wjs-syncing-multicam

wjs-syncing-multicam

Compute a single time offset for each multi-source recording of the same event using audio cross-correlation, and emit a .sync.json sidecar next to each original. Originals are never modified, copied, or re-encoded. Downstream tools use -itsoffset to apply the offset at consume time.

Setup & commands

The implementation lives in the open-source polysync pip package (<https://pypi.org/project/polysync/> · <https://github.com/jianshuo/polysync>) — this skill no longer ships its own scripts. Ensure it's installed, then drive it via its CLI:

python3 -m pip install -U polysync      # needs ffmpeg/ffprobe on PATH

polysync sync   REFERENCE SOURCE        # align SOURCE to REFERENCE, write sidecars
polysync sync   REFERENCE SOURCE --partial   # source covers only part of the session
polysync verify REFERENCE SOURCE SOURCE.sync.json   # independent residual check

Run one polysync sync per non-reference angle (reference first, same reference each time). The sections below document the algorithm, the sidecar schema, and the gotchas baked into the package — read them to interpret output and choose flags.

Design principle — sidecar over re-encode

Earlier versions of this skill produced *_synced.MOV files by trimming + re-encoding to bake the offset into the file. We removed that:

• Disk — a 75-min 4K shoot from 3 cameras is 60+ GB. Re-encoded synced copies double that for no information gain.
• Quality — every re-encode is lossy. The originals are the source of truth; sidecars are reversible metadata.
• Speed — _synced.MOV generation took 10+ min per file on Apple Silicon; sidecar emission takes seconds.
• Composability — any downstream tool (polysync edit, NLE import, ffmpeg one-liners) reads the sidecar and applies the offset itself. No tool-specific file format lock-in.

When NOT to use

• Single-camera footage — nothing to sync to. For splitting one source into clips, use video-segmentation.
• Sources already aligned in an NLE timeline — don't fight the editor.
• For the auto-edit / cut / PiP rendering step that comes AFTER sync, use wjs-editing-multicam (consumes these sidecars).

Why envelope-based, not raw waveform

Raw PCM cross-correlation gives weak peaks and false matches when the two mics have different gain / room response — i.e., almost always with a secondary cam. The log-energy envelope captures dialogue and music dynamics, which both mics hear regardless of frequency response. Don't skip the envelope step — it's the entire reason this skill is robust at low SNR.

Algorithm

1. Extract mono PCM at 8 kHz, 16-bit from each input. The audio stream is auto-selected by loudness (loudest_audio_stream): probe each 0:a:N over a 60 s mid-file window and pick the highest mean volume. Multi-track pro cameras break a naive 0:a:0 — Sony FX6 MXF clips carry 4 mono PCM tracks and routinely leave a:0 / a:1 dead (~-90 dB) with the room mic on a:2 / a:3; correlating the silent track fails to sync. Single-stream inputs (most MP4 cams) short-circuit to a:0.
2. Log-energy envelope at 100 Hz (10 ms hop, 50 ms window). High-pass with a 2nd-order Butterworth, 0.05 Hz cutoff, filtfilt — removes slow drift and gain offsets.
3. FFT cross-correlate envelopes end-to-end → coarse offset (~10 ms).
4. Refine at sample level with a 60 s probe from B near the coarse-aligned position in A, ±2 s search window, parabolic peak interpolation.
5. Multi-probe drift check — repeat step 4 every ~3 min. Linear fit delta(t) = slope·t + intercept reveals real clock drift (5–50 ppm typical). Use the midpoint-canonical offset (slope · midpoint + intercept) so residual error is symmetric around zero.
6. Compute overlap window in the reference timeline: overlap = [max(0, delta), min(ref_dur, delta + src_dur)].
7. Emit .sync.json sidecar next to each non-reference input. No file is copied, trimmed, or re-encoded. The reference input gets a sidecar too (with delta_seconds: 0) so downstream code can treat all inputs uniformly.

polysync sync is the implementation. It emits only the .sync.json sidecar — no _synced.MOV, no re-encode.

Sidecar schema (<input>.sync.json)

One sidecar per original input, written next to it. Pure JSON, no comments in-file — the field reference below is canonical.

{
  "_about": "Sync metadata for cam_b.MOV. Apply via ffmpeg -itsoffset. See wjs-syncing-multicam SKILL.md for full schema.",
  "schema_version": 1,
  "source": "cam_b.MOV",
  "reference": "cam_a.MOV",
  "delta_seconds": 12.345,
  "drift_slope": 1.8e-5,
  "overlap_in_reference": [12.345, 4512.180],
  "overlap_in_source":    [0.000,   4499.835],
  "verification": {
    "median_residual_ms": 4.2,
    "residual_spread_ms": 11.8,
    "probe_count": 24
  }
}

Field reference

| Field | Type | Meaning | |---|---|---| | _about | string | Human-readable one-liner. Includes pointer back to this SKILL.md. Always present. | | schema_version | int | Bumps on any breaking change to this schema. Current: 1. | | source | string | Filename of the original this sidecar describes. Relative to the sidecar's directory. Never points to a re-encoded file. | | reference | string | The input whose timeline we're aligned to. Reference's own sidecar lists itself here. | | delta_seconds | float | The source's t=0 expressed in the reference's timeline. If positive, source starts after reference; pass to ffmpeg as -itsoffset <delta>. Can be negative (source starts before reference, e.g. early-rolling camera). | | drift_slope | float | Linear clock-drift slope (dimensionless, ~10⁻⁵). 0.0 means no measurable drift. Downstream applies atempo = 1 + drift_slope to the source ONLY for sync-sound / long-form lip-sync — for camera-cut editing, ignore. | | overlap_in_reference | [start, end] (seconds) | The window during which both source and reference have coverage, expressed in the reference's timeline. Use this to trim outputs to mutually-valid time ranges. | | overlap_in_source | [start, end] (seconds) | Same window expressed in the source's local timeline. overlap_in_reference[0] - delta_seconds = overlap_in_source[0]. | | verification | object | Output of running polysync verify — drives a "did sync converge?" gate. median_residual_ms should be a few ms; residual_spread_ms > 1 frame at delivery fps means drift correction was needed but skipped. |

How downstream consumes the sidecar

-itsoffset is per-input in ffmpeg and applies BEFORE -i. Always read the source's delta_seconds from the sidecar:

# Play cam_b aligned to cam_a's timeline
ffmpeg -itsoffset $(jq -r .delta_seconds cam_b.MOV.sync.json) -i cam_b.MOV \
       -i cam_a.MOV \
       -filter_complex "[0:v][1:v]hstack" out.mp4

# Trim to mutual overlap window (read from cam_b.MOV.sync.json)
ffmpeg -ss <overlap_in_source[0]> -i cam_b.MOV -t <overlap_dur> ...

For wjs-editing-multicam, polysync edit ingests every <input>.sync.json automatically; you don't compose these flags by hand.

Partial-coverage clips — polysync sync --partial

Common case — main cams cover 75 min, a Riverside / phone / lavalier recorder only covers the middle 30 min. Run polysync sync REF.MOV NEW.mp4 --partial:

1. Cross-correlates the new input against the reference (same envelope algorithm as full-overlap mode).
2. Finds where the new clip's t=0 sits in the reference timeline (delta_seconds may be large, e.g. 1842.5).
3. Writes ONLY the source sidecar — no black padding, no audio padding, no re-encode. overlap_in_reference tells consumers exactly when this input has coverage; outside that window, fall back to the main cams.

The --partial flag changes only the failure philosophy: it degrades gracefully (median delta on few probes, coarse delta if none) instead of failing on <3 good probes, and skips the reference sidecar (the ref