Experimental analyses of dynamic visual signals have to overcome the technical obstacle of reproducing complex motor patterns such as those found in courtship and threat displays. Video playback offers a potential solution to this problem, but this approach has recently been criticised because of sensory differences between humans and non-human animals, which suggest that video stimuli might be perceived as deficient relative to live conspecifics. Empirical tests are therefore necessary to determine whether video sequences reliably evoke natural responses. Male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, compete for territories using complex displays composed of a series of motor patterns. We evaluated digital video playback as a technique for studying this visual signal. Video sequences depicting a life-sized displaying male were indistinguishable from live male conspecifics in the rate and structure of aggressive displays evoked. Other measures of social behaviour suggest that video stimuli were more effective in this context. Subject lizards produced more appeasement displays and had higher rates of substrate licking and locomotor activity in response to video playback than to confined male opponents, which failed to produce aggressive displays. Lizards tracked temporal changes in the display rate of video stimuli and were also sensitive to individual differences in morphology and behaviour between video exemplars. These results demonstrate that video stimuli are appropriate for the experimental analysis of Jacky dragon aggressive displays. The potential shortcomings of video playback are compared with those of other techniques. We conclude that no approach offers a panacea, but that several have complementary characteristics.

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