it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention , while eliminating , for the purpose of clarity , many other elements found in similar systems , apparatuses , and methods . those of ordinary skill in the art may thus recognize that other elements and / or steps are desirable and / or required in implementing the present invention . however , because such elements and steps are well - known in the art , and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention , a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein . the disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications to such elements and methods known to those skilled in the art . as is illustrated in fig1 , embodiments of the present invention may be based on a computing system equipped with a dvi / hdmi digital video capture device . the video capture device is suitable to capture high definition video in real - time during a surgical event . in a particularly preferred embodiment , the capture device consolidates such that only the single device is required to capture high definition video , in real - time , with an inclusion of a video overlay of surgical data information superimposed on the recorded video output . further , the consolidated video capture may be recorded to a mass storage device , such as a usb flash drive , hard drive , or the like . as illustrated in fig1 , the currently disclosed embodiments may be included as an aspect of a surgical media center ( smc ), such as is currently provided by abbott medical optics inc . ( amo ). in embodiments , the smc may include at least one computer processor and one or more computing memories for executing a software application capable of receiving the aforementioned real - time high definition video and the serial data from a surgical system , or , more particularly , from a phacoemulsification system , such as the whitestar signature phacoemulsification system provided by amo . in such an embodiment , the high definition video data and serial surgical data may be combined and / or synchronized , such that a single real - time video is created that is suitable for output to a high definition monitor and / or for storage on the mass storage device . moreover , the smc may include various other aspects in order to provide the ease of use of the present invention . for example , such aspects may include a remote control and / or simple user interfaces , such as may be provided on the phacoemulsification system , that may be used to start and / or stop a high definition consolidated video recording . further , the simple user interface may be used to instruct , such as upon completion of a recording process , that the combined digital video file be transferred to storage , such as the aforementioned mass storage device . the simplicity of use of the instant invention makes for practical use thereof in an operating room setting . in addition to the particular components disclosed herein , any commercially available hardware may be employed in a system such as that shown in fig1 . further , those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of video may be used in the instant invention , either as input or as output , and such other video types may be scaled , such to approximate high definition . for example , an extended definition camera output may be provided , wherein the extended definition camera output may be converted , such as by scaling , to a high definition format for synchronization with the surgical data overlay and for output of the combined video . it will be further appreciated that any type of video acquisition device , computer , processor , or computing system may be employed in the present invention . further , the use of the present invention in a phacoemulsification system is provided by way of example only . the present invention may be employed as a stand - alone video recorder for other surgical systems , including other ophthalmic surgical systems , such as femtosecond laser systems , laser cataract systems ( lcs ), lasik systems , etc . fig2 illustrates a flow diagram in accordance with the present invention . in the illustrated flow , and also in view of the exemplary embodiment of fig1 , a surgical microscope high definition camera may capture aspects of a surgical event . a computing system , such as a small form factor computing system with a dvi input , may receive the high definition camera feed , and may additionally receive serial data regarding the surgical event and synchronize with the high definition video . for example , surgical data is typically displayed on a surgical panel , such as the surgical panel provided with the whitestar signature system provided by amo , and may be received and overlaid on the high definition video of the surgical event . accordingly , such as through the use of a medicapture high definition recorder or an lcd panel , a combined video may be obtained using the high definition camera input and the serial surgical data . fig3 is an illustration of a physical high definition overlay system with a medicapture hd recorder and an hd video scaler . as referenced above , those skilled in the art will appreciate that physical devices other than those illustrated in fig3 may be employed in the present invention . in aspects of the present invention , and as referenced above , a smc in accordance with the present invention may automatically sense and / or select the signals from at least two different high definition sources based on the information sent by a surgical data generating instrument and during a particular point of a procedure . for example , switching between a phacoemulsification scope camera and a lcs femtocamera may occur during recording of the combined video discussed herein , such as based on the surgical data in the active overlay generated at a particular point of a surgical procedure . this is in stark contrast to the available art , in which an operator would typically manually switch between source videos , such as via an “ ab ” switch . in the instant invention , automated switching of various available input videos may occur . for example , in a first step , the camera that is providing the active source may be assessed . in a second step , the surgical medical center may record and combine a data overlay that corresponds to the data generated according to the active camera . in a third step , recording may be stopped , and may become active for a different camera when a next part of a surgical procedure becomes active and the surgical overlay data generated corresponds to that next camera . although the invention has been described and pictured in an exemplary form with a certain degree of particularity , it is understood that the present disclosure of the exemplary form has been made by way of example , and that numerous changes in the details of construction and combination and arrangement of parts and steps may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims hereinafter .