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Show HN: Video conference and synchronized YouTube video to do fitness in groups
- frequentnapper 6y agodoes this allow anybody in the group to pause/move anywhere in synchrony
- dulyanov 6y agoNo, there is only one Host who governs the video, everyone else has no ability to change the timestamp or stop the video.
- dulyanov 6y agoHey HN, We've built www.co-train.space to stay fit while staying home. You pick fitness video on Youtube, it plays synchronously for everybody in the group and you see your peers thanks to Jitsi Meet (Zoom-like software). I am now exercising with my parents every morning and feel much more connected to them. Looking forward to hearing what you think!
- nathanieljewell 6y agoHey - looks great. We are building a video platform for an alpha project we have. Any interest in possibly helping join and build it out? Drop me an email: nathaniel.jewell@gmail.com
- weaponizedwords 6y agoGreat Work! I love the clean layout and the focus on the user experience. I work in the fitness industry and think there is some great potential here. Especially in the personal trainer space. Keep it up! You are on to something here.
- dulyanov 6y agoThanks!
- m_a_g 6y agoFirst of all, it looks great, good job! My question is that why do you limit yourself with only fitness? For example, study sessions are a great example that can benefit from your product.
- mistermann 6y agoFirst thing that came to my mind too! Last night I watched a YouTube video with a friend, and we did a manual 5,4,3,2,1 countdown to synch, and then text chatted via WhatsApp, video chat of one's choosing could also be used. But rolling it all into one is nice. It would be nice to be able to do the same thing with a shared Plex server, but not sure if that would be as easy.
- dulyanov 6y agoBasically it was the use case for me personally. I had to spend 2 weeks on quarantine totally alone separated even from wife so we wanted to exercise together. But yeah, I think you are right, there are many potential use cases!
- amiga_500 6y agoMy wife and kids do a drawing session with the grandparents, so this is "instructor led from youtube": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tjyfU0pHYc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tjyfU0pHYc As you say I'm sure there are many ideas.
- essayist 6y agoIf I created a Zoom meeting with the trainees, and shared my screen and computer audio running my training video, would I have the same experience? Phrased in terms of Zoom since I've become oh so familiar with it these past few months. I see the value, since it's probably easier to connect to than a Zoom meeting.
- coopsmgoops 6y agoScreen sharing videos on zoom had never been a great experience. I think the difference is that everybody is streaming the YouTube video here individually.
- frankdenbow 6y agoThis is awesome and has a lot of potential to be a platform for fitness instructors to use to deploy their classes and do online training. I have had online coaches for a while and there isn't a great solution that is formatted for this use case. If a trainer can do a live class, with 20+ students who are paying, and have them be able to check everyone's form i a simple view, you are going to go very far.
- Elte 6y agoLooks great! Is it too late to suggest a rename to co-fit? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself)
- ekulianova 6y agoThanks for the suggestion! The current name is not the final one:)
- Zenst 6y agoWhat kind of issues did you have syncing with youtube videos and what kind of latency do you experience? BTW Great initiative and certainly could use that tech for many avenues like remote classroom, any presentation with Q&A. Few others I suspect, but great start.
- dulyanov 6y agoTechnically syncing is easy, websocket + Youtube API. The biggest issue for UX though is that a user should click on the video at least once. Otherwise, Firefox will block sync commands. The latency can be 3-5 seconds for the first sync, when the video is initialized and unbuffered. For the next syncs its < 1 second.
- Zenst 6y agoInteresting as I would of thought fitness video's would need tighter latency due to the beat, but then, that can actually work in your favour as the beat will be way less than a second, so could always sync upon that for what would appear to be perfect sync, yet 1-3 beats offset beat out of sync and yet the illusion of perfect sync. With workout videos usually 120-140 BPM, sub second, let's say 1 second for ease on 120 BPM would be 2 beats per second and so a sync of 2 beat offset would be spot on. Now a 140 BPM would be 3 beats, but you get the idea. By syncing the beats with an offset to cater for the latency and the BPM, you can give the illusion of perfect video sync. More so when doing repetitive motion to that beat, just seems like it would work really well. Certainly makes management of latency a much more easier task and allow for buffering as well depending upon how many beats you want to offset, so could handle latency spikes and brief drops. Which again, makes the things easier when you can control and fix latency , though as you can't do that, planning it out of the equation is always a treat. Food for thought perhaps. But it is your baby, you pick the formula you want to feed it. But hope you do well whatever direction as certainly has potential in many avenues. Remote rave anybody :).
- ghostbrainalpha 6y agoI bought a projector just to make my fitness videos life size on the wall. It sounds lame but it has helped my mental health. Adding the video conference element is a really great idea. Now I just have to find the best place to mount a webcam.
- symplee 6y agoNot crazy at all. This is where the industry is going anyway. For example "Tonal" is a work out machine that attaches to the wall, with a large video screen (probably larger in the next generation version). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdV2U6NxVUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdV2U6NxVUY Regarding your wall projector, it would be cool to have a camera project your image onto the instructors. Then some computer vision magic to grade how close you matched their exercise.
- _curious_ 6y ago"This is where the industry is going anyway." Just because a company offers a product that does something new and different does not equate to where the industry is truly going (as much as founders/CEOs may wish otherwise). It's more about where the customer/consumers are going...yes you can lead them to an extent, but on that note are products like Tonal actually selling and if so, what clip and density? I would ask for evidence of adoption of something (beyond just the mere fact it exists) to support the "where the market is going" type of thinking...
- rchiniquy 6y agoWhich projector did you get, do you like it, is keystoning a problem?
- ghostbrainalpha 6y agoI got very lucky and got a a very used Epson 3500 on Ebay for $350. Keystoning not a problem. I knew I didn't need 4k. I just needed something that could go BIG and fill up the whole wall floor to ceiling to get the effect I was going for.
- _curious_ 6y agoReally neat idea - I'm a fan anything that helps people improve their health habits whether individually or collectively!
- Tepix 6y agoThis is pretty fantastic, not just for working out. Kudos!
- dulyanov 6y agoGlad you liked it!
- ekulianova 6y agoGreat idea! Tried it with mum, worked quite well!
- BubRoss 6y agoIt's a little suspect that you and multiple other names made accounts just to post simplistic glowing comments about how excited you are to work out with your mom, just like the person who posted this.
- dulyanov 6y agoThis was posted by my wife :)
- ekulianova 6y agoHey! I personally followed HN but never commented before so had to login only now when news about our platform was posted. Didn't see multiple simplistic comments except for dpie123's who is my friend and an active user of co-train.space:)
- akiselev 6y ago> I personally followed HN but never commented before so had to login only now when news about our platform was posted. Register. Not login. Your account was created about two hours after this post. > Didn't see multiple simplistic comments except for dpie123's who is my friend and an active user of co-train.space:) Their account was also created around the same time - after the post.
- ekulianova 6y agoI don't argue with that, I mixed up the terms "registered" and "logged in" Can't understand negative reaction about 2 new registered users
- BubRoss 6y agoBelow he says you are married, you might need to get on the same page.
- dpie123 6y agoCool app! East to use and fun! Best for corona time!
- symplee 6y agoFeature idea: use the webcam to project the watcher's image/body onto the instructor's. Then with some computer vision magic, gamify how close your workout matched the instructor's workout.
- dulyanov 6y agoThat could be fun! I saw Sway app doing that for dance movements, but in fitness such tech for sure could be more useful.
- focom 6y agoGive a shot at wrnch.ai Disclosure I work there but people at hackathon can pull this off easily
- gberger 6y agoThat's not how workouts work, though. Each body is different, and people have different skill levels too. It's not like Just Dance
- frankdenbow 6y agoUsing this type of method to check form makes a lot of sense. There were manny Kinect apps that did this.
- werber 6y agoIt’s always so exciting when you have an idea, and then get out of having to make it cause it was posted here first, love that about hn. Great job!
- vutekst 6y agoI want this but just for watching general youtube videos sync'd with people
- jvm_ 6y agoThere have been these posted here, I forget their names though. I've been thinking of doing some with all my Aunts watching their 60's-80's home videos. They all Zoom in, watch it synchronized and commentate. Would be interesting to have the family history documented, otherwise it's just an old video of a familiar face in some place.
- thefreeman 6y agoDoes this handle ad breaks? I think with a monetized video different people may get different length ads at different places. Just curious how this would handle that situation.
- dulyanov 6y agoOh, I think I did not test this. Completely forgot I have YouTube subscription. I guess it should be possible to detect when and starts and handle it. But sudden pauses due to ads can ruin UX especially for fitness...
- drewbeck 6y agoThis is great. The UX is awesome. Do you have limits on number of users here?
- shervinshaikh 6y agoYes I'm curious on the number of users too!
- dulyanov 6y agoYoutube sync should work for lots of people. We tested video calls in a group of 8, it was working well. I heard that having around 35 people in one room can make it unstable.
- dusing 6y agoGreat work, this is exactly what my wife has been doing via Zoom and Youtube with her gym class. They had been watching the live feed each morning alone and found a lack of motivation since they were used to working out together. So there is a market for sure
- jops 6y agoNice. Most of the instructors on our system* have pivoted to run their classes online like that now too. YouTube or Vimeo synchronized with a live Zoom. It's actually working really well for them as they can now open to a wider audience! It's great to see how people have adapted so quickly in the lockdown. * https://bookwhen.com/virtual-class-booking-system https://bookwhen.com/virtual-class-booking-system
- shervinshaikh 6y agoThis is great! I would love to see a version where you can Sync Spotify playlists & have the fitness instructor teach live
- ekulianova 6y agoInteresting idea! We'll certainly think about it