Indoor Simulator Recording — Frame Rate Recommendation
If you're recording your swing in an indoor simulator bay with a projector screen (TrackMan, Full Swing, Foresight, etc.), your choice of recording frame rate affects how well MotionEdge can automatically detect impact.
Recommendation: Use 60 FPS or Lower for Best Automated Detection
For indoor simulator environments with a projector screen behind the golfer, record at 60 FPS or lower for the most accurate automated filmstrip impact detection.
Why This Matters
MotionEdge uses two methods to detect impact:
- Body position tracking — tracks your wrists and body through the swing to estimate impact. This works at any frame rate and any lighting condition.
- Ball departure detection — finds the golf ball at the top of your backswing, then watches for the exact frame where the ball disappears after being struck. This gives frame-precise impact timing.
Ball departure detection relies on consistent frame-to-frame brightness at the ball's position. In a simulator bay, the projector screen behind you casts colored light onto the hitting mat and ball. At 60 FPS, the camera's shutter is open long enough to average out the projector's refresh cycle, producing stable, consistent lighting across frames. The ball departure algorithm works well.
At 120 FPS or 240 FPS, the camera's faster shutter speed captures narrow slices of the projector's refresh cycle. Each frame may have a completely different color cast — one frame blue, the next orange, the next green — even though nothing in the scene actually changed. This rapid brightness variation at the ball's position looks like the ball is appearing and disappearing, which confuses the departure detection algorithm.
The Trade-Off
| 60 FPS | 120–240 FPS | |
|---|---|---|
| Ball departure detection | Works well — stable lighting | Unreliable — projector flicker |
| Body-based impact detection | Works well | Works well |
| Filmstrip impact frame | Automatic, accurate | May need manual adjustment |
| Slow-motion review | Standard playback | More frames for detailed review |
If you don't need frame-precise automated impact detection and prefer having more frames for slow-motion review, recording at 120 or 240 FPS is fine — the body-position-based detection still works, and you can manually adjust the impact frame on the filmstrip if needed.
Quick Summary
- Best for automated impact detection indoors: 60 FPS
- Body position detection works at any FPS — only ball departure is affected
- The issue is projector flicker — not a bug in MotionEdge
- Outdoor or well-lit indoor (no projector): Any frame rate works, including 240 FPS
See also: Filmstrip & Video Quality for general recording tips, and Camera Placement Best Practices for positioning guidance.