Widget: BLE remote control for Insta360 One R 360° Action Cam

ars.fabula over 3 years ago

[updated 2023-04-05]

A widget to remote control (via Bluetooth) Insta360's One R & X cameras.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-EN/apps/bb53f4bb-6c8c-4369-bca9-84cc09b25526

Also available as a data-field for touch based Edge device

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/f0cdaa9c-5733-4748-ba66-1c7a3b008922

Insta360 Remote Control

Features:

Start / Stop Recording
Select video or photo shooting mode (Standard, HDR, Time-lapse, 24-25-30 fps, etc).
Send GPS telemetry to the camera to be stored in the video file.
Add a "Highlight" marker in the video file (not available in the DF).
Add a "Track That" marker in the video file(not available in the DF).
Last state is saved, so will resume where it was if the widget exits or was disconnected.

Known limitation & issues:

Users have reported that this widget also works with the One X, X2 & X3, but the menus for the various shooting modes are only the ones available one the One R
Same goes with the 4K & 1inch module of the One R: only the shooting modes for the 360° module are availbale
The widget will auto exit after some time (depending on your device). This is a limitation from Garmin.If you have a newr watch (starting with Fenix 7) you can use the widget as an app, and it won't exit,
The widget can be launched from within one of Garmin's official activity (but not if you are in Glance mode) by pressing & holding the back button.
There is no countdown / delay option
While the widget is active, if the recording is started or stopped from the camera, the widget will react accordingly but will not know in which mode the camera is in.
When starting the widget, if it indicates that the camera is still recording and it's not the case, got to the menu and re-select a shooting mode. This will reset the widget.

This thread is to discuss problems with the widget and also possible future functionality.

Have fun!

Greg

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mrak.iw 3 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

It just starts rescanning now. And shows "Press start to scan"
And I can't get the second screen state. Probably, I've set that "Default video" manually from the menu.

UPD: yeaah, if I select from the menu, I'll get that screen. After pressing Start it just rescans.

ars.fabula 3 months ago in reply to mrak.iw

I would need to get a copy of the log of the application, but there are quite some steps to get it. Can you:

- Connect your watch to a computer

- Open the file garmin\GarminDevice.xml

- locate near the end of the file the section concerning the app:

<AppName>One R remote</AppName>
<StoreId>bb53f4bb-6c8c-4369-bca9-84cc09b25526</StoreId>
<AppId>38afa637-0ef5-4b47-9430-e96d2de3b323</AppId>
<AppType>watch-app</AppType>
<Version>84</Version>
<FileName>E83H2526.PRG</FileName>

- Note the filename, it might be different on your watch

- create an empty file in the garmin\apps\logs directory with the name E83H2526.TXT (replace E83H2526.with the name found in the xml file)

- disconnect the watch, start the widget, and connect to the camera. Try starting a recording.

- exist the widget and reconnect the watch to the computer

- get the .TXT file and send it to me via the "contact developer" link on the widget store page

Thanks!

mrak.iw 3 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

<App>
 <AppName>One R remote</AppName>
 <StoreId>bb53f4bb-6c8c-4369-bca9-84cc09b25526</StoreId>
 <AppId>38afa637-0ef5-4b47-9430-e96d2de3b323</AppId>
 <AppType>widget</AppType>
 <Version>84</Version>
 <FileName>E82H1158.PRG</FileName>
</App>



I've found two files in Apps/Logs:

E82H1158.BAK - 5.03KB
E82H1158.TXT - 447B

I've sent .txt and a part of .bak between "Connect" rows. - It refuses to send such a big messages to contain the whole text.
Do you need the full content?

ars.fabula 3 months ago in reply to mrak.iw

Thanks for the log, I've sent you a separate email

mrak.iw 3 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

I've updated the widget to 0.9.65
It still shows

    null
Default Video
 Press Start

after the first scan, but starts scanning again after I press it.

And the version in the widget is shown as 0.9.64 - the old one. Even after I reinstalled it.

ars.fabula 3 months ago in reply to mrak.iw

Yeah, I forgot to update the version number on the display. Can you send me the logs again ? I've added more traces.

mrak.iw 3 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

Done

4943167 2 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

Hi and thank you very much for the app. I wanted to chime in on this conversation from a couple of months ago with Sebasgab because I seem to be facing the same problem. I have had a Venu 3 for the past 6 months and tried to use your app with my Insta 360 One R. The app finds and connects very easily to the camera; however, if I try to start a recording or anything else, the app just displays "One R XYZ Starting..." but the camera takes no action at all.

On the other hand, if I start a recording from the camera, the watch displays a red ring and shows the recording counter. If I try to stop that recording from the watch, then the watch still times out with a "One R XYZ Stopping" without stopping the recording on the camera.

It seems the camera communicates to the watch, but the watch doesn't communicate to the camera (at least the part that stops/starts the recordings). This has been the case since I've had the watch, from several earlier version on up to the current one updated on August 9 2024. Latest One R firmware (that hasn't changed in a long time). If there is anything you can come up with, it'd be greatly appreciated!!

ars.fabula 2 months ago in reply to 4943167

Yep, there seems to be an issue that is specific to the Venu 3. I haven't been able to sort it out.

If you're ready to do some troubleshooting with which involves connecting your watch to a computer and sending me log files, please contact me thru the "contact developer" link on the widget's page in the app store.

4943167 2 months ago in reply to ars.fabula

Thanks! I just sent the message from the app link. Happy to send you a log file via email. Thanks!