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GoPro has discontinued its developer program

developer.gopro.com

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Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#41

Post by y4mi »

nerflad wrote: post #40
chrsstrm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it's already clear they want customer lock-in on their products. You can't use the remote app without being logged in (which I can't even get to connect, but that's another complaint). Something about some cloud service that costs $5/month to use. Their remote app is clearly the funnel to sell this service, so why would they open up their API? At this point I'm just going to start buying Chinese knock-offs tha…

Wow, I've been passively interested in getting a GoPro camera for a long time, but knowing their remote control requires a cloud service (I thought it was local wifi) is a total dealbreaker. Same with Hue lights. It is absolutely ridiculous for the customer to be locked out of their own hardware.

Now I'm confused,I thought the hue lights and Ikea knockoffs are one of the few smart lights that don't need internet and they never leave the wlan?

Most of the others are cloud enabled without a firmware upgrade, I'll give you that

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#42

Post by vvilla »

atomical wrote: post #38
abritinthebay wrote: post #34

People in here are talking like GoPro’s issues are market related. That’s not true at all. If you know anyone who is or has worked there you know it’s because they are incredibly poorly run. They routinely waste development time on nothing projects, failing to ship code - even bug fixes - for literal years . Their problems come from one of the most disfunctional managing cultures I’ve heard of in the Bay Area - and t…

Garmin beat them to the 360. My biggest complaint is that GoPro mounts are cheap and there isn't a high quality gimbal for the GoPro.

i can tell you one that works well: luuv gimbal

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#44

Post by dylan604 »

atomical wrote: post #36
radium3d wrote: post #11

GoPro could turn themselves around if they supported their customer community by opening up their hardware interfaces more and allowed more robust fine-grain control over aperature, shutter, iso, white balance via usb and wifi/Bluetooth with API support so we developers can create sale-generating software that makes their fantastic hardware more useful. It won't hurt them to open these controls up. Also make streamin…

> All of this would open up their market to tinkering enthusiasts as well without making things more complex for their existing market. How much in sales will the tinkering enthusiasts generate?

If they allowed tinkering with the Hero4, I think quite a lot. Live action VR came to life from using Hero3 & Hero4 cameras right off the shelf. There were people that figured out how to control the hsync & vsync of the Hero3 to help capture stereoscopic recordings. This solution was broken with the Hero4. However the lack of this level of sync made the GoPro footage incredibly difficult to get good stitches in VR.

When GoPro teamed up with Google to develop the Odyssey, they created a back pack to communicate with all of the attached cameras to get the desperately needed syncing between all cameras. Not only did all 16 cameras start/stop in sync, all 16 were in hsync & vsync. It's as close to a genlock as one could get with a GoPro. However, this was a closed system as the only way to get these backpacks was with an Odyssey camera system. I tried to acquire additional backpacks to add to the existing 16 to add top and bottom coverage to complete the sphere, but GoPro said no.

There are many camera people that love/hate GoPro. Loved because you can put them anywhere, and the picture quality is actually decent for what it is on the Hero4. However, they are crap to work with interface and control wise. Allowing tinkering in this world would also allow camera techs to possibly do some cool stuff that GoPro might not care to invest time. The Canon firmware hack, MagicLantern, specifically comes to mind. The exact same hardware with different programming pretty much makes it a different camera. Canon can't incorporate it, as it would cannibalize their other verticals. GoPro could have embraced/encouraged this level of tinkering as they only really have one camera type.

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#45

Post by ClassyJacket »

ravenstine wrote: post #9
ClassyJacket wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, a hundred Chinese companies can pump out cameras like theirs. What they had going for them was their genericized trademark of a name - people calling all action cameras GoPros - which eventually would have or did come back and bite them. Their stock price is less than a tenth what it once was.

People are buying Chinese action cameras in such droves? Everyone I know with an action camera owns a GoPro. Something seems amiss to me, though perhaps things are different in California. But then why just these cameras? There are plenty of types of devices that have viable Chinese knockoffs for cheap, yet the non-Chinese brands thrive or at least sustain.

That's why I said would have. I don't know whether this has yet occurred to a significant degree or not. I just can't imagine any investor confidence in something that's so easy clones by generics, especially when people were using the trademarked name for the general product category.

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#46

Post by ciupicri »

stryk wrote: post #22
chrsstrm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it's already clear they want customer lock-in on their products. You can't use the remote app without being logged in (which I can't even get to connect, but that's another complaint). Something about some cloud service that costs $5/month to use. Their remote app is clearly the funnel to sell this service, so why would they open up their API? At this point I'm just going to start buying Chinese knock-offs tha…

FWIW, I can heartily recommend SJCAM -- their build quality is great for a Chinese knock-off and the resulting image/video quality is really really good for the price of the hardware. However, be careful when on eBay/aliExpress I've actually seen other vendors knocking off the knock-offs.

From what I noticed at other SJCAM isn't great in low light conditions.

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#47

Post by dylan604 »

aphextron wrote: post #5
bob_theslob646 wrote: post #2

Why would they do this?

They're finished as a company. They never were able to innovate beyond "it's an HD camera with wifi", and low priced competition ate them up.

Maybe as a hardware company, but what if they just became a content producer? They already have a GoPro channel. Although, I think RedBull has them beat. RedBull uses lots of action cam footage, but what makes their footage great is that they take full cameras and rigging out to crazy places to get that cinematic look as action video. Yeah, maybe they are finished...

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#48

Post by dylan604 »

ravenstine wrote: post #9
ClassyJacket wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, a hundred Chinese companies can pump out cameras like theirs. What they had going for them was their genericized trademark of a name - people calling all action cameras GoPros - which eventually would have or did come back and bite them. Their stock price is less than a tenth what it once was.

People are buying Chinese action cameras in such droves? Everyone I know with an action camera owns a GoPro. Something seems amiss to me, though perhaps things are different in California. But then why just these cameras? There are plenty of types of devices that have viable Chinese knockoffs for cheap, yet the non-Chinese brands thrive or at least sustain.

If you own a GoPro, you probably have had to buy a second one. I personally do not know of a single GoPro owner that has not damaged/lost/whatever their camera. After you buy the first one at full price today, do you buy a second one or go out and buy something else? It used to be that you could only get another GoPro, so GoPro sales looked good. Now, for $70, why not try the something else? Based on sales, looks like a lot of people are choosing the latter.

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#49

Post by dylan604 »

ActsJuvenile wrote: post #43
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're getting ready to sell themselves. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gopro-shares-pare-huge-los...

My money is on DJI buying them.

I wouldn't be so sure DJI already makes better cameras. For whatever reason, DJI made a decision to go their own way. Maybe irreconcilable differences with GoPro, maybe GoPro unwilling to work with them, whatever the reason, DJI cameras have long since marginalized the need to a GoPro on their gear.

Re: GoPro has discontinued its developer program

#50

Post by chrissnell »

dylan604 wrote: post #44
atomical wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of this would open up their market to tinkering enthusiasts as well without making things more complex for their existing market. How much in sales will the tinkering enthusiasts generate?

If they allowed tinkering with the Hero4, I think quite a lot. Live action VR came to life from using Hero3 & Hero4 cameras right off the shelf. There were people that figured out how to control the hsync & vsync of the Hero3 to help capture stereoscopic recordings. This solution was broken with the Hero4. However the lack of this level of sync made the GoPro footage incredibly difficult to get good stitches in VR. W…

Totally agree with you. I bought a Hero a few years back, used it once and then tossed it in a storage bin. The UI on the camera was just too much of a pain. It was too easy to get wrong. I wanted good control software on my iPhone to make it easier and that just didn't exist. I just switched to using my iPhone for most stuff or my Canon 5DMk4 for the high quality needs. I think GoPro screwed the pooch by not opening it up. I would have the latest, greatest GoPro camera today if they were more open.
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