Guidefox193

1. Browning Trail Camera Time Lapse Software
2. Browning Trail Cam Time Lapse Software

Timelapse+ Mode – Browning Trail Cameras. Browningtrailcameras.zendesk.com DA: 32 PA: 43 MOZ Rank: 75. Timelapse+ mode is a mode of operation in which the trail camera will take a picture based on an interval of time as well as take pictures when anything crosses the cameras detection zone as if it were in Trail Cam mode.

• View

What are TLS Files?

This software is only needed to view images captured in Timelapse or Timelapse+ modes. If you are operating on a Mac this download is not compatible. To view images captured in either Timelapse or Timelapse+ mode simply change the file extension from.TLS to.AVI which is a common file type. For more information about the Timelapse modes please. Amazon.com: Browning Trail Cameras BTC-7A Recon Force Advantage 20MP Game Cam Bundle (2-Pack) with 2-Pack USB 2.0 Card Readers, Silicon Power 2X 32GB Class 10 SD Cards, and Blucoil 16 AA Batteries: Sports & Outdoors.

Some Browning trail cameras, when set in timelapse mode to capture an image every time interval, store a sequence of captured images as TLS file rather than as individual jpg files.A TLS file is actually a video file, where images are just frames in that video.

Can I play the TLS video file on my computer without using the Browning software?

Yes, as a TLS file is nothing more than a standard .avi file playable by most computers. To play it, just:

Feb 23, 2018 This software is only needed to view images captured in Timelapse or Timelapse+ modes. If you are operating on a Mac this download is not compatible. To view images captured in either Timelapse or Timelapse+ mode simply change the file extension from.TLS to.AVI which is a common file type. For more information about the Timelapse modes please. The one thing that is a little tricky is that the Browning cams appear to save the time lapse sequences in a weird.TLS file format. Browning provides a player software that can read these directly, but what I discovered is that in reality these are just.avi files.

• change the filename suffix .TLS to .avi
• double click it to play it in your preferred video player.

Are there limitations in TLS video files?

Yes. I am not sure why Browning decided to store videos as a TLS (actually .avi) file. It seems like a strange decision fraught with problems as described below (these problems are generic, and not Timelapse-specific). The only justification I can see is that Browning perhaps expects its users to use only their software. If you have a choice of not using TLS files (or if you are considering purchasing Browning cameras that do produce those), consider the following.

1. If you just use the video review features of Timelapse to examine the images collected as video frames, then you will only have one data row to describe all images in the video. I suspect this is not what you want.
2. Video is a lot more problematic than jpgs or images as it does not store the same metadata.
   • Many camera traps add metadata that concerns extra information known to the camera (often also displayed in a bar printed as part of the image). A good example is the current temperature. Timelapse and other common systems can extract that data to populate fields. However, that metadata is not included in TLS videos.
   • Images include metadata timestamps describing when an image was taken. In contrast, the video timestamp is only for the video as a whole; no timestamp is provided for a particular video frame representing an image. However, as described below, you may be able to calculate what it should be (although errors could be introduced.
3. You may be able to use software to extract images from the video (see below) and save them as image files. However, any metadata associated with that video will be lost (including the video timestamp).
4. It is difficult to extract images from video with 100% reliability. My solution below expects a new image to appear in the video every specified time interval, where it extracts a video frame and saves it as a jpg. However, if there is any clock drift or if the time is inexact, you may get some duplicates or some missing frames.
5. Image recognition systems for camera traps are becoming prevalent. Be aware that most (all?) work on images as input, not video.
6. If you are considering buying those cameras, perhaps because they are cheaper than competing products, consider the cost of all these extra steps below in terms of staff having to do this extra work.

Can I analyze TLS video files in Timelapse?

Yes, but there are two different ways to do that. The sections below describe how to do it along with the various limitations.

Method 1. Analyze each video file.

You can view and analyze the TLS files as a video within Timelapse. This is the easiest and faster way, but it has a major limitation. Timelapse considers each video file as a single file rather than as a collection of images. Thus you will have only one set of fields to fill in for each file, which is problematic if you have to enter different data for every image seen in the video file.

1. Change the suffix of all your TLS files to .avi. (You may want to use a file renamer to do this if you have many files, or the Rename script below)
2. Load them into Timelapse as normal
3. You can then view and play each video within Timelapse.
4. As mentioned, you will have only one set of fields to fill in for each video file.

Method 2. Extract images from the video file as jpg images.

I have written instructions and provided scripts that will extract images from your TLS files, save them as standard jpg images, and adjust each file's creation date so they match the actual image timestamps (this allows timelapse to record the dates correctly). However, this is a more complex process, where you will have to check (and perhaps change) a few settings in the scripts I provide, and do some manual work. The good news is that others have used this method and it works.

To illustrate, lets assume we have three TLS files: TIMEL0001.TLS, TIMEL0002.TLS and TIMEL0003.TLS

• You can download 3 TLS file to try the steps below on these files. Unzip them and put them in your test folder.

Step 1. Create a folder holding all your TLS files.

• I have named it TLSDemo, but you can call it whatever you want. Here is what the folder looks like:

Step 2. Download the zip file below

• Download TLStoJPGScripts.zip
• It contains three Powershell scripts that you will execute later.
• Extract the three script files from the zip file and save it to the same folder above
• If your computer won't let you download this file (as it contains scripts), contact me and I'll send you a variation of this file.

Step 3, Copy (or download) ffmpeg.exe into the folder above

• Your Timelapse executable folder will contain a copy of the ffmpeg.exe program
• Just copy into into the folder above.
• Alternately, you can download a windows version of ffmpeg from the ffmpeg download site
• At this point, your folder should contain the following:

Step 4. Open Powershell as Administrator and set its execution policy

Powershell is a command-line system that lets you type commands into Windows, which in turn lets you run scripts.You have to run them as administrator, as otherwise it won't let you properly run the various scripts you just downloaded. You also have to change its security settings.

• Open FileExplorer on your folder.
• From the File menu at the top of that window, select
  • File | Open Windows PowerShell | Open Windows PowerShell As Administrator
• A window should appear. Windows normally doesn’t let you run scripts. To override that, Type the following into the Powershell window:
  • Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

It will ask you to verify this: just type Y for Yes.

Step 5. Rename your TLS files to have a .avi suffix

You will use a script to rename all your TLS files into avi files.

• Type
  • .RenameTLSFiles.ps1

Step 6. Check how many images are recorded per second in your .avi file, and adjust the ConvertToImages.ps1 script if needed

Open a TLS file in a video player, and check to see how many different images are recorded per second. The ones I tried were 5/second.The ffmpeg command (you can see this if you view or edit the ConvertToImages.ps1 file) has an argument '-r 5', which means extract 5 frames for every second.If your video files have more or less than that number of frames, change that argument to match that number of frames.

Step 7. Extract the images

• Type
  • .ConvertToImages.ps1

This will create a folder representing each file containing all the extracted images for that file. Its name will be the same as the filename but without the suffix. For example, this is what my main folder now looks like, as well as one of the subfolders:

Step 8. Check images in at least one subfolder

Make sure that the extraction extracted one image for every time period, with no duplicates and nothing skipped.

• To check, open the first image in a photoviewer, and then look at the timestamp on successive images
• If there are duplicates or if images have been skipped, you may have to adjust that -r 5 argument above to reflect the correct number of frames per second.

Step 9. (Optional, but likely required). Adjust the Creation/Modifed Date/Time for each file.

Unfortunately, the extracted images record their creation date and time as the date/time they were extracted. This means that when Timelapse reads them in for the first time, the date/time it records for each image will not match the timestamp burnt onto the image. However, another script - with a bit of effort - can correct these dates.

1. Go into one of the folders, open the first image, and check to see what the time interval is in minutes between the 1st and 2nd image (this should match how your camera's timelapse mode was set). For example, if the timestamp on the first image is 07/19/2020 06:59PM and the second is 07/19/2020 07:09PM, the time interval is 10 minutes.
2. Open AdjustDates.ps1 in an Editor (right-click, Edit). You will se a line that says $minutes=10. Change that to the actual time interval you use.
3. Do the following for each folder (yes, that is a bit painful but better than nothing)
   1. Copy AdjustDates.ps1 into the folder
   2. Open the first image in a photoviewer so you can see its timestamp
   3. Open Powershell in that folder
   4. Type .AdjustDates
   5. It will ask you for a date/time in dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss format (am/pm also works). Enter the date/time on the first image e.g. 07/19/2020 06:59pm
   6. Each file's Date Created and Date Modified will be changed. The first image will have the date/time you put in, while the subsequent ones will have its date/time incremented by the specified minutes. You may have to hit F5 to refresh the display to show the current dates.
   7. Check. A good way to do this is to examine the last image and see if its creation date/time matches the burnt in timestamp. If it doesn't then likely the image extraction method in Step 7 either duplicated or skipped a file, and you will have to redo that step.
   8. Repeat for the other folder

For example, my first folder using the above now looks like this:

Browning Trail Camera Time Lapse Software

Step 10 Load images into Timelapse as normal.

Load images into Timelapse as you normally would. If your template is in the root folder, it will find all those images in the subfolder and use the revised dates.

Tada!

Credits: thanks to Alicia Woods for supplying and allowing me to use the example TLS files.

• View

Instructions for downloading and installing the Timelapse2 software and an example Image Folder.
We provide everything in a zip file. This avoids installation problems that often occur on institutional machines that are 'locked down' for security reasons. You just need to download the zip file and uncompress it. We include:

• Timelapse 2
• Timelapse Template Editor

A separate User Guide and example Image Folder containing images and a template matching what is illustrated in the tutorial manual can be found on the Tutorial Manual page

Required Download:
The Timelapse Software

• SelectTimelapse 2 Image Analyser / Template Editor -- as a zip file

1. Download the zip file
2. Open the zip file (e.g., by double clicking it) and extract the Timelapse2 folder to a place of your choosing (e.g., your Desktop or your My Documents folder).
3. Open the Timelapse2 folder, which contains the two applications below as well as various other files needed by that software.
   • Timelapse2.exe
   • TimelapseTemplateEditor.exe
4. Important: Leave the Timelapse executables in that folder! It needs the files in there to work properly. Start either program from that folder.
   • Recommended: Alternately, create shortcuts to those programs and put them in a place of your choosing (e.g., your desktop). You should now be able to run the software by double-clicking its icon or shortcut.

Browning Trail Cam Time Lapse Software

• Note: When you run the Timelapse2 or the TimelapseTemplateEditor, they automatically check for updates and tells you if one is available.
• Windows Security: Whenever you download a new version of Timelapse and run it for the first time, Windows may display the following security warning. You need to over-ride it by selecting More Info, which will then show the option: Run Anyways. Select that.

Highly Recommended Download:
The Timelapse Tutorial User Manual

Download the Tutorial Manual and Example Image Folder. The tutorial guide provides step by step instructions. You can follow the guide as you read it by using the example image folder, which contains images, videos and a template matching what is illustrated in the tutorial guide. We highly recommend you go through it.

Troubleshooting Potential Problems Running the Timelapse software

If the software crashes immediately on startup, or displays an error message saying the .Net framework is missing: Timelapse requires the Windows .Net Framework 4.5. While most up-to-date versions of Windows will already include this, it may be missing from older versions of Windows. If this is the case, install the

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.

Note that if you have a 'locked down' institutional machine, you may have to get your system administrator to do it for you.

UpdateCSVFile

This utility program will let you update a CSV comma-separated values (spreadsheet) file to help make it compatible with what Timelapse expects when importing a CSV file. You can only use it to alter column header names, to trim file name paths, and to split a file path to the expected File and RelativePath values. See the User Manual, Section 11 for details on how to use it and what it does.

File Renamer

If you need to rename your image files so they can be read in sequence, you can try this software (which I didn't develop).

• Renamer, developed by Denis Kozlov, allows you to rename files. However, I haven't used it myself.

Synchronize Extracted Image Dates To Video

This utility corrects dates on images extracted from video files. For example, one user used a reconyx camera to record videos, and then used a 3rd party software system to extract the frames from those videos as JPG images to be read into Timelapse. The problem is that image extraction sets the date to the time of extraction, rather than preserve the date recorded in the video. This utility lets you correct that. As input, it expects a folder where the extracted image names are the .avi video file name plus numbered suffixes, e.g., Recn003.avi, Recn003-01.jpg, Recn003-02.jpg, .... . You can also add a specific amount of time to every image extracted to preserve the correct date/time and its order (e.g., if you extracted an image every .5 seconds into the video). Note that for this to work, the video's 'date modified' should be the date you want.

Repair Reconyx Image Files that appear Squashed

A user reported a case where some of their images taken from a Reconyx camera were appearing on the screen 'squashed', i.e., compressed into a few color rows at the top. The images - even though they appeared correctly in a standard image viewer - turned out to be partially corrupted. Without going into too many technical details, the Reconyx camera stopped recording the horizontal image resolution, which Timelapse uses. The RepairImages utility fixes those images. First, back up your images. Then run RepairImages on your folder. It will check all images there. For those that are damaged, a new repaired copy is created and placed in a sub-folder called 'RepairedImages'. You can then copy (or move) those images back into your main folder, thus replacing the damaged images. Then remove the RepairedImages folder, as you don't want Timelapse to read those in again. But, just in case, remember the first thing I mentioned above: make a backup of that folder first in case things go wrong!
Note: The repair facility may not copy over all the metadata fields from your image, particularly if they are non-standard. Do a test to see if the metadata of interest to you is still there (try both metadata extraction tools in Timelapse). If the metadata is missing, then have Timelapse load your original images, then import the metadata you need, and then do the above repair.

Some Browning trail cameras, when set in timelapse mode to capture an image every time interval, store a sequence of captured images as TLS file rather than as individual jpg files.
Follow this link to instructions and scripts that extract those images as jpg files, and to correct its date/time metadata, .

Repair Reconyx Image Files that appear Squashed

6000:1821