GoPro Media Mod overview: Turn your motion cam right into a YouTuber’s dream

“With its newest accessory, GoPro reaches beyond extreme athletes to celebrate the vlogger.”

Integrated mic

Adds HDMI, 3.5mm mic ports

Two customary chilly footwear

Easy to make use of

Still no headphone port

Audio high quality is not all the time higher

The GoPro Hero8 Black is already the very best motion digital camera you should purchase, however it was by no means meant to achieve its full potential by itself. One of the important thing options promised at its launch was assist for Mods, a set of three official GoPro equipment that hook up with the HeroEight and increase its performance.
Of these, the $79 Media Mod is by far an important. Not solely does it increase the enter/output capabilities of the GoPro and add a miniature shotgun microphone, it’s additionally the centerpiece to which the Display Mod and Light Mod connect. While we had beforehand examined the Light Mod by itself for our Hero8 Black overview, it wasn’t till we later acquired a Media Mod that we might use it connected to the digital camera.
GoPro’s objective with the Media Mod is to cement the Hero8’s place as a succesful vlogging digital camera, breaking the stereotype that GoPros are solely used for excessive sports activities.
Of course, folks have been attaching mics and lights to their GoPros for years, however by no means has there been fairly so elegant an answer because the Media Mod. It appears like essentially the most well-thought-out accent that GoPro has made, and one that ought to discover a house with many vloggers and YouTubers.
Set up and use

The Media Mod is a body that fully encloses the Hero8. You’ll have to first take away the Hero8’s battery door, then the digital camera merely slides into the body and connects to the USB-C port. That single connection powers the Mod’s shotgun microphone in addition to USB-C, micro HDMI, and 3.5mm ports on the again of the Mod.
Those uncovered ports imply you received’t get GoPro’s legendary waterproofing, however it ought to be capable of deal with some inclement climate. It was raining throughout our take a look at, and we didn’t encounter any issues.
The Mod’s built-in microphone is definitely two, one entrance and one rear. You can choose which one you wish to use within the digital camera settings.
The 3.5mm jack enables you to connect an exterior audio supply. You can choose the kind of enter from the menu, together with powered mic, unpowered mic, or line-in, as effectively the choice so as to add 20 decibels of acquire. Note that attaching an exterior mic overrides the opposite audio choices.
The Media Mod additionally provides two chilly footwear, one on the highest and one on the proper. Thankfully, these are standard-size footwear, that means additionally they work with non-GoPro equipment. This makes attaching an exterior microphone, monitor, or mild simple — you’re not pressured into shopping for GoPro’s Light and Display Mods for those who already personal different choices.
Audio high quality
If you’re wanting on the Media Mod solely as a method to spice up audio high quality with its built-in microphone, you may be dissatisfied.
Compared to a unadorned Hero8 Black, sound high quality from the Media Mod’s built-in mic seems to be extra correct and fewer muffled. Objectively, it’s higher, and energy customers will doubtless choose it.
However, many individuals will discover the hotter, extra processed sound of the Hero8’s built-in mics to be fascinating. Voices are barely deeper, and background noise is decreased relative to what you may hear with the Media Mod, even when it sounds much less pure.
Part of the difficulty is that the Media Mod mic simply isn’t very lengthy. When in comparison with an exterior Rode VideoMic, the distinction in directionality is obvious. The VideoMic was much less delicate to off-axis sounds, whereas the Media Mod mic supplied nearly 360 levels of sensitivity, being solely barely biased to sources in entrance.
The possibility so as to add an exterior mic is a part of what makes the Media Mod a worthwhile accent, however some GoPro house owners would doubtless choose a less expensive possibility that didn’t embrace an built-in mic.
Worth the funding?
The Media Mod lays the muse to construct up your Hero8 Black into a robust manufacturing instrument, however there are a pair obstacles to entry.
First, it really works solely with the brand new Hero8 Black. Owners of the Hero7 and older are out of luck.
Second is value. While $79 for the Media Mod is hardly exorbitant, totally decking your HeroEight out with all three Mods would add $210. That’s greater than half the price of the digital camera itself.
While some HeroEight house owners may be hesitant to drop that sort of money to change a digital camera that may undoubtedly see a substitute this 12 months, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman did suggest to Digital Trends that future Hero cameras would stay suitable with the present Mods.
That’s on no account a assure, however GoPro at the very least acknowledges that introducing a redesigned, incompatible digital camera for the following technology would rub prospects the unsuitable method.
Our take
The Media Mod is constructed for a small subset of GoPro HeroEight house owners, however that group of individuals will discover it a welcome addition. It solves lots of the issues inherent to an motion digital camera in a method that makes a minimal sacrifice to dealing with.
By itself, the Media Mod could not supply the leap in audio high quality that some prospects would anticipate. But for many who already personal exterior mics and need the simplest potential resolution to connect them to their GoPros, it’s an apparent selection.
Is there a greater different?
No. The Media Mod might not be the be-all-end-all audio resolution for you, however on condition that it additionally makes attaching an exterior mic practically easy, it’s one thing you’ll want anyway.
How lengthy will it final?
This is tough to say, however we don’t anticipate the Media Mod might be made out of date for at the very least the following technology or two of GoPro cameras. In phrases of sturdiness, it feels very effectively made and will maintain up effectively to put on and tear.
Should you purchase it?
Yes, for those who plan to make use of your Hero8 Black in any state of affairs exterior of maximum sports activities.

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