Can't retrieve GoPro Videos

SaveTheStick

Hoping the braintrust can help. RaceChronoPro. GoPro Hero 10. Android v11. Autocrossing. I set up my course, initiate the session, connect to the GroPro via RCP (connects and wakes up camera correctly, so connectivity is established), RCP successfully starts the GoPro recording, finish the run, end teh recording (RCP shuts off the GoPro correctly). So far so good.

After all that, when I go to review the session and pull down the video file from the camera, RCP can't find the file and won't bring it down. Any ideas?

Thanks!!!

aol_of_RaceChrono

@SaveTheStick Resolving the recorded filenames is not the most robust feature, due to the very limited information GoPro API gives out. I do have plans to improve this, and making it easier to "fix" the unresolved filenames.

But, having recently tested this functionality on GoPro 10, I'd say there's still good chance get it working. First please connect the camera using the GoPro Quik app, and make sure the camera date/time is correct, and it has the latest firmware. If both seem OK, please let me know the firmware version of our camera, and which time zone you're in.

SaveTheStick

Thanks for the ideas. I will get that information. I did see that my session dates were off by the 20 year thing, so made that adjustment. Do you think that maybe the session date / video date mismatch caused by that might be the culprit? I'll have to do some test recordings to see if that resolves the issues. Just for completeness, I did already connect the camera using thje GoPro Quik app as per normal instructions before even trying to connect via RCP. I will check the GoPro firmware revision to make sure it is the latest. Give me a couple of days to make these adjustments and another test and get back to you. Thanks again!!!

aol_of_RaceChrono

@SaveTheStick RaceChrono does use the dates on the memory card to resolve the filenames, so it's likely this is the problem.

SaveTheStick

I confirmed that I have the latest update for the GoPro. I corrected the 20-year bug and updated the date and time on the GoPro, then ran another test. Unfortunately, same result: it did not resolve the file. Interesting though that I noticed that the camera turned off after only a couple of minutes even though I have the auto-off on the camera set to 15 minutes. Is RCP turning off the GoPro after not finding the file? I also tried changing the name of the file to the name shown on the GroPro (GX010195) but that did not work. I saw in another post that may not be the full file name? Perhaps that would help?

Then I downloaded the video from the GroPro to the phone using Quik, then exported from Quik to the correct folder on the phone and RCP found it, but did not sync the video and the data automatically. That is really what I need...Having to do that manually is quite difficult.

Thanks for any help you can lend.

SaveTheStick

How accurate do the relative date/time stamps need to be relative to each other to allow the match of session to video file? 1 second? 1 minute? fractions of a second?

SaveTheStick

So you asked, "please let me know the firmware version of our camera, and which time zone you're in." I am in Eastern US time zone, and I am not sure what you are asking for the firmware version. Do you mean of the GoPro ("our camera"?) - That version number if "01.50" and in the Quik App it says my "Firmware is up-to-date."

TBH, the major reason for my wanting to get this working is an assumption that if the auto-connect works, RCP will auto-sync the timing of the video and the data. If that is not the case, then there is little difference between getting that working and using your workaround. Is that auto-sync a thing?

Thanks again for all your help.

aol_of_RaceChrono

The thing that seems to be not working on your environment, is the filename resolving, which is part of the GoPro remote control feature. The filenames should be resolved when the camera is reconnected afterwards in the session's video list. RaceChrono should match the files on the camera with the sync points it saved while recording. The filenames should just resolve if nothing weird happens, such as the camera time has been changed between recording and the reconnect.

RaceChrono also has a feature to synchronise GoPro files automatically. This is completely independent feature from the one described above. This feature just matches the GPS time saved to the GoPro video files, as well as the RaceChrono session. Please see the "Automatic sync" chapter here: https://racechrono.com/article/480

The automatic sync feature is much more reliable than the GoPro remote control feature. It maybe the preferred way for many, but currently requires importing the files through RaceChrono > (top menu) Import (which currently does not support downloading the files directly from the camera). Here's documentation on importing video files: https://racechrono.com/article/3128

We will try to improve all of this soon.

SaveTheStick

Thanks for all the help. I think I have a process that will work for me in the future, but now I have a different question. I now have a session that RCP thinks is in 2003, but the video is in 2023. I have done all the downloading/importing raw files and attempts to link, but the date/time on the video and the session aren't even close, so I am not able to select the AutoSync option. is there a way to manually change the date/time stamp on a RCP Session so it falls into the correct timeframe for RCP to recognize that the video is auto-sync-able? Or am I stuck trying to do it manually on my tiny phone screen?

aol_of_RaceChrono

The auto-sync feature won't work if the GPS time is recorded wrong. Unfortunately the session date cannot be changed afterwards. It needs to be fixed in order to use this feature: https://racechrono.com/article/faq/racechrono-displays-date-that-is-20-years-back

SaveTheStick

Newest update on my saga. I used the workaround for the date/time issue, but the app still would not find the video file. I then saw your link to the page to update the firmware on my GPS module. Did that, corrected the 20-year issue and it all started to work, including finding the file. Then I wanted to add the current date and time to my overlay, but I could not find how to do that in the documentation (can that be done?). Not finding a way, I turned to GoPro and learned how to use GoPro Labs to add a date/time overlay. that required changing the firmware on the phone to the GoPro Labs version. I got the overlay to work, but that seemed to cause other problems, including difficulties even connecting RCP to the camera to start recording, and also finding the video file again!!! Do you know if that version works well with RCP? Anyway, I then re-installed. v1.5 of GoPro 10 firmware and re-tested top to bottom and it all seems to work again. HOWEVER...

After a good test and allowing RCP to download, connect and sync the video file, I found that the auto-sync was a solid two seconds off between the elapsed time on the overlay and the elapsed time that was visible on RCP in my car when viewing the video file, which tells me that the auto-sync from connecting the file in the session is very much off the mark. Is that just something I have to live with and manually adjust? I know your documentation said it might be off a little but, that that seems like a great deal. Here is the video file uploaded from RCP to Youtube straight from the app so you can see for yourself:



Part of the reason I wanted to date/time overlay was to help with the manual sync problem. it is very hard to do given how small the video is on the RCP sync page - I try to use the elapsed time or speed readout on the RCP visible in the shot to match to the graph on the sync page to get an exact sync and since I can't zoom the video on that page I was hoping that the auto-sync might be more accurate than that?

TLDR:
1. can you put date/time on the overlay for an exported video?
2. auto-syncing video with data on direct connect to GoPro 10 is more inexact than I thought it might be. is that a date/time thing - is it just that my phone and camera are two seconds apart? Does it match timestamps exactly for the sync?

aol_of_RaceChrono

Sorry, the usage flow is becoming hard to follow, I'm probably going to miss parts of it.

Current way of doing auto sync is never perfect, as it just matches the GPS time embedded to the video - not the actual audio and video, so you'll need to fine tune it manually. But it is a lot simpler than syncing the video from scratch, as the automatic sync is usually within second or two.

There automatic sync points with GoPro remote control feature have the same exact problem, so there's no way to avoid the fine tuning.

Upcoming v8.0.4 will allow selecting "Time" for a digital gauge, to display the GPS timestamp. But notice that displaying GoPro timestamp on the video and matching it with RaceChrono timestamp will not help you much. The "automatic sync" does exactly that already.

Doing a perfect automatic sync would need completely different approach, such as audio cues.

SaveTheStick

Thank you for all your help and your patience with my constant questions. I think that got me all I need. Really looking forward to v8.0.4 for the "Time" for a digital gauge - any idea when that will be out?