I decided to give Kinomap a try as my ambition is to record videos of my favourite rides in Scotland upload them to Kinomap or equivalent then ride them in the winter.
As an experiment I uploaded three videos on a trial basis:
* Inneos to Linlithgow 4.94ml 150m 26:30
* Bathgate Alps from Linlithgow 17.06ml 544m 1:43:27
* Torphician 29-1-18 (b) 9.92ml 318m 57:57
My first attempt was: * Torphician also listed but the geo located data file had an error. The first try always has mistakes I guess.
The main problem recording videos for Kinomap is attention to detail and preparation. They take up a lot of memory and you have to take care of any stops (reducing the file size) by switching the camera off/on and GPS at the same time. Who wants to look at a man eating his sangwages or worse. I have a Garmin VIRB camera with built in GPS. However when first powered on it can take up to 30 seconds for the GPSto lock on to available satellites. You must therefore not start up the video till lock has been achieved. If you do screw up there are a number of GPS editors available that can bail you out.
* FitFileRepairTool http://fitfilerepairtool.info/
* On line GPX editor http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/
If you record large (long) videos, you will find that you have numerous video files. A number manufactures of cameras limit the maximum file size and you also need to stop sometimes mid ride. The GPS will sometimes start a new file after being powered off. The FitFileRepair Tool is good for combining the GPS files and Kinomap provide a very efficient concatenation app for combining Video files. I use the concatenation tool and a PC app called Filmora to edit unwanted footage and reduce the size for uploading. Care should be taken when editing the video footage as the GPS has to be edited at the same point in time by the same amount. I would therefore recommend switching off the video when getting ready or stopping for any reason and make sure you switch off the GPS (very important). I keep two GPS's going at the same time, one for uploading to Strava and one for Kinomap videos. Your video may be shorter than the total ride length. It makes little difference that the GPS is built into the camera.
Quality
The other problem is vibration and horizontal stabilisation. The Garmin VIRB has rudimentary stabilisation via software but no horizontal stabilisation. This limits the quality of a lot of image taking on Kinomap.I have invested in a Sports Camera 3 axis stabiliser but I have not resolved the application on a bike yet as vibration is still an issue. The alternative is to wear it which I think is a bit of a hazard having had some accidents on a bike. This will be the subject of a further blog.
Resolution
I take my videos in 1080P resolution in an attempt to future proof them in case Kinomap should support that resolution in the future.As an example the Bathgate Alps video in MP4/1080p takes 14.7Gbytes of disc space and rendered down to 720p takes 3.7Gbytes in other words a doubling in resolution takes 4x more memory. A 4K video on that basis would take 16x more memory or 240Gbytes.
The upload time is restricted by the broadband pipe that you can budget for. My standard package from Virgin media has an upload speed of 5 Mbit/s. So for the examples given above the following upload times at best will result.
720p 3.7Gbyte 1.64hrs
1080p 15 GBbyte 6.66hrs
4K 240Gbyte 107hrs (4.4 days)
Engagement
The thing that keeps me going on Kinomap or Zwift is a large screen and something interesting to look at and listen to for at least an hour. I find rides of about an hour at my physical limit of climbing is what I am looking for. Kinomap has lots of rides in that category. I don't crave human company or competing with avatars on Zwift for an hour. That is why I have not listed any rides so far more than 1.5hrs. I think my future videos will not exceed 2hrs riding time for an average rider.The music issue can be solved easily technologically and I will not dwell on that but the large screen is an issue on Kinomap. They only support smart phones and tablets which do not trip the threshold of engagement for me. I need a 22" display at the end of my handlebars or an even larger screen further away.
I have purchased Chromecast for $25 and a good quality graphics display for $80 from Amazon. As my Samsung S7 supports Cromecast problem solved...........well not quite. I have a technical issue outstanding with Kinomap support. I will update this blog if resolved.
The main issue with engagement is resolution. In this day and age 1080p is the minimum. Kinomap only supports 720p HD, even if you upload 1080p. 720p HD is fine on a 10" tablet but not very good on a 22" screen. Some of the scenes become very blocky (sometimes).
The main issue is quality and variability, some peoples view of a good quality video differs from mine. I think a star system should be invented by Kinomap to help with selection. You have to try before you ride otherwise you could be disappointed. The Kinomap web page is very good, the filtering mechanism works very well and you can run them on a large PC screen in straight video at 2x or 4x speed recorded. Some videos are recorded from a vehicle. There are two issues that come to mind so I avoid videos recorded that way:
1) They tend to ride faster than you can cycle so quality can be impared when you slow them down.
2) They will not be doing any scenic cycle tracks without breaking the laws in most countries.
I upoloaded one of my videos to YouTube to compare Kinomap quality vs YouTube, try it yourself. Make sure you select the correct resolution:
https://youtu.be/GZegp4hXaEs
