I've recently bought a Phantom 3 Advanced. Really enjoying it, seems a great product, thank you DJI!!
However, there is one key issue.

The video bitrate for PAL 1080P is 33% less quality than the NTSC 1080P video bitrate.

1080P 25fps is approximately 26Mbps

1080P 30fps is approximately 40Mbps

I live in the United Kingdom where PAL is the TV standard. Although I can use the NTSC setting for some work where the destination is onlline video, I need to use the PAL setting for TV work. I need the video to be the best quality and it makes no sense to have this difference in bitrates and quality, between PAL and NTSC in 1080P resolution.

DJI - can you please mend this bug in the Ph3 Advanced firmware (1.9.60) so that 1080P video for PAL and NTSC can both have 40Mbps video bitrate?

Thank you.

The 1080P NTSC on the Advance is 60mbps on mine??

>>The 1080P NTSC on the Advance is 60mbps on mine??<<

What frame rate is that at please? (I've only tried 1080P 30fps NTSC)

Thats at 60fps ....

I'm slightly confused here, surely PAL is now redundant in UK where there are no 625 line analogue transmissions ?

If 60fps is giving a bitrate of 60Mbps (fwiw I haven't tried it yet) then it's no better quality than the 25fps setting I am complaining about (of about 1Mbps for each frame of video), whereas the 30fps setting gives a bitrate of 40Mbps, or circa 1.33Mbps per frame, an increase in bitrate of about 33%. This makes the 1080P 30fps setting currently the best quality video setting.

Regarding >>I'm slightly confused here, surely PAL is now redundant in UK where there are no 625 line analogue transmissions ?<<
I'm referring to the frame rate of 25 frames per second, rather than a PAL TV line standard. ie. shooting 1080P video at 25fps.

If you want to submit video for TV production work, then most companies in UK or Europe will expect the video to be shot at 25fps.

DJI - any feedback on the 25fps bitrate being increased to 40Mbps, so it is as good as the 30fps NTSC setting?

(FYI) - Is the 2.7k setting any better....45mbps at 23fps according to the data info...

Gibbo Posted at 2016-10-14 18:13
If 60fps is giving a bitrate of 60Mbps (fwiw I haven't tried it yet) then it's no better quality tha ...

Thanks for the update, I've seen requirements that says they need 1080i/25 not 1080P/25 if so then does that give improved bit rate ?

Or is it recorded in 1080P and then rendered to 1080i ?

The phantom records progressive frames capture only.  E.g. 1080p 25

If someone specifically wanted a different frame rate or interlacing then you could render that out  in most editing software (with possible loss of qualitiy)

Can one of the DJI admins please comment on the original question of PAL bitrates? Thanks

Anyone there at DJI?

PS - Just checked on an Inspire1 and it also has 1080P 25fps also is approximately 26Mbps ?FYI?

SimonH78 - thanks for the info.

Wow, I'd presumed that the the Inspire 1 would have far better quality/bitrate.

If you can, please let us know what the 1080P 30fps bitrate is on the Inspire 1 (I'm guessing 40Mbps)

I'm now using my P3A at 1080P 30fps as this definitely give the best video quality.

It's a shame that DJI can't make the 25fps the same bitrate as the 30fps setting.

Gibbo Posted at 2016-10-15 23:30
Can one of the DJI admins please comment on the original question of PAL bitrates? Thanks

Do not take any notice of it, the whole PAL/NTSC thing is irrelevant, as it only pertains to Standard Definition video signals, and none of the DJI Phantom aircraft can record in SD anyway. Once you get into the HD world, you are dealing with files, not television standards. If you are selling your footage to a television broadcast company, they may ask you to produce an SD version, but any decent editing package can output to a form acceptable to television broadcast companies.

The only thing the standards selection menu does in the aircraft is allow a selection of frame rates that suit the 50 Hertz world, such as 25 fps and 50 fps. As to the lower bitrate, all video processing functions from the sensor chip to the SD card are handled by a proprietary single chip and DJI do not have any control over it. And being as the chip is made by an American company, typically they don't know anything about PAL anyway.

Thanks Geebax, noted regarding SD, but there are two other key points at play here;
Video production requirements

If someone is doing HD video production in Europe and editing drone footage into an edit timeline of mixed footage, won't they expect the drone footage to have been shot at 25fps? (so it matches the main video footage which will have been shot on other cameras at 25fps)? I know that most editing packages will handle mixed framerates and output to a desired framerate, but I'd presumed that there would be a preference for having 'the right' framerate as the native footage. I ask this as a question, as my understanding mat be incorrect on this point.

Video Quality

The 30fps setting gives far better quality video than the 25fps setting (circa 33% higher bitrate). There is no mention of video bitrates in the DJI technical specs, other than highlighting the maximum bitrate for each product, which could give the impression that all fps settings use the maximum bitrate.

Most (all?) of the non-DJI online tutorial youtube videos and webpages I've seen giving advice on the best video settings cover profiles, sharpness, shutter speed, etc, but don't mention framerate in any context other than saying, select NTSC or PAL depending on where you live.

As a side effect to all this, there will be a whole load of people using DJI Phantom products who aren't aware that different bitrates are used at different framerates and that using 30fps will give far better video quality results than using 25fps for 1080P resultion (They'll have set their drone to shoot 25fps by virtue of selecting PAL when they first used the drone, due to their location, thinking that is the best thing to do).

If nothing else, perhaps this thread will make people aware of that simple point and enable them to enjoy getting the best quality video from their drone. Which must be a good thing for everyone, including DJI.

Regardless and as a seperate issue, it doesn't make any sense that the 25fps setting is 33% less bitrate than the 30fps setting. I find it difficult to believe that DJI couldn't work with the chipset vendor (or more likely the camera firmware developer) to alter this. I'm really enjoying my P3A and think it is an amazing product, all products have limitations and issues, but it would be really good if DJI could address it.

Gibbo Posted at 2016-10-30 21:06
SimonH78 - thanks for the info.

Wow, I'd presumed that the the Inspire 1 would have far better qual ...

Hi... no 30fps at 1080PAL just these
DJI_0001-1080-24fps@26kbitrate
DJI_0001-1080-25fps@26kbitrate
DJI_0001-1080-48fps@41kbitrate
DJI_0002-1080-50fps@40kbitrate
DJI_0003-1080-120fps@13kbitrate

And for the specs of the Zenmuse range have a look Here

So arguably only the Zenmuse X5R would produce 'true' broadcast quality ?

Aardvark Posted at 2016-10-31 20:18
And for the specs of the Zenmuse range have a look Here

So arguably only the Zenmuse X5R would prod ...

Just shows how POOR the cameras are then....

SimonH78 Posted at 2016-10-31 22:49
Just shows how POOR the cameras are then....

To a point, good enough for most of us. But if I were doing it for a living I'd have to step up I think.

The iPhone 6s Plus 4k works at 50Mb/s VBR, as a comparison.

I might be wrong, but the bitrate PER FRAME is probably identical! After all, 30 FPS is 20% more FRAMES than 25. If you only need 25 FPS, then the remaining frames are really only taking up hard disk space!!...