Can we do that?
Honestly, I thought it was just enough to put the little GoPro Hero in nifty spots and hit the record button. File transfer is easy and I would include the GoPro video on the client’s portable hard drive, along with the other digital video files we shot. 
What do I do now?
Time seems to be the biggest issue when shooting in the field. The producer needs to catch a plane or there’s some variation on that theme. That means we have to get the files on the hard drive pronto. So when they return to the post house for editing, the editor then is left with the task of transcoding the GoPro video into something compatible with the other footage. That’s a headache for them, so I’d prefer to give the client something they can use straight off the drive and have the editor say nice things about us here in Tampa. Okay, it does take time, and there’s never enough of it. So that means the editor may have to put in extra duty, but let’s make it as easy as possible.
Pick a flavor
There’s some dandy software available that works with just about any video you throw at it. The Squared 5 folks created MPEG Streamclip to transcode from codec A to codec B thru Z. It’s drag and drop easy and it’s free. The editor is back to being my friend.
Take the file and drag it the Streamclip player, pull down the file menu and ask Streamclip to export to…to…to any number of choices. Let’s assume you’ll be using it with some of the video we shot on the Sony EX1 or EX3. There’s an option for that, down 
to the frame rate, data rate and lines of resolution. Are you converting everything to ProRes422? That’s not a problem, just a bigger file size. This is a versatile tool and is used for transcoding HDSLR files as well. The Streamclip will also playback lots of files that Quicktime or Windows Media Player refuses. Yes, there’s a version for either Mac or Windows.
Are you using this already? How’s it working for you?
