DemonView, Author at DemonView

GoPro Hero 12 Predictions

Posted on April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 by DemonView

We’ve reached that time of year again where I’m going to lay out my own personal predictions for the GoPro Hero 12 camera..). This is not simple “doubling” of the hardware specs from previous models like you see on some other site. These are my predictions based upon GoPro’s past release strategies and what I think we’re really likely to see from the GoPro Hero 12 as a result. So on with my predictions.

Could the Hero 12 maintain the same form factor as previous models? — Could the Hero 12 have the same form factor as previous models?

So what has been GoPro’s hardware release strategy entailed in the past?

Well, if you’ve paid attention to the differences between their hardware models, you’d know that GoPro have never tried to radically re-invent the wheel. Instead, they’ve always employed more of a “incremental” change strategy. One that maintains the technical hardware edge on their competition without having to radically increase their camera price point. So, this works out well for GoPro as they are playing the long game, and this works well for the consumer as you’re always paying a sub $500 price for the latest hardware offering. With that in mind, let’s talk camera resolution.

Will the GoPro 12 have 8K capability?

No, I seriously doubt it. If you look at consumer displays at the moment, 8K televisions don’t have a huge market hold. The expense is just something that a lot of people can afford, there isn’t that much content available in the 8K corner as of yet.

Is this the cheapest 8K television there is? — This is the cheapest 8K television I’ve found and it still costs nearly 5k!

You also have to realize that editing 8K is not something the average consumer has the horsepower to do. A lot of consumers have difficulty editing in 4K, let alone the current 5.3K that the top GoPro models offer (and combine that with the 10-bit color of the Hero 11, and things get even more interesting). Also keep in mind, the majority of GoPro owners aren’t just editing their clips on their mobile devices, they are using cheap budget mobile devices to do so. It still amazes me how many people have paid less for their phone than they’ve paid for their GoPro camera, and yet they still expect to edit 20-minute clips in 5.3K on their phone!

The Google Pixel 7, still a budget call phone. — The Google Pixel 7 is no slouch, but it’s still a mid range cell phone.

Also keep in mind, GoPro’s “incremental” strategy. So, GoPro aren’t going to jump from 5.3K to 8K in my opinion. I think it’s more likely that the next GoPro model will get a boost in resolution up to 5.7K or 6K maximum, not because it’s needed, but because the consumer expects it. Having said that, if GoPro maintain 5.3K max resolution for the 3rd generation in a row, then I’d expect a jump in frame rates as a result.

What Resolution and Frame Rates will the GoPro 12 likely support.

That’s a controversial question for sure. We’ve seen GoPro actually drop support for certain resolutions and frame ration combinations. (2.7K 30FPS anyone?) This is likely due to internal constraints on the camera architecture and the camera only being able to handle so many different shooting modes. It’s also a push by GoPro to make users start adopting more current shooting resolutions and frame rates instead of sticking to old, outdated frame rates. It could be likely that the next resolution on the chopping block is 1080P. After all, with more and more 4K televisions and monitors our there (and with cheaper price points these days), that we’ll say goodbye to 1080P shooting modes.

4K displays are just about everywhere these days due to the lowering costs.

Don’t get me wrong, we may still have 1080P, but only with certain frame rate options. So, we could be looking at 1080P 60FPS minimum. This is simply due to the amount of budget mobile devices out there and having to give such users the ability to edit some sort of GoPro footage. 2.7K will still be available, after all, this resolution is needed for the Max Lens Mod, and given that mods popularity, dropping support for it would be a mistake….. unless…. GoPro offer “The Max Lens Mod 2”.

Will there be new mods for the GoPro Hero 12?

We’d all love for there to be new mods for the Hero 12. Although the current mods work very well, there has been some slight issues with them. The Media Mod can be time consuming to disassemble when trying to access the camera’s SD card or battery. The Max Lens mod can only support 2.7K resolution (and no, this is not something that can be changed by a firmware update, this is a physical limitation caused by the optics of the device, the Max Lens mod can only focus it’s FOV on a 2.7K area of the sensor).

GoPro’s current line of camera mods. An update is needed at this point.

So it may be possible that there could be a Max Lens Mod 2 that has different optics that could focus it’s image on a 4k area of the sensor. However… this mod would not work on the Hero 11, Hero 10 or Hero 9 due to it’s physical sensor size. Also, GoPro may not want to deal with hundreds of incoming consumer complaints and item returns from users purchasing the Max Lens Mod 2 and expecting it to work with their older cameras. So, while we’re due an update to the Max Lens Mod……. It may not be on the cards right now.

The Media Mod 2. Something else we’d all love to see and I’ve already listed why. However, this also has the same problem as above. Any new features it introduces, likely wouldn’t work on previous GoPro models and this translates to the same consumer complaints and item returns. However, in my opinion, an updated design to the media mod is badly needed.

Now that I’ve said the above, I will have to backtrack on it if you consider one additional factor. The Max Lens Mod 2 and Media Mod 2 could stand a “possibility” of being made… but only if there’s a camera redesign….

Will the GoPro Hero 12 be redesigned?

It’s likely. If you look at GoPro’s previous design history, they’ve changed their camera design every 2 to 3 generations. Well, the Hero 12 is in the time frame for a camera redesign. Again, nothing radical, I’d expect the screen and button layouts to be the same, however changing a few aspects (dimensions, port locations, battery door compartments) could result in a camera with better thermal processing and heat dissipation.

IF the camera gets redesigned, then the probability of a Max Lens Mod 2 and Media Mod 2 would be on the table. That’s a big “if” though. You see when the GoPro Hero 12 is released, it might make more sense for GoPro to keep the current design. That way the current Max Lens Mod and Media Mod, camera cases and accessories will fit all 3 models sold on GoPro.com (The Hero 10, Hero 11 and Hero 12). This would help GoPro reduce inventory of these mods, inventory of batteries, inventory of cases (which is what you want to do before releasing a camera redesign). So financially, it may make more sense for GoPro to keep the current form factor and dimensions. However, I’d personally love to see a new camera design, but again, incremental changes, not radical changes seem to be the GoPro way.

What about a detachable rear screen that’s also a remote/wireless charging/Max 2?

No No And No.

A detachable rear screen would need to have some sort of set of contacts on the back in order to communicate with the GoPro. This in turn would affect how waterproof the GoPro would be. If used for action sports, it could accidentally detach from the camera and be lost. Also most users already have a portable display device that’s completely wireless and it’s called their Mobile Phone. This idea of a detachable rear screen was dreamt up quite some time ago, keeps popping up and is as ill thought out now as it was then.

Wireless charging? Doubtful. After all, GoPro sells batteries and battery chargers. Probably a nice little earner for them, so why mess with that? Also we’ve seen what happens when GoPro offers a camera with a “built in” battery. Since wireless charging can take some time (and uses up valuable battery real estate) I don’t think this is likely to happen at all.

At less than $500, the GoPro Max is actually good value for 360 video shooting.

Will there be a GoPro Max 2? Everyone seems to want this… but again, the issue is where to go with such a camera? Another sign that a new Max isn’t coming anytime soon is GoPro introducing an Enduro variation battery for the GoPro Max. Remember what I said about phasing out inventory before introducing a new model? Well in this case, GoPro have created new battery inventory.

The GoPro Max now enjoys a performance boost thanks to the new Enduro battery.

Also, another sign is that there was mention that the GoPro Labs firmware for the Hero Max was going to have some updates and GoPro do seem to be focusing on this. Usually only the latest camera’s get labs updates and with the Max being so old, unlocking additional features is a sign that there’s no replacement coming anytime soon.

So what else can we expect from GoPro this year?

Well what we can look forward to is new software. Users have been complaining for years about a lack of a desktop software suite for their camera’s. GoPro currently offer and support GoPro Player (with ReelSteady as an optional extra) and a webcam app for desktop. That’s it. Now this is hardly surprising as when GoPro did offer “Quik for desktop” it wasn’t widely used, it also wasn’t very stable, and they were spending more money trying to maintain this platform than it was generating. So it made no financial sense whatsoever for GoPro to keep offering “Quik for desktop”.

However, now that the GoPro plus subscription has been a major success for GoPro, it has made them realize the value of offering a “paid” desktop software solution. So just like the mobile app, this may have free basic services for the everyday users, but GoPro Plus subscribers would have full access to much more features (music, themes, cloud account access, the ability to sync edits across multiple platforms etc.).

GoPro could even sell it as an add on (like they do with ReelSteady) to generate more income. That makes a lot of sense. Rather than just spend money on the development and support of a desktop app that works for free for GoPro plus subscribers. Charge an extra $10 a month to GoPro plus subscribers for a desktop software version of Quik also.

Having said that though, GoPro do have 2 things working against them when it comes to desktop software.

1: Their software department is actually quite small. As a result, their mobile app suffers from a myriad of issues and there are endless complaints about reliability, connection issues, black screens during renders…… so stretching that software department out even more to cover the creation of a desktop solution (that also has to integrate cloud and cross platform synchronization) may just be too much to ask of GoPro for this year. We may not see anything until next year from this. Then when it does get released…….. that’s when you’ll start seeing user complaints regarding software not working on their desktop…

2: Windows users can already use Android apps in a Windows environment. While this may not be the smoothest of experiences, it can be easily done. So, if GoPro get too greedy with their desktop offering, people may just opt to keep using their mobile version or other free video editing programs. This would potentially cost GoPro quite a lot of money in lost revenue. It could even cost them more money if the software doesn’t perform.

What would you suggest to GoPro for the Hero 12?

GoPro has a lot of things to consider, but I think they need to Go Bold. Give us a camera design with a better media mod that’s quick and simple to remove. Even if it’s not the “traditional” media mod design. Frankly something that just clips onto the camera in place of the side door would do.

Don’t make the same mistake you did with the Hero 11 Mini, don’t give us a built-in battery. That’s been quite the issue from what I’ve read. Having a swapable battery just makes a lot more sense.

The Hero 11 Mini is small, light and versatile.

You can give us Built in Memory though! Yeah, frankly 512GB of memory built in would be sufficient. It would also solve a lot of issues that I see. People will think nothing of paying $450 for an action camera, but then try to cheap out by spending $10 on an SD card. These cards are usually far too slow for the camera, are just not compatible with the camera (Sandisk ULTRA, I’m looking at you) or badly formatted to begin with. This results in camera freezing, lock ups, and shutdowns. So fix that problem now! Stop having users send back their cameras to GoPro when it’s a simple issue of using an incorrect SD card. Have a built-in storage medium and the ability to perform a “FULL” format should an issue occur.

Any last words on what to expect from the Hero 12?

Yes, likely there will be improvements on the firmware side. The Hero 11 can “almost” shoot in a flat LOG color profile, the Hero 12 may offer this.

The Hero 11 had some great fun night presets built in (star trails, light painting, vehicle lights). The Hero 12 may improve upon this (as it doesn’t require additional hardware, it’s a software process). With built in memory, you could even have “reverse time” clip options. So honestly, do expect there to be one or two new software based video or photo effect options.

You can also expect GoPro to claim an update to Hypersmooth and Timewarp options. Whether it solves any of the past problems (jerky or unwanted pans) is another thing. Maybe it’s time to look at Hypersmooth or Timewarp presets which could disable or limit horizontal panning.

And talking about presets, no, there’s not going to be re-nameable presets offered this time around either.

So, until the release of the GoPro Hero 12 in September, we’re all going to just have to wait with baited breath to see what finally gets released. In the meantime, I plan to fully enjoy the summer filming on my Hero 10 and Hero 11 and updating Google Street View with my Hero Fusion.

Until next time

Cheerio!

Please note this article contains links to Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase using these links, the proceeds help fund this website and YouTube channel.

GoPro Hero 11 Circular Polarizing Filter Review and why you need one!

Posted on March 12, 2023April 16, 2023 by DemonView

Up your camera game and don’t miss out!

If you’re looking to up your GoPro game, then you need a gamechanger of a lens. This is where using a CPL filter comes in quite handy. So learn the secrets of using a CPL filter and why you should be using one. This is an article you can’t afford to miss out on. Click Here To Read…..

Still using Quik for desktop? STOP!!

Posted on February 19, 2023February 19, 2023 by DemonView

Seriously folks, it bugs me to no end to be fielding questions or seeing people on the GoPro Forums complaining about “Why won’t Quik for desktop work?” or “I can’t get GPS stickers working on Quik for desktop with my brand-new GoPro Hero 11!”. It’s got to stop folks, it really does.

Look, the simple fact is that Quik for desktop was abandoned by GoPro over 4 years ago at this point. The last camera it fully supported was the GoPro Hero 7. This means that in the year 2023, NO ONE should be using this software. What is the point of trying to use old, out of date, unsupported, discontinued that just plain doesn’t work at this point? If you are still trying to use this software, here’s the things you should know:

1: It won’t support GPS stickers on the GoPro Hero 8 or later. These GoPro’s were made after Quik for desktop was discontinued and these later cameras all store their GPS data in a completely different format. So Quik for desktop won’t be able to read GPS data for the Hero 8, Hero 9, Hero 10, Hero11 or Hero Max (or Hero Fusion for that matter as Quik for desktop never supported 360 media of any kind).

2: It likely won’t offload media from your GoPro Hero 8, Hero 9, Hero 10 or Hero 11. These GoPro’s were all made after Quik for desktop was discontinued and they use newer USB drivers that Quik for desktop was never designed to work with.

3: You’re likely to see the following error upon start-up “We have encountered an issue loading music, please restart application and try again“. This is because GoPro Quik for desktop music library had an expiry date of 2018 or 2019 (I believe, I’m not installing it just to find out). So therefore, if you try to install GoPro Quik for desktop now, the music licenses have all expired and Quik for desktop will just refuse to load.

4: Even if it somehow does load, GoPro Quik for desktop was never designed to support HEVC video and you’re likely to have playback and editing issues.

5: It’s not going to support your latest graphics cards, latest operating system or any of the hundreds of patches that your system has received since GoPro Quik for desktop was discontinued. So therefore, it’s likely to be prone to crashing and freezing.

Now, I do partially blame GoPro for this whole fiasco with Quik. You see, GoPro currently supports Quik for Android and iOS. It’s listed right at the top of GoPro.com under “apps”. However, problems arise when users wonder if there’s a “Quik” version for their PC or Mac, they do a search for “Quik for PC” and what do you know, suddenly a whole bunch of sites offer downloads for Quik for desktop. To make matters worse, even in the GoPro support forums, GoPro have very (unhelpfully) included a link to GoPro Quik for desktop under the title “Legacy software” and most users have no idea that “Legacy software” means “Old, out of date, discontinued, unsupported, software” and immediately go and download this software. They are then faced with the problem that Quik for desktop won’t work and won’t support their camera.

So what’s the solution?

Well, there’s good news on that front! There are many different free video editing software suites out there that users can choose from. For instance, among professional editors, the free version of DaVinci Resolve seems to be the most popular choice.

DaVinci Resolve 18 | Blackmagic Design

However, for those of you out there who prefer something much simpler, like a classic “Drag and drop” software suite, then there’s the open-source editor OpenShot.

OpenShot Video Editor | Free, Open, and Award-Winning Video Editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows!

This is actually very easy to use beginner software that’s also amazingly powerful and allows you to create stunning movies with very little editing experience or knowledge.

Then there’s the promise from GoPro themselves that there will be a new version of Quik for desktop being released this year. Of course, exactly “When” this year remains to be seen and I’m going to predict it will be the later quarter of the year.

In the meantime, if you really are desperate to edit video’s using “Quik” on a desktop PC. Then I suggest you buy a USB-C to HDMI cable, plug it into your phone (providing it supports this feature) and plug the HDMI cable into your monitor. Then just pair a Bluetooth mouse to your phone and edit away. Or if you have a Samsung phone (and the model supports it), download Samsung Dex for your PC and connect your phone to Windows. You can then run your Samsung apps (including Quik for Android) in a Windows emulation screen.

In the meantime, please for the love of all that’s holy, stop stop stop stop stop trying to use Quik for desktop. It’s old, outdated, unsupported, discontinued software that NO ONE should be using.

News Update!

Posted on January 1, 2023January 1, 2023 by DemonView

With it being so close to 2023, I decided to share a bit of news early with my readers and YouTube followers. So, for those of you who have just bought a brand-new GoPro or received one for Christmas. I have now created a playlist on my YouTube channel specifically for you guys. We go all the way from Unboxing and Setup (Hero 10 and Hero 11) to troubleshooting common issues, reviewing some accessories and reviewing the GoPro Plus Subscription service. Make sure you check out that Playlist as it contains information that you NEED to know!

The essential GoPro Playlist for New Owners!

Also since tomorrow is the 1st of January 2023, I have a brand-new video premiering tomorrow. In this video I list the top 5 accessories that I use with my GoPro as well as the one accessory that I NEVER use (and it just sits on my shelf). You can check out that video when it premiers tomorrow!

If you’re interested in GoPro Accessories, you’re GOING to want to watch this video!

And finally, for those of you out there who may want me to review things, send me a greetings card or even a St Patrick’s day card, there’s now a mailbox for that!

DemonView LLC

3055 NW YEON AVE

PMB #12

PORTLAND

97210

I’ll pretty much review anything that viewers send me, but please, no perishable goods, no liquids, nothing that makes a “ticking” sound… I reserve the right to give away review items, donate them to charity or bin them if they are unsuitable for the forementioned purposes. If you want the item back, then include a prepaid return envelope or label.

So, with that, I hope you all had a great holiday and are looking forward to what 2023 will bring!

Back Country Flying in a Maule M5 180C

Posted on December 24, 2022December 24, 2022 by DemonView

In this latest video, to escape the wildfire smoke of Portland, MerryMunks and I flew to Central Oregon to land at a pretty remote location. Enjoy the sights and the soundtrack for this amazing flight! This video shows the power of using YouTube Creators licensed music in your videos as it really does level up your video game. The track featured “New Cydonia” by the awesome artist Starcadian.

GoPro Hero 11 shoots 4K 30FPS for over 8 Hours??? I apologize to GoPro!

Posted on December 10, 2022December 10, 2022 by DemonView

Over 8 hours in 4K 30FPS without overheating!

In this video, I was challenged by a viewer to see how long I could keep my GoPro recording in 4K 30FPS without overheating. I managed to keep recording for over 8 hours before my SD card filled up! How did I manage this? Find out by watching the video! Stay tuned for a bonus clip at the end of the video too for the ultimate GoPro accessory to prevent overheating in strong hot sunshine!

GoPro Cinematic Footage, what accessories should I be using?

Posted on November 19, 2022November 20, 2022 by DemonView

There’s been plenty of advice given on cinematic shooting with your GoPro camera. People telling you the best settings to use, shoot in flat mode so it’s easier to color grade in post, make sure that your shutter speed is double your frame rate and to shoot at 24FPS.

While this is a good starting point, there are some valuable points missing from this advice. For instance, manually settings your shutter speed to double your frame rate will indeed give you the proper amount of motion blur in a shot… but if you’re shooting on a sunny bright day, this can actually overexpose your footage and you end up with unusable shots. I mean, has this ever happened to you? So, in this post we’re going to look at a different aspect of cinematic shooting. We’re going to look at some of the accessories that you should be using when it comes to shooting with your GoPro camera.

There are many different videos and articles out there telling you what settings to adjust on your camera and promising “Cinematic” footage as a result. However, you’ll very quickly find out that if you use those settings, your footage is anything but cinematic looking. For instance, maybe you’ve been told to manually set your shutter speed to double your frame rate for a natural looking motion blur, however as soon as you do that, you suddenly find yourself with over exposed washed-out footage.

24FPS 1/48 Shutter speed resulted in an overblown image.

Sure, you could increase your frame rate and shoot at 60FPS or 120FPS and this will darken your image… but isn’t cinematic footage shot at 24FPS? So, what am I supposed to do?

Well, this is where ND filters come in. ND filters are basically sunglasses for your camera. It’s that simple. So if you’re shooting on a sunny day and you’ve manually set your shutter speed to 1/48 and your frame rate to 24FPS, your image stands a very good chance of being blown out. In which case, you put an ND filter on your camera to reduce the amount of light hitting that sensor. This balances your image and now you have the proper light balance for your shot.

A correctly exposed shot using 24FPS 1/48 shutter speed and ND Filters.

While there are various ND filters on the market out there, I recommend using the Polar Pro filters. They are specifically designed for the GoPro camera, they are manufactured using high quality glass and their quality is second to none. Cheaper options could be using cheaper materials and the last thing you want is some bargain basement filters ruining your shot. You want a premium glass filter, not a plastic filter that’s going to add distortion, easily scratch and just make your image look like a much lower quality picture.

The very best ND filters for your camera.

Then there’s night shooting. While the GoPro can produce some great night shots, it’s not really a night camera. It’s got a small sensor and it really is suited to bright action-oriented shots. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t use it at night, it just means that you have to set it up in specific ways. For one, I never use Hyper-smooth at night or in low light conditions. It just doesn’t work in low light conditions as the low light means your camera is using a lower shutter speed which ads blur. Now your GoPro is trying to stabilize a blurry image and the results look less than ideal. Instead, you’ll want to disable hyper-smooth and use a Gimbal instead. Most gimbals also allow you to control your camera directly from the gimbal itself so you don’t have to touch the camera at all.

The Inkee Falcon Plus gives you great options as a Gimbal.

The Inkee Falcon Plus is actually quite a good gimbal to use as you can actually fit this on the camera even when the camera is using it’s media mod. So if you’re going to shoot in low light conditions or at night, you really do need to invest in a good quality gimbal.

Another good option to have on for low light shooting is external lights. Look at any “Hollywood” production when they shoot at night. You’ll notice that they have lots of lighting units. Even in supposedly dark shots, there are not only lights out of frame, but lights hidden in the shot also. So, for low light shooting, you’re going to want to use additional light sources. Although these won’t have much effect in distance or landscape shots, when will make a lot of difference on close up shots or vlogging shots. There are many different options out there and some of the options are complete studio lighting kits which can be very helpful. This is the kit I personally use below and it’s a good all in one kit. Not only does this give me complete studio lighting, it also has a white, black or green screen backdrop as well as collapsible light reflectors for outdoor shots.

A complete yet cheap solution for creating your home production studio!

However, if you are out and about and want something more mobile and suited to handheld video, you want to avoid harsh lights and shadows when shooting. So therefore it’s best to get a large flat panel with a light diffuser on it. Even better, make it a panel with adjustable RGB colors. This can add an extra level of cinematic quality into your nighttime shooting.

The Lume Cube panel pro offers you complete app control over your portable lighting.

Finally cinematic sound. This one is a bit complex as there are many factors at play here. It all depends on if you want vocals in your footage or to have more ambient sounds in your footage instead. So the type of sounds you want to record will determine what type of microphones you should be investing in. For vocals, I’d recommend using something like the Rode Wireless Go 2. This is going to give you a whole lot of options regarding your sound recording, whether or not you want separate audio channels for 2 vocal tracks, a combined audio channel or even an independent backup of the audio recording. Rode also offer PC software for managing your microphone settings and recordings, they also have software to download if you want to use the same mics for doing your own podcast. So this is something you really should invest in.

A quality wireless audio setup for interview or field work.

For a more ambient audio scenario, I’d recommend using a shotgun or boom mic on a shock mount attached to the camera. This is going to give you a more cinematic quality by allowing you to record sounds coming from where you have the camera pointed. This is really about the ambient sound coming from a specific direction and can work out quite well. The only downside is that if you are trying to talk during your production and the mic is facing away from you, then it’s not going to record your voice very well. So again, for vocals, use a good wireless mic that you can attach to your shirt, but for ambiance or audio coming from in front of the camera, use a shotgun or boom mic.

However, what you should be doing in addition to these audio techniques is recording a baseline audio track to capture the ambiance independently. This way you can edit the audio later in post-production and boost or lower background noises depending on what’s happening in a scene. So having a separate external audio recorder is also a good idea. This may simply mean going to your shooting area ahead of time, recording 5 minute of audio and then looping that audio into your finished recording as a background audio source. The advantage to doing this is that if gives you the most control over your audio in post-production. So, if you’re vlogging and recording a vocal track by a waterfall or by an ocean, you can lower or raise the background that audio so that it doesn’t drown out vocals you’re recording. Whereas if you’re trying to record everything at once using in camera audio, you just don’t have that level of control over the audio levels and if your background starts drowning out your vocal track, there’s not going to be much you can do about that in post-production while trying to retain a listenable quality. So, this is where a good quality digital audio recorder is really going to help you out.

So those are my recommendations for recording cinematic video using specific accessories. These should help you level up your cinematic shooting game and help you get on the path to awesome footage.

So if you liked this post and want to find out more GoPro tips and tricks, then go visit my YouTube channel @DemonViewLLC. There’s lots of helpful video’s on my channel including tips, tricks, reviews and cinematic movies. Make sure you click those like and subscribe buttons as they really do help out with channel views and ensure the continuation of quality content for you.

Until next time, Cheerio!

Which SD Card should you buy?

Posted on November 5, 2022November 20, 2022 by DemonView

Are you planning on purchasing a GoPro for yourself this year? Or are you even considering buying one for a family member or friend as a gift? (And if the answer to that last part is “Yes!”, then I think we should be friends….). Well before you make that purchase, let’s talk SD cards! There’s a plethora of them to choose from and you want to make sure you get the right one first time around. What you don’t want to do is find out too late that your card is unsuitable, too slow or even worse, fake!

It may look legit, but I spent at least 3 minutes in photoshop making this very fake card!

It never ceases to surprise me how many people spend hundreds of dollars on a brand new, top of the range, state of the art action camera… and then try to cheap out on the SD card by purchasing the cheapest card available… This usually ends with them either having a totally unsuitable card like the Sandisk ULTRA card or a knock off fake card that won’t even work in an mp3 player, let alone an action camera….

Never use these cards in your GoPro Camera! Do not buy this!

There is a valuable piece of advice that one should always keep in mind. If it seems too good to be true, then it usually is. Trust me, there are people out there who are willing to take your money and give you nothing in return. If you don’t believe me, just send me $100 and I promise I’ll prove to you that what I just said is completely 100% true!

Yeah, click the image above to send me your $100 today!

So why should you be fussy about which SD card you buy for your GoPro? And doesn’t the GoPro come with a Free SD card anyway?

In all fairness, using a recommended, tried and tested SD card with proven performance is going to save you a lot of problems in the long run. It’s that simple. Purchasing an SD card that is too slow or just not compatible is going to give you major headaches and prove to be a major disappointment while trying to use your camera. Do you really want to have someone open their gift (or you open your new purchase for yourself for that matter) only to have it malfunction and throw up repeated “SD ERR” messages? Of course not, yes this is something that can very easily happen.

Now, while it’s true that GoPro cameras purchased from GoPro.com come with a Free SD card, it’s actually a tiny 32GB model. For a rough idea of how small that is, around 8 mins of 4K video can take up 4GB. So your 32GB card may only last you 64 mins. Now this will vary depending on which settings you use, resolution, frame rate, compression etc. But keep in mind that the GoPro Hero 10 and Hero 11 both shoot in 5.3K video, while the Hero 11 offers 10bit color recording too. Suddenly this gobbles up a lot more space when recording and now your 32GB SD card is pretty much next to useless. So yes, you need to purchase a recommended SD card for use in the GoPro camera. While GoPro does offer you the chance to upgrade to a 64GB card (as of last purchase) that’s still a tiny amount of storage space and you don’t want to have the chore of backing up your footage every single night or deleting it just so you have room to record the next day’s activity.

If you’re going to be a pro Vlogger, you need a pro SD card in your camera!

So the first question you need to ask yourself is “What size SD card should I buy?”

That’s going to depend on the type of shooting you do. Look, we all know that newbies and amateurs are going to want to shoot for hours on end, after all, nothing is more exciting than sitting down to watch your footage of a 4-hour hike that you went on…… from 1^st person perspective….. (And yes, that’s sarcasm….) However, the more professional videographers out there are going to shoot in much shorter bursts. This not only saves them time in editing, but assembly of their final edit too. However, my recommendation is going to be down to 2 sizes of card. 256GB and 512GB.

I actually used to specifically use 256GB cards myself this offered ample storage space for all my shooting needs. However due to lowering prices and the fact I didn’t want to sort through footage every weekend, I now use 512GB cards exclusively. I find its the optimal balance between storage space and time to sort through footage (whether I want to keep certain files, upload them to my storage cloud or just delete them).

So which brand SD card should I buy? And where should I buy them from?

So people have a lot of different opinions about this one and I also have my own opinion. However my opinion comes from years of experience filming with GoPro camera’s as well as years of dealing with customers on the GoPro Support Forums (if you’ve ever visited there, I’m sure you were lucky enough to have a response from DemonView LLC!). So the one card I 100% recommend for use in your GoPro is the Samsung Evo Card. This is a card I stand behind and have never had a single issue with. I’ve used these cards since the GoPro Hero 4 black was released, I’ve used them with the Hero 6, Hero 8, Hero Fusion, Hero 9, Hero 10, Hero 11 and even in my dashcams and I can honestly say that they have kept on working with no issues at all. So for me, that’s just a testament to the quality and reliability of the Samsung brand.

My number 1 recommendation! Buy this SD card!

Now people also recommend the Sandisk line of cards and these are the “Free” cards that come with your new GoPro. I personally don’t use these cards and although I still have the “Free” cards that came with my GoPro, they are just lying about as spares for my dashcams if I need them. When the GoPro Hero 9 was released, it seemed to me that there were a huge amount of people having the dreaded “SD Err” messages on their GoPro while using these cards. Now some of these people hadn’t take that extra step of prepping their SD card for use by formatting it in their camera first (a very important step BTW), however, others had performed this step and were still having issues. I recommended at the time that people change to using Samsung Evo cards and when they did, it seemed their issues went away as many of them thanked me for the advice and stated their cameras were working as intended.

I will fully admit, I did try my hardest to get my own GoPro Hero 9 to create an “SD Err” message by using the “Free” SanDisk card that came with my camera and I never could get this to happen. So, I can’t confirm that this was a GoPro issue, a Sandisk issue, or a combination of the two. So which model SD card you buy is entirely up to you, I just know from my years of experience from using Samsung Evo cards, that they never presented me with any problems so that’s why I use them exclusively.

I’m sure it’s a perfectly good card, I just don’t use them!

So where should you buy your SD cards?

Again, don’t try going on Ebay or Aliexpress trying to find the cheapest SD card price that you can. There are plenty of fake sellers selling fake cards and you don’t want to have to deal all the problems that brings just because you tried to save yourself $1!

This is why it’s always simple, easy and quick to buy directly from Amazon.com. What you want is a no hassle return service if you experience any problems and the ability to choose multiple shipping options for your purchase. My additional advice is to make sure you purchase from Samsung when on Amazon and not some 3^rd party reseller. This way you are sure to be purchasing genuine original products that will work as promised. So use the links I’ve provided by clicking on the pictures of the SD cards you want to purchase.

I’ll include affiliate links to my SD card recommendations so you can purchase directly (and yes, I do get a small commission from these sales, but considering that amount of time I put into writing these articles, it’s a nice way to say thank you!)(also with the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that I make, wouldn’t it be nice if I could afford to pay for some grammar lessons… maybe a website building course too?)

A good value, reliable card for your GoPro!

My personal card of choice for use in GoPro cameras!

Even better, save yourself some money this Christmas by signing up for an Amazon account. Take advantage of their great delivery times, the huge selection of items and just make your life easier this Christmas!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now

The last question….. Why don’t you recommend even faster SD cards that are available

This card is extremely fast and recommended by GoPro Experts!

This card is also extremely fast and recommended by GoPro Experts!

Well, two reasons really.

1: Some cards such as UHS-II cards do offer faster transfer speeds. Some of them do this by having two rows of contacts on the card which is used to transfer data. However, GoPro camera SD card readers only read one row of contacts. So, it’s no use buying such an SD card if your camera can’t take advantage of this. It’s not going to transfer information faster, it’s not going to improve information read or writes, so you’re literally spending more money on something that’s not going to be of benefit to you. It would be like putting the world biggest rear wing spoiler on your car that’s guaranteed to generate so much downforce, you could corner at 200mph while driving upside down in a tunnel…. only your car is a Geo Metro and it’s never going to be reach speeds that would require a giant spoiler

2: Your GoPro camera really does have a “top speed” when it comes to how much data it needs to read or write at a time. And again, there’s no use buying a memory card that outperforms that “top speed” as it’s not going to offer you any advantage over a less expensive card. So this is why the Samsung Evo Plus will do in place of the Samsung Evo Pro Plus (and you save yourself $10 in the process!).

However, at the end of the day, it’s entirely up to you which card you purchase, and I can only make a recommendation based upon my own personal years of experience. So, the only thing you need to do is make sure that the card is fully compatible with your GoPro, and you don’t cheap out on the most important purchase for your GoPro camera.

Don’t let your Vlogging ground to a halt because you cheaped out on your SD card choice!

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DemonView Presents Retro Reviews!

Posted on October 15, 2022November 20, 2022 by DemonView

Yes a brand new segment where I’ll be reviewing the latest and greatest… well… actually some of the oldest and earliest hardware and software out there. Some of this stuff will be rare, some of it you may have owned yourself and some of it, didn’t even make it past the prototype stage (and I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of these pieces!). So I hope you like these segments and enjoy the educational trip down memory lane.

First this first review, we’ll be looking at the Creative Zen Vision

These days your phone does just about everything. You don’t just use it to take or make calls, you use it to listen to music, watch movies, record video, play games, take photo’s, track your fitness, shopping, book a holiday…. it seems the modern cell phone can do just about anything…

…. but that wasn’t always the case. In fact, there was a time when you needed a separate device to do everything. Make or take a phone call? Use a phone! Take photos? Use a camera! Book a holiday? Phone a travel agent… yes kids, I assure you that was a real profession back in ye good olde days. Listen to music? Break out the disc man…

^{I admit, modern day discmans look a lot better than they did in my day….}

So when mpg, divx, mp3, wmv, wma, avi became popular, our devices started to evolve. Suddenly we had mp3 players, we had personal media players, we ditched cassettes and our disc mans for this new fangled technology…

So, back in October of 2005, a company called Creative Labs decided to produce their most advanced personal media player yet. The Creative Zen Vision……….. and 17 years later…. I’m here to review it!

Hi there, thanks for returning to DemonView. I just wanted to do something a bit different this time and make best use of my collection of electronics that I have lying about. So I decided to have a bit of fun and do some retro technology reviews. It’s a good way to learn about some of the technological breakthroughs that we experienced as we moved from painting on cave walls to painting on a tablet.

Some of what I’ll be reviewing was a major success, some were major failures, some are extremely rare and some never even made it past the prototype stage. So, I really hope you like these videos and if you do, don’t forget to visit my YouTube channel and click on those like and subscribe buttons as it really does help out with the channel.

So for my first retro tech review, we’re looking at the Creative Labs Zen Vision, and this is it.

Yes, it’s awesome, it still works, it’s the Creative Labs Zen Vision…. and there’s one on Ebay for $99 at the moment if your interested.

This was touted as being the ultimate personal media player at the time.. With the ability to play audio, video, listen to the radio, sync with your outlook…this device was sure to dominate the market…… only it didn’t.

When this was first released in October of 2005, it looked like a fantastic futuristic buy. It’s screen was far larger than most of the competition and with a resolution of 640×480 and boasting a display capable of playing back 262,000 colors, it was certainly well ahead of the competition.

Then there was the storage… 30GB of storage to be exact thanks to an impossibly tiny hard drive located inside the player. Yes, you heard me, not a solid state drive or a memory card, but an actual mini hard drive. It also offered expandable storage thanks to the Compact Flash card slot.

But wait, that’s not all. This player could support a whole slew of formats including MP3, DRM WMA, WAV, JPEG, AVI, DivX, MPEG and WMV. Had a video file that wasn’t compatible? No problem, Creative bundled some video conversion software with their device to you could watch it on your new personal media player.

However if you wanted to share your video with friends, what would you do if you didn’t want them all looking over your shoulder? Simple! Use the “video out” option to plug the player directly into your TV. I mean seriously, how cool is that?

Then there was the added bonus of being able to purchase an optional remote control for your player. This meant you could easily use it as a jukebox when at a party or control the playback of video from the luxury of your own couch!

So it really does seem like this device offered everything that you could possibly want in an mp3 player of the future! In fact, I purchased this exact model in about… 2006 and I pretty much used it all the way up until 2012 or 2013. In that time frame, it was basically the device I’d carry with me when I was traveling abroad on an airplane just in case the in flight movies weren’t anything to write home about. Heck, even when I was traveling by bus to my job, it was nice to have the option of watching a couple of 30 minute TV shows.

However, there were a few niggling little problems with the device that really held it back from dominating the market and ruling the world in my opinion.

1^st of all was the price. At the time, this brand new was $400. Back in 2005, that was a hefty chunk of change. That would be rough and tough $608 in today’s money accounting for inflation. So this wasn’t something that the average person would be able to afford.

Then there was the display… it may have offered one of the highest resolutions at the time, but the viewing angle was terrible. Even looking at it head on and perfectly straight, didn’t seem to help much at all. Also it was 4:3… which meant that if you were watching a widescreen movie on this device, you’d get those black bars on the screen making the picture even smaller and harder to see. Now in all fairness, creative labs would remedy this problem by releasing an upgraded Zen Vision W (the W stood for “Wide Screen”). The problem is that they released it just one year later in 2006. In fact just a number of months after I had bought the Zen Vision… which means I couldn’t justify spending another $400 on another Zen Vision with a slightly wider screen. I’m guessing a lot of owners felt the same way.

Then, there was the video conversion software. In short, it just wasn’t very good at all. In fact the highest resolution it would output to was 320 x 240 in WMV. So not only did the video software only encode at half the resolution the device supported, it also used a compression codec that frankly just looked terrible.

Ok, this webcam shot doesn’t do the screen justice, but you get the idea of how it worked.

Finally there was the audio… Look, a lot of reviewers at the time thought the audio on this sounded fantastic… I wasn’t one of them. It really just didn’t have any power and the bass was just lacking. Even if you used the equalizer, you just couldn’t seem to get a decent sound out of the thing.

Battery life also wasn’t the greatest, especially if you were flying abroad on a long journey. Remember, back then, most planes didn’t have power outlets you could use. Luckily there was the option of buying an extended battery, however that was another $70.

Still, for all those bad points, you know, I still think this device was pretty awesome. I mean, even looking at it now, I still think it’s kind of cool looking. The fact that I bought this in 2006 and it’s still going strong? I mean, wow… Creative Labs really made some very reliable hardware. This thing has traveled the world at this stage and the only thing that ever happened was a slight bit of distortion on the LCD screen from when it was stored next to a 10lb frozen ground beef chub.

Creative Labs (United States) | Sound Blaster Sound Cards, Super X-Fi, Speakers and Soundbars, Webcams, Headphones and Gaming Headsets

(Since I’m reviewing their product, I’m throwing in a link to Creative Labs so you can see what they offer these days).

So was this the best personal media player in the world for it’s time?

Probably not.

Was it the cheapest?

Definitely not.

Do I regret buying it?

Absolutely not.

In fact looking at this now and knowing how well it’s stood up to the test of time. I can honestly say that I’m still the proud owner of this Creative Labs Zen Vision. It was an awesome buy at the time and it still has a well earned place in my heart. It wasn’t just about what the technology offered, it’s about what it meant to me and this little player that could (and apparently still can!) was my daily companion. It’s got a few years and a few miles on it but it’s still going strong.

So that was my quick retro tech review and I really hoped that you liked it. Remember to click those like and subscribe buttons to help out with the channel and to help bring you more original content.

In the meantime, if you owned or still own a Creative Labs Zen Vision. Drop a line in the comments below or drop me an email. I’d love to hear about your experiences with these players and if you still have yours squirreled away somewhere waiting to be turned back on.

Until next time, Cheerio!

GoPro Hero 11 & 11 Mini hints & leaks

Posted on September 12, 2022November 20, 2022 by DemonView

GoPro is dropping some serious hints about the capabilities of the new GoPro model lineup. Did you spot the hints that they dropped? If not, then let’s take a look at some of these hints and leaks.

So, GoPro have finally made an announcement regarding their next line of cameras. That announcement being of course a teaser for the GoPro Hero 11 and the GoPro Hero 11 Mini. Yes, that’s right, not one, but TWO brand new cameras from GoPro.

9/14/22 is the big date and you should tune into the GoPro YouTube channel for the official announcement. However, since waiting isn’t something a lot of people are great at, it looks like GoPro have given two hints about their next model. Did you spot them?

For those who don’t know, GoPro have done something that no one expected, not even me. Their GoPro Hero 11 is NOT a redesigned camera. In fact, it pretty much looks to be the exact same size and shape as the Hero 10. Not only that, but there also isn’t any increase in frame rates or video resolution either. Specs indicate that it still has a max resolution of 5.3K at 60FPS. So why on earth would people want to pay money for this new camera if it’s not bringing new things to the table?

Well….. it actually may be bringing something really special to the table, after all, it’s what’s inside that counts. One thing that has changed however, is that there is an upgrade in photo resolution. The Hero 10 took 24mp photos and the Hero 11 is rumored to take 27MP photos. This means the camera very likely has an upgraded sensor.

So, what about those hints that GoPro have given? Well, let’s take a look at two things, first up, the leaked pictures of the Hero 11 from Winfuture.de

You can find those shots here

GoPro Hero11 Black: Action Cam Gets New 27 Megapixel Sensor – WinFuture.de

So one thing that’s pretty prominent is that gallery is the photo on the rear and front screen. It’s an underwater shot showing what looks to be stingray fish. Lots of them in fact. It’s a nice blue shot and possibly taken at depth.

The next thing we are looking at is from the GoPro Teaser found on their YouTube channel

As you can see, it’s a picture of a diver in full scuba gear diving into an underwater cave AND it’s pretty darn dark.

So those are your two hints, now what do they mean?

Well, I personally think that this can point to a few things with the Hero 11. It could mean that like some other cameras, it now has a specific “underwater” mode that automatically applies processing to underwater footage without the need to have to buy specific filters.

What it very likely means though is that the new GoPro sensor also is upgrade in terms of low light conditions. This has always been a sore spot for action cameras due to their sensors small size. When used in low light conditions the picture is less than optimal resulting in grain, noise and especially blurring when used with Hypersmooth. In fact, Hypersmooth pretty much does not work in low light conditions.

So, the introduction of a new low light capable sensor and the fact that the GoPro Hero 11 is touted to have Hypersmooth 5.0, this is a sure indicator that the GoPro Hero 11 is going to offer superior low light performance.

Since the GoPro Hero 11 and GoPro Hero 11 mini are also rumored to be using the exact same sensor and processor, expect both models to offer the same performance.

In the meantime, we have to wait until the 14^th to see what GoPro are going to reveal to the public, but until then, we just hope GoPro drop us a few new hints to get us all excited for this next camera release.