Making sense of GSA's website

[keither5150]

With the insane amount of choices on the website, there are only a few choices that are tested and IMO running well enough to sell. Those would be the ..... Vistrak Eagle, Vistrak Stereo. Vistrak Vcam.
We are currently testing spin cameras. The software is not ready. in it's current state, it does not work as designed. I will post any progress on this thread. Some pretty big improvements have been made to the Vistrak Stereo. PM me for details.

[COgolfengineer]

Yes, way too many options on the website! I have the VisTrak IRVC and it's pretty much not even on the website anymore and seems the ceiling mounted Vcam (VcamC) is the problem. The launch angle measurement seems all over the place and I imagine measuring launch angle from a ceiling mounted camera is no easy task.

The website mentions a free conversion kit for converting the VcamC to a floor mount Vcam. A floor mounted vertical launch angle camera seems it would be a much easier and accurate measurement.

At some previous point, maybe a month ago, there was a mention on the website about offering a free conversion from the IRVC to a Stereo, but that comment might've been removed.

I feel a bit cheated that I bought the IRVC and the website pretty much dropped it in favor of other units. If I can convert for free or even just paying the difference, I'm fine with that. But just stinks to go through the pains of dealing with a buggy system.

Any recommendations? Go for the floor mounted Vcam with the ceiling mounted Eagle, or convert to the Stereo?

[keither5150]

After testing the Vistrak IRVC, we came to the conclusion that LA detection fails way too many times for it to be a viable system. Talk to Martin and see what he can do for you. Vistrak Vcam will work fine with a LS cam....it will be a little tricky setting up delays for each club other wise. For the cost of a LS cam.... you could pick up another CX cam and go stereo..... The new stereo system does not require the LS cam to trigger the stereo cams.

[Lewis837]

I had the CX3 and purchased the Visitrak Eagle camera to change the set up to one of the new Visitrak versions. I was going to switch to the Visitrak Stereo per Keith's recommendations but while I was in the middle of the conversion the Visitrak VCam configuration started being featured. This is the Eagle with one of the CX3 cameras used as a vertical launch camera. Since I already had a vertical launch camera working in my old configuration it was easy for me to set this up and it seems to work well. For me the stereo system calibration seemed like more work but Keith should comment on the difference in accuracy. The extra calibration steps may be worth the effort for better accuracy. I haven't finished adjusting all the settings for shots other then full shots (read chipping and putting) so there could be some advantages in this area for the stereo system. For the price of an extension cable and some mounting hardware you should be able to move one of your cameras without a great deal of effort. You do need proper lighting and a non-reflective backdrop so that might also be something you need to consider.

[keither5150]

The main advantage of the stereo system is that all cameras are on the ceiling. If you have an LS cam for triggering.... the Vistrak Vcam should work pretty well. If you don't have the trigger camera, it will be more complicated to set up the Vcam with different triggering delays for each club.

The new Vistrak Stereo set up is quite different than what everyone is used to.... Instead of the ball trace, a single image of the ball is captured from each stereo cam. Non reflective flooring is not needed anymore with the new set up. The LS trigger cam is also not needed. LA on slow chips is more accurate as the LA, HA, and ball speed is captured within the first few inches of flight rather than 4 or 5 feet away. Chipping speeds can be picked up as low as 6 mph.

As soon as putting is fixed with the new setup, I will post some gameplay videos.

[Lewis837]

you wrote: " Non reflective flooring is not needed anymore with the new set up."
This can be a big advantage depending on what flooring you want to use. I am still struggling to find the correct fabric for the vertical launch camera background. I'm a bit surprised by this also as the cameras are pointing at the floor and you are using IR lighting so I thought the contrast would be poor if the flooring is reflective.

[keither5150]

You should ask Martin to send you two 8mm lenses for you to upgrade to the new stereo method..... Putting is the only thing that is not working as of today. All the data for putting is measured but it does not launch.

[COgolfengineer]

Thanks keither5150 and Lewis837. I find the LA measurement with the VcamC will work for many shots and then just stop working unless I close the CP and restart everything, pretty frustrating. I'll reach out to Martin and see what he can do.

I saw on the website that the floor mounted Vcam needs to be 4-9ft off-center from the ball. That would be a problem for me since my space is only 10' 8" wide and I have 2 different hitting areas for righties and lefties (eventually put ceiling mounted cameras on a motorized track to move between hitting areas). So for righties, I could place the Vcam on the left side of the room, but then I'd have to move it for a lefty. So I don't think converting the IRVC (Eagle+VcamC) to the VisTrak EV (Eagle+Vcam) is a good idea.

So then my option is to add another camera to go Stereo which sounds to be a more accurate setup. I guess spin still isn't measured so adding the Spin cam to the Stereo would be nice once the Spin cam is tested a bit more.

I'd like to understand more about the differences between the IRVC and the Stereo. Both have the Eagle camera as the main workhorse. So with the IRVC, the VcamC is only measuring vertical launch angle and I believe the Stereo cams is just 2 VcamC cameras also measuring just the vertical launch angle, correct? And then the 2 measurements will probably be different, so then some math needs to happen to get a single result. So why is the Stereo more reliable than just a single VcamC?

[keither5150]

IRVC uses one cam that measures ball size to determine LA.... I found that the misread rate was too high to have this system as a viable product. The stereo system uses the disparity between to cameras to determine LA. The stereo method is very accurate. The newer stereo systems do not use a LS camera for triggering. The new systems uses the Vistrak to trigger the stereo cams. The method seems to work really well. Slow shots ( under 30 mph) will require a delay on the triggering. All full shots really don't need a delay. I am running 0 delay on woods and driver. 10ms delay on irons and wedges. LW (my short chipping club) 20 ms delay. Even though a delay is not really needed.... a 10 ms delay on irons will ensure that the ball is far enough away from the clubhead for accurate measurement.

[Still Crazy]

Hi, I have a Vis Trac Vcam setup. I am having problems setting the trigger delay since Martin added the option for adjusting the delay for each club. I understand the need to do this but is anyone else experiencing problems with the delay? Even though the delay is set for 30 Millisecs the camera fires immediately. Thanks, The website has my head spinning.

[keither5150]

Set delays per club. All other delays to be set at 0.0

[Lewis837]

Has been working well for me but I think you have to set the delay on the camera page to 0 and then set it on each club on the main page. If I remember right it was not additive, the delay on the camera page was the delay even if you set a club delay. In reading you post again you have the opposite problem so not sure why no delay when a delay is set but I would still try eliminating the camera delays and adding club delays

[Still Crazy]

Thank you Lewis837, I finally did figure it out but you are spot on. I needed to input each club delay. On to the next challenge

[COgolfengineer]

Well saw today on the Tech News page that Martin is killing the Stereo setups due to too many customer issues. Martin's going all-in on the VisTrak Eagle, Vcam, & Spin cam configurations. I hope it pans out!

[wbond]

Until next week when another version will be thought up.