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Qualitative analysis software for video and audio data Developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Education Research |
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Support :: |
Frequently Asked Questions General Questions What are the minimum system requirements for Transana? How do I learn to use Transana? Transana 2.20 or later crashes on Windows right after I specify a database name. How do I fix this? Video-Related Questions How do I get my video into the computer and ready for use with Transana? What video and audio formats does Transana support? Is there a workaround that allows Transana to work with unsupported video? Can I store all my video on DVDs instead of on my hard drive? Transcript and Database Questions Can Transana produce a transcript for me? I'm having some trouble inserting time codes. How should I do it? Where does Transana store my data? or I just upgraded from Transana 1.xx to Transana 2.xx. Where's my data? Report Questions How can I capture the information in Transana's reports, and make it editable in a word processor? Non-Windows Platform Questions When will Transana be available on the Macintosh? Are there plans to port Transana to Linux? Miscellaneous Questions Is it possible to use Transana in a computer lab, where they wipe the hard drives every night? How do Transana and N*Vivo compare? Which is appropriate for my analysis? Is there a way to share data between Transana and N*Vivo or Nudist? Is there a way to export Transana data to a statistical package for further analysis? What's the appropriate reference for Transana that I should include in my scholarly work? My question isn't addressed here. How do I get technical support for Transana? Transana used to be free, but we just can't afford that any more. We had to choose between charging a small fee for Transana or reducing the amount of time we put into support and development. Starting with Transana 2.20, we are charging $50 for the single-user version of Transana and $500 for the multi-user version. People affiliated with the University of Wisconsin system, a Wisconsin campus of another university, the state government of Wisconsin, a municipal government in Wisconsin, or a primary or secondary school in Wisconsin are eligible to received Transana at a discounted price of $36 for the single-user version or $365 for the multi-user version. In keeping with the terms of the GNU-GPL, Transana's license, the source code for Transana is available. Transana's ongoing development is being funded in part following a distributed funding model. If you are working on a funded research project that could benefit from modifications to Transana, please consider helping to fund Transana's ongoing development by hiring us to add features to Transana as part of your research project. What are the minimum system requirements for Transana?
How do I learn to use Transana? To help people learn how to use Transana, there is a tutorial accessible from the Help menu. That, combined with the demo video, should introduce you to all the tasks involved in the qualitative analysis of video or audio using Transana. Several Flash-based Transana ScreenCasts have been developed to demonstrate the use of Transana. They are available on the Documentation page. In Spring, 2005, students studying online help systems at the University of North Texas were given Transana as a class project. Three teams produced online help systems for Transana 2.04. While these are of varying quality, and are not endorsed by the Transana development team, they are in many cases good introductions to the program. They are accessible through the Documentation page. If that's not sufficient, the lead developer is sometimes available to do on-site training for a fee. If you are interested in learning more about that, please contact him via the link in the sidebar. Transana 2.20 or later crashes on Windows right after I specify a database name. How do I fix this? As it states on the download pages:
Downloading and installing the QuickTime player solves the problem. Unfortunately, there is no way to trap this system error within Transana and report the cause and solution to the user. How do I get my video into the computer and ready for use with Transana? Chris Fassnacht has written an article called Preparing Video for Transana. That's a good place to start, and is full of links to good resources. Another excellent resource is the web site videohelp.com, particularly the "How to Convert" sections. Briefly, you plug your digital camcorder into your computer using the firewire port, then tell your video software to "import" or "capture" from the camera. Depending on the software, you will probably then have to tell it to "export" or "save as" to one of the Transana-friendly video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, MOV, MP4, or WMV) described below. This process is described in detail in an article called How to Capture Video by David Woods. Although this article describes the process using Vegas Video 6.0, the general steps described in the article will work with other software packages as well. If you have analog video (VHS or Hi-8, for example), the process is a little more complicated. You need a video capture device, which serves the same function a firewire port does for a digital camera--to get the video and audio signal into the computer in a form it can use. There are many different options, which can produce widely varying results. If you only want audio, then you just plug your playback device into the "line in" port on your sound card and use an audio recording program to capture the audio to MP3, WAV or WMA format. An audio recording program may have come with your sound card, and there are many to choose from. It may take a little trial-and-error to get all the settings right. We can't be more specific than that because there are too many different video capture and video editing programs that do these steps in too many different ways calling them too many different things. What video and audio formats does Transana support? Transana 1.0 through 2.12 work with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and most AVI video, as well as MP3 and WAV audio. Starting with Transana 2.20, QuickTime MOV and MP4 formats are supported on both Windows and OS X, and Windows Media Video, WMV, and Windows Media Audio, WMA, formats are supported on Windows only. Transana can work with some other video and audio formats without a waveform diagram. (Those additional formats are different on Windows and Macintosh OS/X.) For information about other formats, and about how to work with unsupported formats, read a more in-depth discussion in this article about video and audio formats. Please note that MP3 audio format is not recommended for cross-platform environments. The same spot in the same MP3 file is assigned different time code values on Windows and OS X. Thus, time codes and clips created on one platform will not represent the correct media file location on the other platform. If the time codes were produce on Windows, Mac users can convert the MP3 file to WAV format and the time codes will line up correctly. (This suggests that the QuickTime player is not processing time locations correctly for MP3 files.) Transana doesn't seem to support the video format I'm trying to use, even though it's on the list of supported video formats. Video formats are tricky, and getting trickier. There are many ways to encode audio and video, even within a given format. Sometimes, a video is encoded using a particular feature that doesn't work with Transana. For example, "variable bit-rate" (VBR) audio encoding is becoming very popular because it's got better compression than "constant bit-rate " (CBR) audio encoding in many circumstances. However, Transana 2.12 and earlier cannot decode variable bit-rate encoded audio to create its waveform diagram, so if you use this feature in encoding a video, that video won't work with Transana even if it's in a "supported" format. We do not yet know if this issue still arises with Transana 2.20 and later. Also, some versions of MPEG-2 separate ("de-mux") the audio and video into two separate files. This is common on DVDs, but is not supported by Transana. Transana requires "muxed" MPEG-2 files, where the audio and video are combined into a single file. It's always a good idea to make sure that a particular encoding procedure will produce video that will work with Transana before investing a lot of time encoding a lot of video. Also, see the workaround that allows the use of "unsupported" video formats, which is described in this article about video and audio formats. Is there a workaround that allows Transana to work with unsupported video? You can read about the workaround in this article about video and audio formats. Can I store all my video on DVDs instead of on my hard drive? It would depend on the format your video is in on the DVDs. (See above.) But even if you were using a compatible format, it's a bad idea. Each DVD holds, at most, about two hours of video. If your project has 200 hours of video, you've got a stack of 100 or more DVDs that you would have to shuffle through to find the bit of video you're looking for. So imagine you've searched for a combination of keywords, which has produced results suggesting that you should look at 100 clips of a minute each that are scattered across your videos. You want to review all of those clips to see if they really are all "the same thing," to see if your search has produced a highly meaningful new insight. The task of locating the correct DVD and inserting it into the drive 100 times will make you decide that you don't really want to do any more searches because it's not practical to review all those videos. The task would essentially take all day. In contrast, imagine that you convert your 200 hours of video to MPEG-1 format. You lose a little resolution, but it's watchable as long as you're not looking at subtle body language or eye gaze or something like that. 200 hours of video x 650 MB per hour = 130GB of video. How much does a 200GB drive cost? Approximately $80 - $120. And if your computers are networked, you'll only need one, even in a cross-platform environment. If you really need higher resolution video, you can encode your video to MPEG-2, end up with approximately 400GB of data, and still get it onto the network for under $400. And how much do 100 DVD blanks cost these days, anyway? Under this scenario, it takes maybe two or three hours to review those 100 minute-long video clips, and you spend your time between clips thinking rather than shuffling DVDs. So in the day it would take just to review them all once from DVDs, you'll be able to determine that in fact your search result has provided three types of clips, you'll be able to sort them, and you'll be able to review those sorts so that you can start to articulate the distinctions that you have discovered. It's a far more productive use of your day than shuffling DVDs, and we're talking a total investment of less than $200. It only takes a couple of insights into your data to make that investment worthwhile. Can Transana produce a transcript for me? Transana does not automatically generate a transcript, because voice recognition technology is not yet sophisticated enough to be able to produce a useful transcript from naturally occuring talk. Voice recognition software requires a single speaker, good audio quality, spoken punctuation, and extensive training of the software by the speaker. Most research video has, at most, one of these elements. Therefore, voice recognition simply isn't practical. In Transana, you use the Transcript window's Ctrl-S function to start and stop the video, and you type what you hear. It's a slow process, but it's the best way to produce an accurate, usable transcript. One researcher listens to his video, then dictates what he hears into his voice recognition software. He says that he gets pretty good results this way. I'm having some trouble inserting time codes. How should I do it? Getting the time coding process to work properly can be a little tricky at first. Here's a quick overview of a good procedure, and some tips:
Here are some tips from the developer:
Where does Transana store my data? or With the exception of the video and audio files, Transana stores all of the data it uses in a database. Transcripts are stored in the database too, and are not stored as separate files. Where that database is located depends on which version of Transana you're using. In Transana 1.0 to 1.24, single-user version, the database files are stored in "C:\Program Files\Transana\database" as a set of 20 files. As long as you keep all those files together, you can copy them from one computer to another. In Transana 1.1-MU to 1.24-MU, multi-user version, the database files are stored on the MySQL Server that was set up for your project. The Transana database utility allows you to copy data between your Transana-MU database and a single-user Transana database for the equivalent version of Transana. This allows you, for example, to take a copy of a Transana-MU data set to a conference for a presentation. However, we don't recommend working on that data with the single-user version of the program with the hopes of later integrating those changes back into the multi-user database, as the risk of over-writing someone else's work is too high. In Transana 2.00 and higher, the default location of the database is platform dependent and configurable. The easiest way to find your data is to select the "Options" menu, then choose "Program Settings." Look at the setting for the database directory to see where your current database files are located. By default, on Windows 2000 and Windows XP, it's "C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_USER_NAME\Application Data\Transana 2\databases." On Windows 98 SE and Windows Me, data is stored by default in the "database" folder within your Transana program folder (probably "C:\Program Files\Transana 2\database"). On the Mac, it's in your HOME folder under "Transana 2/databases." In the specified folder, you'll find a number of files that store the actual data, and folders for each of the databases you've created. You can't just copy some of the files; copying the database is an all-or-nothing proposition. To move a database to another computer, you need to use the Export Database tool. This creates a Transana XML file, which is a text file that contains all of the data in your database. You can then copy this Transana XML file to another computer, and import it into Transana using the Import Database tool. To back up your Transana data, you need to do two things. You need to back up your Transana database, and you need to back up your videos. To back up your Transana database, first determine where the database is stored. Then, back up the entire database folder, including all subfolders. (Transana 2 stores most of your data in a file called "ibdata1" regardless of what database it's actually part of, so you can't just back up one database out of many by backing up only some of the files.) If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, be sure that your backup software is set to back up hidden folders, as the "Applications Data" folder on those versions of Windows is hidden by the operating system. An alternate method of backing up your database would be to do a Database Export, then store the resulting Transana XML file elsewhere, or make it part of your backup. As for backing up your video, that can be an issue because of the size of the files. There are many options, but that's really beyond the scope of this web site. (Consider using an external hard drive as a way to back up your videos.) It is important to recognize that copies of your video files are not stored in the Transana database. One final note. Always keep a copy of your backups off-site, in another location. A disaster, such as fire or flood, can happen to anyone. I just upgraded from Transana 1.xx to Transana 2.xx. Where's my data? Transana 1.xx used a Paradox database for single users, while Transana 2.xx uses the more robust embedded MySQL database engine. That's why the data doesn't just transfer automatically. Please see the Data Migration Guide for details on how to move your data from the old database system to the new one. How can I capture the information in Transana's reports, and make it editable in a word processor? Use Transana 2.21 or later. That feature has finally been added. But if you're still using a version earlier than Transana 2.21, here's the workaround. The first step is to produce a PDF file of the report. On Windows, you can use Adobe Acrobat or the free PDF Creator. On the Mac, you can do this through the Print Dialog. The second step is to convert the PDF file into editable text. You might be able to copy-and-paste from the PDF. On Windows (and probably Mac), there are programs available to handle the conversion from PDF to editable formats such as RTF, such as ScanSoft PDF converter. These program should produce editable text from the PDF files of the Transana reports. When will Transana be available on the Macintosh? It finally is. Version 2.20 is a full release for the Mac. Everything works on the Mac, including audio extraction. Are there plans to port Transana to Linux? At this point, we don't have official plans to port Transana to Linux. With the new video infrastructure for Transana 2.20, it actually shouldn't be too difficult to create. Rumor is that Transana mostly works on Linux when run from source code. Window sizing is a bit dodgy, and the File Management Tool doesn't work because there isn't a Linux version of the SRB dynamic library. Otherwise, it appears to work acceptably. Please note, however, that this is NOT officially supported. Unfortunately, I don't have development funds to pursue Transana on Linux. If you would be interested in helping or funding such a project, please contact me. Is it possible to use Transana in a computer lab, where they wipe the hard drives every night? Yes. Here's a link to the procedure. My research project involves people who are working in different locations. Can Transana help us collaborate on our analysis? Yes, the multi-user version of Transana was designed with this purpose in mind. Read about the multi-user version here. How do Transana and N*Vivo compare? Which is appropriate for my analysis? N*Vivo 7 focuses primarily on the analysis of text. To work with audio or
video, you have to edit your media into small analytic units outside of N*Vivo and bring in the edited bits as whole units. In my opinion, that Transana focuses on the analysis of audio and video, and really doesn't allow for the analysis of text that lacks an underlying media source. In Transana, you import raw video in large segments, identify the analytically interesting bits, create virtual "clips" of these segments, and apply your coding to the clips. It's easy to get back to the original source from a clip, allowing you to see the context and to investigate questions about what happened before or after something that was interesting. Transana also provides tools that facilitate the transcription of video and audio, while N*Vivo has nothing like that that I am aware of. So if your data is mostly text-based, N*Vivo is the way to go. However, if your data is mostly audio and video, then Transana is the way to go. The two programs facilitate very similar types of analysis on very different types of data. Many researchers who have both video/audio and text-only data end up using both programs. Is there a way to share data between Transana and N*Vivo or Nudist? At the moment, this capacity is quite limited. From within Transana, you can export a Transcript to RTF format, which can be imported into N*Vivo and Nudist. However, you will lose all connection to your video; the Transcript will be treated as a text document. In addition, there is no mechanism for porting any coding over. Transana is open source, and we publish our data specifications, while the QSR products are closed source and do not publish their data specifications. Therefore the ball is in their court. Also, we don't plan to add support for text-based data without an underlying media timeline, so it makes more sense to think about a way to incorporate a Transana data set into a larger N*Vivo project than it does to think about trying to move N*Vivo data into Transana. Is there a way to export Transana data to a statistical package for further analysis? Yes, as of Transana 2.20. You simply right-click an Episode or a Collection and choose "Clip Data Export." Then follow the dialogs through the process of specifying an output file name and applying a filter to the output. This process produces a tab delimited text file that includes Clip information as well as information about the coding that has been applied to those clips. What's the appropriate reference for Transana that I should include in my scholarly work? Woods, D, and Fassnacht, C. (2007). Transana v2.2x. http://www.transana.org. Madison, WI: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. (Please adapt this reference to the correct version number.) An alternative that perhaps fits the The Style Manual of the APA a bit better might be: Transana 2.2x [Computer software]. (2007). Madison, WI: The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Available: http://www.transana.org For what it's worth, the developers prefer the former, as they really did design the interface and functionality of the program and have done the bulk of the actual coding over the years. My question isn't addressed here. How do I get technical support for Transana? You can review others' questions and post a question of your own on the Transana User Forum. |
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