Video Records but No Motion

[Vlaak]

Hey all,

I went out into some hills and thought I was getting a really great sunset with my new P3P. It was soooo cold that I just let the recorder record in 4k for 2 full flights with the intention of cutting the video up later. However, when I got the memory card into the computer I found some of the video is corrupt in a weird way.

Both flights were split into multiple files as I've come to expect since the quad will only record in 4gb chunks (assuming because fat32 filesystem as discussed in another thread). As expected, in both cases, the flight was broken into 3 chunks, two 4gb chunks and a much smaller chunk for the end of the video. However, in both cases, the middle video file plays fine for the first couple seconds and seems normal except then the video stops and just stays frozen on that scene for the entire 9 minutes. The beginning video chunk and the end video chunk of each flight are fine. Just the middle chunk is corrupt in this way.

I did some Googling and didn't see anything about this. Any ideas?

Some things I've come up with:
1. Maybe it was because I didn't format the new card and it was the first time using them out of the package (ooops, didn't go through my check list like a dumb *** since it was so cold).
2. Maybe the card was too slow? It is this card on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-micro...p/B010Q588D4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8 however others seem to claim to use this just fine in their P3Ps in the comments at Amazon.
3. Maybe a corrupt card somehow? this seems unlikely since the recordings failed in such a specific way.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Vlaak

 

[alokbhargava]

You should format your card to exFAT file system and its writing speed should be enough to match up with your recording. See DJI s recommendations. I suggest your first trial recording should be on stock card.

 

[lotusteve]

if the card is formated within the djigo app what format does it use ? is this not the correct way to format the sd card.

 

[Mario_SB]

Hey all,

I went out into some hills and thought I was getting a really great sunset with my new P3P. It was soooo cold that I just let the recorder record in 4k for 2 full flights with the intention of cutting the video up later. However, when I got the memory card into the computer I found some of the video is corrupt in a weird way.

Both flights were split into multiple files as I've come to expect since the quad will only record in 4gb chunks (assuming because fat32 filesystem as discussed in another thread). As expected, in both cases, the flight was broken into 3 chunks, two 4gb chunks and a much smaller chunk for the end of the video. However, in both cases, the middle video file plays fine for the first couple seconds and seems normal except then the video stops and just stays frozen on that scene for the entire 9 minutes. The beginning video chunk and the end video chunk of each flight are fine. Just the middle chunk is corrupt in this way.

I did some Googling and didn't see anything about this. Any ideas?

Some things I've come up with:
1. Maybe it was because I didn't format the new card and it was the first time using them out of the package (ooops, didn't go through my check list like a dumb *** since it was so cold).
2. Maybe the card was too slow? It is this card on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-micro...p/B010Q588D4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8 however others seem to claim to use this just fine in their P3Ps in the comments at Amazon.
3. Maybe a corrupt card somehow? this seems unlikely since the recordings failed in such a specific way.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Vlaak

I have experienced the same thing with the same exact 64GB card from Amazon. I have this sneaky suspicion that I may have a counterfeit card from Amazon. I've recently bought three other cards, another 64GB from Amazon with no problems, same format, same everything and two other 32GB SanDisk Ultras from B&H Photo with no problems.

 

[Mario_SB]

Hey all,

I went out into some hills and thought I was getting a really great sunset with my new P3P. It was soooo cold that I just let the recorder record in 4k for 2 full flights with the intention of cutting the video up later. However, when I got the memory card into the computer I found some of the video is corrupt in a weird way.

Both flights were split into multiple files as I've come to expect since the quad will only record in 4gb chunks (assuming because fat32 filesystem as discussed in another thread). As expected, in both cases, the flight was broken into 3 chunks, two 4gb chunks and a much smaller chunk for the end of the video. However, in both cases, the middle video file plays fine for the first couple seconds and seems normal except then the video stops and just stays frozen on that scene for the entire 9 minutes. The beginning video chunk and the end video chunk of each flight are fine. Just the middle chunk is corrupt in this way.

I did some Googling and didn't see anything about this. Any ideas?

Some things I've come up with:
1. Maybe it was because I didn't format the new card and it was the first time using them out of the package (ooops, didn't go through my check list like a dumb *** since it was so cold).
2. Maybe the card was too slow? It is this card on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-micro...p/B010Q588D4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8 however others seem to claim to use this just fine in their P3Ps in the comments at Amazon.
3. Maybe a corrupt card somehow? this seems unlikely since the recordings failed in such a specific way.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Vlaak

If you have the time you should look and see if you got a counterfeit micro SD card. These "fakes" are rampantly selling on Amazon and eBay. The packaging and the actually card can be very difficult to distinguish from the real thing.

If you have an Android device you should try this and let us know what comes up.
SD Insight - Android Apps on Google Play

Here are some more resources for you to check:
How to Verify Fake Micro SD Card

I hear of a program called H2testw 1.4 that I hear is an excellent "fake" SD card detection tool but I have yet to use it but let us know how it works out!

 

[Oso]

Sandisk Ultra cards are known to be very slow for write performance.

Swapping SD cards | DJI Phantom Forum

Camera Stopping Mid Flight | DJI Phantom Forum

 

[Mario_SB]

Sandisk Ultra cards are known to be very slow for write performance.

Camera Stopping Mid Flight | DJI Phantom Forum

If it wasn't for the good performance of my other 3 SanDisk Ultra cards then I would have to agree but there is a good chance we might have gotten a hold of cheaper quality, slower speed counterfeits.

 

[Vlaak]

Interesting feedback everyone. I obtained the cards from Amazon itself, not a 3rd party seller so I'd be surprised if they were fake. That being said, I'm going to see if I can test them for fake using the advice above from Mario_SB (I have 2 of the cards I linked but have only used 1 so far).

I did my first couple flights on the 16gb card which came with the quad and they worked fine. But I never took a recording that was long enough to be split into 3 parts so it's hard to judge from that.

This weekend I'm going to take out the factory card and do at least one long recording and see what happens. I'm also going to format the 2 new cards (using the gimble format command from the app) and see if they work better, not that it matters, I wont ever trust them again, I'm just curious.

 

[Vlaak]

Sandisk Ultra cards are known to be very slow for write performance.

Swapping SD cards | DJI Phantom Forum

Camera Stopping Mid Flight | DJI Phantom Forum

Really interesting links Oso. I guess I didn't search well enough (I wasn't sure what to search on). This seems most likely the issue I was facing. I'll still do some testing this weekend just for curiosity's sake though.