Video Recording and Audio Setup
Hardware:
Before my first track day in the Caterham I wanted to get a good video and audio setup installed in the vehicle. At first this can be a very daunting task as there are a lot of options out there, and also a lot of software to hand to help you with editing those videos. I needed to record the audio and video for work purposes as well as I am going to use some of my recorded audio in my latest products, so I wanted to get the bets I could on a budget. My business revolves around vehicle simulation so I also needed telemetry to be recorded so I could analyse it and use it for future work. From reading other posts about recording in a Caterham, it is important to get an external Mic mounted otherwise all you will hear is wind noise.
So I ended up with the following criteria:
So after much searching around, I ended up with a GoPro Hero 11, which does 5.3K @ 60 and also records GPS (some of the later GoPros do not do this). The 5.3K recording offers a great benefit and that is that I can record the video at this resolution with no smoothing enabled, I can then load the videos into a 3rd party tool on the PC and save them out at 4k smoothed, without losing any resolution of the image.
I chose the official GoPro mount AGTLM-001 as this fits perfectly around the rollbar.
For the external microphone, you have to buy the official media mod or a media splitter from GoPro. This allows you to have a permanent power feed and microphone feed, which means you can keep the camera running all day (provided it does not overheat).
I was recommended to get the SmartLav+ microphone as it is small and will fit anywhere. For this to work you will also need a TRRS to TRS adapter as the camera only supports TRS mics.
If you are running the mic to the front of the car, you'll need a 3.5mm extension cable, I chose a tried and tested brand, QED, that should not get affected by any kind of interference.
Finally I also got the large GoPro play/pause button, which fits nicely around the handbrake for ease on/off recording.
Of course don't forget your SD card.
For those who simply want a shopping list:
GoPro Hero11.
GoPro Large Tube Mount AGTLM-001.
GoPro Media Mod ADFMD-001.
GoPro Waterproof Shutter Remote.
RØDE SmartLav+ Microphone.
3.5mm TRRS to TRS Microphone Adapter.
QED Performance 3.5mm Extension Lead.
SanDisk 512GB Extreme PRO microSDXC Card.
Setting up of the equipment is fairly trivial, I chose to mount the camera on top of the roll bar as that gets the best angle in my opinion. I ran a USB C and 3.5mm cable down the roll bar neatly into the boot, The cable then runs under the floor plate and into the tunnel above the diff, it is cable tied securely along the tunnel until it gets to the main entry point for the cables under the dashboard. The cables then come up there and the USB-C is connected to the 12V socket I have, the 3.5mm cable is used for the external mic, which is hanging from it's clip under the dash.
I choose to always record in 5.3K at 60fps linear and with no hypersmoothing on. Hypersmoothing can be achieved at the software side as long as you have the accelerometer data recorded from the camera, I think this is always saved out with a GoPro video, but I'm not 100% sure of this. I have my GPS option always on to record as well so it "might" be part of that data.
I chose the all in one GPS solution as the GoPro can record 10hz GPS which is good enough for me, others opt for the RaceBox 25hz resolution, but that's just another device to keep in sync. There is however an issue with the GoPro GPS and media mod being used together, basically the mounting bracket, which is magnetic, sits directly above the GoPro GPS sensor, which causes the signal to get lost occasionally. I chose to drill a 10mm hole in the top and bung it with a rubber grommet to improve this. This meant my GPS signal was way better and doesn't cut out any more.
Res: 5.3k
FPS: 60
Lens: Linear
HyperSmooth: Off
GPS: On
Software
There is a lot of software out there that processes videos a lot of them seems to not quite do what I wanted though. I found eventually that the best method of working with these videos was to first use GyroFlow to stabilise the video into 4K clips using the accelerometer video. I also use this to trim parts of the video that I want to keep. I just found the interface much more intuitive than anything else. For me this is always the step 1 to get a final 4K stabilised video.
Being a coder, and having worked in the video codec world, I actually then use FFMpeg to do alot of processing from the command line, I use this to extract the audio streams which I can then use in for my business side of things. However FFMpeg is not user friendly so I'd recommend that from here you use your own video editing software to create a more complicate video from these clips. I actually use a windows based software called Magix Movie Edit Pro 2015 (it's old but I know how to use it and I use it for my work side of things).
For videos that display track telemetry as per my track day videos, these become a little more complicated again.
Results
Once it is all put together and rendered out, the results are great.
