Stroke analyzer Question

Cdryden

Pool Addict
Silver Member
I downloaded the stroke analyzer the other day and played around with it some. It's a handy program and fairly easy to use. I decided to use the break speed application. I checked the power of my controlled nine ball break, breaking for position not power, it said 19.4 Mph.
The I decided to unload and see what my top speed was. The first reading I got was 37.3 Mph. I figured this was a mistake and I had not fed the correct info into the program. So I went back over everything and there were no errors so I set it up again and again I got another reading in the mid 30's.

I decided to try 10 breaks and record the average, I got a 34.7 average break speed. I decided to try different settings on the program to see if there was a mistake. I cant find any.

Has anyone else had this experience? I highly doubt my break is reaching speeds of mid to high 30's. I have a good break, but i think that's stretching it a bit!

I am wondering if the acoustics of the room is giving a false reading. (BTW, I tried positioning my lap top in different areas of the room, no change though )
 
Break Shot! 9/10-ball

Well for me, ball control is much more important than power on the break, 20-22 mph should be enough for great control and heat enough to get balls rolling for the hole.

Controling the cue ball and the next shooting ball, wether it is the one ball or two ball, you have to decide which ball you are trying to make on the break and what the lie will be for your postion ball the following shot, sure you have to have movement, but after awhile your arm is tired and you never reallly had any control of whitey for any great period of time slaming the balls warp 90.

The break is the most important shot of the pool game beside the game ball shot, if a player can make the intended ball on the break he is shooting for and coming up on the next ball consistently , I would say your game will jump 50% just by having control over your break.

This is a shot, and good/great players play it/ I used to break the balls and then rack them for five hours each Sunday afternoon for two years when I first took up the sport of playing pool.


David Harcrow
 
Well for me, ball control is much more important than power on the break, 20-22 mph should be enough for great control and heat enough to get balls rolling for the hole.

Controling the cue ball and the next shooting ball, wether it is the one ball or two ball, you have to decide which ball you are trying to make on the break and what the lie will be for your postion ball the following shot, sure you have to have movement, but after awhile your arm is tired and you never reallly had any control of whitey for any great period of time slaming the balls warp 90.

The break is the most important shot of the pool game beside the game ball shot, if a player can make the intended ball on the break he is shooting for and coming up on the next ball consistently , I would say your game will jump 50% just by having control over your break.



David Harcrow

Believe me when I say your preaching to the choir! I completely agree with you on the subject of control over power, in fact I started the thread titled "to much emphasis on power".

I was just wondering if there is a glitch in the software I was using and if anyone else has noticed this problem.
 
Break Speed Test

I have at times had the same problem. Only my speed was in the mid 40's.
I guess I was breaking harder than you were. LOL

Here is what I found. Since the speed check is determined by the sound of when the cue hits the cue ball and then the cue hitting the rack, several things enter in. I found that by turning down my audio input first, that helped a little. I didn't get as many false readings. Then, I realized that sometimes the software was reading the clicks of other balls hitting each other after the initial break. That also gave me a false reading. In order to cure that problem I needed a second party to hit the stop button as soon as they heard the break on the computer. There may be a slight delay between the actual break and the sound of the break on the computer, so wait untill you hear it come through the computers speakers.

Last but not least, if I am trying to check the speed only, you can get a accurate reading when preforming the check by yourself by only placing one ball on the spot there by eliminating the clacking of the other balls.

And, don't forget, to set the distance box on the software. Mine seems to be preset at 48 inches. When measuring the distance from where I was breaking from to the spot, it was 49 inches. That will make a difference too.

Hope this helps !
 
thanks for the tips about controlling this great piece of software. This is the first time I've heard of the Stroke Analyzer.

Believe me, my customers will be thrilled. Lots of my cistomers use the phone Apps but having a laptop do the jobs has got to be the "bees knees"
 
I have at times had the same problem. Only my speed was in the mid 40's.
I guess I was breaking harder than you were. LOL

Here is what I found. Since the speed check is determined by the sound of when the cue hits the cue ball and then the cue hitting the rack, several things enter in. I found that by turning down my audio input first, that helped a little. I didn't get as many false readings. Then, I realized that sometimes the software was reading the clicks of other balls hitting each other after the initial break. That also gave me a false reading. In order to cure that problem I needed a second party to hit the stop button as soon as they heard the break on the computer. There may be a slight delay between the actual break and the sound of the break on the computer, so wait untill you hear it come through the computers speakers.

Last but not least, if I am trying to check the speed only, you can get a accurate reading when preforming the check by yourself by only placing one ball on the spot there by eliminating the clacking of the other balls.

And, don't forget, to set the distance box on the software. Mine seems to be preset at 48 inches. When measuring the distance from where I was breaking from to the spot, it was 49 inches. That will make a difference too.

Hope this helps !

Green rep to you, thanks for the answers, I'll give that a try when I get home.
 
Break Rack

Thanks for reminding me CEEBEE. I also have and use the breakrak pictured in CeeBee's post. It's a great device and keeps me from having to rack the balls over and over. That would be great for checking break speed and control of the cue ball at the same time.
 
Chris...While I haven't seen you play, or break, it's doubtful that the program is giving you an accurate reading. There have been only a few pros, who with their "hail mary" break could reach mid 30's, let alone higher. Gramps' reading in the 40's shows me that there is a flaw somewhere, as the highest recorded break speed has only been somewhere near 35 mph. I'd be happy to bring my radar gun, when we get a chance to get together, as see what it reads out, both in your 'controlled' break speed, and your 'hail mary' break speed. BTW, the Stroke Analyzer program was developed by one of my students (and an AzB poster), from the Bay area in CA.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I downloaded the stroke analyzer the other day and played around with it some. It's a handy program and fairly easy to use. I decided to use the break speed application. I checked the power of my controlled nine ball break, breaking for position not power, it said 19.4 Mph.
The I decided to unload and see what my top speed was. The first reading I got was 37.3 Mph. I figured this was a mistake and I had not fed the correct info into the program. So I went back over everything and there were no errors so I set it up again and again I got another reading in the mid 30's.

I decided to try 10 breaks and record the average, I got a 34.7 average break speed. I decided to try different settings on the program to see if there was a mistake. I cant find any.

Has anyone else had this experience? I highly doubt my break is reaching speeds of mid to high 30's. I have a good break, but i think that's stretching it a bit!

I am wondering if the acoustics of the room is giving a false reading. (BTW, I tried positioning my lap top in different areas of the room, no change though )
 
Most video cameras utilize an omni directional microphone. Not the best solution for measuring sounds from a specific location. Here are some tips to help measure break speed with StrokeAnalyzer....

* Get the microphone as close to the cueball and head ball as possible.
* If possible, minimize echo in the room.
* Turn off the computer's speakers!
* Adjust the microphone's sensitivity for best level.
* You can adjust the peak determination Threshold if in noisy room.
* Make a horn/cone out of cardboard to go over the microphone to help make the microphone more directional.

Look at where the automatic peaks are located. If not correct, then use the manual mode to select the points where the speed is determined. The human eye is much better at finding peaks than any automated software.

There are no errors in the speed calculation. Errors are associated with inaccurate peak determination.

Bob
 
Break Speed measurement

The latest release of StrokeAnalyzer(1.0.8) provides a separate registration for users only wanting the use the break speed part of StrokeAnalyzer. Cost to register the Break Speed measurement is $20.

You don't need a webcam or video camera for Break Speed measurement. You can use a microphone plugged into the microphone input on a laptop or PC.

You can see an example of using the break speed measurement here...

http://www.strokeanalyzer.com/breakspeed.htm
 
U can have wrong reading if you snap with the stick on table bed while breaking.

I assume you mean the stick "snaps" to the cloth after hitting the cueball, making a noise? I hope you dont mean snap the stick in half :(

StrokeAnalyzer's auto peak finding algorithm looks beyond impossible to make break speeds...similar to what you are referring to. Of course there is always the manual peak location using your eyes to locate the points. Almost required in a reverberant room.
 
I assume you mean the stick "snaps" to the cloth after hitting the cueball, making a noise? I hope you dont mean snap the stick in half :(

StrokeAnalyzer's auto peak finding algorithm looks beyond impossible to make break speeds...similar to what you are referring to. Of course there is always the manual peak location using your eyes to locate the points. Almost required in a reverberant room.

I use omnia phone with break speed app. My readings is around 60 Mph because of the snap. When i adjust manually my break speed is from 22-25Mph :rolleyes:
 
I downloaded the stroke analyzer the other day and played around with it some. It's a handy program and fairly easy to use. I decided to use the break speed application. I checked the power of my controlled nine ball break, breaking for position not power, it said 19.4 Mph.
The I decided to unload and see what my top speed was. The first reading I got was 37.3 Mph. I figured this was a mistake and I had not fed the correct info into the program. So I went back over everything and there were no errors so I set it up again and again I got another reading in the mid 30's.

I decided to try 10 breaks and record the average, I got a 34.7 average break speed. I decided to try different settings on the program to see if there was a mistake. I cant find any.

Has anyone else had this experience? I highly doubt my break is reaching speeds of mid to high 30's. I have a good break, but i think that's stretching it a bit!

I am wondering if the acoustics of the room is giving a false reading. (BTW, I tried positioning my lap top in different areas of the room, no change though )

Iphone break app is the sh1t
 
BoB's release of the Stroke Analyzer "Break Speed" software is just great. You can do the video-audio deal & get the speed while you are at it....

With a webcam, a PC with the "Break Speed Software", a cue ball , a Break Cue & a BreakRAK, you can be a monster in 2 weeks...
 
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