Browsing

Tempo lets you browse through audio, video and annotation files, keeping everything in sync while you do it. The main window displays any videos that you have opened on the left and any audio or annotation files on the right. The files on the right are laid out on a common timeline that can be scrolled through, zoomed into, etc.

Browsing Through Video

Tempo displays the frame at the current time for each video that you have open. You can change the current time using the scroll bar below the video panels.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a few keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to navigate through video:

Key Action
Cmd/Ctrl-Left arrow Go to the first frame
Left arrow Go to the previous frame
Right arrow Go to the next frame
Cmd/Ctrl-Right arrow Go to the last frame

Browsing Through the Timeline

Tempo displays all audio and annotation files on a common timeline on the right side of the Tempo window. Audio files are displayed in waveform and/or spectrogram panels while annotations are displayed in feature panels. A vertical red line through the timelines indicates the current time to which all files (including video) are being synchronized. Clicking anywhere in the timeline will set the current time. The scrollbar below the timeline lets you browse through the entire timeline but does not change the current time. Toolbar buttons and items in the Timeline menu let you zoom into and out of the timeline to see additional detail.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a number of keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to navigate the timeline:

Key Action
Cmd/Ctrl-Left arrow Go to beginning of the timeline
Page down Move back one window’s width
Left arrow Move back one tenth of the window’s width
Right arrow Move ahead one tenth of the window’s width
Page up Move ahead one window’s width
Cmd/Ctrl-Right arrow Go to the end of the timeline
Down arrow Zoom in
Up arrow Zoom out
Cmd/Ctrl-Up arrow Zoom all the way out
Alt/Option-Left arrow Move to the previous feature
Alt/Option-Right arrow Move to the next feature
Delete Delete the selected feature

Playback

Tempo can playback video and audio files together. While the audio can be reproduced quite reliably, video tends to play back slowly in Tempo. Certain video formats work better than others but Tempo can display video at about 15 frames per second in the best case. To work around this and to allow finer tuned browsing of video Tempo allows you to play back at faster or slower speeds. Play back can also be done in reverse to easily rewind and rewatch sections of video.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are a few keyboard shortcuts for playback:

Key Action
Space Play forwards or stop play back
Shift-Space Play backwards or stop play back
Cmd/Ctrl-1 Play at regular speed
Cmd/Ctrl-2 Play at half speed