At first I proudly carried it with me to show fellow pilots what they looked like. Now I just keep an image of the card in my phone, in an effort to keep my wallet thin. It took a couple months to get the actual card. I passed my test last year right after Thanksgiving, and I got the card mid Jan 2017. To this day I've never used it and needed to show anyone, however I don't do a lot of commercial work, just a minimal amount for one website I manage and create content for. I'm too busy with my regular job to pursue lots of drone work seriously at this time, but that day will come.
New P4P Owner, Multiple Questions
- Thread starter EhmayWuntee
- Start date
Oh man, what a process to get this thing updated!
I finally got it all complete, but had to figure out why my controller was beeping uncontrollably. I think it ended up being that somehow it decided the sticks were no longer calibrated so I had to go through that process which wasn't as detailed as I could have hoped for. I guess I will find out soon enough if it seems stable and accurate or not.
I did find it a bit odd that you have to update for every single battery, does the battery actually hold the aircraft's firmware or something?
I also had to redo a lot of my settings which sucks if that happens every time, but at least I caught it now and not mid flight.
By the way, even though it narrows the screen on my phone or tablet, I assume the best photo option is to shoot in 3:2 and not 16:9 since it utilizes the most pixels?
Now I get the pleasure of going through all of this a second time with my work P4P... I guess at least it's only one battery at the moment since the other will be RMAed.
I finally got it all complete, but had to figure out why my controller was beeping uncontrollably. I think it ended up being that somehow it decided the sticks were no longer calibrated so I had to go through that process which wasn't as detailed as I could have hoped for. I guess I will find out soon enough if it seems stable and accurate or not.
I did find it a bit odd that you have to update for every single battery, does the battery actually hold the aircraft's firmware or something?
I also had to redo a lot of my settings which sucks if that happens every time, but at least I caught it now and not mid flight.
By the way, even though it narrows the screen on my phone or tablet, I assume the best photo option is to shoot in 3:2 and not 16:9 since it utilizes the most pixels?
Now I get the pleasure of going through all of this a second time with my work P4P... I guess at least it's only one battery at the moment since the other will be RMAed.
Meta4
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The batteries have their own software to manage the intelligent programming of the battery.
Updates for the batteries aren't brought out very often.
3:2 gives you 20 MP images. There's no point giving away pixels and cropping options before you shoot anything.
Is there something I am missing or do you have to swap to 5.8 GHz frequency every flight?
It will pretty much say too much disturbance and show lots of red bars on 2.4 yet it still picks it by default. 5.8 is empty.
I am considering ordering an Asus Zenpad 3S 10 to use for my personal drone, just checking for any red flags first. I have never been an Apple fan so unless there is some serious justification I will skip the 2017 iPad. I also figure it would be best to go with a 10" (9.7) screen and buy once than try some 8" model and potentially feel regret. Hopefully most aftermarket cases fit a 10" tablet.
It will pretty much say too much disturbance and show lots of red bars on 2.4 yet it still picks it by default. 5.8 is empty.
I am considering ordering an Asus Zenpad 3S 10 to use for my personal drone, just checking for any red flags first. I have never been an Apple fan so unless there is some serious justification I will skip the 2017 iPad. I also figure it would be best to go with a 10" (9.7) screen and buy once than try some 8" model and potentially feel regret. Hopefully most aftermarket cases fit a 10" tablet.
You may want to rethink your tablet decision. I'm an android fan also, my phone is an LG-G5 which I really like. However 2yrs ago I had so many problems getting an Android tablet work with DJI Pilot and Go apps, I gave up and tried my wife's iPad Mini3. It worked like a champ, no problems at all, so I caved and bought an iPadMini. It worked so well for a year that for Christmas last year I bought myself an Air2, which is my primary device. I've never had a problem with iPads, the app has never crashed. However, I don't upgrade apps every time something new comes out, so I minimize risk in that way. Keep in mind, I don't use my iPads for anything else, except playing my downloaded DishNetwork recorded programs when flying on a plane for entertainment during business travel or vacation.
Couple of tidbits:
1. Making an app compatible with a dozen android vendors and dozens of hardware architectures and hundreds of models isn't easy. That's why DJI has a limited number of tested devices, and the latest Pixel, Galaxy or Tab may not be on the list. Compare that with iOS that has one manufacturer and only a few architectures by the same manufacturer. The compatibility testing and goals are much simpler with one manufacturer, with a track record of having a stable OS+h/w architecture.
2. The DJI android software team is known to be less talented and/or staffed, based on the quality of releases in the past and the frequency of releases. They seem to have a smaller software team. When I brought this up with a DJI engineer at NAB last April, he confirmed this. You add this to #1 above and that's a compelling reason to give iPad a try if you don't get your Android working. Whatever you do, make sure when you buy your Android tablet that you have the option to return it for a refund for a month, giving you time to work things out, and exercise plan B > iOS.
Just because DJI is using Android for their P4P+ and CrystalSky devices, doesn't mean they have more talent in the Android dept. It could mean that group has more work to do for these special and proprietary devices, taking away from the time to design quality tested apps for Samsung, or LG, etc.
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, works verynneell, I personally, have no problems in the sun. 4k screen, will play 4k no problem.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm not necessarily an android fan as much as I'm an Apple avoider I guess lol. Either way I am also a smart buyer so I won't rule it out immediately.
My current phone is a Samsung galaxy s6 and I've only flown with it once so I'll spend some more time with it and the random Lenovo tablet at work to see if I experience any issues or crashes.
Are the problems with android hit or miss or are they more consistent when doing something like a longer range flight or something else that is repeatable?
I also wish the ipad was $300 and not $330, but I can maybe wait a month or so to see if it drops. I'd plan to buy from newegg since I have the gift cards from my P4P deal.
I would say they are hit or miss. Many pilots use Android with no problems, but others aren't so lucky. Quibbling over $30 isn't worth the potential frustration IMO.
Meta4
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There's nothing magic about Apple devices. older models don't run the current version of DJI Go well.
The problems with Android are that there are many very different Android devices.
The good ones are great but there are others that aren't.
DJI Go is a very demanding program and you need to have a tablet with enough power and memory to make it run properly.
I've been running this for the last two months and it's excellent.
https://www.amazon.com/Huawei-Media...UTF8&qid=1512875759&sr=8-3&keywords=huawei+m3
It loads fast, connects every time, has a great display and is pretty well perfect.
The worst thing I can find is the position of the power switch button means I can't mount it exactly centred on the controller.
Tablet size is a personal choice thing.
I think a phone display is too small and a full-size iPad is too big and heavy to be holding attached to the controller.
An 8 inch tablet is Goldilocks just right - compact but with plenty of screen size.
Thanks for your explanation and suggestion. I think the Asus tablet I narrowed down to would have similar specs to that and comes with a brand name I know. One review I glanced over said the only real gripe with the Asus was mediocre battery life, but it certainly gives the ipad a run for its money.
I need more time to really know if 9.7" will be too bulky for me, but if it fits in the stock controller mount I think I can be fine with it. If anything, I can get a lanyard strap thing to help support it. I am more worried about regret in thinking I bought too small of a screen if I go 8".
One other thing i forgot to ask, since I plan to photograph in 3:2 for the most pixels does a 4:3 tablet aspect ratio display this well? I know my 16:9 phone has fairly large black rectangles on the left and right side of the display, hopefully 3:2 plays better with 4:3.
Alright I finally got around to testing video today, just like a 45 second recording to see how it works.
I am recording at 4k (3840x2160) and 60 FPS ("properties" says video was 59 fps) in MP4 format.
I have to play it in VLC player since Windows Media Player doesn't support it I guess.
I see blinking/flickering at times and a green bar sometimes too.
Is it perhaps the video player that is causing this because I am not convinced it happens at the same point every time or sometimes is worse than others.
What else do I need to do or try to get smooth 4k 60 FPS footage?
Next time I am out I will try to remember to record a few different resolutions to compare.
My card is a Sandisk Extreme U3 V30 which I thought was the right one to meet all necessary specs for speeds (V30 being a key part).
See link for something similar to mine:
SanDisk 32GB microSD Extreme 100MB/s 4K micro SD SDHC UHS U3 A1 V30 32G microSDHC SDSQXAF-032G with USB 2.0 reader - Newegg.com
I am recording at 4k (3840x2160) and 60 FPS ("properties" says video was 59 fps) in MP4 format.
I have to play it in VLC player since Windows Media Player doesn't support it I guess.
I see blinking/flickering at times and a green bar sometimes too.
Is it perhaps the video player that is causing this because I am not convinced it happens at the same point every time or sometimes is worse than others.
What else do I need to do or try to get smooth 4k 60 FPS footage?
Next time I am out I will try to remember to record a few different resolutions to compare.
My card is a Sandisk Extreme U3 V30 which I thought was the right one to meet all necessary specs for speeds (V30 being a key part).
See link for something similar to mine:
SanDisk 32GB microSD Extreme 100MB/s 4K micro SD SDHC UHS U3 A1 V30 32G microSDHC SDSQXAF-032G with USB 2.0 reader - Newegg.com
It sounds like your PC doesn't have a GPU (such as GTX1080), which generally speaking you need that to play 4K video smoothly, native. I have the same problem and just dropped $3600 on a new Dell Alien 51 system, 6 core i7, 16GB, GTX1080ti 11GB, 1TB SDD + 2TB HDD and an LG 4K monitor, a Christmas gift to myself! Frankly you can have a really good time with 1080 video, and most computers will play back 1080 video OK. You can also try MPC-HC X64 player. It may work a little better with 4K, but I have trouble with the audio breaking up when I use it with Windows 7Pro. Others like it better than the VLC player.
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Meta4
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Try a few tests at 4K 30 fps and 1080 resolution to see if the issue is your computer rather than your camera.
I'll do some more testing and try some other playback software too. Actually I'm not sure if my VLC player is updated (rarely use it) so that may be any issue too.
My pc should be able to handle 4k and I can see if I can play direct to my tv as well.
Pc is an older i7 3770k overclocked to 4.5 ghz, 16 gb ram, and a GTX 1070. Monitor is only 1440p, but I don't think that would be an issue for playing.
My pc should be able to handle 4k and I can see if I can play direct to my tv as well.
Pc is an older i7 3770k overclocked to 4.5 ghz, 16 gb ram, and a GTX 1070. Monitor is only 1440p, but I don't think that would be an issue for playing.
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I replaced my Video card in my computer, that made all the difference, it now plays 4k smoothly.
I believe this fixed it, VLC player Settings:
Tools -> Preferences -> Input/Codecs
Hardware accelerated decoding = DXVA 2.0
Then save, exit and restart VLC.
Thanks to those who chimed in!
Also, since it got skipped over a bit, can anyone confirm if they have to swap to 5.8 Ghz frequency every time they start up the drone and there isn't a way to save the setting or change defaults?
Tools -> Preferences -> Input/Codecs
Hardware accelerated decoding = DXVA 2.0
Then save, exit and restart VLC.
Thanks to those who chimed in!
Also, since it got skipped over a bit, can anyone confirm if they have to swap to 5.8 Ghz frequency every time they start up the drone and there isn't a way to save the setting or change defaults?
My GO4 app saves my 5.8Ghz AUTO setting automatically, but my version is GO4 from last May, noted in my signature.
Looks like I will likely be following the recommendation that iOS is a better experience for DJI Go. I kept leaning back to trying the Asus Zenpad 3s 10, but with a holiday price drop on the 2017 ipad I decided to place an order on it instead. This will be my first time using anything apple as I always avoided it in the past.
Will my previous flights load into the iOS version of DJI Go when i hit the sync button or does it keep them separate from Android?
Also, I did a short flight near some power lines (or telephone) where I stood near them, but didn't fly the drone near them. After going up maybe 150 ft and away maybe 75 ft, I got a signal interference to where I lost positioning mode. I moved myself a few steps away from the power lines (putting them behind me) while keeping the aircraft from drifting in the wind and gps reengaged.
So did having the lines between the remote and the aircraft actually disrupt the signal completely or was it something else? I could see if the aircraft was near them and it being interrupted, but a couple of 1 inch or whatever diameter cables between the LOS is enough to disrupt the entire radio signal?
I thought I was pretty safe the way I planned the flight, but obviously not. Now I want to confirm this or better understand how it happened so I can learn from it.
Will my previous flights load into the iOS version of DJI Go when i hit the sync button or does it keep them separate from Android?
Also, I did a short flight near some power lines (or telephone) where I stood near them, but didn't fly the drone near them. After going up maybe 150 ft and away maybe 75 ft, I got a signal interference to where I lost positioning mode. I moved myself a few steps away from the power lines (putting them behind me) while keeping the aircraft from drifting in the wind and gps reengaged.
So did having the lines between the remote and the aircraft actually disrupt the signal completely or was it something else? I could see if the aircraft was near them and it being interrupted, but a couple of 1 inch or whatever diameter cables between the LOS is enough to disrupt the entire radio signal?
I thought I was pretty safe the way I planned the flight, but obviously not. Now I want to confirm this or better understand how it happened so I can learn from it.
I've noticed ultra high voltage lines (450KV) on the big towers will disrupt GPS if the craft fly under the lines (definitely don't fly under them), and they will also interfere with signal between the craft and RC if the lines are between the RC and Craft. However I can be 150' away from the lines and be fine, if I keep the craft on my side of the lines, away from the lines at least 50'. I can easily fly over the lines if the craft is at least 50' above them and I have LOS without the lines within the LOS to the craft. Cell towers and other antennas have not affected the communications with my craft yet, only high tension transmission line. Lower voltage city power lines on regular telephone poles (17KV) have not bothered my craft flying around them or under them.
