How to play a document

ELAN supports the following options for playing a document:

Playing a document

During playback, the red crosshair moves through the Waveform, Timeline, Interlinear, Annotation Density, Text and Grid Viewers, indicating the point in time that is being replayed. If you stop the playback, the crosshair will stop at this point in time. The playback will resume from this point and will continue until the end of the document, or until the playback is paused again.

Make use of either one of the following three options to start/pause the playback:

  1. Use the Play/Pause button located under the Video window:
    1. Click on the Play icon to start playback. After the playback starts, the Play icon turns into a Pause icon.

      Figure 1.120. Play/pause button

      Play/pause button


    2. Click the Pause icon to pause the playback again.
  2. Use the Shortcut key CTRL+SPACE to start the playback. Use it again to pause the playback.

Note

If two or more ELAN documents are open at the same time, the sound may not work properly. Should this happen, close all documents except for one.

Playing a selection

It is possible to play only a selected part of the document. Do the following:

  1. Make a selection (see How to make a selection), or click on an annotation.
  2. To play the selection, do one of the following:
    1. Click on the Play Selection icon.
    2. Or use the shortcut key SHIFT + SPACE.

    The selected part is played immediately. To listen to the selection again, repeat step 2.

Note

If the crosshair is positioned somewhere within the selection (i.e., if it had been manually moved forward or backward, see Jumping step by step through a document), playback will start from that position and stop at the end of the selection. Otherwise, the whole selection will be played.

If you want to loop over the selection, be sure to check the Loop Mode box (next to the Selection Mode checkbox).

Playing around a selection

When playing a selection it is possible to extend the playback interval with a context up to a few seconds before and after the selection. This can e.g. be useful to get an idea about the preparation and the finishing of a gesture.

  1. Click on Options menu.
  2. Go to Play around selection. The following dialog appears:

    Figure 1.121. Play around selection

    Play around selection


  3. Choose how many (milli)seconds or frames there should be played before and after the selection. Click on the OK button.
  4. Now make a selection and press CTRL-SHIFT-SPACE. This keyboard shortcut is the only way to play around a selection.

Playing in slow motion

To change the playback rate, use the Rate slider to the right of the video window. The following options are available:

  • Click somewhere above or below the slider to increase or decrease the playback rate by 1%.
  • Move the slider up or down to increase or decrease the playback rate.
  • Enter the desired playback rate in the box at the left of the slider and press the key ENTER. ELAN accepts rates between 1% and 200%.

Figure 1.122. Playback rate

Playback rate


Once you have selected a playback rate, the document will be played at the selected rate. If you want it to be played at a different rate, you have to manually change the playback rate, repeating the steps above.

Note

On slower machines, the slow motion playback may not work properly.

Changing playback rate and volume via the keyboard

In the Options > Rate and volume toggle… menu, a pre-set value can be specified for the playback rate and volume which can be activated through a keyboard shortcut:

  • CTRL+SHIFT+R : alternate the current volume with the pre-set value
  • CTRL+ALT+R : alternate the current playback rate with the pre-set value