[weldguy]

I'm using my Hero 4 Silver as a dashcam. I've got it set to record in a 20 minute loop. However, it continually saves each loop until the mem card is full. The manual states it should be recording over the previous loop... only one 20 minute loop over and over. What am I doing wrong???

 

[KreamCheaz]

Hi Welguy,

According to GoPro, this is how it should work:
a HERO4 with Looping set to a 20 minute interval will divide your video into 5-minute chapters. So we start our recording, and we hit 20m:0s, what happens then? The goal is to make sure that you always have at least 20 minutes of footage to work with after you stop the recording.

A few minutes pass and the camera continues to record, then we get to about 24m:59s--just before we fill up another 5-minute chapter--your GoPro will automatically delete the first chapter (the footage recorded in the first 5 minutes) to complete that 25th minute, and continue recording. If we were to let the video run for another three minutes, we'd end up with a total of 23 minutes of video footage, from our total elapsed time of 28 minutes.

So you should get 5 files in a series with the first 4 having a duration of 5 minutes and the last one under 5 minutes.

Do you have other files on the SD card?

Kareem

 

[Dr. Z]

What you are experiencing "Chaptering"

Kareems answer is spot on. This is known as File Chaptering -Click here to learn more.

To take the answer a step further, the filing system that Gopro is FAT32. FAT32 is was developed during the days of windows 95 and has been in use since. Gopro uses it, as does many other manufacturers because it's reliable, performs well and is widely compatible meaning that you can use it with most all computers. But FAT32 has a limitation, the max file size it can handle is 4GB. Small by today's standards, not so in 1995.

When recording high definition video on a GoPro HERO4 Black you will fill up 4GB pretty quickly. In some video modes it;s just minutes. When using lower quality settings, you’ll get more footage before you hit 4GB.

GoPro breaks its videos up because of the file limitations but, once you get to 4GB it will stop that segment and start a new one. Once that new one gets to 4GB, it’ll start again and so on, until you stop recording, the card becomes full or your battery runs out.

The files are seamless meaning you don't loose footage from one segment to the next, they are also sequential so when you import them into a file on your computer or into your editor they are imported in the order they were taken. So, there is nothing wrong with your gopro. This is a normal condition.

 

[Fish]

Just some info and how I read it. do a recording it will over write the previous because that is exactly what the manual just said. so what I do is test things out. did you? and then learn how it works, I have not used loop recording, am sure the others have not as well.

Since we all got the cam I ask for the Members to post up a sample please then just answer with questions we are a Forum to help not to just answer.

I'm using my Hero 4 Silver as a dashcam. I've got it set to record in a 20 minute loop. However, it continually saves each loop until the mem card is full. The manual states it should be recording over the previous loop... only one 20 minute loop over and over. What am I doing wrong???

@weldguy

You are not doing anything wrong.

per manual page 19, 20 show loop recording symbol. Page 25 talks some about it
Lets you continuously record and save only

the best moments, which helps to conserve

space on your microSD card. Protune is not

available in this capture mode.

Page 31 says more
Looping Intervals


Available intervals for Looping are 5, 20, 60 and 120 minutes. For

example, if you select a 5-minute interval, only the previous 5 minutes

is saved when you stop recording. If you record for 5 minutes and do


not press the Shutter/Select button [ ] to stop recording and save,



the camera begins a new 5-minute interval by recording over your

previous 5 minutes of footage.

You can also select max video as the interval. With this option, the camera

records until the memory card is full, then overwrites the content.


Note: To use Looping, be sure that your microSD card has sufficient space.



PRO TIP: Multiple chapter files are written to your memory card



so that small segments of content can be overwritten during loop

recording. When viewing this content on a computer, you see separate


files for each time segment.
Use GoPro software to combine the files

into a longer video.