Noob first flight - jumpy video - missing flight log

[Porc]

Hi, I have very noob probably obvious questions here. I got my P3A up in the air for the first time tonight. First, that was fun! The thing worked very well and was remarkably stable. The FPV video was smooth on the iPad Mini 2. I kept it in beginner mode and flew it around and up to 100 feet for 13 minutes. My old AR Parrot was painful to use by comparison, at least if I wanted to get it anywhere high without worry.

Anyway, the first thing I noticed is I am not sure where to find the flight log. I couldn't find an obvious feature in the DJI GO app where it would be. The little map in the corner showed me a squiggly line initially, which is obviously where I had gone. But, I was searching for a way to save it and access previous flight logs (of which there are none yet), and I clicked what looks like a pencil eraser; it removed the squiggly line without any prompt or message. I also looked on the microSD card in the P3A, and there was just the video and photos I took.

Next, I watched the video that was saved to the microSD card. I use VLC on a PC that is plenty powerful. I initially tried Microsoft's player and that was super bad... VLC worked better but was still quite choppy. I copied it locally to the PC first, just in case. While the image is sharp, it is jumpy and has quite a bit of pixelation moments where it flashes some garbage pixels over a section of the screen, like when a satellite TV connection is crapping out. I am using the built-in card, but I also bought a 64GB card (class 10) that I haven't tried yet. What's the deal here? Note that the live video was very smooth with no glitches (and lower resolution of course). And, I see a copy of that live video was automatically saved to the tablet, and that is also smooth.

 

[Boebe]

Start the app and click on the icon in the upper left corner. Do not enter camera view. There are your flight records.
Regarding your bad vid quality, look very carefull at your settings.

 

[TX-Xced]

Anyway, the first thing I noticed is I am not sure where to find the flight log.

From the startup screen of the APP click the icon in the top left - that will take you to your flight logs.

bit of pixelation moments where it flashes some garbage pixels over a section of the screen, like when a satellite TV connection is crapping out.

I know you said you copied the full file over - but check your computer CPU loading - Sounds to me the issue might be in your video player decoder - Try the file on another computer - make sure the video software is up to date.

 

[Porc]

Yes! There are the flight logs. I had clicked every UI element except that one.

What settings might be interesting to search for? They are still at the default. I guess lowering resolution might help, but I want the maximum.

 

[Porc]

From the startup screen of the APP click the icon in the top left - that will take you to your flight logs.
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I know you said you copied the full file over - but check your computer CPU loading - Sounds to me the issue might be in your video player decoder - Try the file on another computer - make sure the video software is up to date.

Okay, I'll give that a try on my work laptop later on once I power that up and get it going. (I gotta do some work tonight anyway. :-( )

 

[TX-Xced]

Okay, I'll give that a try on my work laptop later

Yea give the file a go on another computer - make sure you copy the file over to the hard drive. Let us know the result.

 

[Porc]

Yea give the file a go on another computer - make sure you copy the file over to the hard drive. Let us know the result.

Yep, that did the trick! It plays flawlessly on my work laptop, even in Microsoft's player. I think I know what the problem is... I run Blue Iris and 8 security cameras continuously streaming to it, as a system service. That must be enough to bog down the video playing, although it never happened before with any other video I streamed. But.... I just noticed this is 2.7K video, much more than HD video. I've never played 2.7K video before to find out the PC's limits.

Well, this is great! Now I have to go find other interesting safe places to fly this other than my back yard.

I hope 2 more questions in the same thread are okay, versus a new thread. These are a bit more advanced:

Is there a good way to tell the GPS coordinates I am at in different parts of the video playback? I need to do this because I own some (200 acres) rural property that I want to survey from above for interesting features (mainly possible elevated view locations). If I see something interesting, I need a good way to find it when I bush whack back to that location.

Second, I made a GPX file a while ago that marks off the limits of said land as well as other interesting features (roads, etc.) Is there a good way I can transfer that GPX file into the Phantom's flight software (DJI GO or something else if needed) so I can see the contents of the GPX file on the map during flight? This will help me figure out where I am relative to the property boundaries as well as prevent me from doing something dumb like flying outside of those bounds.

 

[TX-Xced]

Good deal - glad that worked for you.

Is there a good way to tell the GPS coordinates I am at in different parts of the video playback?

Not sure about how to extract the GPS data from a video - You can do it from a photo.
You might search to see if there is a current thread/post on that subject if not start one. There's guys and gals on here that if it can be done they will know.

interesting features (mainly possible elevated view locations). If I see something interesting, I need a good way to find it when I bush whack back to that location.

Just snap photo of the area when your flying and you can extract the GPS data from the photo - I think that will work for what your trying to do.

Is there a good way I can transfer that GPX file into the Phantom's flight software

Not that I'm aware of - The APP connects to Apple's map server. As a developer you could write a flight APP and point the flight map to your own Map server which you could upload your own key-points, boundaries etc.... But that would be a bit of work just to accomplish what your wanting to do I think.

Just use the guides in the map in the app and mark your boundaries and just don't fly outside of those if your concerned with overflying someone else land.

 

[Porc]

Just snap photo of the area when your flying and you can extract the GPS data from the photo - I think that will work for what your trying to do.

It looks like I have to stop the video to take a photo, then start the video again? (My cell phone lets me snap photos while I record a video, which is nice.)

 

[TX-Xced]

It looks like I have to stop the video to take a photo, then start the video again?

Yea unfortunately you will.

 

[SCADAMON]

Yea unfortunately you will.

If you turn on captions in the Go app it will store a SRT file with the video... This will have the GPS data in it... When played back on a pc with VLC and closed captioning on you will see it... Make sure both files SRT and MP4 are in the same directory...

 

[TX-Xced]

Cool I'll have to give that a go myself. Thanks for the info scadamom.

 

[SCADAMON]

If you turn on captions in the Go app it will store a SRT file with the video... This will have the GPS data in it... When played back on a pc with VLC and closed captioning on you will see it... Make sure both files SRT and MP4 are in the same directory...