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Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 3:02 AM Reply   
So when I used to run in the RZ2 or 24Ve, I just mounted the gopro on the gunwale next to the sundeck and it worked well, very good angle to view the wake and I could reach over and stop and start the gopro as the rider got up and fell. Every once in a while I would forget to start or stop, but rare. So the Z3, the video in the same place, doesn't look as good. The reason is the boat doesn't list over much and is so deep that the camera is much higher from the water, its easy to see from all of our pics I get a lot of the sundeck in the picture.

So I started mounting the gopro all the way behind the sundeck, not on the back transom, but close:



The video is great, but its a pain in the butt to start and stop the camera. So I just put in a 32GB card and start it when we surf, and stop it later, sometimes I stop it if we swim or something, but it basically just RUNS. We do this at contests also, and get a lot of footage of nothing wtih surfing in between.

I couldn't wait for the wifi backpack, not for contests, but every day to start and stop the camera. I have had nothing but issues, and it hasn't been reliable.

So instead I googled for software to easily and quickly mark in and out points and split gopro files to numbered segments. I tried like 10 pieces of software, and most are VERY hokey. The other problem is that they are destructive. When you make a photocopy, you lose a bit of quality, and all of these pieces of software reencode the files, which takes a long time and is destructive. Even Final Cut Pro will reencode, and unless I output as raw will be destructive, and raw is HUGE. Defeats the purpose of saving space.

There are easy ways of copying the streams out of a gopro (mp4) file, but no nice interface to find and mark your in and out points.

So I wrote a piece of software to do it, and was wondering if this was an issue that others have and could use it. Right now it works great for me, but isn't so pretty, has no documentation, doesn't check for every possible dumb thing a user could do, etc. Before I spend all that time and then put up online for a few bucks, I was wondering if others could use it.

Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-06-2012, 6:00 AM Reply   
So what issues are you having with the actual wifi remote?? Ive had mine for 3 weeks now on various cameras and mounting issues with no problems
Old     (boardjnky4)      Join Date: Dec 2011       07-06-2012, 6:10 AM Reply   
Looks like you're on a Mac. It's really easy to split edit out the crap in iMovie, IMO.
Old     (kayakwv)      Join Date: Apr 2012       07-06-2012, 6:53 AM Reply   
I use my GoPro all the time, surfing, whitewater kayaking, wakesurfing etc, but the space you need for all the downloads is unreal. Like you said, if you run a 32G card all day, you get tons of footage with no action at all. eating up hard drive space. At the beach, I'll go out for an hour session, and may capture a dozen waves I want to save, but that still is only like a total of 5-10min of an hour session. So you end up saving like 50min. of the camera pointed on you waiting for a wave.

I use Macbook Pro, with i-movie and final cut express, and would love a simple solution to download these long clips, mark all the sections of the long clip to save, and then trash the rest. I know I can stop and start the gopro all the time, or else just make a short movie with all the relevent clips, but I would really like to just:
1. Download clip;
2. watch in realtime or fast forward and mark all the in/out points I want to save;
3. Reduce clip to just those segments;
4. Trash the unused portions of clip to save loads of harddrive space.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

--Dan
Old     (Bnixon)      Join Date: Aug 2011       07-06-2012, 6:42 AM Reply   
Hey Ragboy,

So let me see if I got this right. The workflow is to 1- copy the mp4 to the computer 2- open in your software and mark your in/out of the desired clips 3- import only the selected clips into your final editor?

Is that correct?
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-06-2012, 6:56 AM Reply   
^^^have u looked into the wifi remote bacpac yet?? It saves a ton of wasted space being eaten up on the memory cards
Old     (Squid)      Join Date: Jun 2012       07-06-2012, 8:08 AM Reply   
the wifi remote was going to be my solution as well. Ragboy do tell about the issues your having with the remote. If it is not working well I may have to try your software...
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 9:29 AM Reply   
@LR3 gopro needs me to send them my serial numbers and they are sending me some special manual firmware to get the wifi bacpac working. We will see, it won't pair most of the time, and then sometimes you hit record, and it does nothing. and that is from 2 feet away on my desk. I may have just got a lemon, but either way, it pisses me off!

@Tom yes, you can use imovie or I have Final Cut Pro X to split or whatever, but its destructive. The video in the gopro file is compressed/encoded using a method called H264, the same as used on bluray and iTunes videos, etc. When you bring a gopro mp4 into imovie it converts it into a format, either something called Apple Intermediate Codec or ProRes. Then, when you export it, you have choices, but it will convert back to H264 for you on the way out. Basically like taking a photocopy of the photocopy. You won't notice much, but I do, and it bugs me. You really notice for instance, if you look at like someones face when wakesurfing, it can be a bit pixelated depending on the light. Run it through imovie like that to split, and then go edit it into your cut and thats another generation loss, and it will be much worse.

My workflow when I edit means that I only ever lose one generation. Directly from the original file to the final output for youtube or whatever, it makes a difference, even if subtle.

Also, when you import to imovie or FCP and wait for it to make into an editable format, then you cut, and then wait for it to output to h264 again, that takes a LONG time.

Since my software is actually lifting out the embedded streams in the go pro file, it takes seconds to process. I drop in a 4 GB video file from go pro, mark several ins and outs, then hit go and its done, and I can do this to several in files, and run it all at once, since I can have multiple cameras and files.

My software should work on windows or mac, it is written that way, but I have only tested it on the mac so far, since it has just been for me.

Even if I do get the wifi working, I still need this for myself for the contests, that has to run constantly and record. Typically for every 4 GB of recording, I probably could chuck 3 GB of it from a contest, and then 2GB from daily riding.
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 9:47 AM Reply   
There is only one piece of software out there that I have seen that copies the streams out, no generational loss, just like I am doing. But it doesn't do many at once, and its slow and OLD.

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

If you do this in iMovie (I haven't used the latest, so wanted to check if it changed, it has not) you have to wait a good 20 mins when you import a single 4GB gopro clip for it "generate thumbnails". This is basically creating a ProRes or AIC proxy file to edit. So it takes forever, on top of that, it loses generations of quality to split out.

My workflow is that I would split to save to my servers forever, and THEN edit. I save all of my original footage, just don't want to save all the fluff in between. I have about 30 TB of storage in my server room now, and i want to grow slower than it is now. ;-)
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-06-2012, 9:48 AM Reply   
That stinks about the lack of connecting! Im more ticked off that the app hasnt been released yet for iphone. I bought a new gopro2 after already having the goproHD original only bc of the app and streaming.

Have you tried the cineform yet off gopros site? I use mpegstreamclip to chop up the video, finalcut pro for others stuff afterwards
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 10:01 AM Reply   
Y, I have cineform studio pro, it works great for processing 3D files, but not for splitting well, and it doesn't solve the problem. Both cineform and FCP or FCPx can solve this problem by using their own "intermediate" formats. Cineform format, or apple ProRes format. Those formats can be of such a high quality, that technically if you went from all your go pro files to say apple pro res 422 HQ, edited, and then out, it would be virtually identical in quality to what I am doing. The problem is to store video in ProRes422 HQ it will take about 10x the amount of storage. GoPro 720P @ 60FPS is recorded at 15mb/s, so about 30 mins for 4GB of file size. These HQ intermediate formats take almost 10x that, so 40GB for 30 mins, and you have the time to wait to encode into that format. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro, Quad Core 2.5GHZ i7, and it takes too long. 20-30 mins to convert 4GB file to ProRes or Cineform. My software opens up, takes me about 2 mins or so to mark ins and outs for a 4GB file, and then a few seconds to split. I will make a movie so you can see what I mean. MPEGStreamclip also does this, but you have to mark and in and out point, hit save as, wait til its done, rinse repeat. The quality is a there, but the interface is so slow and jogging around is clunky to find points.
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-06-2012, 10:15 AM Reply   
Ahh i see and understand now. I have a bad habit of shooting lots of video and just letting it sit on my macbook and never touch it lol
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 11:13 AM Reply   
I was wrong, I did a quick test. 4GB GoPro file 720p/60FPS @ 15mb/s bitrate goes to 210mb/s and 50GB when converted to ProResHQ.
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-06-2012, 11:49 AM Reply   
I made a screen cap to show what I mean.

http://www.screencast.com/t/M6FHU9nKl6wR
Old     (Squid)      Join Date: Jun 2012       07-06-2012, 7:08 PM Reply   
like it!
Old     (wakeboardingdad)      Join Date: Aug 2008       07-08-2012, 6:43 AM Reply   
Nice Work! I too suffer with hardrive abuse.
Old     (Jbort)      Join Date: Aug 2011       07-10-2012, 5:30 PM Reply   
Ragboy:

I would love the kind of s/w u describe. have same edit challange and i'm bigtime rookie. our gopro2 works grt w wifi remote but only one cam. At the end of the day still end up w 10-20 vids but maybe only want 10-20% of half the vids each and its painful to sort thru. Just posted a few vids on TO.com and took forever to put together. keep us posted. I'm planning to play w ph/tablet app for gopro2 when that app is released since i have several phones w hotspot features and tst w LTE if coverage gets to the lake. I think it would be crazy cool to stream to u/Squid realtime.
Old     (Jbort)      Join Date: Aug 2011       07-10-2012, 5:31 PM Reply   
BTW: I think u need more cams on the boat - 5 is definitely not enough.
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-10-2012, 5:53 PM Reply   
I demand this damn gopro app release!! It keeps being delayed and no response from gopro about it
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-10-2012, 6:16 PM Reply   
I would LOVE to see that app also.

I will polish this up a bit, and then let a few of you guys be beta testers, that woudl be a great help. I am in the process of trying to write in a recovery method for those times you get a corrupted mp4 file.
Old     (piper907)      Join Date: Dec 2011       07-11-2012, 12:54 PM Reply   
I would also be into trying out/testing your software.
PM sent
Old     (beerguy)      Join Date: Feb 2012       07-11-2012, 1:24 PM Reply   
If you are looking for more people to test it out let me know. I'm on a mac.

Pat
Old     (Houstonshark)      Join Date: Jan 2011       07-11-2012, 5:39 PM Reply   
Mine worked perfectly...until my wife knocked it off a similar location on the back of the boat! I happened to look down at the remote to start the camera and it said, 'no cameras'. I looked back and sure enough, it was right.

I jumped in the water to try and find it but wasnt successful. Oh well, it sucked for wakeboarding. I'll keep my original GoPro HD for surfing and will probably get the new Sony HDR-GW77V.
Old     (ragboy)      Join Date: Aug 2007       07-11-2012, 11:32 PM Reply   
The Hero2s have great quality, but having tons of problems with them, I have three now. Mainly, they overheat, and only in like 85deg weather. Driving me crazy.
Old    LR3w8kbrdr            07-13-2012, 12:33 PM Reply   
Now theyre saying august (possible late aug) as a release for their app for iphone. Hell i'll almost have the next iphone by the time this app roles out

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