Capturing GoPro Output To Mac

Has anyone had any luck using any of the Blackmagic products (specifically in the Ultrastudio line) to capture output from the GoPro Hero2 and send it to a MacBook Pro?

If so, I have a few related questions:

• What is the cheapest option in the Blackmagic line to do so?
• Has anyone ever done this using the GoPro's 1 button mode?
• Is it possible to dynamically/programmatically name the video files when they are created?
• Are there any good tutorials out there to configure such a setup?

Sort of,

Assume you are talking about live capture?

For starters you need a skeleton housing for the GoPro Hero2, so the HDMI lead can go out of the GoPro. They are in short supply, we have one but have had another on back order for a few months.

Because of distance, we have used a Blackmagic HDMI to SDI battery converter then into a Vaddio mixer and captured that way.(via a Ulstrastudio Express in Media Express which allows you to name files before you capture) Have used 720 and 1080

Can test a direct conenction to the Ultrastudio for you this afternoon; HDMI direct to the UE. Think I have done that before but can't remember!

What I did find is the GoPro is very fiddly in terms of conenctions: you HAVE to get the order right or it won't work:

Plug HDMI lead in then turn GoPro on, which sounds straighforward however:
-if you turn GoPro off and then on again, you won't get HDMI out. You really have to unplug then replug before turning it on
-Similarly if you have wifi bacpac, can have similar issues (but think this is related to the above)
-you cannot hove analouge (composite out) and HDMI out simultaneously
-if you do have wifi bac pac and are using the GoPro app, you cannot have live preview on, it effects the HDMI picture quality

Theoretically assuming this all works, the cheapest product, assume thunderbolt mac, would be the ultrastudio mini recorder but would only be able to record and would need a thunderbolt cable

Worked it out by trial and error; took a while. Haven't seen any tutorials and found very little info on the next generally!

If you do not need it live, strongly recommend just capturing and then putting the SD card into your computer and doing a file transfer! However you do then have the issue of one clip being made of several files; each files has a ~2GB limit. But all depends on what workflow you need

Did some testing today. Connected directly from goPro to UE via miniHDMI to HDMi lead and couldn't get it to work

However if I connected by any of (all SDI):
DVI extender
HDMI to SDI converter
It did work. Tried both these devices with the Vaddio mixer in between and without

Assume you are talking about live capture?

Yes, so essentially I'm hoping to accomplish the following:

The Setup:

• A single GoPro Hero2 in 1-button mode (
  
  ).
• The GoPro is connected to a computer (in this case a MacBook) via this dongle (http://shop.appliedlogiceng.com/USB-to- ... ALE500.htm) which allows the computer to issue commands to the GoPro.

Desired Output:

• Using the dongle, I can currently start and stop recordings on the GoPro which are initiated from my MacBook.
• Since the GoPro is in 1-button mode, it means that my script sends a command to power the GoPro ON, records for X seconds then send a command to power the GoPro OFF which stops the recording.
• In this current scenario, each video clip is saved to the GoPro's memory card. I would instead like to stream the GoPro's output back to the computer and save those video clips to disk.

That's about it. I do not need to manipulate the video files or post process them in any manner. I simply want the recorded video files to be saved to disk without having to pop out the memory card manually.

@DanielKnoche - Thanks so much for taking the time to get back to me with your detailed post. Hopefully this gives you a bit more context with regards to the problem I'm trying to solve.

No problem.
BM just released an update (firmware for Ultrastudio Express and system preferences pane), as did GoPro, so just updated both and tested.

Successfully connected the GoPro to an Ultrastudio Express by HDMI and worked no problem.

Key is making sure that the GoPro settings, and BM settings are the same. Resolution and frame rate.

GoPro was set to 1080, 25 (PAL)
In sys pref:

Screen Shot 2013-01-22 at 10.30.13 AM.png (142.62 KiB) Viewed 11376 times

Default settings for other tabs

In media express:

Screen Shot 2013-01-22 at 10.30.01 AM.png (106.22 KiB) Viewed 11376 times

In which case all you would need is BM Ultrastudio Mini Recorder

Hope this helps! Anything else, let me know

Successfully connected the GoPro to an Ultrastudio Express by HDMI and worked no problem.

That is really great news Daniel - thank you for taking the time to test that out. I'll be ordering an Ultrastudio Mini Recorder right away.

I'll let you know how it all works out on my end when I receive the unit.

No problem. Only my suggestion though!

Unless you script it (and I don't know if one can or you need to!), would have to initiate capture yourself on media express. The other alternative is using something like http://www.softronmedia.com/products/movierecorder.html if you want it captured at specific times

Unless you script it (and I don't know if one can or you need to!), would have to initiate capture yourself on media express.

Do you know if it is possible to have the Media Express software running continuously in the background and only initiate recordings when it receives a valid signal from the GoPro itself?

If Media Express can't do that, does anyone know of any other software that can?

Don't believe so! Not sure if there is anything that can