Sync action cam footage with RaceChrono logging

RaceChrono has great integration with Go Pros but not with other action cameras. AOL suggested somewhere that the Go Pro integration is a pain to maintain, so I'm guessing integrating with other action cameras is not happening. I have a DJI Action 2, and I suspect folks have other action cameras as well, so it's worth thinking about a general solution.

I've been thinking about the best way to semiautomate the sync and I have a few ideas:
1. Use blinkers in the video feed + figuring out the right CANbus PID for your vehicle (downside ... finding the blinder in the video stream)
2. Some sort of high pass filter to find candiate honk sounds + the right CANbus PID for your vehicle's horn (downside ... how do you find the right horn PID?)

Do folks have other ideas on how to quickly sync up footage with RaceChrono logs? In my experience most action cams (including mine) don't do a good job of recording timestamps or GPS locations.

Comments

  • Not automated, but the best clue for me for accurate Video/Data sync is the steering wheel channel. I dedicated "Overlay 1" to have just the steering angle gauge, and with a bit of practice it's very easy for me to tell if the data is too early or too late. Whenever I have a single counter-steer in my video, manual Video/Data sync becomes trivial.
  • Nice trick! ... but not sure I know how to find the steering angle for a 890 Duke R.
    Ideally we'd be able to sync on screen RPM needle with the data feed :)
  • I usually sync to most obvious landmarks on aerial images and the video (a bridge, finish line etc). Then I fine tune according the RPM vs. sound.
  • Anything we can do to semi-automate this? Especially quickly finding an initial fix candidate?
  • Yeah, RPM vs sound is the second best thing after steering angle.

    In theory it should be possible to auto-sync sound to rpm; but in practice it will probably be extremely slow.

    Furthermore, a simple "clap" test revealed to me that my GoPros have a slight delay between audio and video — insane! When I started using an external recorder for sound, I used a clap to sync that with video, and noticed that the sound in the video is in fact not very in sync with the video. Off by only a couple of frames, but still...
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