Video Signal Processing and Recording

The live video signal from any of our benthic video camera systems is connected to both a computer monitor and a 4-channel digital video recording (DVR) system for live viewing/recording. If necessary, the video signal may be passed through a video enhancer to increase gain if the signal is weak. During the live recording, a video overlay unit can be used to stamp each frame of the video with time and position data. Shown below is the layout for two-camera recording on the DVR.

Click image to enlarge.

After the video data has been recorded, a number of post-processing options can be applied to the video data. These include video format conversion, video enhancement, deinterlacing, and image stabilization. Individual images can be extracted from the video footage and used for a variety of analyses.

Scaling grid used for quantitative work.
The space between grid lines is equal to the space between
the laser points (10 cm in this case).
Thus, the sunstar shown is approximately 50 cm in diameter.
Click image to enlarge.

Examples of Video Images

Shown below are some examples of still images extracted from video footage taken by the Sony color CCD camera.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina).

Dungeness crab and eelgrass.

Rat fish at 90 m.

Snakelock anemone at 80 m.

Sun stars.

Shown below is an example of some video footage taken by the benthic video system.