Go-Pro Video. Multiple files, two cameras question

JJTX99 wrote on 2/3/2014, 8:50 AM

I have two cameras that were attached to a vehicle. One was up high, one was low near the wheel.

The cameras re-set their date/time codes when you take out the battery ( Never understood this oversight from gopro). If there was a way to retain it, I was not aware of it. But that aside, I have a numbered set of files from GORPO0001.MP4 to GOPRO0140.MP4 in my vegaspro media folder, attached to a video production timeline. The video was stopped and started at certain points as the vehicle was moving.

What I want to do is align the video to output either picture in picture style, or have them in sequence where the video is the same scene high view vs low view on the wheel's perspective.

The date/time stamp means NOTHING, so when I go to make the video, it's extremely time consuming to play each video and figure out which video file is the same forward view.

The date modified and date created does is not valid because the video was not running at the times it shows. The video was copied from memory cards onto a media HDD and the video cards have been used in other projects since, so I don't have the original files on SDCARD anymore. I most likely should have kept them I know.

Any suggestions on how to make this easier? I appreciate any suggestions.

Comments

Arthur.S wrote on 2/3/2014, 8:56 AM

Plural eyes would be worth a shot. I believe there's a trial version. Version 2 seems to be the better version ( a previous post here mentioned that you get version 2 and 3 when buying)
http://www.redgiant.com/blog/2012/09/27/pluraleyes-3/

set wrote on 2/3/2014, 9:00 AM

Is it possible to find noticeable action that can be a reference of the point? Perhaps a place, or when having specific action ?
If you can see these from all multi cameras, I guess this is the only way to sync them all manually.
After got this, make backup of sync-ed project.

Set

Steve Mann wrote on 2/3/2014, 9:05 AM

PluralEyes works by synchronizing the soundtracks of each video. I would doubt that PE would find enough similarity in the recorded sound from externally- mounted cameras

Arthur.S wrote on 2/3/2014, 12:08 PM

Must be worth a try though Steve. Lost count of the times PE has surprised me. :-)

JJTX99 wrote on 2/3/2014, 12:42 PM

I will take a look at pluraleyes-3. Maybe it can highlight the similar sound patterns so at least I will know what ones go together.

The views are always the same, so it's hard to tell without playing the video first, vs looking at their thumbnails. The scene is very similar in most places as it's just a highway in front of you with tree's.

Woodenmike wrote on 2/3/2014, 1:58 PM

The audio from the goPros, if they were in the weathertight cases will be very muffled and not likely to have any clear signal for PluralEyes to discern. If the footage is so similar, how critical is it to match exactly? (Is there an event that occurs that would show the difference?)

JJTX99 wrote on 2/3/2014, 2:43 PM

I want what is in front to match when I alternate between cameras in the final video cut.

GeeBax wrote on 2/3/2014, 2:49 PM

Why not use a clapper board to set a common point in time before shooting? I built a simple one with high power LEDs on it for exactly this purpose, synchronising GoPros.

The reason the time rests when the battery is removed is because their is no battery on the PC board for timekeeping. They are doing well to pack in what they do as it is, not much chance of fitting a battery in there as well.

Byron K wrote on 2/3/2014, 3:21 PM

If the audio is similar on all the videos, you can get Plural Eyes to synch videos by placing markers around the approximate areas where each video is the same. This has worked for me when I couldn't get PE to sync multi cam videos.

I've since started to use these "dog clickers" to identify start points of multi cam videos.

http://www.amazon.com/StarMark-Clicker-Dog-Training-System/dp/B000FMDIL6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391462166&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+clicker

3d87c4 wrote on 2/3/2014, 3:52 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there appear to be two questions here:

1) how to know which clips correspond to each other?

2) how to synchronize the corresponding clips?

For 1) I've had the issue where the filenames and date/time codes don't correspond, camera to camera.

What I did was

-create a spreadsheet listing the clips from each camera---name and time code.

-Identify clips with corresponding content and note the filename and/or time codes

-calculate the time shift between the corresponding clips to estimate where each clip belongs in "real" time

With this info I could place clips in the timeline in rough order & go from there.

For 2) I line up corresponding features in the audio track, if possible. (I assume this is what plural eyes can do?) or put one clip below the other, drag the opacity of the upper clip down to 50%, and shift the lower clip back and forth in the time line 'til the images superimpose. (this works best in 3D, which I work in, but might be adapted here if the cameras are looking at different views of the same thing)

Oh, too late now, but to time align 3D clips I've tapped on the bar the cameras are mounted on to create sound spikes. Maybe you could do the same by rapping on your bumper or some other metal object on the car?

NormanPCN wrote on 2/3/2014, 4:31 PM

The GoPro file does not have a useful timecode, but Vegas does let you enter a custom timecode if you want to sync by timecode.

The last camera started can get the default timecode of zero, and the others when manually sync'd will have negative timecodes so that all cameras start at a timecode of zero from a certain point. In your video prefs you can have the timecodes displayed at event edges.

Or once you have found your sync point, you can create subclips of each media where all the subclips start at same point in time. The subclips will have the timecode from the parent, but you can give all the subclips a custom timecode of zero.

A low tech way to manually sync is to stand in front of the cams after started and give your hands a good clap. You get a sharp sound and visual to use to sync. In mountain biking we have had some cams pointing backwards and then you only have the sound.