GoPro live video out?

[Bartman]

Hi folks,
I've figured out how to do playback onto a television with the GoPro but can't seem to get live video-out to work while shooting. Is this something the GoPro readily does or is there a hack?
Thanks,
Bart

 

[Bartman]

i didn't realize it but there are a bunch of videos on youtube showing how to do it. the trick seems to be to have a video on the card that can play and then cycle the camera into live mode. for whatever reason it appears that without the first video it won't work.

here's one of many from youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M7q0rVwlAs&feature=related

 

[Bartman]

apparently, leaving the video cable and USB cable plugged in with the camera off will drain the battery. battery time with the video out functioning is estimated at about 50 to 60 minutes. i may have the 5v output from the video Tx available or second battery on hand.

drained battery discussion at rcgroups

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1392357

 

[RTRyder]

Hi folks,
I've figured out how to do playback onto a television with the GoPro but can't seem to get live video-out to work while shooting. Is this something the GoPro readily does or is there a hack?
Thanks,
Bart

If you get the latest firmware update you don't need to do a hack, just turn the feature on in setup and it works whenever the camera is on.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

i read that in one of the rcgroups threads. i'm not sure i need the hack but i'll check it out tonight when i get back into the basement.
i bought the GoPro last December when someone on mk.us posted a discount promotion but i never used it for anything.
thanks,
bart

 

[CopterCam]

That's right.........the latest Firmware update has it but don't forget to enter the Menu to enable playback, (LVF) to view your captured footage and then revert to
'LVO' for capture.

If you get the latest firmware update you don't need to do a hack, just turn the feature on in setup and it works whenever the camera is on.
Ken

 

[Kilby]

I have been using mine as both my video capture camera and an FPV camera. All I had to do was update the firmware and it worked as advertised. The problem I had though was when trying to use the GoPro to take stills while also using it as an FPV cam. Every time it snaps a pic the video feed is paused for a second while it saves the image and it places a big hourglass icon over the center of the screen. This makes it completely unusable. To remedy the situation I just got a small security cam that I outfitted with a very wide angle lens (almost as wide as the gopro). I will be finishing up the install this weekend, but the plan is to have the FPV cam positioned so that it sees almost the exact same view as the GoPro and can still be used to help frame shots. Another option would be to have a camera switch onboard so you could use the FPV cam to fly into position, then switch to the GoPro to better frame shots (with position hold on).

 

[Droider]

Yo Kilby

can yo post some details of your set up.. After shooting three projects this week i have got to do something to beable to see the shot rather than shoot blind. My ahrd drive is moaning with the number of images I have uploaded. Its a real pain to upload hundreds just to delete them.

 

[Bartman]

Dave,
Does your camera use an SD card? SD card readers plug right into a USB port and can be read at really fast speeds so you don't have to download to a computer. You can literally pick the ones you want and delete the rest in 5 minutes or less.

I just picked up this one from Amazon.com for like 12 bucks or something

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YBH4YU


What speed do cards need to be to work with the GoPro. I've got a class 6 in there but the video is jumpy. I've got class 10's for my Canon but was hoping the 6 would work in the GoPro.

Thanks,
Bart

 

[RTRyder]

Dave,
Does your camera use an SD card? SD card readers plug right into a USB port and can be read at really fast speeds so you don't have to download to a computer. You can literally pick the ones you want and delete the rest in 5 minutes or less.

I just picked up this one from Amazon.com for like 12 bucks or something

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YBH4YU


What speed do cards need to be to work with the GoPro. I've got a class 6 in there but the video is jumpy. I've got class 10's for my Canon but was hoping the 6 would work in the GoPro.

Thanks,
Bart

Hey Bart, I think you need to update your computer, all of mine have built in memory card readers, including the netbook I use at the field!

As for GoPro memory card, from the FAQ on their website...

"The HD HERO camera supports SD/SDHC cards up to 32GB (any SD card over 2GB is considered a SDHC card). We recommend name brand SDHC cards with a class 4 rating or higher."

I've found jumpy video to usually be a problem with either the computer its being played back on or a combination of the way the video was shot with the resolution and frames per second. I've found lot of sideways motion (panning) with a 30 FPS setting will absolutely produce jumpiness, I try to limit pans to very slow and 720P @ 60 FPS and even then it often takes some intensive post processing to make it look the way I want.

If your getting jumpiness flying straight ahead then the problem may be the tilt compensation on the mount. That one is easy to verify, disconnect the tilt servo and lock down the platform then go fly and see if the jumpiness goes away.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

thanks for the info ken. by jumpiness i mean digital jumpiness where the video playing back isn't smooth enough to know if the copter is vibrating or not. my computer is probably five years old at this point. my laptop has a card reader built into it but not my desktop. i tried watching the video in a smaller window and it still skipped along as it played.
i'll take a look at the settings again.
bart

 

[RTRyder]

thanks for the info ken. by jumpiness i mean digital jumpiness where the video playing back isn't smooth enough to know if the copter is vibrating or not. my computer is probably five years old at this point. my laptop has a card reader built into it but not my desktop. i tried watching the video in a smaller window and it still skipped along as it played.
i'll take a look at the settings again.
bart

That is most likely a combination of things, the graphics card in the computer, the operating system, amount of memory in the system, and most importantly the format the video is recorded in. The codec Windows uses to read different formats varies greatly in how the OS works with it, best to take the raw output from the camera and convert it into a native Windows format and see how it looks then, it usually helps a lot. The other thing I found is the size of the video, smaller files tend to play back smoother as Windows can often fit the entire file into memory, larger files have to page from disk and that makes it jump a lot.

Ken

 

[Bartman]

i feel like every time i think i'm about to graduate i find i have another class to take.

 

[Kilby]

Hey Bart, are you shooting in R3? 60 fps can be hard for some computers to play back. I have a brand new top of the line iMac and it will even "jump" around sometimes when I'm previewing video shot at 60 fps. It's ok when I actually open the file, but in preview I have some issues sometimes. Most computers are used to playing back at either 30 or 24 fps, so they can get a little confused when you throw some 60 at them.

I'm going to (hopefully) finish up my build this weekend and will post some pics then. I will be making some repairs from a crash a few weeks back as well as building a new FPV system. I got a new OSD, second camera that will be dedicated to FPV (with night vision) and a new 600mW video TX. I'm hoping this well be the last "upgrade" I need to make for a little while... at least till I'm ready to buy an MK. ;-)

 

[Droider]

Bart I am sure there is a filter thingymabob on the GoPro site that they recommend you use for previewing the vids on windows. There is also one for macs but mine is fine so not sure why Kilby jumps.

 

[Bartman]

going through the menus of my little GoPro I found that I did have an older version of the firmware even though I purchased the camera just this past December. Upgrading the firmware literally took about five minutes from the time I sat down at the computer to figure it out to the time it was done. Kudos to the fine people at GoPro for a reliable product.
here's a thread from thumpertalk.com (4 stroke dirt bikes) regarding the video format and windows. it appears i'm S.O.L. with my old 'puter but i'll keep trying.

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-919467.html

thanks again for the help. now to see if the video stream functions from my X650 to my goggles.
bart

 

[Bartman]

Can anyone recommend a video converter for making useable videos from the GoPro .mp4 format? Cheap would be good, free would be better.
Bart

 

[RTRyder]

Can anyone recommend a video converter for making useable videos from the GoPro .mp4 format? Cheap would be good, free would be better.
Bart

Try vReveal, I think you'll be surprised at the result. The base version is free, for a nominal amount ($39) you can unlock all the features. Not really an editor, it does really well on conversions and supports pretty much every format I've tried. http://www.vreveal.com/home

If you want decent edit and conversion capability in a low cost app, try Cyberlink Power Director, $70 for standard version and $100 for the Ultra 64 version. http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdirector/overview_en_US.html

Ken