Getting corrupt GoPro files

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Mar 24, 2014
450
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Here is issue I am encountering. I have GoPro hero 4 silver and am using the lynkspyder fence mount. I have the clear plastic GoPro case with the opening in the side to plug in external battery. I turn GoPro off then take it home and download files. Every time I turn off my GoPro, the last file is corrupt. So what I've been doing it let the GoPro record until I get home which is normally and extra 30 minutes of recording.

My question is why would I continue to get a corrupt file when I turn off the GoPro?
 

Josh Greer

DFP Vendor
Jul 31, 2013
934
93
Central Missouri
The biggest reason I have seen for this is that I do not wait long enough after stopping the recording to then turn off the power to the camera. This was most prevalent when I ran the GoPro without an internal battery and only used the battery eliminator. Once I stopped the recording and waited a bit (a bit was anywhere from 30 seconds to whatever) before powering down the camera, this problem went away. Is it possible you are powering down too soon?
 
Mar 24, 2014
450
18
The biggest reason I have seen for this is that I do not wait long enough after stopping the recording to then turn off the power to the camera. This was most prevalent when I ran the GoPro without an internal battery and only used the battery eliminator. Once I stopped the recording and waited a bit (a bit was anywhere from 30 seconds to whatever) before powering down the camera, this problem went away. Is it possible you are powering down too soon?

Thanks for the response. I think we were just turning power off after taking the camera down from the fence. I don't recall trying to stop the recording prior to shutting down. Hope that's the only issue is that I overlooked that. Will try it out next week, weather looks nice to get 4-5 HS games in this week. Will post update later this week.
 
Jul 25, 2015
148
0
Yeah, dealing with GoPro issues myself and of course it happened when DS pitched the game of his life yesterday... Camera will not power on, will not take a charge, will not work with fully charged battery, battery eliminator, etc... I have done everything they say but was "told" to try the trouble shooting steps multiple times over and over and it will eventually work... :mad:
 

Josh Greer

DFP Vendor
Jul 31, 2013
934
93
Central Missouri
Yeah, dealing with GoPro issues myself and of course it happened when DS pitched the game of his life yesterday... Camera will not power on, will not take a charge, will not work with fully charged battery, battery eliminator, etc... I have done everything they say but was "told" to try the trouble shooting steps multiple times over and over and it will eventually work... :mad:

Not sure what camera you have, but have you tried (just for testing) removing the internal battery, connect via battery eliminator cable and power to wall plug? If that doesn't work (and you are sure the eliminator cable isn't bad), it doesn't sound good.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
We were having a lot of that with our GoPro Hero 4 Silver. Corrupted files, the camera malfunctioning. We ended up getting one of the recommended SD cards (we had brand name cards before, but not from the recommended list on their site). We haven't had any issues since. You also have to make sure you format the card every time you use the camera. We copy the files over to our computer, then use the actual camera to format the card, not formatting in Windows. The combo of the format and the recommended SD card seems to have fixed the issue. We've probably had that card for 4 or 5 tournaments now and haven't had any more problems. Before, we'd lose part of at least one game, sometimes an entire game, pretty much every tournament.
 
Jul 25, 2015
148
0
Not sure what camera you have, but have you tried (just for testing) removing the internal battery, connect via battery eliminator cable and power to wall plug? If that doesn't work (and you are sure the eliminator cable isn't bad), it doesn't sound good.

Hero4 Silver. Yeah, pretty much tried it all so far, short of my usual "well placed, tactical strike with a hammer"... I am not "positive" the eliminator cable isn't bad but it worked the day before and is pulling power from the battery pack... but I have tried it with a battery with low charge with battery eliminator, no battery with battery eliminator, fully charged battery both ways, straight USB to knuckle, straight USB to wall, straight USB to computer... memory card removed, memory card installed... I have a new battery eliminator cable (actually 2) coming today, along with a new Hero5 Black (convinced the wife that "moments" are simply too important not to have a backup for something like this - even though I am really wanting to experiment with angles - behind homeplate and down the baseline - and tying the two videos together ;) )...

Speaking of that, while we are on the subject of GoPro... Has anyone ever tried tying video together where you switch between the view from homeplate to a different angle during the play? If so, is this a bridge too far for a neanderthal such as myself and if not, what is the best software for doing such? TIA...
 

Josh Greer

DFP Vendor
Jul 31, 2013
934
93
Central Missouri
Hero4 Silver. Yeah, pretty much tried it all so far, short of my usual "well placed, tactical strike with a hammer"... I am not "positive" the eliminator cable isn't bad but it worked the day before and is pulling power from the battery pack... but I have tried it with a battery with low charge with battery eliminator, no battery with battery eliminator, fully charged battery both ways, straight USB to knuckle, straight USB to wall, straight USB to computer... memory card removed, memory card installed... I have a new battery eliminator cable (actually 2) coming today, along with a new Hero5 Black (convinced the wife that "moments" are simply too important not to have a backup for something like this - even though I am really wanting to experiment with angles - behind homeplate and down the baseline - and tying the two videos together ;) )...

Speaking of that, while we are on the subject of GoPro... Has anyone ever tried tying video together where you switch between the view from homeplate to a different angle during the play? If so, is this a bridge too far for a neanderthal such as myself and if not, what is the best software for doing such? TIA...


You will love the HERO5. Just note, the eliminator cables will not work. But they are no longer needed. GoPro updated the software of the camera to not charge the battery while in record mode. When recording, USB will power the camera directly, and thereby not generate charging heat.

Tying 2 cameras together during recording is probably not probable (not saying impossible). But very possible in post edit. Here's one I did with a compact camera in the outfield. Sorry for the smudge on the main camera....rookie mistake:
[video=youtube_share;Utj4uHSMM8g]http://youtu.be/Utj4uHSMM8g[/video]
 
Mar 24, 2014
450
18
Just a quick update. Was able to video a few high school games this week. Did normal turn on and off. Everything worked good, no corrupt files. I did have issue connecting the wifi to my cell phone, seemed like it would not connect. I exited out of GoPro app and reopened and then it was connected and can see the field from my cell phone. Maybe I hit the wrong button but in any case was able to get it to work.

On a side note, seems like the GoPro w/Lynkspyder is getting a lot of attention. Parents seem to like the linkspyder setup. Several wrote it down in their phones maybe they will buy the fence mount!
 
Mar 24, 2014
450
18
Another update. After I recorded the game last night, had no corrupt files, and deleted files off the disk using the GoPro camera not the computer. Recorded another away game this evening and still had issue connecting GoPro camera to app on my phone. Eventually it found the camera. I don't recall having this issue over the summer. Anyway looked at the files tonight and all was good.

So the two things that seemed to help in eliminating the corrupt files were 1) stop recording rather than turning off camera and 2) deleting files using the camer and not computer. As for the wifi connection, i was running late to the game and didn't pay attention to the steps I took to connect the camera to the app. At least it was nice weather.

Speaking of weather, what are people doing to protect the camera and external battery from the sun and rain? Maybe I should start another thread.
 

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