P4 Firmware Recent upgrade to P4 Firmware and impact on view lag

Bob K · Jul 29, 2017

Upgraded P4 last weekend and all seemed to go well. Until I turned it on after a complete shut down. My display on the RC now has a delay from action to display. I am not talking in microseconds, more like micro minutes.. I roughly estimate the delay at 30 seconds from action to view. This does make it difficult to say the least. There was no range or altitude reduction when complete. The start up had a few new audibles, but all seemed well until I took off to hover and my image was still looking at my driveway. I admit to not being sharpest knife in drawer on tech issues, so I am easily baffled here. Thanks

ChrisRL · Aug 5, 2017

Yup, the new firmware update adds a lot of data to the live feed downstream, and that data causes lag in the CPU.
The fix is to select HD, then Custom (top right) and then at the bottom left, turn down the downstream rate to 6Mb/sec or even 4Mb/sec.
I had similar problems with my Mavic, P4, P4P and basically anything using the latest Go 4 app. This fix works for me.

Hshen · Aug 9, 2017

ChrisRL said:
Yup, the new firmware update adds a lot of data to the live feed downstream, and that data causes lag in the CPU.
The fix is to select HD, then Custom (top right) and then at the bottom left, turn down the downstream rate to 6Mb/sec or even 4Mb/sec.
I had similar problems with my Mavic, P4, P4P and basically anything using the latest Go 4 app. This fix works for me.

Which tablet or phone are you using to pair with the P4P? I've tested mine with Mini2 + 4G and my iphone6 still gets the same result.

nd34567890 · Sep 12, 2017

Bob K said:
Upgraded P4 last weekend and all seemed to go well. Until I turned it on after a complete shut down. My display on the RC now has a delay from action to display. I am not talking in microseconds, more like micro minutes.. I roughly estimate the delay at 30 seconds from action to view. [....]

@Bob K, I had/have issue after v01.02.0602, but i know a fair enough fix: On the Video Transmission, set it to "custom". select a channel that you observe least interference, then slide the bandwidth slider all the way left for least amount of bandwidth. These settings are ONLY for video transmission and will not affect control of aircraft. Also set your device to NOT cache video locally. I had to do this is continue to use my HTC one m7 android phone. This will reduce or more likely remove the video delay. good luck.

EDIT: Also turn off the display of "over exposure" stripes. this was a major lag for me.
The lag is essentially due to slow mobile device and high video bandwidth. (Although i never had a problem when Go 3 still used for the P4.)

Capitan Bastos · Sep 16, 2017

THABK YOU DJI!

Capitan Bastos · Sep 16, 2017

Yeah, new app, newest firmware. Everything should be in order. Until I tried actually flying.
Not happening. The phantom will take off, I did make an effort under very controlled situation, but the camera won't connect. This sucks so hard.
I'll try that HD CUSTOM fix, but I don't think it will work.

Hshen · Sep 17, 2017

Capitan Bastos said:
Yeah, new app, newest firmware. Everything should be in order. Until I tried actually flying.
Not happening. The phantom will take off, I did make an effort under very controlled situation, but the camera won't connect. This sucks so hard.
I'll try that HD CUSTOM fix, but I don't think it will work.

It took me 7-8 tries of refreshing the firmware on the AC and RC. I finally got the issues above resolved. I've bought new cable, new sd card and heaps of prayers before flying. If you are flying, keep your mobile phone away from you to minimise transmission disturbance.

Yesterday I took my P4P out to shoot Australian Dragon Boat team training in high winds, the p4p hold up well and my video tranmission on set inn HD 5.8 at 6 mb/s. Satisfied with the performance but not perfect, had once Air craft disconnected and it gave me a heart attacked.

I suggest, try reflash the AC and RC firmware and test fly it until you get it right.

Good Luck!

Capitan Bastos · Sep 26, 2017

Hshen said:
It took me 7-8 tries of refreshing the firmware on the AC and RC. I finally got the issues above resolved. I've bought new cable, new sd card and heaps of prayers before flying. If you are flying, keep your mobile phone away from you to minimise transmission disturbance.

Yesterday I took my P4P out to shoot Australian Dragon Boat team training in high winds, the p4p hold up well and my video tranmission on set inn HD 5.8 at 6 mb/s. Satisfied with the performance but not perfect, had once Air craft disconnected and it gave me a heart attacked.

I suggest, try reflash the AC and RC firmware and test fly it until you get it right.

Good Luck!

Yeah I'll try again when I get off work later this week. Thank you. The fact that these updates sometimes mess everything up on an expensive piece of equipment like this is really annoying. I've had to pass on a couple of gigs already where the Spark wouldn't be sufficient because I have no way of knowing if I'll be able to do it until the P4 is working. Kind of sucks missing out on $3-4K because of an update... An update, in my mind, should be an improvement.. DJI have yet to respond, really disappointed in that as well. When it works, I love the P4 though.