There are a bunch of radio-control vehicle guys who are happy with the GoPro Hero HD for "first person" driving. This includes helicopters, planes and trucks. That's nothing new, here's another thread on it: gopro-on-a-helicopter-t173.html

Currently, the only way to get live video out to our video transmitter units is to stick a cable into the SIDE of the GoPro for the TV or RGB signals, and also to trick the 2010-January firmware into a live video mode by giving +5V to the usb-mini-b jack on the SIDE of the GoPro. Well, cables on the side are not particularly handy, especially if you're trying to use the clear shock casing.

The GoPro has a 30-pin bus connector on the back which will be the foundation for a few promised accessories like a second battery, and a mini LCD screen. I noticed that the connector looked familiar: the same connector is used for the MyVu Crystal goggles, and several generations of iPod music player docks. DO NOT CONNECT iPOD DOCK ACCESSORIES OR OTHER PRODUCTS INTO YOUR GOPRO BUS CONNECTOR. The power pins are different and you will likely cause damage to one or both devices.

Okay, now that I've given the big disclaimer, I want to say that I did find this handy little gadget, and am using it to reverse-engineer some of the GoPro bus connector functions.

< iPod Gizmo connector breakout board

I have determined the +5V and GND pins for the GoPro, can turn on the GoPro through the bus, and can do the "live video" trick without touching the USB mini-b plug. I have not yet found out how to get live composite video or audio out of the bus, but I may discover this with a little more research. My goal is to get all the features of the side connector out through the back, so I don't have to cut the clear plastic shock casing.

Rambo, before I just go ahead and list the pinouts I've found, I wanted to find out if there's any problem with that. It's 100% legal to reverse engineer a product like this at my own risk, and even to publish my findings, but I don't want to put any other agreements you may have with GoPro at risk.

Go For it.

In my discussions with Gopro CEO some time back i'm sure he told me the rear port needs function enabling via the new firmware. I could be wrong, i vaguely remember the discussion.

Power is live already i think but function control is not. Again i could be wrong.
I believe this is the reason the port attachments are delayed, they need the new firmware to function correctly.

R

Rambo wrote:In my discussions with Gopro CEO some time back i'm sure he told me the rear port needs function enabling via the new firmware.

Ah, the new firmware. Perhaps by Christmas.

Yes, I expect that they intended a stateful interface. That is, you have to request the camera into a certain state to offer certain outputs. And as you say, the 2010-January firmware may not even be listening for the secret handshakes and clubhouse knocking signals that would put the camera into that state. In any case, once the new firmware is in place, it may be pretty easy to put a little cord off the back for all of the "first person view" or other applications.

I'll put up my findings to date (with big "use at your own risk" warnings) tonight.

I think the video out is intended to be switchable via the menu but really haven't taken a lot of notice of info i've seen on this as things have change a bit. It could be that the port will self activate once it senses an insertion similar to ipod/iphone.

No surprise this adapter comes from Sparkfun. You should probably drop them a note about this adapter connecting to this camera, no quicker way for people to hack it than to let some specialized hackers at it. That said I bet half of the functions are not there yet, and it might take some sort of data to let the camera know to turn on a function, more than just a pin high or pin low condition.

Now that the new firmware is here, any additional signals or data present on this connector? The sad part is that most of them may be open collector so they need a voltage applied before you'll see anything, I'm not sure how much voltage is a safe risk.

I need to buy a pile of pogo pins for something else so it's time to grab one of these adapters.

You should be able to tempt any pin with 3.3V or drain it to GND without any ill effects. But yeah, I agree, it's touchy when you know you could get a $250 paperweight.

I think I'll come up with something that will extremely limit the current that any pin can pull and maybe start with something like 1.5 volts. Maybe something like a 50K or 100K resistor, just enough to make a trace on a scope but unlikely to burn anything because of the extra small current.

OK, my breakout is ordered, would it be possible to list what you have found to give me a bit of a running start?

Also I was disappointed to not find any info on Sparkfun's forum, would have though some people might be hacking them by now.

The pin numbering scheme matters, obviously. Some documentation on the iPod connector swaps the numbering of front and back pins, so be sure that you check. In the pin numbering scheme of the Sparkfun iPodGizmo breakout, version 1.4, this is all that I have found:

2 GND
5 USB +5V
6 USB +5V
10 GND
11 /MODE (pull low to "push" mode button)
17 GND
23 Battery +3.7V
24 Battery +3.7V
28 GND
29 GND

I have not found a /SHUTTER pin. Pins 19~22 are all floating at 0.5V which looks promising for video and audio outputs (offset waveform) but have not seen a signal on them. Maybe they come alive if another pin is pulled low or high.

I use the pin2/pin6 combo to power the camera out the back, just like USB power out the side.