Low Res Overlay

[Maqsood]

Hi Harry,

Im not sure if this has been covered before but i couldnt find a thread on the subject so here goes.

I have been using laptimer (the version now called petrolhead edition) for a couple of years, and i recently decided to start video recording in a lower resolution than standard settings so that i can record more laps (only have a 16GB iphone 4). Im also using an OBDII dongle to feed throttle data into the app so that this can be overlayed into the video, which by the way is working great.

The problem that im having is the data overlay does not appear to scale based on the resolution of video being recorded. If i record video any lower than 1280x720, the throttle data part of the overlay is half missing on the right of the image. So im missing the gear overlay completely and can only see half of the throttle reading which makes it of no use at all.

Are there any plans to scale the overlay based on the resolution of the video being recorded? Sorry if i have completely missed something that would normally acheive this without a workaround.

Many Thanks
Max

P.S. Absolutely love this app, by far the most bang for your buck you can get from any app i have ever come across, the amount of configuration and integration available is also amazing. You are amazing Harry, keep up the good work.

[Harry]

That's a not so often used combination (SD video but OBD). Actually LapTimer has three sets of overlay images: SD, HD, FullHD. So it should work for SD... Can you send me a snapshot of the overlaid video? Simply play it on your iPhone and press Home+Sleep at the same time. Afterwards, select the snapshot in the Photo app and send it to me (Harry@gps-laptimer.de). Thanks.

- Harry

[Maqsood]

Sent you an email

[Harry]

Thanks for sending the snapshots. As this topic is not documented elsewhere, I use this post to add that piece

Here is the list of resolutions LapTimer supports including comments on what can be done / cannot be done:

• 192x144 - Low, 3G: included to cover special situations (e.g. long term recording); overlay not supported; can be used as picture in picture video in case the master video is SD only
• 480x360 - Medium, Wifi: included to allow recording of picture in picture videos applied to HD (and Full HD) master videos; overlay not supported
• 640x480 - VGA: SD video, best resolution available on 3GS iPhones; SD optimized overlay available; best choice for picture in picture videos applied to HD and FullHD master videos
• 1280x720 - 720p HD: HD video, best resolution available on iPhone4; best choice in terms of memory / quality balance; well suited as master video; HD optimized overlay available; requires 80 MB/minute
• Best Available - High: resolution depends on iPhone generation - SD for iPhone3GS, HD for iPhone4, and FullHD (1080) for iPhone4S and 5; Full HD optimized overlay available; best quality available in LapTimer; requires considerable space (190 MB/minute)

The reason you got a cut off OBD display for your video is most probably 480x360 has been used (I cannot measure this from the snapshot, but looks like). There is no optimized overlay available for this resolution. In case LapTimer is asked to overlay this format, it will apply the smallest available - which is SD. Although this is fine for the bottom left gauges, it will cut off both the OBD gauges and parts of the inserts (POIs + min/max).

As it is considerable effort to add another optimized overlay for 480x360, I'd not add unless I receive lots of votes for it. Hope you can understand that, I need to somehow balance between all kinds of requirements and my time available. Please use the SD format in case you need to save memory. Requirements are below 30 MB a minute for SD, which gives you more than 30 minutes for one GB of available storage.

- Harry