store this information.

• Tags table columns:
  • tag_id
  • project_name (string) - Linked to 'projects' table.
  • collection_name (string) - Linked to 'collections' table.
  • event_name (string) - Linked to 'events' table.
  • start_time (timestamp of starting point in video of the play being tagged)
  • end_time (timestamp of ending point in video of the play being tagged)
  • video_name (name of video as stored in offline folder/cloud server)
  • tag_duration (difference between start_time and end_time)

Completed Components

• Projects Manager
  • Creating, listing, deletion of projects
  • Form validation for required fields.
  • Seamless modals used, no page loading.
  • Error handling
  • Confirmation prompt before deleting.
• Collections Manager
  • Creating, listing, deletion and updating of collections (of events).
  • Same features as projects manager ((modals, error handling, delete prompt).
• Events Manager
  • Once a collection is selected, the events manager can be used to create, list, delete and update events inside the collection.
  • Same features as project manager (modals, error handling, delete prompt).
• Video Manager
  • Video upload: file is copied to mf-proto application folder inside "Video Uploads" folder.
  • Video renaming according to user input via form. Validation: Upload button enabled only when a name and valid video file has been selected.
  • Video listing and deletion.
  • In-browser video player displays video for mp4, ogg and webm video files.
  • Video converter: Encoding and Compression, compresses large-sized, HD videos to optimal SD.
    • Extracts resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate, format and codec of original video.
    • Uses extracted information to calculate optimal settings* for encoding to achieve best compression and quality:
      • Original aspect ratio is maintained
      • Optimal format chosen is mp4 using H.264 codec
      • Optimal resolution for 16:9 aspect ratio videos chosen: 640x480 (SD)
      • Optimal resolution for 4:3 aspect ratio videos chosen: 640x360 (SD)
      • Videos with width lower than 640 pixels maintain original resolution to avoid distortion.
      • Optimal frame rate is 30 fps or less. Videos with higher original frame rates are converted to 30 fps or half of original frame rate. e.g. 70 fps -> 35 fps.
  • Note: Optimal settings algorithm developed based on information from [Youtube's advanced encoding settings] (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en) and Vimeo's compression guidelines.

Future developments

• Project manager: Update feature to edit project fields.
• Video analysis mode: Allow tagging of time points in the video with the events that were defined by the user.
• Video player/browser: Integrating a feature-rich video player such as Video.js to enable advance video playing and timeline features in the browser.
• Progress bar: For video upload.
• Sync process to synchronous videos on the user's machine with online, cloud-based server. This will allow the user to access videos from any location by logging in through the mf-proto web application on a web broswer.