Open Letter to DJI RE: Loss Frames When Splitting Video Files

[Consultant]

[ I would strongly encourage other DJI users to write to support also to put pressure on them to fix this serious flaw in their firmware. ]

Dear DJI,

I am very shocked to discover a major bug with your drone camera video recording system that when you split a video file. when the file size reaches the 4GB limit, there is a loss of several frames which produces a "skip" in the video when the files are combined. This is something that cannot be fixed in post production since there is missing information in the video. This in unacceptable for professional applications and therefore limits the length of continuous video a person can shoot to somewhere between 5-15 minutes depending on the resolution and frame rate used.

I am very disappointed to learn this and would greatly encourage that the firmware be revised to either correctly use a memory buffer so that there is no loss of video frames from one file to the next, OR, allow a setting to be changed for maximum filesize to allow for exFAT format SD card large file capabilities.

Thank You

 

[msinger]

Good idea. You should try writing your letter in the DJI forum though. DJI will likely never see it here.

 

[tml4191]

Please keep Phantom Pilots updated with the responses, and thank you for letting the world know.

 

[Ed_2020]

[ I would strongly encourage other DJI users to write to support also to put pressure on them to fix this serious flaw in their firmware. ]

Dear DJI,

I am very shocked to discover a major bug with your drone camera video recording system that when you split a video file. when the file size reaches the 4GB limit, there is a loss of several frames which produces a "skip" in the video when the files are combined. This is something that cannot be fixed in post production since there is missing information in the video. This in unacceptable for professional applications and therefore limits the length of continuous video a person can shoot to somewhere between 5-15 minutes depending on the resolution and frame rate used.

I am very disappointed to learn this and would greatly encourage that the firmware be revised to either correctly use a memory buffer so that there is no loss of video frames from one file to the next, OR, allow a setting to be changed for maximum filesize to allow for exFAT format SD card large file capabilities.

Thank You

People complained to DJI more than a year ago, it seems there was no fix:

Missing video frames when spanning video files

Video Files Split

 

[Mako79]

Do people really record 4K continuously for over 9minutes? I try to start stop my recordings and segment it to help with editing and renaming files. There is nothing worse than scrolling through a lengthy recording to select 10 seconds of footage.

 

[tml4191]

Do people really record 4K continuously for over 9minutes? I try to start stop my recordings and segment it to help with editing and renaming files. There is nothing worse than scrolling through a lengthy recording to select 10 seconds of footage.

Unless the whole footage is legit

 

[Consultant]

I believe the limitation is much shorter than 9 or 10 minutes when shooting 4K 30fps? The limitiation is about 10 minutes shooting 1080p 60fps. 4K is about 4 times the filesize is it not, so even at half the frame rate I would think the 4K 30fps limit might be closer to 5 minutes? Just an estimate, I could be off.

Think event videos for example such as a Wedding Ceremony, or 4K shooting for a movie scene.

Can my 6-year old digital camera film continuous in 1080p without lost frames? YES. This is the latest technology. I fail to see why they can't AT LEAST add an option in the firmware to take advantage of the exFAT storage format and then add that as an option in the DJI GO app BOTH as a formatting option and as a max filesize option if the case is that the firmware can't detect the SD card format. They are merely being lazy in my opinion designing the firmware to handle the 'lowest common denominator' that is, SD cards formatted in FAT and not improving/fixing the situation because they don't have enough users yelling at them about it.

Not sure if anyone has posted a video showing it but here's one:

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[Consultant]

This just in from DJI Support:

"I do understand that at certain point, there is a skipped frame when you are attempting record a video.

The reason for having it set on this file saving orientation is because it is for file safety and security. Instead of having your video saved in a continuous frame, it is segmented every 4GB so that in an event of power surge or power failure, you will still have a file that you can recover compared to a total loss of the whole footage.

We can forward your feedback to our Developers to further study this case and in future development it may be available in the succeeding firmware update though this is may not be the case. We are also crossing our fingers that they can accommodate most of our valued customer's feedback and suggestion."

 

[Dinerve]

This just in from DJI Support:

"I do understand that at certain point, there is a skipped frame when you are attempting record a video.

The reason for having it set on this file saving orientation is because it is for file safety and security. Instead of having your video saved in a continuous frame, it is segmented every 4GB so that in an event of power surge or power failure, you will still have a file that you can recover compared to a total loss of the whole footage.

We can forward your feedback to our Developers to further study this case and in future development it may be available in the succeeding firmware update though this is may not be the case. We are also crossing our fingers that they can accommodate most of our valued customer's feedback and suggestion."

lol they obviously don't have a clue about what they are saying. 4gb is a file size limitation the format being Fat32, which do not support files larger than 4gb.

They should allow for us to choose ExFat formatting and continuous recording....

And I did read somewhere it supports exFat and even formats sd cards like so when above 32gb but still does this silly 4gb chunks you can't properly merge....

 

[tml4191]

A 4k vid shot at about 24 fps at sunset last 9min and 20seconds. Can we please do a petition to get the ball rolling for firmware updates regarding this problem? Where do we even start?