Android phone and GoPro Hero4 black => Video not starting

[Jetset]

Hey all,

currently I am trying to connect my Hero4 black to my Android phone.
I bought the petrolhead edition of HLT, my Android version is 6.0.1.
I have connected the Hero4 black to my phone using the GoPro app, which works fine (i.e. I can make settings etc.).
Then I have closed the GoPro app and connected to the GoPro WiFi. I can see the phone is connected judging by the WiFi symbol and the "no internet" warning.

When I open up HLT and go to the settings, my confusion kind of begins: Reading quite a lot of other posts, I saw that a "discover multi-cams" option is available. I however don't have that one.
I set multicam to "main", external camera to "GoPro Hero4" and tried to just experimentally enter my password into the "Hero3/3+ WiFi Password" field (even though I don't think it is neccessary).
When navigating to "Sensors" via the menu, I can see the GoPro Hero4. However, when I click on it, all values are 0, e.g. battery level. That got me thinking that it might be the case things are not working correctly. The same applies when navigating to "Videos" => No videos which are on the camera are actually shown...There is a spinning symbol (like it's loading the videos) but it never finishes.

Now while those things are not really important to me, I activated "manual timing" and went to the timer. When there, I can navigate to video and take the rightmost symbol (external camera), which says the gopro Hero4 has been detected, but there is a spinning symbol yet again which doesn't disappear.

Then if I manually start time measurement and stop it, the camera doesn't start and stop.

I also tried power cycling the camera or cycling the cameras wifi, because I read about the wifi suspend problem,

Any hints on what I could check / do differently is greatly appreciated.

[Harry]

Starting with v20, the "Discover MultiCams" option is history. Instead, the MultiCam(s) are activated using Race ‣ Timer ‣ Video ‣ Video Operation. You need to configure the cam type once in Settings, but turn it on and off in the named dialog now. The spinning symbol is on as long as new cams are searched for, it is for your information only and an additional feedback external cams are managed.

With Petrolhead however, you should get a message MultiCam operation is not supported and an upgrade (to GrandPrix) is required when selecting External Cam operation in Video Operation? This will be the reason LapTimer does not trigger recordings.

Two more items to check in case you have upgraded to GrandPrix already: a) Make sure the GoPro app is not active in background. It is not well behaving and here and will disturb other apps accessing the GoPro. b) The HERO4 has a hidden power saving mode. It will report an active WiFi while having the connection disabled already. So please make sure the time between joining the GoPro Wifi with the smartphone and activating the external cam connection is not too long.

- Harry

[Jetset]

Oh I'm sorry, it's HLT Grand Prix. Started with petrolhead
I will check the rest, thanks for the quick reply

[ottacat]

In terms of the Wifi going into power saving mode - it would be good to know how long this period is and whether there is anything that can be done to keep it alive. My fear is firing everything up when I get in the car but then having the Wifi power down while I'm waiting to get on the track.

[Jetset]

So I double checked:
1. You are right, it's GrandPrix, not Petrolhead. I started from Petrolhead but changed to GrandPrix to have the nice Auto-Start-Stop feature and easier overlaying
2. I closed the GoPro App in the Background, seems to make no difference
3. Between starting a recording and turning on the camera there was less than 1 minute, that should be enough, right?

Maybe I am getting something wrong: When starting a timed lap manually, would it start the camera as well? Or does it only do that while really near a POI?

Maybe it's a good starting point to start from the other things, e.g. why doesn't it show the battery level or can show the videos on the cam?

Thanks for your help

[Harry]

In terms of the Wifi going into power saving mode - it would be good to know how long this period is and whether there is anything that can be done to keep it alive. My fear is firing everything up when I get in the car but then having the Wifi power down while I'm waiting to get on the track.

That's misunderstood. The problem will occur during connection making, i.e. when selecting one of the Internal+External or External Only options in Video Operation. Once the connection is established, LapTimer will constantly query the status of the cam effectively keeping it alive. This is independent from whether the cam is recording or not. You can watch the status e.g. in Timer's status gadget: once the cam is active, you will see it solid with green and blue bubbles blinking (incoming and outgoing messages).

- Harry

[Harry]

So I double checked:
1. You are right, it's GrandPrix, not Petrolhead. I started from Petrolhead but changed to GrandPrix to have the nice Auto-Start-Stop feature and easier overlaying
2. I closed the GoPro App in the Background, seems to make no difference
3. Between starting a recording and turning on the camera there was less than 1 minute, that should be enough, right?

Maybe I am getting something wrong: When starting a timed lap manually, would it start the camera as well? Or does it only do that while really near a POI?

Maybe it's a good starting point to start from the other things, e.g. why doesn't it show the battery level or can show the videos on the cam?

Thanks for your help

Sensor List is irrelevant here, the cam shows up once it is connected and will not be there otherwise. You can test a working communication by a) watching the green and blue bubbles as written a post before. To test an actual recording, turn on the combined internal / external video recording in Video Operation. Press preview to get to the internal cam preview. Make sure a HERO placeholder is sliding in the top right. Press the small red button to start a manual recording. This will start the HERO too.

- Harry

[ottacat]

That's misunderstood. The problem will occur during connection making, i.e. when selecting one of the Internal+External or External Only options in Video Operation. Once the connection is established, LapTimer will constantly query the status of the cam effectively keeping it alive. This is independent from whether the cam is recording or not. You can watch the status e.g. in Timer's status gadget: once the cam is active, you will see it solid with green and blue bubbles blinking (incoming and outgoing messages).

- Harry

This is excellent to know - thanks. My routine before going out on track will be to power on the GoPro4, turn on Wifi on the GoPro, connect to Wifi on my phone, connect to external camera when selecting Video Operation. Upon return from track I will turn off Wifi on the GoPro and then power down the camera.

[Harry]

When coming back, first Cancel / Stopp the cool down lap. This will stop video operation too.

- Harry

[Jetset]

Hey Harry,

so, I double checked your advices:

once the cam is active, you will see it solid with green and blue bubbles blinking (incoming and outgoing messages).

- that doesn't happen for me to be honest.

You can test a working communication by a) watching the green and blue bubbles as written a post before. To test an actual recording, turn on the combined internal / external video recording in Video Operation. Press preview to get to the internal cam preview. Make sure a HERO placeholder is sliding in the top right. Press the small red button to start a manual recording. This will start the HERO too.

Before I switch to video preview, the external camera is recognized as GoPro Hero4, which seems good. When I switch into the preview, the GoPro logo is not there. If I go back and forth (back to before the preview and into the preview again, without starting to record), I don't see the GoPro logo. However, once I start a recording and stop it again, the GoPro logo is shown.
Now if I'm in that state, I record yet another video. When I do that, the GoPro doesn't physically begin to blink red. Also, after I stop the recording, the number of recorded videos shown on the GoPro display hasn't changed (in my case: 8 before and 8 after).

If I go to the lap analysis and want to see the video, the App always reports the GoPro as being offline.

Sooo I guess I am still having a setup problem However, I re-read your manuals and they only show special considerations for Apple-devices not for Android devices.

Do you still have any ideas?