Friday, March 22, 2013

How to use a GOPRO Hero 3 Black edition as a webcam

Ever since I got this camera I was wondering if one could use it as a webcam.

Well you can, I figured it out.

You need Manycam, VLC media player and Wigo

Manycam only supports mjpeg streams but the gopro streams in h.264 so it cannot naively connect to the camera, hence why vlc is needed to transcode and re-stream the video.
Note, the video stream is 432x240 so not very high resolution.
Also, there is about 3-4 seconds latency.. to be expected with WiFi and transcoding in the pipeline..

In case you do not want to write out the URLs in VLC and Manycam:

http://10.5.5.9:8080/live/amba.m3u8
http://127.0.0.1:8080/go.mjpg

This playlist has the instructions as well as a few tests.




Have fun! Now you can Skype people from the shower hahahaha :D
(or pool in your back yard... etc)
Any application that uses a webcam could take advantage of this, such as ustream, chattroulette, Facebook video messaging...


I use virtual audio cable
http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm
And set the output device on vlc to that instead of my speakers, since manycam doesnt seem to support using the audio stream from vlc/the gopro

What I really need is to be able to connect to h.264 streams in manycam with audio.
Hopefully enough people will like this so that they add the feature, and there's quite a bit  of desire for a phone app as well.

Here are a few sample videos I've taken with the camera.. imagine the applications! You could use a gopro to have a google+ hangout while diving, or ustream from a wireless portable camera..






12 comments:

  1. well done! I'm impressed. Thanks for posting this on your blog.

    calicams.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi! i need a help. i can connect my gopro to manycam. how to set up the ip to manycam?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's in the screenshots.. the ip address i used is the loopback ip for my own pc, the same on every pc.

      What particularly is the problem?

      Delete
  3. What about the fact that you can only have one wifi device connected at one time? If you have your GoPro connected, you will not be able to use it as a webcam online, so it basically defeats the purpose of online streaming. You should really say that next time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is only the case if you are using only one network adapter

      Delete
  4. 1000 times easier for Mac users... http://www.pionpion.fr/electronique-informatique-diy/mac-os-x-app-pour-gopro-hero2-wifi-bacpac-hero3/#comment-2375

    ReplyDelete
  5. HI , Very cleaver !! was wondering if you can help ? i am looking to connect the gopro as a webcam to a smartphone eg use it to as the camera when making a skype call on my cell , is that possible ? cheers

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi , one more thing to add , i dont even need sound . We are looking at mounting camera to surfskis and then stream the images back to land , we always have our cell phones on our surfskis and a safety backup in case we get into trouble. We are looking at a way of also now getting images back to land of the leading races. Thank you for your help
    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  7. hi !
    thanks for the tutorial, I'm trying to get the stream with VLC but the image shut down 1 second later ! any ideas ?
    config : WIN8 gopro black edition and firmware 3.00

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can put the playlist on vlc on repeat, or try using one of the other video sources in the http browser, on my camera it's in http://10.5.5.9:8080/live/

      Delete
  8. This is exactly want I wanted to do with my GoPro, but I'm such a novice at this. Can you please tell me how to even get to the area w/in VLC media player to set the configurations like your screen shots show. I appear to be missing a step that allows me to get to those screens. Thanks. And thanks for the cool blog and these tips! Scott, Fort Worth, TX

    ReplyDelete
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