Long UI pauses in laps with associated videos

[BenB123]

Hey, I'm a fairly new LapTimer user and have been experimenting with different workflows to determine what works best for me. My current setup:
1) iPhone XS Max for GPS + timing capture (running Harry's)
2) Gopro Hero 4 silver for video capture
3) Kiwi 3 for OBD capture
4) iPad Pro for video processing / overlaying (running Harry's)

The data capture seems to be working well (video + timing + OBD). What's been frustrating to me has been interacting with Harry's UI since it seems to experience very long pauses any time I go to a screen that has an associated video. Ex: Analysis -> Lap List -> Pick a Lap. If this is a recently recorded lap, it seems to pause for several seconds (10-20s) before actually allowing me to do anything (ex: scroll that view).

I'm guessing it has to do with Harry's parsing my Photos database looking for the video in question (which won't be there since it's on the Gopro). And re-linking videos suffers the same fate x 3: 1) Lap view, 2) Video view, 3) Video picker dialog.

Note that I have a decently sized Photos library (~50GB).

Any thoughts on working around this or fixing this issue?

Thanks,

ben

[Harry]

I assume this is some issue with the device configuration. A huge photos library may be one potential cause for the delays. You can easily test this by turning access off for LapTimer: Settings app ‣ LapTimer ‣ Photos ‣ Never. Restart LapTimer and see if the problem is gone.

- Harry

[BenB123]

Thanks, I tried that on the iPhone capture device and it indeed eliminates the long pauses. That addresses half the issue for me.

I’m not sure how to work around this on the iPad I use to generate the overlays. From what I gather, there are 2 ways to transfer video to the iPad running LapTimer:
1) By connecting an external SD card reader to the iPad
This is the recommended way but requires going through the Photos library, therefore incurring the long UI pause issue.

2) By using the Multicam wireless transfer feature
Slower, wastes the external camera's battery (which I'd rather preserve for actually recording) and unreliable.

I think something like this would be one way to workaround the current dependency on the Photos library:
https://www.appcoda.com/files-app-integration/
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2018/216/

LapTimer would also need to support writing overlaid videos to that container instead of the Photos library.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

ben

[Harry]

Why don’t you use iTunes File Sharing? This allows you to copy / move videos in and out as required?

Harry

[BenB123]

The primary reason being I'd like minimize the amount of gear and stuff I need to haul to the track. The iPad is great for both exporting and viewing overlays.

Tbh, I hadn't really looked into using iTunes File Sharing and it looks like a suitable workaround for now. Though I'd love to not need to bring a laptop. Would you consider enabling better iOS Files integration? Alternatively, any thoughts on solving the latency issue with large Photos libraries?

Thanks!

ben

[Harry]

Alternative: reduce the amount of files in the media library.

Harry

[BenB123]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures or videos to prune - that's basically the family album going back 10+ years.

[BenB123]

I hit a bit of a snag with the workaround to disable LapTimer Photos access. After transferring the videos to LapTimer, I went to one of the laps in the lap list to re-link the video. Clicking on the preview, which normally would bring me to the video details, does nothing. If I re-enable LapTimer Photos access, then the video details (including re-link option) does open, albeit 20s later.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

ben

[Harry]

I assume the video linked to the lap is sitting in Photos library initially? Please re-link this type of links and turn off Photos access afterwards.

- Harry

[BenB123]

The original video was taken on a GoPro using LapTimer's multicam support. So Photos library was never involved in this case.