Variable framerate from action cam

Hi all,

sorry this might be a bit off topic as it is more related to a simple action cam i bought recently, a GoXtreme Enduro Black, which claims to do 2,7k @ 60 fps but the 60 fps is variable framerate as detected with Shotcut. I filmed a short test video (me on my new e-MTB) to test the video quality.
I just set it to 1080p @ 60fps but it only seems to be variable framerate - not sure what that means in the end. How can i get a value for an average framerate?

I just converted via shotcut to fixed framerate with 60 fps and the filesize grew from 3.6 GB to around 92 GB in intermediate lossless DNxHR :roll_eyes:
Now i try to do a stabilisation, as the cam doesn’t seem to have any form of image stabilisation as the better GoPro’s or Sony Action Cams have. Obviously you cant expect much from a 50 Eur action Cam, it just was a try to see if i can come along with it (for holiday, paddling, SUP e.g.). Maybe its worth spending 400 Eur for a GoPro Hero9 or MAX or the Sony FDR… which is very convincing.

Now my question related to SC: is it a good advice to separate audio from video before doing the stabilisation? I just want to make sure video and audio stay in sync. Also what is recommended to get rid of wind noice in the audio? Mic is very simple and built in. Probably no chance to use external mic with fur e.g.

What action cam for medium budget (lets say up to 200 bucks) would you recommend?

thanks!

I can’t comment on the stabilization bit(I’ve used it a few times never worried about the audio one way or the other) but as far as removing the wind you can try a noise gate, separating the audio into it’s own file and working on it in something like audacity is going to give you better results than shotcut can natively though, you’ll have more options for features like noise reduction and track mixing than you get inside shotcut and resyncing it shouldn’t be too diffuclt as long as you do the edits before, export the audio then re-import your cleaned up track while muting the original.

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Thanks for the audio hint.
My most concern is about the variable framerate and the hassle to get it run and editable in Shotcut.
Also the stabilisation is a big problem - its nearly unusable for a bike tour etc. The overall video quality is another thing: no details in the shade, harsh contrast - i think i have to look for something else. Probably stupid idea to think you get something usable for 50 bucks :roll_eyes:

Is it usual for action cams in general to use variable framerate? What about the Gopros or Sony FDR-x3000r or other more highend cams? I dont want to make this mistake again but i am also not really willing to spend 400+ bucks.

Those 60fps will pump some real gigs into a lossless encode.

This actually reminds me of a question that I had in mind but kept forgetting to ask. @shotcut, if I have a file that has variable frame rate, would creating a proxy out of it then editing and exporting the project in a proxy workflow be an alternate way of taking care of the variable frame rate issue instead of using Convert To Edit Friendly?

Most GoPros are fixed frame rate. Only some of the non-Black (white or silver) Hero 7 were variable. I do not know about older than Hero 7 except I also have a Session 5 that is not variable.

No, that is a very risky path to having inaccurate edits! One must be careful with proxy mode because it can mask problems like this that are not limited to variable frame rate. It is possible seeking is not accurate in some combinations of encoding + container format. I can not give much specific as I do not have a list of known bad combinations, but I strongly suspect an open GOP encoding could be problematic. Most HDV camcorders used that.

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