The 2 main issues with the GoPro is file size and battery life, here are our top tips for managing them!
Battery life
The GoPro camera can be charged whilst recording. To extend the battery life you can use a battery bank or for more permanent installations we recommend wiring into the vehicles power supply.
You will need to remove the GoPro’s side door to give access to the USB connector.
Remove GoPro door
Need the camera to be waterproof? All Weather External Power Kit for GoPro HERO5, HERO6, HERO7 & Hero (2018)
Available from Amazon and Ebay!
File size
Camera settings
We recommend using 1080p (Full HD) at 30 fps (frames per second). Using 4k or even 1080p at 60 fps makes the file sizes unmanageable for long recordings.
1080p at 30 fps = 30Mbits/s (3.75 MBytes/s)
This will give you around 17 minutes of video per 4GB file.
Estimated recording time (Camera also produces low-resolution video file (LRV))
16GB SD card = 2 hours
32GB SD card = 4 hours
64GB SD card = 8 hours
128GB SD card = 16 hours
Copying the data
It is recommended to use the Race Technology video joiner to copy the files off the card. This enables you to copy and join in a single process.
To save time and space, before starting to copy use the preview window to establish any unwanted chapters and delete these chapter in a window explore before starting to copy.
Low resolution video file (LRV)
The LRV files also contain the GPS and accelerometer data. The video resolution is perfectly acceptable for analysis so we recommend keeping these! Keeping these on a cloud service such as OneDrive will enable you to keep 100’s of hours of video!