i would like to use an uno to start a video recorder at the press of a button and record for two minutes then send that video to my email address. i assume a video capture shield and wifi uno could do that as well as turn on some lights. this is to record comments from customers at a coffee shop that i can later upload to facebook. so timeliness is not important and resolution is not that important either. i don't need to store them on-board for long since they would be sent to my email address. the customers would press button and lights would turn on. ideally there would be a monitor to show the customer what was being recorded. too much? i have built many uno projects and i'm good with code & solder. any advice, similar projects i could use to start from? recommended shields? i know this might be better on a pi but i am pressed for time and used to the arduino uno. what about controlling a GoPro with the uno soldered to its buttons? don't go pros upload to a web server?
No way. The Arduino Uno has too little memory and is far too slow to do anything with video.
I can't think of any Arduino that could do this.
You might get some joy using a Raspberry Pi but it is a big big project.
If the video recorder has inputs for remote commands, starting iy could be possible. How do You intend to get the recorded stuff from the tape and fly to the email adress?
No, that will not work.
You should start with more easy projects and learn the limits of the UNO microcontroller.
Where will you find such a thing?
It's actually not that bad. A basic proof of concept could be done on an afternoon on a pi. I did something similar summer of last year as a quick test.
Linux makes stuff like this surprisingly easy; getting a nice, polished application is where the real work comes in.
I was considering this from the point of view, and experience, of a user who thought it could be done with a Uno. Using a Pi is a whole other ball game.
It depends on your expectation, and experience with Linux. I have done a lot of Raspberry Pi projects, published in the last few years. ( in fact 77 such projects so for six and a half years ). I find that the moving target, that is Linux, a PITA, as each new release breaks something.
Right, I thought of adding a disclaimer, but didn't want to sound insulting. Also, I've been doing this for so long that sometimes I have to think carefully about how difficult something would be if you don't have a lot of experience. There's not always a clear line between what can be done in an afternoon and what will take months!
Or hijacking any remote control the GoPro has.
That actually sounds like something that could be done.
See if you can accomplish what you want just using a GoPro camera, supplying your own intelligence, leaving out for the moment the Arduino and any code.
If you can start, record, stop and shoot up to the cloud a video by careful sequences of buttons pressed on the GoPro, proceed with switching out your intelligence for what might just be a reasonable simple sketch.
When I say on, I mean on a remote control or through anything the GoPro affords for external control.
You do not want to go into a GoPro camera looking to hack it in the manner I think you suggest.
Don't ask me how I know…
a7
Or a phone, or a tablet...
Yes. But it is more likely that the GoPro can be hacked for external control.
Getting a tablet or a smart phone to serve by running something written for it that allows external control it would be a different kind of fun.
I think the GoPro remote could have enough functionality. It might also be possible to control over USB or the larger connector, dunno about the new ones, I still am at GoPro 3…
a7
Oh, no. I meant a series of clicks executed directly on the phone itself. It's apparently possible to write scripts that will run on an Android phone.
Of course, the alternative is to write an app to do it, but that's probably a larger undertaking.
Which doesn't sound like something you ask a customer in the coffee shop to do when leaving survey feedback, or whatever.
the alternative is to write an app to do it
Like I said. Just a different kind of fun. Easier for some ppl, I suppose. Hammers for carpenters, pitchforks for farmers &c.
For me, the hacked remote GoPro would be the one that would take the least time and require the least new stuff to figure out.
Sometimes I take the route where I learn something, sometimes I just want to drain the swapm, however. Now. 
a7
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