GymPlayer – Guide

Version 3.3 · Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows · On-screen labels are quoted exactly as the app shows them.

What GymPlayer does

GymPlayer is for gymnasts and athletes who want to see their routine right after they finish it – and for coaches who review it with them. The app films in an endless loop and keeps the last seconds (30 s by default) in memory. Step off the apparatus, tap the picture – it freezes, and the routine can be scrubbed frame by frame, played back in slow motion and taken back to live. Nothing is saved unless you tap Save: without it no video and no photo is created, and whatever the app holds in memory is gone when it closes.

One device or two?

On first start the app asks "What is this device?". The switch at the top left (PLAYER | CAMERA | CAM+PLAY) changes it at any time.

For two devices, the camera phone's hotspot works well – no gym Wi-Fi needed. Choose 5 GHz if you can; over 2.4 GHz usually only ~30 frames per second get through.

The camera

• On first start tap "Allow camera" (the iPhone also asks about the local network – allow it).
• Chips at the bottom: 30 fps (frame rate), 720p / 1080p (resolution), the flip icon (front/back camera), ◎ ▾ folds out focus, exposure, zoom and rotation (↻).
• For steady, comparable pictures use AF FIX and AE FIX – focus and exposure then stay put instead of pumping with every movement.
• The camera's address is shown in large type, e.g. http://192.168.43.1:8080/video. The player usually doesn't need it – it finds the camera by itself.

Connecting the player (two devices only)

Without a picture the player shows a small card: "Searching camera …" – usually it connects by itself within seconds. The other device must be set to CAMERA and be on the same Wi-Fi.

• Search scans the Wi-Fi and the networks next to it and connects. "No camera found" means a search came back empty – check the camera device, then tap Search again.
• Details ▾ unfolds the rest: type the address from the camera screen into the field and tap Connect; the yellow line tells you what the search is doing ("Searching …", "Camera found: …").
• Wrong Wi-Fi? Android: Choose Wi-Fi. iPhone: Open Settings → Wi-Fi (without any Wi-Fi the card offers this button instead of Search). Under Details ▾ the player also shows its own address (This phone: …) – if it starts differently from the camera's, the devices are not on the same network.

iPhone: if there is still no picture on the right Wi-Fi, allow GymPlayer under Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.

Using it

When the picture changes state the app briefly shows hints (can be switched off under ⚙):

• Live: TAP TO REPLAY – one tap freezes.
• Frozen: TAP FOR LIVE – back to the live picture. ← SWIPE → – swiping across the picture scrubs frame by frame.
• Double-tap on the frozen picture jumps straight to what has been recorded in the meantime (recording always keeps running in the background).

At the bottom is the control row – two lines on a phone held upright, one line sideways and on a tablet:

[ FROZEN ]  [═══════ slider ═══════]  [|◀] [▶|] [1/4]  [ ▶ ]

• REC / FROZEN – the big chip on the left is also the freeze/live button.
• Slider – the round handle shows the frame rate at that point (e.g. 28 fps).
• |◀ ▶| – one frame back / forward.
• 1/4 – slow motion for ▶: 1/4 → 1/2 → 1× → 1/10.
• ▶ – plays the frozen buffer in a loop.

Saving a video

On the frozen picture a save icon (arrow pointing down) appears on the right above the control row. One tap saves at once – no questions asked:

• What: the whole frozen buffer – or just the part between the two handles on the slider (green = start, red = end; a double-tap on a handle resets it).
• How fast: at the speed of the 1/4 chip. Set to 1/4, the saved video plays in slow motion; at 1× in real time.
• Where: Android into the gallery (folder Movies/GymPlayer), iPhone and iPad into Photos – the first time, the device asks whether GymPlayer may add videos.

It takes only a second or two; the file is large in return (30 s ≈ 100–300 MB). If a device cannot play the fast format, the app converts the video into a smaller MP4 instead – that takes longer and shows a progress bar (Saving as MP4…).

Chips at the top left: the frame rate (tap to open a status panel with all the numbers), the red and the blue chip show how much is in the live and in the frozen buffer (tap to switch between MB and seconds), 30 s is the buffer length – tap to cycle 10 → 20 → 30 → 45 → 60 s; recording then starts over.

Two devices only: Wi-Fi doesn't always deliver every frame, so after freezing the player fetches the missing frames from the camera. The chip next to it says how many: BF ◢ (default – the newest quarter in full, thinner before that), BF ALL (everything), BF 50% (the newer half), BF OFF (nothing). If it takes too long, Finish in ends the backfill after 1, 2, 3 or 5 s with the best frames that fit by then.

Settings (⚙)

Every row has an (i) with the full explanation. The essentials:

• Buffer (s per ring) – seconds per buffer (live and frozen, so twice).
• Target fps – the frame rate the buffers are sized for. 120 or 240 fps only if the camera offers them.
• RAM limit – ceiling for the app's memory, Auto by default (a quarter of the device's memory). When the limit applies, the buffer holds fewer seconds – the 30 s chip then turns yellow.
• Drag: px per frame – how far a finger has to swipe for one frame.
• Show gesture hints – hints on the picture on/off.
• CAM+PLAY only: Stream in Wi-Fi (off = the picture stays on this device; on = other devices on the Wi-Fi can watch and scrub – in the app or in a browser; the (i) shows the address) and Camera settings… (port, JPEG quality, cache).

Player in a browser

Any device on the same Wi-Fi can watch the camera without the app: open the address from the camera screen (e.g. http://192.168.43.1:8080/video) in a browser – it lands in the player with ring buffer, freeze and replay. Works like the app; the save icon downloads the video as a file there. On the iPhone, "Add to Home Screen" runs the page without browser bars.

GymPlayer for Windows

The Windows version (GymPlayer.exe, runs without installing) has the same three modes. On first start it asks "What is this PC?"; the toggle sits top left like on the phone (the M key switches).

• PLAYER – shows the picture of a phone in CAMERA, e.g. big on the gym's screen. ⚙ → Search finds the camera.
• CAMERA – the PC's webcam films and streams into the Wi-Fi. The address is shown large on the picture (http://…:8080/video); a phone or tablet as PLAYER finds the PC with Search, any browser through the address.
• CAM+PLAY – the webcam films, the PC shows and scrubs. Stream in Wi-Fi (⚙) lets phones and tablets on the Wi-Fi watch too.

Mouse or touch work like on a tablet, plus keys: space = freeze / live, ← → = one frame, P = play, S = slow motion, E = save (folder Videos\GymPlayer), F11 = full screen. The chips top right set the camera: frame rate, resolution, turn (↻), zoom.

Firewall: for phones to reach the PC, the Windows Firewall has to let GymPlayer through. Windows asks on the first stream – Allow access. If it still blocks, the app says so on the picture and offers Allow in firewall … (Windows asks for administrator rights). Windows usually files a phone's hotspot as a public network – the permission then covers that network.

If something goes wrong

• No picture in the player → are both devices on the same Wi-Fi, and is the other device set to CAMERA?
• iPhone can't find the camera → allow GymPlayer under Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network.
• Picture stutters or only ~30 fps → 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi; switch to 5 GHz or use the camera phone's hotspot.
• The 30 s chip is yellow → the RAM limit shortens the buffer; choose a higher limit under ⚙ or lower resolution/frame rate.
• Windows: phones can't find the PC → if the picture shows a firewall note, press Allow in firewall …; are the PC and the phone on the same Wi-Fi?
• The app crashed → on the next start it shows the error text once; a screenshot of it helps us find the cause.

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