/hero9-webcam-for-linux

A hacky guide to getting a gopro webcam up and running for linux.

Hero9 Webcam for Linux Guide

Idea inspired by Adam Lynch -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS9FqDqWFAE&ab_channel=AdamLynch and after a few hours was able to get something up and running. Please help to improve this method 🙏

My System

Pop!_os 20.10 Dell XPS 15

Software Dependencies

v4l2loopback-utils v4l2loopback-dkms ffmpeg

Instructions

  1. Ensure HERO9 "USB Connection" is set to "GoPro Connect" in the Connections menu.

  2. Connect via usb to your computer.

  3. Open Network settings, and enable the new USB ethernet interface

  1. Find the your computer's IP on the new network via ifconfig

  1. Find the GoPro's IP in the network

    • eg my Computer's IP was 172.24.106.53 and the GoPro's IP was 172.24.106.51

  2. To fire up the webcam mode on the GoPro hit URL http://<YOUR_GOPRO_IP_HERE>/gp/gpWebCam/START?res=1080 in a browser.

  3. GoPro will send JSON response {"Status": 2, "Error": 0}

  4. sudo modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 max_buffers=2

  5. Pipe your GoPro's UDP stream on port 8554 to ffmpeg and set the output as and new video device (/dev/video4) ffmpeg -i udp://<<YOUR_GOPRO_IP_HERE>:8554 -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuv420p -threads 0 -f v4l2 /dev/video4

    • /dev/video4 seems to work for me

  6. Open OBS and test it out

  7. To stop the webcam mode hit URL http://<YOUR_GOPRO_IP_HERE>/gp/gpWebCam/STOP in a browser.