With this update, we bring you several exciting improvements, including range-based motion detection to minimize time wastages and the ability to animate zoom parameters with video magnification. And, at very popular demand, you can now add text and logo-based watermarks to your processed images and videos to comply with regulations or requirements surrounding copyrights, disclosure and usage of imagery evidence.
Welcome back to another exciting update of your favorite forensic video player, Amped Replay! While most folks have been enjoying a well-deserved break during the summer holidays, we have been busy preparing this latest release. So, in this release, we have added the ability to watermark images and videos visually. We have also made several logical improvements to the Motion Detection and Annotate feature. Let’s get straight to the new additions and developments.
See the New Features in Action
Adding Watermarks to Multimedia Evidence
Further to many user requests, we have now added the ability to automatically add textual or image-based watermarks to all media exported from Replay. The use of a watermark may be required to copyright or classify digital media evidence as well as to comply with disclosure and usage legislation.
The use of watermarks, which can equally be applied to still images and videos, is controlled by an administrative setting file. This can be edited by an appropriate system administrator who has adequate access and permissions.
For those authorized users, the file is stored in the Windows ProgramData folder. It is designed to be easy to edit, with settings clearly labeled by text and usage instructions included for reference.
Settings for watermarks can be customized in various ways, including enabling and disabling their use. Customizable options include the watermark type (text or image), location of images, textual content, density of repetitions, display angle, color, and more.
Motion Detection Improvements
With the previous release of Amped Replay, we introduced the Motion Detection analysis tool. It has proved very popular with users needing to find movement in long surveillance videos and CCTV downloads. And, thanks to your invaluable feedback, we have now introduced some logical improvements which will make this exciting new feature all the more useful and time effective.
First of all, we have changed the appearance of the motion analysis blocks, which were previously rendered in solid red. When you perform a motion detection analysis with the new version of Replay, these blocks will now be semi-transparent. The idea beyond this modification is that you will now be able to see the visual content that was previously completely hidden by the blocks. Of course, you can still hide the motion detection blocks altogether, if you so wish, by clicking on the Run/Hide motion analysis button.
We have also improved the functionality of the motion detection analysis. In the Motion Detection panel, you will now notice a new tick box – “Apply to selected range of frames”. When you have previously selected a range of frames, check this option and then click on the Run/Hide motion analysis button as normal.
The analysis will be performed only on this portion of the original video clip. Therefore, the processing time will be significantly reduced to your advantage.
This feature will prove significantly useful when analyzing very long clips and when only a specific portion of that clip is known to be relevant to the case.
Annotate Improvements
Every release of Amped Replay features improvements to the Annotate features, subtle or otherwise. And this release is certainly no exception.
The ability to track and annotate moving subjects or vehicles of interest in a video is a much-needed feature when presenting digital multimedia evidence in the courtroom. With this update of Replay, you will now also be able to gradually reduce or enlarge the zoom parameters of a Magnify annotation while tracking a subject or object of interest.
In the example below, we have applied a Magnify annotation to the truck. We animated not only the position of the magnified area but also its size. The area gradually gets smaller as the vehicle moves further away from the camera. We have achieved this by adjusting the zoom slider at two different points in time and then adding keyframes at each of these frames. Pretty cool, right?
Remember, all tracking activities are duly included in the Amped Replay report, as always.
Library Update
The libraries used when dealing with video are relatively behind the scenes. However, they are vital for the correct formatting required after the lossless extraction of data from proprietary formats. This is all wrapped up into the powerful Amped Engine, to ensure the process of loading to viewing is seamless, regardless of the format you are dealing with.
They also come into play when you wish to write the new video into a compatible file.
It’s a bit like having a major annual service on your car and having all the filters changed. Things just run a bit smoother!
Because the updated library uses modern components, the older Microsoft Windows operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are no longer supported with the new version of Replay.
Formats
In this update, we have added support for many new formats and variants! More specifically:
- 9 new supported formats
- 2 new variations of already-supported formats
- 1 new variation of an already-supported timestamp format
- 1 new variation of an already-supported audio format
Of particular note are improvements to the data extraction methods used for the proprietary DVT Format and the SEC Format.
Remember: if you find a video file that we don’t fully support, then there is a good chance we have never seen it before! Hop over to the Amped Support Portal, upload it, and we will get on it. This not only helps you out but the entire Amped community. The best part? This is all included in an active Software and Maintenance Support plan. Learn here why it is important to keep your SMS up to date.
Other Improvements
We continue to improve performance and background functionality in every new release of Amped Replay. This is what we have in store for you this time around:
- The user manual has been updated and improved.
- Added the ability for system administrators to disable the export of first and last frame illustrations in the report.
- Added support for the AVIF image format.
- Previous processing data from an aborted motion analysis is now intuitively retained to speed up the processing time of future attempts.
- Improved the processing performance of the Enhance filters.
- The 32-bit version of the program has been removed as now redundant.
- The libheif library has been updated to version 1.18.2.
- Improved rendering performance (particularly noticeable during playback of 4K videos).
- Improved the ability of the “Export Original as AVI” option to trim the video starting from the nearest reference frame.
- Removed unsupported languages from the Program Options.
- Improved the consistency of File Information displayed in the Play tab between Amped Replay and Amped FIVE.
- Improved the integration of consistency of multiple filters between Amped Replay and Amped FIVE.
Bugs
In this release, we have fixed several minor issues reported by our trusted users.
- Fixed a bug that caused waveform and motion slider visibility to reset after undoing/redoing.
- Fixed a bug related to resetting filters during playback.
- Fixed a bug in the conversion engine which caused failures on some small (<20000B) files.
- Fixed an issue that caused Hikvision videos to transcode unnecessarily.
- Fixed a bug that caused initial motion detection values to be incorrectly calculated.
The Final Word
If you have an active support plan you can update straight away by going into the menu About > Check for Updates within Amped Replay. If you need to renew your SMS plan, please contact us or one of our authorized distributors. And remember that you can always manage your license and requests from the Amped Support Portal.
