Amabie Pass Holder
$9.40
MewPro 2
$99.95 excl. VAT
Face Mask Strap Extender of Amabie
$6.54
History of Momozono Bridge
$6.00
MewPro Bastet
$99.95 excl. VAT
Just a quick note that MewPro4 Software now supports standalone Hero 4 when no external sync signal is needed.
Detailed how-to-use info will be published in the next post, or those who cannot wait can refer the comments embedded in MewPro4 source code now.
An old genlock rig using MewPro 2 with Hero 3+ Black and Genlock Dongle can be upgraded to Hero 4. The post explains migrating from Hero 3+ Black to Hero 4.
Suppose you have a 6-camera rig that consists of
and these are connected in single dongle configuration:
Then the GoPro Dual Hero bacpac and the Genlock dongle are not necessary from now on. And now you’ll need one more MewPro 2 board and one MewPro Iliad as well as 6 Hero 4 (Black or Silver) cameras.
Remove the Dual Hero bacpac and the Dongle from your rig. Replace Hero 3+ Black to Hero 4. Burn the “MewPro4” software (https://github.com/orangkucing/MewPro4) to MewPro 2 boards.
The connection to each MewPro 2 board is the same as in single dongle configuration, however, TRIG signal is not used for Hero 4. And since Hero 4 can be fed power from side USB or herobus and works without internal battery the spare wire previously used for TRIG can be reused to connect 3.3V power from Iliad to each MewPro 2 board.
After connecting Iliad to MewPro 2 boards the upgraded sytem is like this:
Enjoy!
In order to avoid camera’s overheat Hero 4 had better be fed with external five volt source and use without internal battery. This post enumerates ways of power supply in MewPro + Iliad system.
The following shows each component (camera, MewPro, and Iliad) is fed with, wiring MewPro board, and remarks.
(Warning: If all cameras and Iliad are powered by one big battery or one wall charger then please notice that there are ground loops. As ground loop itself is not harm, however, care should be taken to avoid accidental large common mode current. It is suggested that you’d better remove GND connection at each MewPro’s RJ45 connector in this case for getting around this.)
“Power ON = auto” means a long press of the mode button at Iliad makes camera’s power on. Similarly, “Power OFF = auto” means off.
“Power ON = manual” is a special case where we currently can’t power on using Iliad. We don’t know the reason why we can’t and it’s a shame, however, we gave up further experiment on the power method after several days of fruitless effort followed by nearly ruining/burning a Hero 4 Black by carelessly connecting a wrong power line. In this case we can power on cameras as in the following steps:
Power on this way also syncs all the settings stored in Iliad.
UPDATE 2 Dec 2016: A workaround is found for the last annoying case of “Power ON = manual“. By using a paper clip (see photo below) or scotch tape or something we can fix camera’s mode button to ON state.
Then the camera’s power can be controlled by applying 5V to USB VBUS pin. And once the camera powered on then Iliad can control everything of it. The trick is that button “press” is actually recognized by the camera when the button is “released” while “long press” is recognized by its pushed state.
Our recommended power supply method is the connection depicted in Table 2. If you order plug-n-play tailor made sets in our shop then we will use this wiring.
| MewPro 2 | Iliad | |
|---|---|---|
| GND | – | GND |
| VSYNC | – | VSYNC |
| HSYNC | – | HSYNC |
| RESET | – | RST |
| RXI | – | TXO |
| MewPro 2 | Iliad | |
|---|---|---|
| GND | – | GND |
| VSYNC | – | VSYNC |
| HSYNC | – | HSYNC |
| RESET | – | RST |
| RXI | – | TXO |
| VCC | – | 3V3 |
| MewPro 2 | Iliad | |
|---|---|---|
| GND | – | GND |
| VSYNC | – | VSYNC |
| HSYNC | – | HSYNC |
| RESET | – | RST |
| RXI | – | TXO |
| VCC | – | 3V3 |
| USB VBUS | * |
*: USB VBUS as well as GND is connected to external 5V power supply. It must be “good” source as each camera requires 1A or less while recording.
Newer firmwares for Hero 4 cameras have a fatal bug in bulk transfer of the settings. This post get to the core of its reason by arranging events in chronological order.
In order to sync camera’s settings Hero 4 Black/Silver has two kinds of I2C/Herobus commands:
The bulk transfer sets each of the video/photo/multi-shot settings at once. This is usually useful at boot process of camera, whereas an I2C/Herobus command for the individual transfer is issued from user interaction with LCD menu.
Newer firmwares for Hero 4 cameras can’t do the former. So if you like to use some new function introduced in the buggy firmwares then you must prepare the camera mode in advance and it’s better not to change it in the field.
It is said that “Good intent and good deed contribute to good karma and future happiness, and vice versa”. So let’s investigate GoPro’s actions in time sequence.
We wish we could test the firmware 05.00.00 with Black and Karma, however, it became impossible now as bad karma fell from the sky.
Note: Hero 4 Silver with firmware version 03.00.00 or later is now supported by MewPro Iliad software published at our GitHub repo (please edit/define the compiler directive HERO_4_SILVER in Iliad.h and compile/upload it). No change is necessary for MewPro4 software to use with Silver.