ScoreCam
How ScoreCam Works
A look at the concepts, pipeline, and workflows that make ScoreCam tick — from the moment you press record to the finished video in your Photos library.
Overview
Most sports video apps record the game and expect you to add text, graphics, and scoreboards in a video editor afterward. ScoreCam works differently: the scoreboard is rendered directly onto every frame of video as it is being recorded.
This means the scoreboard is a permanent, pixel-level part of the video file from the very first frame. There is no separate data file to merge, no editor to open, and no post-processing step. When you stop recording, the video is already done.
This approach also means score changes appear in the video the moment they happen. If the score changes at 14:32 of game time, the updated scoreboard appears on every frame from that exact moment forward.
The Video Pipeline
Every frame of video travels through a sequence of processing stages before it is written to disk (or sent to a live stream):
Camera Sensor → AVCaptureSession
The iPhone or iPad camera sensor produces raw frames. Apple's AVFoundation framework (via AVCaptureSession) captures these frames and makes them available for processing. Camera settings like resolution, frame rate, stabilization, and focus/exposure mode are all configured at this stage.
Scoreboard Overlay
The scoreboard — including team names, scores, game clock, and any branding — is rendered as a UIView hierarchy and composited onto each video frame using the GPU. Updates to the score or clock happen immediately and take effect on the very next frame.
Movie Writer
Composited frames are passed to a movie writer built on AVAssetWriter. This encodes the video using your chosen codec (H.264 or HEVC) at your selected resolution and bitrate, and writes the result to a temporary file. Audio from the microphone is captured on a parallel track and synchronized with the video.
Video File / Live Stream
When recording stops, the temporary file is finalized and moved to your Photos library. If Live Streaming is active, the same composited frames are simultaneously sent to the live stream encoder throughout the session.
Recording a Game
A typical ScoreCam session follows this workflow:
Setup Before the Game
Open ScoreCam and navigate to Scoreboard Settings. Choose the scoreboard style for your sport, enter team names, pick colors or logos, and configure the game clock. These settings persist between sessions so you only need to update them when something changes.
Frame Your Shot
Position the device on a tripod or hold it at the desired angle. Use the four zoom buttons to lock in your preferred zoom level. Tap and hold on the subject to lock focus and exposure if the lighting is consistent.
Press Record
Tap the record button. The scoreboard appears on screen and in the video immediately. The recording timer starts. If you have a Scoreboard Remote connected, it begins receiving updates as well.
Update Scores During the Game
Tap the score buttons on screen to increment or decrement scores. If using the Scoreboard Remote, the remote operator handles all scoring while the camera operator focuses on framing. The game clock can be started, stopped, and reset independently of recording.
Pause at Halftime or Between Periods
Tap the pause button to pause recording. This creates a seamless cut in the video — when you resume, the footage picks up right where it left off with no gap. If "Pause Game Clock on Recording Pause" is enabled, the game clock pauses automatically.
Mark Highlights (Optional)
Tap the highlight gesture (default: two-finger tap) at any important moment. ScoreCam marks a timestamp and can later cut highlight clips from those moments automatically.
Stop Recording
Tap the stop button. If Stop Confirmation is enabled, you will be asked to confirm. ScoreCam finalizes the video, generates any highlight clips, and saves everything to your Photos library. The game video appears in the "ScoreCam" album.
Recording Modes
ScoreCam supports three recording modes to suit different needs. The mode is selected in App Settings → Other Options.
Standard Recording (Default)
The simplest mode. ScoreCam records continuously from when you press record until you stop. Pauses create seamless cuts in the final video — the paused time is simply not included. One video file is produced per session.
Save Pause-Free Version
Records normally during the session, but when you stop, ScoreCam produces two output files: the full recording (with all pauses removed as seamless cuts) and a secondary "pause-free" version that only contains the periods when the camera was actively recording. Useful if you want both the full game timeline and an edited-down version.
Save Space While Recording
Instead of recording one continuous file, ScoreCam saves each recording segment (between pauses) as a separate clip in real time. At the end of the session, all clips are stitched together into the final video. This mode uses less storage headroom during recording because the device does not need to hold a large in-progress file open.
Marking Highlights
Highlights allow you to flag key moments during a recording so ScoreCam can later extract short clips from those moments.
Triggering a Highlight
By default, a two-finger tap anywhere on the camera preview triggers a highlight. This gesture can be reassigned in App Settings → Gesture Assignments. When triggered, ScoreCam records a timestamp internally and briefly flashes the screen to confirm.
Choosing a Duration
If "Prompt for Duration" is enabled, a small menu appears asking how long you want the clip to be. The options are your four configured durations (e.g., "Since last pause", 10s, 15s, 20s). If prompting is disabled, ScoreCam always uses Duration 1.
How Clips Are Created
There are two Highlights Modes that determine when clips are actually generated:
- Create on Stop — All clips are generated after you stop recording. ScoreCam has access to the full recorded file and can extract clips with frame-accurate timing. This is the recommended mode.
- Save Immediately — Each clip is generated in real time as soon as the highlight is triggered. This produces clips faster but they may be 2–3 seconds shorter than requested because the buffer does not extend far enough back in time.
Highlight Reel
If the "Create Highlight Reel" option is enabled, ScoreCam takes all the highlight clips from a session and automatically stitches them together into a single reel video with your chosen transition style (cross dissolve, push, fade to black, or a direct cut). The reel is saved as a separate file alongside the individual clips.
All highlight clips and reels are saved to the "ScoreCam Highlights" album in Photos (configurable in settings).
Live Streaming Session
When Live Streaming is enabled (requires a subscription), ScoreCam simultaneously records locally and broadcasts to your configured streaming platform. The same scoreboard overlay that appears in the recorded video is also visible to your live viewers.
Configure Your Account
Go to App Settings → Live Streaming and connect your YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, or custom RTMP account. This only needs to be done once.
Enable Live Streaming
Turn on the "Enable Live Streaming" switch in App Settings. You can also set whether recording starts automatically with the stream or requires a separate tap.
Start the Broadcast
Tap the stream button to go live. ScoreCam establishes the RTMP connection and begins sending frames. The scoreboard is included in the stream from the first frame.
Score and Stream
Update scores normally during the game. Viewers see every score change in real time. If you pause recording, the stream continues but audio can optionally be muted and a branding image shown to viewers.
End the Broadcast
Stop recording to end both the local recording and the live stream simultaneously. If "Save to Disk" was enabled, the local video is saved to Photos as usual. The platform (YouTube, Twitch, etc.) archives the stream on their side.
For full details see Live Streaming →