fans_drone Posted at 2017-4-13 00:37
Many user have been waiting the results with new firmware about jerk frame.....

I just did a whole hours worth of flying and recording and I did not see anymore glitching! Looks good! The one thing that remains is that the gimbal still does NOT hold it's place when using the mechanical shutter.  Not a huge deal as the only time I would like it to be still is when doing time lapse photography, and at that point you are usually dealing with things like sunsets, etc.

Jerk free with about five mins of footage. Hope this is fixed!

If so, thank you DJI, but in the future it would be nice to not wait as long for the fix!

Also^^^ not have your support centers tell me to send the drone in for repairs of and I quote "a hardware problem".

Mobilcams Posted at 2017-4-13 17:51
I just did a whole hours worth of flying and recording and I did not see anymore glitching! Looks good! The one thing that remains is that the gimbal still does NOT hold it's place when using the mechanical shutter.  Not a huge deal as the only time I would like it to be still is when doing time lapse photography, and at that point you are usually dealing with things like sunsets, etc.

Mobilcams,

That's great news about the glitch (extra frame) issue appearing to be resolved by the latest firmware update.

Now, can you comment on if the horizon remains level (after proper IMU and gimbal calibration on a level surface) during BOTH hover as well as during forward and sideways flight at 25+ mph?

Dr.Felegis Posted at 2017-4-13 20:04
Jerk free with about five mins of footage. Hope this is fixed!

If so, thank you DJI, but in the future it would be nice to not wait as long for the fix!

Dr. Felegis,

Please also tell us if the horizon remains level (after proper IMU and gimbal calibration on a level surface) during BOTH hover as well as during forward and sideways flight at 25+ mph?

My 4pro is doing the same. It only started doing it since the latest firmware upgrade. I downgraded the firmware & its still doing it. I need a fix asap as I have client needing vision.

Dr.Felegis Posted at 2017-4-12 18:08
Just updated. I will be flying all day tomorrow for work at 4k 60fps. Wish me luck! I will report back with results

Just upgraded to what version? There is no new release on the DJI web site.

jonathanp Posted at 2017-4-1 14:30
Same thing happened to me.  I'm gonna wait it out.

Jonathanp, has the jerk problem (added frame at 4k60fps) been fixed with the latest firmware for your P4P?

Just saw this thread.  You might be surprised that I do not have a Phantom.  I have the inspire 2 with the X4S and have experienced this exact problem as well.

It only occurs with 4k60.  I've performed extensive testing.  It is not a dropped frame, but rather an extra frame that appears to jump ahead.  It is random and seen more frequently while panning.  I have also noted it flying forward..  I've checked multiple cards from different manufacturers.  Repeated testing never revealed the problem in 4k30. The fix is removing the extra frame, which I have done in FCPX.

Frustrating as it is, essentially I've avoided 4k60.  I hope you are correct and that the problem has been resolved in the latest firmware update.  I will test later today.

Barry

Just to confirm yes the added frame issue has been fixed in the latest release.

The fix has not made it to the X4S  on the I2 this releas, hopefully soon.

It is good to have confirmation of the jerk fix from as many people as possible. Please report ...

Have you tested the X4S since yesterday's firmware update?

kykphantom Posted at 2017-4-13 20:36
Jonathanp, has the jerk problem (added frame at 4k60fps) been fixed with the latest firmware for your P4P?

Going flying shortly and will report back.

P4P+ Posted at 2017-4-13 20:33
Just upgraded to what version? There is no new release on the DJI web site.

Plug your P4P into the PC or Mac and the update shows up.  The website hasn't been updated yet.

Just went out for some test flights.  I believe the new firmware has resolved the jerk frame issue.  I will upload a 2 minute raw example video.  I also tested autoflight logic autopilot app and it worked great.

kykphantom Posted at 2017-4-13 20:36
Jonathanp, has the jerk problem (added frame at 4k60fps) been fixed with the latest firmware for your P4P?

It appears to be fixed.  

Test flight example:

jonathanp Posted at 2017-4-14 07:12
It appears to be fixed.

Good news eventually, hope this is fixed. In your test flight (about 2minutes) looks ok, although in some cases the issue was appearing after 4-5 minutes of flight.

Just noticed that this thread has been visited more than 500 times in a day. Imagine how many people have (hopefully had) this jerk problem!

All-

The issue is now fixed on the p4p.. The issue is and will be corrected on the x4s on next release. It just didn't make it into this weeks i2 update.

Now I hope this shows that DJI is not evil and we try our best to be as transparent as possible. I hope this will also show that fake emails will not work and you will be removed from the site if you choose to continue that behavior!

Once again I would like to thank you all for your support and continued pateince during his fix!

jonathanp Posted at 2017-4-14 04:23
Plug your P4P into the PC or Mac and the update shows up.  The website hasn't been updated yet.

TY I am now upgraded.

Im glad this is fixed

I don't know if I'm on the "it's fixed" band wagon so fast. I didn't have the so called "jerk" before the update... After the update, I do believe I now have this issue. I flew yesterday and noticed it in playback. I flew today and noticed it again. Before the update, I was able to use two different media players to playback my 4k videos and both worked without a hitch. Now only one works and the other one freezes every few seconds.

Hummmm

DJI-BladeStrike Posted at 2017-4-14 10:38
All-

The issue is now fixed on the p4p.. The issue is and will be corrected on the x4s on next release. It just didn't make it into this weeks i2 update.

DJI-BladeStrike, Thanks for posting this official notification from DJI.

All - I can confirm, based on my personal test flights today - the periodic "extra frame insertion" (aka "jerk frame" issue) during filming at 4K/60 fps with the Phantom 4 Pro has been resolved by the latest 0509 firmware update.  

This morning I purchased a new P4Pro at my local Best Buy, installed the latest 0509 firmware on the Aircraft, RC and 4 batteries, performed a cold IMU calibration and gimbal auto-calibration on a flat surface (because my horizon was a little off) and then flew for 50 minutes. I shot 6-1/2 minutes in 4K/30 fps and then recorded 38 minutes of video with two batteries at 4K/60 fps all in H264 in MP4 file format.  I just finished reviewing all this footage carefully on my 4K OLED UHDTV and there is not one instance of "extra frame insertion" and there were no missing frames (which was never an issue for me) in ANY of the video I recorded. Outstanding!

Other comments on latest 0509 firmware.  

Wind Notice Comments. Wind today was reported by third-party HOVER app to be 8 mph, which agrees with my measurements - made at ground level - with my electronic anemometer.  I don't consider 8 mph wind speed to be "too windy" to fly, but I got frequent "Too Windy" messages displayed on my DJI GO 4 app camera screen, which reappeared shortly ever time I cleared them. Perhaps wind speeds at 400' AGL were significantly higher than at ground level.

Gimbal Horizon Comments. My gimbal horizon was initially tilted during stationary hover, and required a 1.6 adjustment to correct.  I was disappointed that I had to make this ajustment after calibrating IMU and gimbal. However, once this one-time adjustment was made, my horizon remained level during both hover and variable forward speeds over 3 flights (longest was 22 min) at speeds up to 29 mph (with obstacle detection turned ON).  I did experience some noticeable horizon tilt during sideways flight to the right.  Overall, while not perfect, this gimbal horizon performance is a major improvement over the variable and significant horizon tilt I had experienced with a previous P4Pro several weeks ago using previous firmware.  

Comments on Gimbal Performance with third-party ND filters + Polarizers installed.  I did not experience any gimbal instability, gimbal overloads or other issues during 50 minutes of flying in 8+ mph (or possibly higher) winds at speeds up to 29 mph.

Comments on Range.  I flew in a signal-interference prone urban area today.  I did so safely by using an observer and by following wide green belts between neighborhoods.  In 2.4 GHz HD transmission mode I was able to fly to 8000 foot distance before losing both RC and HD video dignal in Custom mode with a fixed channel 20. In Auto mode at 2.4 GHz, I was able to fly to 8400 feet max distance.  Surprisingly (for me), when Inswitched to 5.8 GHz mode in Auto, I did not lose either HD or RC Signal strength out to 15,000 feet, when I turned around at 65% battery level.  Wow - this is significantly improved distance range at 5.8 GHz vs. the 2.4 GHz range I achieved today following exact same route with my new P4 Pro or the 7500' max range I achieved last week with my older P4 (which only uses 2.4GHz for HD video transmission). I was surprised (and pleased) that selecting 5.8 GHz appeared to improve BOTH RC and HD video signal transmission strength and performance.Note: I ALWAYS use a slip-on parabolic reflector on my RC antenna to improve signal reception.  

So, everybody happy now?

kykphantom Posted at 2017-4-18 05:25
So, everybody happy now?

do you prefer a jerking footage for your works?

Well, I just had that in 4K/24p couple of days ago, after the update. I want to believe that it was related to the fact that I was flying with a full 64GB card (kept forgetting to format it), and there was some kind of bottleneck involved during shooting. I'll keep monitoring it. Last time I've seen that in 4K/24 was once a few weeks ago and I just thought it was a random happening.
Interesting fact: All the times I had a dropped frame (in both 24P or 60p), it was ALWAYS when I was doing a simultaneous up and back movement (left stick up, right stick down). This controller combination was happening EVERY time I saw jerk frame (and that was in average 1-2 times in every full battery flight).

fans_drone Posted at 2017-4-18 05:47
do you prefer a jerking footage for your works?

This is a way to keep this thread alive! It is the most famous one!

TheMann58 Posted at 2017-4-15 22:42
DJI-BladeStrike, Thanks for posting this official notification from DJI.

All - I can confirm, based on my personal test flights today - the periodic "extra frame insertion" (aka "jerk frame" issue) during filming at 4K/60 fps with the Phantom 4 Pro has been resolved by the latest 0509 firmware update.  

Since you purchased a brand new aircraft and immediately installed a new firmware version, without first flying the aircraft on a prior version and experiencing video glitches, how can you thereby conclude that the firmware update fixed the video glitches, if they were never present in the first place?  How can you know that it wasn't new and improved hardware, or simply a good version of the aircraft that would have been video glitch free on prior firmware?  Have you downgraded the firmware and experienced video glitches? Replacing hardware and upgrading firmware at the same time proves nothing about the firmware update having fixed a problem the aircraft never was known to have had in the first place.

I received my repaired P4P back from DJI 10 days ago, after they replaced the camera and gimbal because a gimble twitch spontaneously started after 30 problem free flights. Before sending it in, I experienced an average of three video glitches per 23 minutes of video on the 1.02 version on 30 flights, which I found tolerable. This was the only aircraft of ten differnt P4P aircraft that I tested since December which had so few video glitches, so I wanted nothing unnecessary changed on it. I told them NOT to upgrade the firmware. They upgraded the firmware anyway to the 1.03.0509 version.

Instead of 3 video glitches per 23 minute flight, it now exhibits 17 to 20 video glitches on 6 flights!  I downgraded back to 1.02 and still have 17 to 20 video glitches per 23 minute flight on three flights since. Clearly, the camera and gimbal hardware changeout increased the video glitches, and the upgrade of the FW to 1.03.0509 did nothing to fix the incessant video glitches, which are now worse than ever, for me, on a brand new gimbal and camera.

Before you decide this was just a one-off, every other P4P I have owned exhibits these video glitches. I also ordered a brand new P4P from B&H two weeks ago, and it arrived with 1.02 FW. It exhibited 20 video glitches per flight, over 3 flights of 23 minutes each, so I upgraded it to 1.3.0509 myself. The video glitch frequency remained unchanged at 17-20 per flight, instead of disappearing.

So ,for all of you who say 1.03.0509 has fixed all the P4P 4K60 video glitch issues, and have concluded this was not a hardware issue, please explain my own empirical results with two separate aircraft which directly contradicts that hypothesis and conclusion, and the 8 that came before them that were just as bad.

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 06:12
Since you purchased a brand new aircraft and immediately installed a new firmware version, without first flying the aircraft on a prior version and experiencing video glitches, how can you thereby conclude that the firmware update fixed the video glitches, if they were never present in the first place?  How can you know that it wasn't new and improved hardware, or simply a good version of the aircraft that would have been video glitch free on prior firmware?  Have you downgraded the firmware and experienced video glitches? Replacing hardware and upgrading firmware at the same time proves nothing about the firmware update having fixed a problem the aircraft never was known to have had in the first place.

I received my repaired P4P back from DJI 10 days ago, after they replaced the camera and gimbal because a gimble twitch spontaneously started after 30 problem free flights. Before sending it in, I experienced an average of three video glitches per 23 minutes of video on the 1.02 version on 30 flights, which I found tolerable. This was the only aircraft of ten differnt P4P aircraft that I tested since December which had so few video glitches, so I wanted nothing unnecessary changed on it. I told them NOT to upgrade the firmware. They upgraded the firmware anyway to the 1.03.0509 version.

Can you upload an example video please?

kykphantom Posted at 2017-6-19 07:17
Can you upload an example video please?

Pick any of the previously uploaded ones cited above. The problem is identical, where the video jumps back one frame and then starts pixelating the following 4 to 30 frames, befote resuming, leaving a gap in the video recording that cannot be recovered. It happens on 4K 60 and 4K 30. Posting yet another copy is pointless. It's the same issue, still not fixed!  

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 06:12
Since you purchased a brand new aircraft and immediately installed a new firmware version, without first flying the aircraft on a prior version and experiencing video glitches, how can you thereby conclude that the firmware update fixed the video glitches, if they were never present in the first place?  How can you know that it wasn't new and improved hardware, or simply a good version of the aircraft that would have been video glitch free on prior firmware?  Have you downgraded the firmware and experienced video glitches? Replacing hardware and upgrading firmware at the same time proves nothing about the firmware update having fixed a problem the aircraft never was known to have had in the first place.

I received my repaired P4P back from DJI 10 days ago, after they replaced the camera and gimbal because a gimble twitch spontaneously started after 30 problem free flights. Before sending it in, I experienced an average of three video glitches per 23 minutes of video on the 1.02 version on 30 flights, which I found tolerable. This was the only aircraft of ten differnt P4P aircraft that I tested since December which had so few video glitches, so I wanted nothing unnecessary changed on it. I told them NOT to upgrade the firmware. They upgraded the firmware anyway to the 1.03.0509 version.

I didn't read your whole post as it was long (forgive me). I have had my P4P since January and experienced the frame glitch.. I also had the gimbal twitch.. Both are gone, the first as of the last firmware, and the latter as of this most recent firmware (as well as the horizon tilt issue).  

If you are still having issues, I would suggest sending your Phantom back for service.

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 16:18
Pick any of the previously uploaded ones cited above. The problem is identical, where the video jumps back one frame and then starts pixelating the following 4 to 30 frames, befote resuming, leaving a gap in the video recording that cannot be recovered. It happens on 4K 60 and 4K 30. Posting yet another copy is pointless. It's the same issue, still not fixed!

My avatar may say "Beginner" but I am far from a beginner. I have logged over 16 million feet, 142 hours and 519 flights!

Mobilcams Posted at 2017-6-19 16:27
I didn't read your whole post as it was long (forgive me). I have had my P4P since January and experienced the frame glitch.. I also had the gimbal twitch.. Both are gone, the first as of the last firmware, and the latter as of this most recent firmware (as well as the horizon tilt issue).  

If you are still having issues, I would suggest sending your Phantom back for service.

Respectfully, it was sending it in for service and the upgrade to 1.03.0509 that exacerbated the well documented 4K60 video glitch problem, by changing the working hardware. My point is exactly yours. It's a hardware problem, not a firmware problem, and the whole post of mine above (if you would read it) provides empirical evidence that cannot be explained by other than a hardware issue, as the supposed firmware fix did not fix it on the two remaining P4P's in my possession. 8 prior P4P's going all the way back to December all had the same video glitch.  The gimbal flip is a documented hardware issue caused by prematurely hitting the gimbal stop, causing the camera to flip. A proper gimbal, even on 1.02 ,won't flip. A truly bad gimbal will still flip on 1.03.0509.

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 16:45
Respectfully, it was sending it in for service and the upgrade to 1.03.0509 that exacerbated the well documented 4K60 video glitch problem, by changing the working hardware. My point is exactly yours. It's a hardware problem, not a firmware problem, and the whole post of mine above (if you would read it) provides empirical evidence that cannot be explained by other than a hardware issue, as the supposed firmware fix did not fix it on the two remaining P4P's in my possession. 8 prior P4P's going all the way back to December all had the same video glitch.  The gimbal flip is a documented hardware issue caused by prematurely hitting the gimbal stop, causing the camera to flip. A proper gimbal, even on 1.02 ,won't flip. A truly bad gimbal will still flip on 1.03.0509.

yikes!!!  I've had the gimbal issue where it vibrated and caused jello.. Thankfully that was fixed.. I have only experienced the gimbal flip in sport mode only thankfully, (on P4 standard too).. I hope the sort it out for everyone...

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 16:30
My avatar may say "Beginner" but I am far from a beginner. I have logged over 16 million feet, 142 hours and 519 flights!

This only pertains to forum participation....

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 06:12
Since you purchased a brand new aircraft and immediately installed a new firmware version, without first flying the aircraft on a prior version and experiencing video glitches, how can you thereby conclude that the firmware update fixed the video glitches, if they were never present in the first place?  How can you know that it wasn't new and improved hardware, or simply a good version of the aircraft that would have been video glitch free on prior firmware?  Have you downgraded the firmware and experienced video glitches? Replacing hardware and upgrading firmware at the same time proves nothing about the firmware update having fixed a problem the aircraft never was known to have had in the first place.

I received my repaired P4P back from DJI 10 days ago, after they replaced the camera and gimbal because a gimble twitch spontaneously started after 30 problem free flights. Before sending it in, I experienced an average of three video glitches per 23 minutes of video on the 1.02 version on 30 flights, which I found tolerable. This was the only aircraft of ten differnt P4P aircraft that I tested since December which had so few video glitches, so I wanted nothing unnecessary changed on it. I told them NOT to upgrade the firmware. They upgraded the firmware anyway to the 1.03.0509 version.

GadgetGuy,

Sorry you are having so much troubles with "video glitches" when viewing 4K/60 fps and 4K/30 fps video recorded on your P4P aircraft.  

To answer your question, I owned an earlier P4Pro aircraft running the .0402 firmware (the latest at the time), which exhibited a number of issues including the random video frame insertion glitch and unlevel gimbal horizon especially when flying in wind even after IMU and gimbal calibrations.  I was hopeful these issues would all be corrected, in time, with firmware updates, but I didn't want to wait, so I returned that P4Pro to Best Buy for a refund.  

When the 0509 firmware was released and DJI reps confirmed that it addressed the video insertion glitch issue in 4K/60 fps, I bought a new P4Pro from Best Buy, installed the latest firmware, performed an IMU and gimbal calibration and confirmed that, on my new P4Pro, the video frame insertion issue (aka, "jerk frame", aka "video glitch) had been addressed completely by the 0509 firmware.  I can now further confirm that, for me, the 0510 firmware has completely address the tilted horizon (aka "gimbal tilt") issue in all recording modes.  

Many other users and DJI staff posting to this forum have confirmed that the 0509 firmware also corrected their "video frame insertion" (aka, "jerk video") issue in 4K/60 video recorded on their P4Pros

A few comments:

The vast majority of users complaining about "video jerk" or "random frame insertion" video glitches on this forum (myself included) only noted 2 to 4 such instances in a 15-20 minute video recording session with their P4Pro aircraft and camera using the 0402 firmware and this issue was resolved after installing the 0509 firmware.  

Since you are seeing many more video glitches (17-20 per flight) per flight BOTH with older firmware (0402 or earlier) AND after installing 0509 firmware  and you indicate this is the case with multiple aircraft you have tested, I think you may want to investigate OTHER possible causes for the video glitches you are experiencing.  I do not wish to upset you or indicate in any way that you are not a knowledgeable videographer or drone pilot. You obviously are experienced in both based on your avatar Flight Distance of almost 6 million feet. I only offer the following as suggestions, which you may have already investigated yourself:

1) Is it possible the combination of computer hardware and/or video viewing player software and/or editing software you are using is generating the video glitches:
   - have you tried using another high-end computer/laptop to view the video files to see if the location, or frequency of glitches changes (if so, then the video file is not the problem)
   - do the video glitches appear on exactly the same frames EVERY time you view the same video file? (if NO, then the video file is not the problem)?

2) Is it possible you are using micro SD cards that are either not rated to handle the 4K/60 100 megabit/s video output from the P4Pro camera?
   - Do you have these video glitches using the DJI-supplied micro SD card?
   - Have you tried using other high-end U3 V30 rated 90+ MB/s write-speed-capable micro SD video cards and you still get multiple video glitches per video?
   - Note: Even though the P4Pro is compatible with them, I do not recommend using 128 mb capacity micro SD cards as many card readers and some computer systems/operating systems do not handle cards greater than 64 GB in capacity well and can produce file errors and file corruption
   - I can personally recommend SanDisk Extreme Plus 64 GB V30  micro SD cards; they work flawlessly for me.
    - I watch all my videos glitch-free at full 4K/60 and 4K/30 using the following:
      a) Intel i7 920 processor (certainly not the latest and greatest, but good enough) with 24 GB RAM running Windows 10 watching videos with Windows Media Player

Again, sorry for your issues with multiple P4Pros.  Video recording file glitch issues have been resolved for me (and many others) with the 0509 firmware.  And the 0510 firmware released on June 9th has now also FINALLY resolved the tilted gimbal issue, especially when flying in wind.  

Mobilcams Posted at 2017-6-19 17:12
This only pertains to forum participation....

Understood, but I just wanted to make sure responses reflected my experience, as I, too, would respond differently to a first time DJI P4P owner than someone who still owned 3 P3P's 2 P4's and 2 P4P's, after owning 10 P4P's..;-)

TheMann58 Posted at 2017-6-19 17:50
GadgetGuy,

Sorry you are having so much troubles with "video glitches" when viewing 4K/60 fps and 4K/30 fps video recorded on your P4P aircraft.  

Thank you for your very constructive input and feedback. I exchanged so many Best Buy P4P's that I am now flagged as a potential fraud suspect, prohibited from any more returns! I kept waiting until the end of each 45 day return as an Elite Plus member, hoping new inventory would fix the hadware problems related to gimbal flips, bad RC batteries, and video glitches. However Best Buy refuses to track inventory by arrival date, and just grabs a random box from the lockup inventory,  which has often been older than the bird I was returning. 4 of 4 birds had terrible gimbal flips even in slow turns at under 30mph with Obstacle Avoidance turned on to extend battery life, and all had crooked cameras pointed 5-10° off of straight ahead.

My best P4P came from B&H back in December. It exhibited no gimbal flips, and video glitches were limited to only 3 per 23 minute flight. I was a happy camper. Unfortunately, after 30 flights, the gimbal developed a twitch every second which ruined it. I had to send it in for warranty repair. DJI fixed the gimbal twitch by replacing the entire camera module and upgrading the 1.2 FW to the 1.3 FW which ostensibly fixed the video glitches. Now, under both 1.3 and 1.2 the video glitches are 17-20 per 23 minute flight. So, before the repair, everything was perfectly acceptable using my workflow. After the repair, with no other changes to the workflow, the video glitches are roughly 7x more frequent.

I use only DJI approved 90Mbs write speed cards. The glitches are in the same place in the original files,as in the PP CC 2017 proxies, and final renders posted out to a private YouTube channel. The glitches almost all have the pattern of a single frame repeated from before the last good frame, and then anywhere from 4 to 29 successive pixelated corrupt frames, mostly only over the lower half of the frame. My PC Window 7 desktop is an i7 gaming machine with 24GB of RAM and a  4GB video card and a 250GB SSD main drive. The fact that everything was fine on my workflow before the repair indicates to me that the problem is hardware related to the replaced camera.

However, I am open to considering all other possibilities! I even thought that the formatting of the cards in the aircraft might have been a factor. However, formatting the cards in different aircraft changed nothing. I am using 32 and 64GB 90MBs write speed cards. I have tried at least three diffent cards of each type approved by DJI: SanDisk Extreme Plus, Samsung Pro+, and Lexar 633x, and even Lexar 1000x (not on the list). All cards still record the video glitches.

Your situation gives me hope! I would love to be rid of these video glitches. However, mine are not just a single insertion of one prior frame. That is just the beginning of the pixelated frames which follow which are usually 30 in total at 60fps, but may be as few as 4, which I can overlook.

Strange how only 10 total seconds of combined video glitches can ruin a 23 minute continuous flight video!

If you have any other ideas or thoughts, please share!

I really would be curious if you were to downgrade back to 1.02 whether video glitches would be present. When you got the new aircraft, you changed both the hardware and the firmware, so it could very well be that Best Buy has finally  cleared out all the defective video glitch units, and now has fresh, good stock!

GadgetGuy Posted at 2017-6-19 21:18
Thank you for your very constructive input and feedback. I exchanged so many Best Buy P4P's that I am now flagged as a potential fraud suspect, prohibited from any more returns! I kept waiting until the end of each 45 day return as an Elite Plus member, hoping new inventory would fix the hadware problems related to gimbal flips, bad RC batteries, and video glitches. However Best Buy refuses to track inventory by arrival date, and just grabs a random box from the lockup inventory,  which has often been older than the bird I was returning. 4 of 4 birds had terrible gimbal flips even in slow turns at under 30mph with Obstacle Avoidance turned on to extend battery life, and all had crooked cameras pointed 5-10° off of straight ahead.

My best P4P came from B&H back in December. It exhibited no gimbal flips, and video glitches were limited to only 3 per 23 minute flight. I was a happy camper. Unfortunately, after 30 flights, the gimbal developed a twitch every second which ruined it. I had to send it in for warranty repair. DJI fixed the gimbal twitch by replacing the entire camera module and upgrading the 1.2 FW to the 1.3 FW which ostensibly fixed the video glitches. Now, under both 1.3 and 1.2 the video glitches are 17-20 per 23 minute flight. So, before the repair, everything was perfectly acceptable using my workflow. After the repair, with no other changes to the workflow, the video glitches are roughly 7x more frequent.

Status Update:

DJI Supervisor Lance confirmed with me today on the phone that the DJI engineers have determined that the 4K60 video glitches still remain and are not fixed with any currently available FW update. Those reporting it has been fixed either never saw the real problem in the first place or are not shooting continuous 4K60 video throughout the entire flight of 23 minutes. They are hoping to fix it in a future firmware update. Whether that is even possible remains to be seen. So, until this problem is truly fixed (it certainly isn't yet now!) by a FW update, the jury is still out on whether this is a hardware or a firmware issue. Basically, it is a hardware problem (some rare birds may not have it at all or only 3 times in 23 minutes instead of 18-20 times in 23 minutes of continuous 4K60 video) that they are hoping to fix with FW, but have failed so far, which likely means it will require new cameras to fix properly.

Hey so I've read everyone else's comments and there seems to be a mixed opinion about what's wrong. In my opinion, I believe it is a gimbal issue. I would reccomend running a gimbal calibration on flat ground and maybe even an emu and compass calibration away from large metal objects or sources of electro-magnetic entry or radio waves. I think you should just start with the auto gimbal calibration first and see if that fixes it. I was having some issues with twitching and a misaligned horizon with my camera not pointing true forward and a gimbal calibration solved those problems, although I diid have to tweak the horizon angle manually in the settings. Good Luck!