Do you want a new 'n' improved speed-based video recording app?

[Slalom.Steve]

The Wakeye app only records in 720p and only utilizes the main lens on a phone, failing to take advantage of improvements in new phones. Wakeye as a company has gone silent for years. I started talking with a developer friend of mine about making a new app, but I want to see if people are interested and if it would be economically feasible.

If we make a new and improved app, with GPS speed start/stop, options for HD and 4K recording, FPS adjustment, and allowing zoom out/alternate lens access to get around the rear camera stabilization issue, would you use it? And would you pay for it (one-time fee, not subscription)? We'd do iOS first, but could also do Android.

Also open to suggestions of a snappy name for it!😉 I'm thinking something not only waterski-specific, as other folks may be interested in the same capability (bikers or something?).

[lpskier]

GoPro has a speed based program. I’m not sure if it’s still beta or not. 

[Slalom.Steve]

37 minutes ago, lpskier said:

GoPro has a speed based program. I’m not sure if it’s still beta or not. 

They do, and that is an option. I actually bought a GoPro this summer but ended up returning it, the issues being:

1. You have to buy a GoPro. Cheaper than a new ski, but more expensive than a $10 app. 🙂
2. The biggest issue is that the stabilization software that GoPro uses crops the sides of the video pretty significantly. This means in order for the skier to not go out of frame at each apex, you have to have the video zoomed out pretty far. This is even more pronounced at shorter lines. I had read that GoPro is too wide angle and always thought, "Whatever, I'll just zoom in while watching it back" but since the skier moves from the edge of the full frame to the opposite edge of the full frame, if you zoom in at any one point, the skier just goes out of the zoomed-in frame when they move side to side. I use video to watch myself back and critique my skiing, and the image was too zoomed out for that IMO, at least when viewing on the small screen of a phone.
3. There's the additional step of getting your videos off the GoPro and onto your phone or other device. You can send it via Bluetooth but it takes a long time or can error out, or you can pay for a GoPro cloud account and once you get home on Wifi it uploads, but that takes even longer, and when you access the videos within the cloud interface, you can only show max quality of 1080p. If you download the file to a device, you can get 4K, but that's yet another step of downloading off. You've also got to always carry the GoPro with you and make sure it's charged. Yes, none of these things is in itself a huge deal, but when I'm taking 12-18 videos multiple times a week, wanting to review them quick a couple times, maybe send one to a friend, and then delete them, the GoPro just added more work/inconvenience, opportunities for something to go wrong, etc. It's quite nice to just pop my phone on, which I always have and is always charged, and just have my videos waiting in my camera roll as soon as I'm done.

All in all, using the GoPro felt a lot less convenient than just using my phone, and while the image quality is good, the need to zoom out made even that not worth it. And if a phone app could actually capture in high-quality and be not super shaky, it's just as good as a GoPro and a lot more convenient!

[Drago]

I'd pay if it works on a phone (actually, My Phone). My wake eye doesn't work anymore and doesn't update.

phones are great: always with you, easy to share/transfer to another device, light and uncomplicated (unless it's someone else's phone that has a different OS)

[MattP]

My biggest issue with the wakeye app is it murdering my phone battery while at the lake running with the screen on for two sets or not being able to use it because my battery is too low by the time I get to the lake. To me I’ve been thinking about getting a go pro to auto record my sets. 

[BrennanKMN]

I think the poll needs an option for 'other'. 

As @lpskier eluded to, there is a GoPro option for this. That is what I prefer to use. 

In the last year I have logged close to 180GB of video from my sets using that method. 

I prefer the GoPro: Better video, no battery issues, don't need to tie up my phone, expandable storage. With hypersmooth, you don't need any stabilization/crop in my experience. 

You are correct with the moving of files, but that is simple to me. I have a setup where I just rotate SD cards. It is an extra step for sure, but worth it for my team and I. I run a website with all the video sets on it for me and all my ski partners. So I don't have to share files around. Just go online and watch anytime. 

[VermontSkier]

I’d gladly pay $20 for a good app that works on my iPhone. 

[BGrow76]

YES please! I would love the option to use my phone to record for all of the reasons listed by @Slalom.Steve Those with phone battery issues might need to look into a new phone, my four year old Galaxy S-10 still lasts all day with a lot of use including being used as a hot spot for Sure Path.

[MattP]

@BGrow76 I will say down here in the south I had number of instances when my phone went into over heat mode sitting on the pylon while I was skiing. I’d prefer to avoid that but to each their own. 

[bojans]

If someone is going to truly develop an app for waterskiing please make it work with a gimble. Modern gimbles have the ability to track a person or object, keeping that selected item in focus, in the middle of the screen and eliminating any camera shake. The current limitations (with my DJI) are only allowing for the 1x lens on iphone, need to manually select the focus object each time recording it stopped and no speed based recording.

 

To me, the ultimate solution is to have a gimble mounted to a skidoc. The ski doc will keep the phone generally in line with the skier then the gimble can move to keep the skier centered with higher zoom and eliminate any camera shake. It would be great if you could select the skier as the focus object prior to the start of their set and then have speed based recording. I may be dreaming, but this seems possible and would result in high quality footage that could be used for in-depth video coaching.

[Slalom.Steve]

On 8/20/2023 at 7:58 PM, bojans said:

To me, the ultimate solution is to have a gimble mounted to a skidoc. The ski doc will keep the phone generally in line with the skier then the gimble can move to keep the skier centered with higher zoom and eliminate any camera shake. It would be great if you could select the skier as the focus object prior to the start of their set and then have speed based recording. I may be dreaming, but this seems possible and would result in high quality footage that could be used for in-depth video coaching.

Possible? Yes. Difficult? Likely also yes. Not sure if there'd be enough market to make it worth it for a developer, but I like where your heads at.

[APB]

My iPhone video works great with my skidoc. What is the benefit of an app? 

[Drago]

4 hours ago, APB said:

My iPhone video works great with my skidoc. What is the benefit of an app? 

Auto start and stop at your selected speed.

So sweet

[AdamCord]

I’d pay for that.

[tjm]

I’m in

[OldboyII]

If it would be one time payment - yes

If subscription with monthly/yearly renewal - no

[Downunder]

Just started using the wake eye app with a ski doc - love it.. Would pay for a better app, but really the auto start stop feature is the main reason for installing it.  When we manually started the iphone on the  ski doc there was too much camera shake, i had to use the front (selfie camera) camera to get a decent picture. Because wake eye only uses 1 camera lens I think that helped reduce the picture shake. 

[jercrane]

Honestly as long as it isn’t a subscription I’d pay even more than $20. 
(I’m tapped out on the subscription economy). 

[DaveSN]

I tried Wakeye on Android. I had an issue with it focusing on the rope, skier out of focus  (I use a custom pylon mounted camera mount with vibration control). Our ski site is very short so we have to start going away from the greens then make a U turn into the course and sometimes the phone would start in the turn when the boat was at an angle and I would get a rotated video.

I'm a software engineer (retired) so I made my own app for Android with full control of focus (M, AF, infinity), zoom, can lock the orientation,  and GPS start and stop.

This photo was saved from a video taken on a 2023 Txi and Samsung S22 on 3x zoom.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3PTCeTkV2d4om7ZG6 (Sorry for a link the "Insert image from URL" didn't do anything)