A new method based on digital video analysis of moving tablet beds has been developed to allow elucidation of bed behavior and dynamics inside pharmaceutical coating pans based on changes in processing conditions and parameter settings. The experiments consisted of a single white tracer tablet placed within a bed of black tablets inside of a commercial side-vented pan coater. The trajectories and velocity profiles of the tracer tablet were monitored and recorded using a digital camera. The methods provide a novel way to measure tablet circulation times (t_circ) and tablet residence times in the spray zone (t_surf) for each pass through the zone and thus assess Inter-tablet variability for biconvex tablet shapes. The technique has been used to study the effect of coating process variables i.e. pan loading or fill level, and pan speed on the movement of tracer tablets inside a pan coater. This information can be used for applications in scale-up, tablet pan coating equipment design and coating process optimization.