DJI needs to optimize their video decoder. It is using too much CPU/GPU resources and making our iPads overheat. This causes video freezes/green screen and dropouts which can make flying a drone difficult or even dangerous. I recommend hiring some really good app developers to help you make better use of the GPU compute abilities to save power. Also you should see if you can throttle down your frame updates and reduce the frequency that you update all the data on the screen. If you detect that you are unable to process the video fast enough, go to low power mode and cut back as much as possible. Keep the video going no matter what!

Not all tablets have GPU chips. DJI do pretty well with their software in coping with the myriad of Android flavours out there. At least the iOS versions are a bit simpler. As to 'throttling down the frame rate', the low resolution feed that is transmitted back to the RC unit comes out of a proprietary chip in the aircraft and DJI do not have any control over that code.

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-17 14:51
Not all tablets have GPU chips. DJI do pretty well with their software in coping with the myriad of Android flavours out there. At least the iOS versions are a bit simpler. As to 'throttling down the frame rate', the low resolution feed that is transmitted back to the RC unit comes out of a proprietary chip in the aircraft and DJI do not have any control over that code.

They could throttle on the side of the iPad/tablet by skipping frames. They absolutely can control the frame rate and quality on the drone side. I have never seen a video encoder that could not do those basic things.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-18 11:28
They could throttle on the side of the iPad/tablet by skipping frames. They absolutely can control the frame rate and quality on the drone side. I have never seen a video encoder that could not do those basic things.

'They absolutely can control the frame rate and quality on the drone side.'

You did not read what I said. The entire video processing is done inside a proprietary one-chip device, and it provides a downscaled version of what has been selected as the resolution and frame rate. DJI do not have control over the code inside the chip that does this, therefore they do not have any control over the frame rate of the preview feed.

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-18 15:20
'They absolutely can control the frame rate and quality on the drone side.'

You did not read what I said. The entire video processing is done inside a proprietary one-chip device, and it provides a downscaled version of what has been selected as the resolution and frame rate. DJI do not have control over the code inside the chip that does this, therefore they do not have any control over the frame rate of the preview feed.

Yes and chips are magic. There are unicorns and leprechauns in there crunching the pixels. No a chip is just a bit of smart electronics with its own software. You can control the frame rate. They had a similar stupid excuse for why they had to split the video files into 4GB chunks even though the file system can handle much larger files.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-27 22:57
Yes and chips are magic. There are unicorns and leprechauns in there crunching the pixels. No a chip is just a bit of smart electronics with its own software. You can control the frame rate. They had a similar stupid excuse for why they had to split the video files into 4GB chunks even though the file system can handle much larger files.

"They had a similar stupid excuse for why they had to split the video files into 4GB chunks even though the file system can handle much larger files."

The excuse is that FAT32 format files cannot exceed 4GB, its that simple.

From Wiki:-

"The maximum possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GiB minus 1 byte or 4,294,967,295 (2^32 − 1) bytes. This limit is a consequence of the file length entry in the directory table and would also affect huge FAT16 partitions with a sufficient sector size.[1] Large video files, DVD images and databases often exceed this limit."

I had a device overheating issue when I first got my Phantom 3 Pro, using an iPad Mini 2, so I returned it and exchanged it for an iPad Air2 Cellular, and never experienced that issue again. The Air 2 has a built in heat sync which all but alleviates any heat.



RedHotPoker

So considering this problem of incompatibility with ipad 4 mini, which tablet is compatible and works fine with phantom 4 pro?

fans155fc8dc Posted at 2017-7-23 08:32
So considering this problem of incompatibility with ipad 4 mini, which tablet is compatible and works fine with phantom 4 pro?

Can't speak for the P4 Pro but the iPad Pro (2017) is working fine with my P4.

Aardvark Posted at 2017-6-28 09:38
"They had a similar stupid excuse for why they had to split the video files into 4GB chunks even though the file system can handle much larger files."

The excuse is that FAT32 format files cannot exceed 4GB, its that simple.

Yep that's true. Luckily the P4 uses exFat which has a maximum file size limit of 16 EXABYTES!

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-7-25 09:24
Yep that's true. Luckily the P4 uses exFat which has a maximum file size limit of 16 EXABYTES!

That's also true, but FAT 32 is the recommended format up to 32 GB SD cards and ExFAT beyond that. So whether there is some legacy reason, who knows. In practice it doesn't really present any problems.

Aardvark Posted at 2017-7-25 11:22
That's also true, but FAT 32 is the recommended format up to 32 GB SD cards and ExFAT beyond that. So whether there is some legacy reason, who knows. In practice it doesn't really present any problems.

Two problems:
A: I get two or three files for a flight instead of one which is harder to edit:
B: The drone loses frames between video segments ruining what may otherwise be a great sequence of video.

Bottom line... my iPad never, ever overheated prior to the latest DJIGO4 update, and it now overheats almost immediately and I get Video Transmission errors.  I do not get these problems when running Litchi.

I don't know if the overheating is because of new functionality in DJIGO that pushes the iPad too far, or if there are bugs in the software (for example, code loops or inefficient code that needlessly grinds the CPU/GPU)... but I DO know that this problem did not exist previously.

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-9-1 05:33
Bottom line... my iPad never, ever overheated prior to the latest DJIGO4 update, and it now overheats almost immediately and I get Video Transmission errors.  I do not get these problems when running Litchi.

I don't know if the overheating is because of new functionality in DJIGO that pushes the iPad too far, or if there are bugs in the software (for example, code loops or inefficient code that needlessly grinds the CPU/GPU)... but I DO know that this problem did not exist previously.

Very true.  So where is the fix??

my iPad mini 2 never overheats or gets hot or warm.., i do however get the "mobile cpu is fully loaded" error fairly often but i not seen any loss in performance the frame rate remains stable and app doesn't crash.... albeit this was with the 4.1.5 update.   i haven't used 4.1.7 yet because my ipad mini 2 fell and cracked...  i am however getting another to replace it...

my samsung galaxy S8 never shows the cpu fully loaded error but it does get fairly warm to the touch. and lags/crashes the app..

RedHotPoker Posted at 2017-6-28 11:20
I had a device overheating issue when I first got my Phantom 3 Pro, using an iPad Mini 2, so I returned it and exchanged it for an iPad Air2 Cellular, and never experienced that issue again. The Air 2 has a built in heat sync which all but alleviates any heat.

I already have a Sony Ultra Xperia so it had a fast chipset. I never liked Apple devices as cannot use them for my business.  

I never have heat issues with my Mini 4. It doesn't even get warm.

It may have been my "Pilot" app settings. Not sure if I had something turned off, that should have been left On.

Perhaps the Go app has become more efficient, if more power hungry too.

Anyway, the iPad Air2 has been brilliant. Other than some Sun glare issues, I have zero complaints, nor any other problimatica' that ever occurred.

I do like the larger screen as well, all parameters are visible, no fiddling or fumbling around is necessary.


RedHotPoker

blackcrusader Posted at 2017-9-1 23:59
I already have a Sony Ultra Xperia so it had a fast chipset. I never liked Apple devices as cannot use them for my business.

That's not right. You know, you can be bloody embarrassing at times?


Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend. Go flying... Haha




RedHotPoker

I have a feeling that the iPad Mini 2 is probably not far from getting knocked off the compatible devices list.

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-9-2 06:45
I have a feeling that the iPad Mini 2 is probably not far from getting knocked off the compatible devices list.

I hope the Air2 has a longevity I can live with... Ha

It would be a shame to become a grounded bird... Snickers


RedHotPoker

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-9-2 06:45
I have a feeling that the iPad Mini 2 is probably not far from getting knocked off the compatible devices list.

i doubt it, since they would have to knock off all 64bit iPads to achieve this, as per iOS dev policies.  basically apple has a system in place says if they still software support the product (via ios updates) no developer can cherry pick compatibility without violating app store rules.  the most cherry picking they can do is excluding entire product lines.. like iPhone compatible or iPad compatible..

as for if it's justified to want to drop iPad mini 2 off.. no, the app needs an overhaul before we could even discuss other options.. the app is overdue for a rebuild with all of its other problems.. besides even when i have seen the message suggesting cpu is maxed out, its still silky smooth, the temperature i never noticed any extra heat, battery life remains solid..  infact my S8 handles the DjiGo4 app terribly compared to my iPad mini 2, sure it doesnt show im maxing cpu out ever but i get alot more hiccups on the S8 and talk about heat, my S8 runs way warm running the app..  

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-9-2 11:55
i doubt it, since they would have to knock off all 64bit iPads to achieve this, as per iOS dev policies.  basically apple has a system in place says if they still software support the product (via ios updates) no developer can cherry pick compatibility without violating app store rules.  the most cherry picking they can do is excluding entire product lines.. like iPhone compatible or iPad compatible..

as for if it's justified to want to drop iPad mini 2 off.. no, the app needs an overhaul before we could even discuss other options.. the app is overdue for a rebuild with all of its other problems.. besides even when i have seen the message suggesting cpu is maxed out, its still silky smooth, the temperature i never noticed any extra heat, battery life remains solid..  infact my S8 handles the DjiGo4 app terribly compared to my iPad mini 2, sure it doesnt show im maxing cpu out ever but i get alot more hiccups on the S8 and talk about heat, my S8 runs way warm running the app..

Hmmm... this doesn't make enough sense to me.  So if Apple chooses to keep the iPad Mini 2 supported in its IOS for another 5 years, all developers need to accommodate an ancient and low powered machine?  Seems silly.

Mabou2 Posted at 2017-9-2 13:42
Hmmm... this doesn't make enough sense to me.  So if Apple chooses to keep the iPad Mini 2 supported in its IOS for another 5 years, all developers need to accommodate an ancient and low powered machine?  Seems silly.

well we dont know how long Apple plans on supporting A7 SoC anyway.. i just know iOS 11 is fully supported with A7  SoC and that means with current policies in place if a dev is developing for iPads they must optimize for all iPads currently supported by apple.   A7 SoC is actually fairly common CPU apple used in more than just iPad mini 2. few other devices that also using same SoC and are fully supported by latest updates include: iPhone 5S, iPad mini 3, and iPad Air, iPad mini 2.   so i believe we are stuck with support for at least 1 more generation of updates, possibly 2 more generations of updates given A7 isn't all that weak and can screen capture in 1600 x 1600 resolution at 25mb/sec while using djigo4 app without frame dropping.

Whether or not the 'ole mini 2 is off the official list or not, I have one and it's out of commission for now with DJI GoApp, I've started using Litchi with better success for now.  I know the device/mini 2 is getting old, but the frustrating part is not really being able to put your finger on "what happened"?? Worked fine until last Go and FW update (I updated after the nag screens in July).

I could see needing to upgrade the mini *if* there was some new app or similar that I knew was more taxing, but for most of us, it just stopped working, and yes getting HOT

Question is.. do any of the newer iPad Pro's or similar get hot or get buggy?

Inspector_Tim Posted at 2017-9-2 18:10
Whether or not the 'ole mini 2 is off the official list or not, I have one and it's out of commission for now with DJI GoApp, I've started using Litchi with better success for now.  I know the device/mini 2 is getting old, but the frustrating part is not really being able to put your finger on "what happened"?? Worked fine until last Go and FW update (I updated after the nag screens in July).

I could see needing to upgrade the mini *if* there was some new app or similar that I knew was more taxing, but for most of us, it just stopped working, and yes getting HOT  

my GF's iPad Pro gets about as hot and laggy as my mini 2.. by that i mean not hot or laggy at all...    i wonder why some people are having issues

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-9-2 18:13
my GF's iPad Pro gets about as hot and laggy as my mini 2.. by that i mean not hot or laggy at all...    i wonder why some people are having issues

I don't know what happened.

Removed app/reinstalled

Reason I asked about laggy on Pro vs Mini is that my iPhone 6s+ works just fine for the App, but for me, the screen is too small.

Glad you're able to use the Go app on the mini2 with no problems tho.

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-9-2 18:13
my GF's iPad Pro gets about as hot and laggy as my mini 2.. by that i mean not hot or laggy at all...    i wonder why some people are having issues

Try it in direct sunlight in 100+F temperatures.

Inspector_Tim Posted at 2017-9-3 09:32
I don't know what happened.

Removed app/reinstalled

i tried the app on a few devices today.  iPad mini 2, Iphone 5S, my GF iPad pro..  all behaved identically.. the iPhone 5S and iPad pro faster to load the app than the mini 2 was but i theorize that is because the 5S's screen resolution is lower..and on same cpu so it makes sense for a theory.   mini 2 was definitely slower to launch into the app completely but once it was in the app i noticed no hesitations or lag or jitter or slow down anything..on any devices in fact if all same size and had same screeen, i couldn't have told them apart once launched....  they are all running iOS 11 beta 8 as well and dji go 4.1.9 (according to app store)  yes i did see a few errors suggesting my iPad mini2 2's CPU was maxed out but no ill effect not even a frame drop..

i dont know why people having issues, but i'm guessing must be similar to people with the S8 having issues like myself..  its a nightmare with its crashing, sluggishness, getting hot and spazzing out.., but some people its flawless..  the app isn't well engineered maybe there is a background app or something that isnt playing nice for some people.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-9-3 15:24
Try it in direct sunlight in 100+F temperatures.

LUL i have actually have left her stuff in the direct sunlight in my car at the farm once..  surprisingly no damage i can speak off occurred.. the screen was discolored then once it cooled off the discoloration vanished..

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-9-3 15:25
i tried the app on a few devices today.  iPad mini 2, Iphone 5S, my GF iPad pro..  all behaved identically.. the iPhone 5S and iPad pro faster to load the app than the mini 2 was but i theorize that is because the 5S's screen resolution is lower..and on same cpu so it makes sense for a theory.   mini 2 was definitely slower to launch into the app completely but once it was in the app i noticed no hesitations or lag or jitter or slow down anything..on any devices in fact if all same size and had same screeen, i couldn't have told them apart once launched....  they are all running iOS 11 beta 8 as well and dji go 4.1.9 (according to app store)  yes i did see a few errors suggesting my iPad mini2 2's CPU was maxed out but no ill effect not even a frame drop..

i dont know why people having issues, but i'm guessing must be similar to people with the S8 having issues like myself..  its a nightmare with its crashing, sluggishness, getting hot and spazzing out.., but some people its flawless..  the app isn't well engineered maybe there is a background app or something that isnt playing nice for some people.

Hmmm, I wonder if IOS 11 is the variable here, as there are a lot of others with the Mini 2 who aren't having the same experience as previous versions of Go. There may be something to it, dunno

I've not used the Beta myself, I tend to wait until released for a bit.

Inspector_Tim Posted at 2017-9-3 16:01
Hmmm, I wonder if IOS 11 is the variable here, as there are a lot of others with the Mini 2 who aren't having the same experience as previous versions of Go. There may be something to it, dunno

I've not used the Beta myself, I tend to wait until released for a bit.

public beta 8 is very stable.. developers are on beta 9, and this time around it has been fairly bug free on front end unlike past iOS beta launches..  i have a feeling next week the gold master beta hits since its so rock solid.. then usually if no bugs or security flaws are found in the GM beta update that copy gets signed into final release the week after...
but ya anything can be the varieable, i found ios 11 beta runs dji go very well, beta 3 was onyl one giving me trouble nd that was more related to caching djigo4 does and screen capture compatability issue with iOS 11, but that cleared up for me in next update..    the only time i feel my ipad mini 2 gotten warm was while i was screen capturing with built in ios 11 screen capture and using the dji go caching feature since i think both are tagging the gpu/cpu a bit.. however never caused preformance loss i have seen, but warns me my cpu is overloaded or maxed out...  again no frame drops.. no increased lag, the warmth i feel isnt alarming.. if i dont screen capture but i use caching the ipad remains cool to the touch, or if i dont cache but i am screen capturing again cool to the touch, doing both causes it to warm up a bit..

fans155fc8dc Posted at 2017-7-23 08:32
So considering this problem of incompatibility with ipad 4 mini, which tablet is compatible and works fine with phantom 4 pro?

I'm using an iPad mini 3 and have never experienced any sort of heating up or overheating.
Thinking maybe this user has an issue with the iPad itself which has nought to do with the DJI software.

Might weigh in here.
iPad mini 3, iOS 11.1, latest GO app, crud .0106 bird firmware, never gets hot or plays up.
Oh, and I'm in Australia and fly in 40' celsius heat, in the sunlight.

Griff_AU Posted at 2017-11-4 15:03
I'm using an iPad mini 3 and have never experienced any sort of heating up or overheating.
Thinking maybe this user has an issue with the iPad itself which has nought to do with the DJI software.

Nought? Where are you from? ;-)

Not from Canada for danged sure... Ha
Ok, never mind, understood, Down Under lingo...

I ought to keep quiet... Chuckles
+40* C must be uncomfortable. +30*C is hot enough for this Canadian...
RedHotPoker

I to used iPad mini 2 for flying my phantom 4, it also started giving the cpu fully loaded message after last Go app update but haven’t noticed it getting hot. Regarding support I see that the mini 2 is now the lowest spec supported to update to iOS 11 I also see reports of the update causing lag, perhaps next update cycle will drop it off the list. As a (hopefully) cure I to have taken the iPad Air 2 route, also going with the cellular version for the gps.