P3 Firmware P3P firmware update problems...detailed. Update...found solution.

[victorymike]

I just upgraded to the latest firmware. Have been flying with an older version of DJI GO sideloaded on my Cyanogen modded Nexus 7 but just bought Litchi to use. Up until Litchi purchase it has worked flawlessly (for most of 2016). I loaded Litchi from the play store but when I tried to open the app it immediately error-ed, "Unfortunately, Litchi has stopped". I read of conflict errors with DJO GO so I forced it closed and cleared the cache and tried Litchi again...no dice. So I uninstalled DJI GO, restarted and tried Litchi again...same error. I removed Litchi and sideloaded a very old version and it ran fine...for the DJI Phantom 2. Contacted Litchi support and got a more recent .apk of Litchi that worked with my P3P. So I re-sideloaded DJI GO but it seemed to be a newer version and when connected to my P3P it said that I needed to update the firmware.

I had been putting it off but decided to go for it...and all seemed to go well. It seemed to work on the table. But I just went on my first flight with it...and I wanted to film in 4k since my Christmas present is a laptop capable of editing 4k video with my new Power Director 15. I previously only recorded in 1080. While flying visual line of sight on a clear beach within 250 feet up and down the shoreline the video on my Nexus 7 was extremely choppy and got so bad the video automatically stopped recording on its own. The flight controls continued to work tho. I restarted the video recording a few times and every time the video on my tablet got very bad and the recording automatically stopped. I have a Windsurfer and made 100% sure that it was pointed directly at the bird. I thought that this firmware was not working for me and focused my thoughts on the flight. I did recall that I did not put my tablet in airplane mode like I usually do...but that should not cause the video recording to automatically stop and video transmission to be...almost useless.

Old firmware version 1.09.10
New firmware version 1.10.09
Old controller firmware 1.60
New controller firmware 1.80
And I updated all 3 of my batteries too.
Checked text file after update...Said Success.
Deleted text and bin files after update and before first flight.
Thinking about going back to 1.09.10...thoughts and suggestions are welcomed.

 

[victorymike]

My bird is a P3A with a 4k camera and P3P firmware installed by the previous owner that I bought in Spring of 2016. I recorded in 4k once when I first flew it but my old slate couldn't handle editing 4k so I just recorded everything in 1080.

 

[victorymike]

Tablet software:
DJI GO 2.8.3 This is what I was flying with when I had problems.
Litchi 3.8.0 I haven't flown the bird with this yet.

 

[victorymike]

I may have talked myself into a solution. I just sideloaded DJI GO 3.1.1 and will put my tablet in aircraft mode when I take 'er up for trial flight #2...and I'll make a comparison by flying with Litchi. Still open to thoughts and suggestions tho.

 

[victorymike]

Okay...I am officially disappointed. I flew around home with my Nexus 7 tablet. Visual line of sight only, with Windsurfer; tablet and phone in airplane mode. Flight controls were consistant. Video feed...terrible to the point of being practically useless.
Results:
Nexus 7 tablet with DJI GO 3.1.1 sideloaded (Cyanogen mod) - terrible video to the point that even the recording
glitched and stopped on its own...several times.
Nexus 7 tablet with Litchi 2.8.3 sideloaded (Cyanogen mod) - same video and recording issues.
Samsung Note 4 phone with DJI GO 3.1.1 (Play Store)- terrible video to the point that the screen went black and the dji
logo came up, video came back and video recording had automatically stopped...several times.
Samsung Note 4 phone with Litchi 3.10.1 (Play Store)- Couldn't get it to connect with P3P even with forcing DJI GO to
stop.

While using my Note 4 I got a bunch of "Weak Video Transmission" errors scroll across the top of the display. I navigated the program to see the channels and strength and they were bouncing around. I can only hope that this is the issue...over sensitive channel hopping that may be cured by future updates. I first noticed the video problem when trying to fly at a location miles away from town.

I have flown around the house (outside) a lot before upgrading and never had so much as a glitch. There have been no new construction or aerials around here...besides, I was under 100 feet away and using a WindSurfer.

I am open to suggestions and will be following others' posts on this flaky firmware. Many thanks.

 

[victorymike]

Thanks to the efforts of some other members here I am looking at changing what version of DJI GO I am using. I fly with my Nexus 7 all the time and thought that I had DJI GO 2.8.3 sideloaded onto it, but when I checked it was 3.1.1. So I forced stop, cleared cache, uninstalled it and set my Play Store to never auto update my apps. Then I sideloaded DJI GO 2.9.1. I have DJI GO on my Samsung Note 4 smart phone as a backup and it always updates so was at version 3.1.1. I forced stop, cleared cache, uninstalled it and set just DJI GO to never auto update. Then I loaded DJO GO version 2.9.1.

I haven't flown with it yet to test it out but when I do I will report back.

 

[victorymike]

Got numerous little flights in today. Started out rolling my Nexus 7 tablet back to DJI GO 2.9.1...still very bad pixellated video. So I re-linked my controller (a GL300A, by the way). Went for another flight. Video problem fixed. Re-flew with Litchi 3.8.0 on my tablet...no problem. Flew with my Note 4 and DJI GO 2.9.1...no problem with the video. Managed to get the latest version of Litchi to work on my phone and tried that too...great flights. Never more than a tiny glitch here or there...very intermittent and nothing that would stop me from flying. My problem seems to be fixed...individual results may vary.

 

[victorymike]

I guess I should try re-re-updating to DJI GO 3.1.1 and fly again...it ought to work now. For me, the lesson learned is that EVERY time I upgrade my controller I will re-link it to the bird.

P.S. When I finally got the extreme video pixelation fixed I flew with my Windsurfer and went out about a quarter mile and felt comfortable that all was truly fixed.