There are two main stages in the analysis of video meteors: first the meteors have to be found on the video tapes, and then they need to be measured in order to determine their basic properties (position, brightness, velocity, etc.). Until recently most of this work had to be done manually with only limited support by computers. However, by now there are two powerful software packages for the fully automatic analysis of video observations available:
- MetRec (author: Sirko Molau) is designed for the Matrox frame grabber family and runs on PCs under DOS
- MeteorScan (author: Peter Gural) is written for MacIntosh computers.
- UFOCapture: Motion capture software by Sonotaco.
- Meteor Capture function in HandyAvi webcam software by AZcendant Software.
Both software packages can be used as meteor detectors only, or to do the full data analysis in real-time. They are available at little or no costs.
MetRec is the basis for a network of automatic video meteor cameras that has been in operation in every clear night in Germany since March 1999.
For the precise off-line measurement of video meteors also the AstroRecord software (author: Marc de Lignie) can be used.