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Friday, April 4, 2014

Quantitative, Qualitative, and Trial Support

We've discussed Quantitative vs. Qualitative before. But, a few readers are upset about the way it's been presented. So, I wanted to address their issues buy going over a few popular solutions from the standpoint of - what does the tool actually do, and is that "analysis?"

From Ocean Systems (italics are mine):

Each Complete dTective system provides the the following capabilities:
Process Digital (DVR) or Analog Video Evidence
DVR security video - decode digital video (DVR) files from proprietary security systems into uncompressed video [change of format is a trial support function]
Demultiplex video [qualitative improvement]
Enhance dark video and poor quality video security and surveillance video [qualitative improvement]
Print stills from Video to photo paper or digital files for fast distribution [trial support]
Archive to CD or DVD [trial support]
Highlight or obscure an important areas of forensic video tapes [qualitative / trial support]
Magnify video to display the result either full screen, or to a user defined portion on screen. [qualitative / trial support]
De-interlace field recorded forensic video to avoid blurry stills printed from video [qualitative improvement]
ClearID Forensic video and image enhancement tools [qualitative improvement - Photoshop plug-in]
Contrast and brightness adjustment [qualitative improvement]
Video stabilization [qualitative improvement]
Insert case notes linked to forensic video evidence [trial support]
Automatic project archiving [trial support]
Variable slow motion speed adjustment to compensate for time lapsed video [qualitative improvement]
Picture in Picture [trial support]
Titling and labeling [trial support]
Combine and stack tools [UI flexibility]
User definable layout and keyboard/interface short cuts [UI flexibility]

Not one of the above are quantitative in nature - counting, measuring, comparing, or authenticating.

Cognitech's Tri-Suite 2011 contains VideoInvestigator [qualitative improvements], VideoActive [qualitative improvements], and AutoMeasure [quantitative analysis - photogrammetry].

There may be an additional cost to using Cognitech software in that you'll need their Video Acquisition card. If your PC can't support it, then you'll need a new PC.

Amped Software's product selection includes FIVE [quantitative and qualitative tools in one package] and Authenticate [quantitative analysis - authentication]. Trial support functions are shifted to their friends at GP SIFT. The nice thing about this approach is that the quantitative / qualitative tools are mostly in one place, FIVE. If you don't do trial support, you won't need to spend extra on GP SIFT. Likewise if your not doing authentication, you won't need Authenticate.

So, there it is. You decide what's best for you.

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