GoPro HD- Things you'd wish you'd known from the beginning.

[Jacolac]

You guys are all saying class 6 or higher, but GoPro's website says a class 4 or higher will be good enough. Any distinct advantage to having a faster card than the camera *needs*, other than faster upload through a card reader?

I've been filming with an 8gig class 4 and it's working well enough...

(I wouldn't have to ask this had I not lost my 16 gig class 10! Be careful where you keep your cards, photogs and videogs! Wallets are not as secure a place as you think, unless you have zippers. )

I'm using a class 4 card as well and it's working fine. I'm guessing that most class 4 cards would be fine but perhaps some lower quality brand class 4 cards might not be, so you might want to get a class 6 to be safe.

[unpossible]

Brand is key when dealing with Class 4 cards. My buddy picked up some cheap piece of crap Class 4 card and it barely worked when dealing with 720p60fps or 1080p30fps footage. He switched to a Transcend 16GB Class 6 and it works fine.

Another reason I am not a fan of Class 4, is the ContourHD states they want class 6, yet their bit rate is lower than that of the GoPro. Then again a better hardware encoder in the GoPro could make up for it (which I think it does have).

[Spats]

I'm using a class 4 card as well and it's working fine. I'm guessing that most class 4 cards would be fine but perhaps some lower quality brand class 4 cards might not be, so you might want to get a class 6 to be safe.

I have a class 4 card that tests out as class 6, and it still drops frames in regular mode. 60Hz mode is basically unusable as it spends most of its time at 30Hz.

If you want it to actually work as advertised (i.e in 1900 or 60Hz mode), you need a real class 10 card. This is a fact.

[unpossible]

Spats, where are you seeing dropped frames? Playback from the SD card connected to your computer or playback from the files copied to your computer. Because USB is shitty attempting to playback from the media, regardless of the media class is going to suck. Also playback of the 720p60fps and 1080p30fps files on a computer requires a fairly decent processor to decode it without dropping frames. My MBP (first unibody) with an SSD drops frames during playback, copy the file to a newer machine and it plays fine.

[Spats]

Spats, where are you seeing dropped frames? Playback from the SD card connected to your computer or playback from the files copied to your computer. Because USB is shitty attempting to playback from the media, regardless of the media class is going to suck. Also playback of the 720p60fps and 1080p30fps files on a computer requires a fairly decent processor to decode it without dropping frames. My MBP (first unibody) with an SSD drops frames during playback, copy the file to a newer machine and it plays fine.

I'm playing back from my Firewire HD, and if you tell me Firewire is the problem I'm going to laugh at you

[whitefluffystuff]

Are you guys mounting your go pro to the top of the helmet or the front for the best footage?

[Socialist]

i get dropped frames from r3 when played in VLC, but not when played w/ windows media player,

[millerstone]

^^ I've been shooting with a 16gb class 4 for a bit and haven't noticed any lag in the videos. I've mostly been using the 720p @ 30fps. I reckon if any difference is to be found, it's when you bump up to 60fps. 1080p looked good when I tried it out. You really can't go wrong with a 16gb class 4 Kingston when you can get it from newegg.com for 33 bucks with free shipping.

[powderbro]

My class 4 card has been working fine for 720p60 the last few days I've been shooting, so I don't know whether it makes much of a difference. Thanks for the input guys!

[PulverSchwein]

A lot of this is due to the fact that most people accept shitty video editors clustered with too many features and doo-dads they won't use as the norm.

WMM is one of the easiest editors I've used and I like it because its bare bones. It's drawback is that it doesn't handle a lot of different file formats. I am told Windows Live Movie Maker does better but I haven't checked.

I found a PC-based program that lets you edit in every file format I've looked at. It's as easy to use as WMM. It's almost as good as iMovie. Name is AVS4you. A copy is cheap and you can try the demo version before buying.

I'll note your complaint isn't really about the GoPro. It's about video-editing software.

and yeah, I wrote about this program in my reviews describing it as idiotproof. It isn't my fault that people don't bother to do a search.

any advice out there for a video jong?

picked up a GoPro HD over the holidays and am having a bitch of a time getting any editting done at all. Tried the StreamClip conversion but can't get WMM to import anything it outputs.

Moved on to trying out the AVS4you software that Lee recommended. It seems to bring in the video ok. But any video I try to run just stutters and lags really bad.

So first things first, I'm running XP on a 3.00Mhz P4 with 1Gb of ram and no video card. Guessing that's the issue with the choppy viewing, right? Could this be fixed with another gig of RAM and a decent video card? Or is the computer just not up to editting HD video no matter what I throw in it?

Second question: Is AVS4you the way to go here for software? Or should I skip the $59 and still try to convert my way into editting in WMM? Any suggestions on specific streamclip settings or steps to do that? i.e. save as vs export to ??? and the the choices to make in the dialog box

thanks for any help you can bring

[Jacolac]

any advice out there for a video jong?

picked up a GoPro HD over the holidays and am having a bitch of a time getting any editting done at all. Tried the StreamClip conversion but can't get WMM to import anything it outputs.

Moved on to trying out the AVS4you software that Lee recommended. It seems to bring in the video ok. But any video I try to run just stutters and lags really bad.

So first things first, I'm running XP on a 3.00Mhz P4 with 1Gb of ram and no video card. Guessing that's the issue with the choppy viewing, right? Could this be fixed with another gig of RAM and a decent video card? Or is the computer just not up to editting HD video no matter what I throw in it?

Second question: Is AVS4you the way to go here for software? Or should I skip the $59 and still try to convert my way into editting in WMM? Any suggestions on specific streamclip settings or steps to do that? i.e. save as vs export to ??? and the the choices to make in the dialog box

thanks for any help you can bring

RAM or Video card isn't going to help. It's your CPU struggling to process the video quickly enough which is why it's choppy when viewing it. More RAM would probably be nice since you only got 1GB but CPU is the main thing. Might be worth picking up a new desktop computer. Even the cheapest new ones for sale today should be enough.

I tried several editing tools for Windows and the only one I liked was Cyberlink PowerDirector. Can do everything the others can but it didn't feel like it had a huge learning curve.

[LeeLau]

RAM or Video card isn't going to help. It's your CPU struggling to process the video quickly enough which is why it's choppy when viewing it. More RAM would probably be nice since you only got 1GB but CPU is the main thing. Might be worth picking up a new desktop computer. Even the cheapest new ones for sale today should be enough.

I tried several editing tools for Windows and the only one I liked was Cyberlink PowerDirector. Can do everything the others can but it didn't feel like it had a huge learning curve.

PS - I agree with jacolac. Look at your processes - I bet RAM and the CPU is fully maxed out. Bottomline is that HD video is a bitch and it stresses out the CPU. Ram might help a bit but you've still got a bottleneck

[PulverSchwein]

Second question: Is AVS4you the way to go here for software? Or should I skip the $59 and still try to convert my way into editting in WMM? Any suggestions on specific streamclip settings or steps to do that? i.e. save as vs export to ??? and the the choices to make in the dialog box

thanks for any help you can bring

thanks guys. I guess a new PC is in order if I want to play this game.

Is there any feedback you can offer on the second question too? I'm still unsure which is the best way to go for editting, assuming I get a PC that can deal with it.

The conversion option seems slow and a PITA, if I could even get that working......

Would the AVS4you, or some other editor software make a better video output? or would it just make it an easier process by saving me the conversion for WMM hassles? Like many others out there, I'd like to be able to shoot in 720p60fps and work a little slowmo into the edits etc.

[Liv2skiCoastie]

Are you guys mounting your go pro to the top of the helmet or the front for the best footage?

I used mine on the top of my helmet all season and i'm happy with the footage.
just make sure you have it on the right settings. i think mine is set on the tall setting not the wide.

[maxwell666]

thanks guys. I guess a new PC is in order if I want to play this game.

Is there any feedback you can offer on the second question too? I'm still unsure which is the best way to go for editting, assuming I get a PC that can deal with it.

The conversion option seems slow and a PITA, if I could even get that working......

Would the AVS4you, or some other editor software make a better video output? or would it just make it an easier process by saving me the conversion for WMM hassles? Like many others out there, I'd like to be able to shoot in 720p60fps and work a little slowmo into the edits etc.

in terms of editing software, i find the adobe programs are the way to go. i got premier pro cs5 and after effects cs5 and they are a dream to work with. i have used fcp before, and at the time was working with cs4 as well, and they did all the same things with different hotkeys, and slightly different methods, and cs5 is better than cs4 so for me, nothing could be better.

[gedmeyer]

Another option for you to consider: Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10. I recently started using this software and find that it's fairly powerful and not overwhelmingly complicated. It handles the MP4 file formats with no problem. I spent about 30min walking through some of their included tutorials and then was up and running.

You will probably also find that it's offered at a good price point ($95) and they offer a fully functional trial version (time limited) on their website (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware). It's probably not as capable as Premier Pro, but it's also a price I'm willing to pay for making home movies!

gedmeyer

[LeeLau]

thanks guys. I guess a new PC is in order if I want to play this game.

Is there any feedback you can offer on the second question too? I'm still unsure which is the best way to go for editting, assuming I get a PC that can deal with it.

The conversion option seems slow and a PITA, if I could even get that working......

Would the AVS4you, or some other editor software make a better video output? or would it just make it an easier process by saving me the conversion for WMM hassles? Like many others out there, I'd like to be able to shoot in 720p60fps and work a little slowmo into the edits etc.

Rich i forgot to respond. AVS4you works with GoPro footage natively - ie no need for that hassle extra step of conversion. It's got less doodads than the other software programs but I have no pretensions to doing anything more than basic editing. I picked AVS4you because it works with every file format I've come across and simple. Oh yah - it handles the 60fps footage also

[PulverSchwein]

thanks for the helpful advice folks, it's appreciated

[Matty_S]

alright so after reading this thread it seems like the SD cards are the most important thing. I feel like ive looked at hundreds over the past couple days. All 16gb class 6/10, but I have no idea what to get.

all the cards seem so hit or miss. theres always good and bad reviews

decently reviewed/ good price - class 10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-451-_-Product

slightly better reviews - about the same price - class 6

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-254-_-Product

ton of reviews/ class 6 ( but there are still a lot of reviews saying card randomly failed within months)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-245-_-Product

another class 10

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-535-_-Product


now my head hurts. can i go wrong with any of these? or am i over thinking it and i just need to pick one and be done with it?

thanks for any help

edit: i've kind of narrowed it down to either that first one or the last one. they seem to be the best reviewed overall and both class 10

[Socialist]

I have and use both the patriot class10 and the adata class 6 and both work. I don't trust the class10 though because of how cheap it is for being a class10. OTOH, memory manufacturers keep getting busted for anti-trust every year or so. So maybe the other ones have inflated prices.

Im using them in the goproHD and record in r3 or r5 video. No problems.

[Matty_S]

I have and use both the patriot class10 and the adata class 6 and both work. I don't trust the class10 though because of how cheap it is for being a class10. OTOH, memory manufacturers keep getting busted for anti-trust every year or so. So maybe the other ones have inflated prices.

Im using them in the goproHD and record in r3 or r5 video. No problems.

I was wondering why the class 6 and 10 were so close in price if they are supposedly different. Thanks for the heads up though. I think im gonna try that Adata class 6 one.

[murph]

Any tips on stabilizing the GoPro while using the chest mount? It appears that the rubber stabilizer insert is not designed to work with the chest mount adapter.
I'm also a little worried my backpack chest strap is transferring motion to the camera.

[SlackSkier]

Any tips on stabilizing the GoPro while using the chest mount? It appears that the rubber stabilizer insert is not designed to work with the chest mount adapter.
I'm also a little worried my backpack chest strap is transferring motion to the camera.

I tighten the straps down quite a bit, find that stability is much better then. If you've already done that then good luck.

[powbmps]

I just started using VideoPad Video Editor. Another free program that works a hell of a lot better than Windows Movie Maker.

[ericknnj]

Anyone had problems when its O degrees? My GoPro would lock up and I would have to take the battery out to get it to work again.