For no apparent reason, the video on my P3S often stops recording in mid-flight. Sometimes more than once.

I first noticed this after a particularly nice flight (naturally), only to get back home and find out that the recording was only about 15 seconds long and included just the initial takeoff. Other times, I've seen it stop recording in midair, a few minutes into the flight. I can tap the REC button on my iPhone to start a new recording, but why should I?

Any hints? I get the usual "interference" messages, but these shouldn't affect recording. And sometmes the live video feed on my phone is blocky, choppy, or delayed, but again, this shouldn't affect recording to the SD card. And I'm pretty sure I'm not accidentally tapping the REC button and turning it off with my thumb.

Hi,

I had the same issue on the weekend with the video stopping quickly with going pixelated then black recording, tried clearing the caches and seem to work fine last night flying in the back garden.

Christian

Those sound like two different things. For the recording stopping, can you try a different SD card.
For the choppy video, it may be your device does not have the processing power to fully run the app.
Also, make sure no other apps are running in the background.
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When was the last time you formatted the SD card? I had the same problem with my Advanced  last year until I realised I had been taking video and pics off the card for months and not formatting the card. I then formatted the SD card in the Phantom...not the computer and have had no problems since.I just format the card just about everytime I fly...all good !!!

Cool, thanks I have an iPhone 5s with the latest app and also formatted the card before I flew last night so that may of helped also.

Christian

Thanks for the tips. I'll try formatting the SD card to see if that makes any difference.

Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.

RoadHazard Posted at 2017-4-3 08:02
Thanks for the tips. I'll try formatting the SD card to see if that makes any difference.

Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.

Just to clarify, are you using the stock SD card that came with the unit or a larger aftermarket one?

RoadHazard Posted at 2017-4-3 08:02
Thanks for the tips. I'll try formatting the SD card to see if that makes any difference.

Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.

'Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.'

No, it is not sloppy programming. We haven't even discussed whther your SD card is up to the job, what one is it?

Writing a 4K stream to the card is a tough job, especially when the card becomes fragmented, which by the way can happen to an SD card just as easily as a hard drive. If the card is borderline in terms of writing speed, it can result in exactly what you describe. Formatting sets the file allocation table back to its initial state, and should be done regularly if you want the SD card to perform at its maximum speed.

Geebax Posted at 2017-4-3 14:01
'Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.'

No, it is not sloppy programming. We haven't even discussed whther your SD card is up to the job, what one is it?

Also speaking as a lifelong computer nerd I'd say Geebax is correct

Geebax Posted at 2017-4-3 14:01
'Speaking as a lifelong computer nerd, I'd be pretty disappointed if formatting fixes the problem. That tells me that DJI's firmware engineers aren't very good at their jobs, if it's necessary to regularly re-format the memory card. That's just bad, sloppy programming.'

No, it is not sloppy programming. We haven't even discussed whther your SD card is up to the job, what one is it?

It's the one that the factory sent me with the Phantom. So, yeah, I'd say that if the factory-supplied hardware can't keep up with the factory-supplied software, that's pretty lousy code.

RoadHazard Posted at 2017-4-4 19:39
It's the one that the factory sent me with the Phantom. So, yeah, I'd say that if the factory-supplied hardware can't keep up with the factory-supplied software, that's pretty lousy code.

Not if you have a seriously fragmented card, it then falls upon you to format the card to maintain peak performance. I know of several high end cameras that also suffer from the same problem.

Okay, thanks for the tip. I wouldn't have thought of it myself. I'll try reformatting the SD card to see if things get any better.

I'm so upset at the moment.  I'm in the same boat as well.  I took some good footage on my Phantom 3 Standard today, and nothing but a 15-second blank video was saved to my genuine Sandisk Class 10  64GB SD card which was formatted in the craft.  That was some epic footage that I just can't get back of a local sporting event.   My Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has the choppy low-resolution version saved, but I can't use it due to the poor quality.    I had this same issue with the stock 8GB SD card that came with the unit, so I upgraded to the 64 GB version.

Today, I've been plagued with the drone quietly "stopping" the recording (where I don't get the beep informing me of this).  My phone's volume is maxed out, as I still hear the other warning notifications clearly.
The unit records for about 8 seconds, then mysteriously stops recording.  If keeps doing it even when I fly the craft back to me in a 10-foot range, so I know it isn't a reception issue. I'll get 15 seconds of recording (on my phone) then it stops recording.

For the entire day today that I flew through 9 battery packs and recorded all of them, I only have 15 seconds of a blank-black footage that's not even playable.  Synchronising my flights only reveals 3 flights, where did the other 6 go?   I can't believe I have nothing recorded for today's activity.

Anonymous1 Posted at 5-25 17:36
I'm so upset at the moment.  I'm in the same boat as well.  I took some good footage on my Phantom 3 Standard today, and nothing but a 15-second blank video was saved to my genuine Sandisk Class 10  64GB SD card which was formatted in the craft.  That was some epic footage that I just can't get back of a local sporting event.   My Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has the choppy low-resolution version saved, but I can't use it due to the poor quality.    I had this same issue with the stock 8GB SD card that came with the unit, so I upgraded to the 64 GB version.

Today, I've been plagued with the drone quietly "stopping" the recording (where I don't get the beep informing me of this).  My phone's volume is maxed out, as I still hear the other warning notifications clearly.

Normally I would say the most likely problem is that the SD card is not fast enough in its write speed. But if it is recording nothing but a black image, there is something else at play here. Try experimenting with recording while the aircraft is sitting on the ground, you do not need to fly to record a video.

What filformat should have  the SD-card with 64 GB extFAT32,right? Did you format with this or FAT32 only??

Peterx Posted at 8-6 11:32
What filformat should have  the SD-card with 64 GB extFAT32,right? Did you format with this or FAT32 only??

What format you use is not important if you use the formatting utility built into the aircraft, it knows exactly which one to use. BTW, the answer is plain old FAT32.

Then he´ll lose 32GB of 64 of the card,or does the cam can handle multidrive?

Peterx Posted at 8-7 11:01
Then he´ll lose 32GB of 64 of the card,or does the cam can handle multidrive?

This topic is for a P3 Standard. As far as I recall, the maximum card size for a P3S is 32GB.

After a couple of minutes flying & video-recording my P3S, the button beeps off.  I have to restart it several times.  After downloading from the SD card, I find those videos end in violent jerking then adding black pixels then replaying a few seconds of the same video.  I may only get 2 or 3 minutes of useable video after a 15 minute flight.  On a good day, I only lose the last video, usually the landing sequence.  I'm going to try reformatting the 32g SD card like someone mentioned below.  Otherwise, my stopgap measure has been to intentionally stop the video, take a photo of a scene I don't want to lose, then restart the video while I reposition the bird.  Seems really strange that even though it's just a few dozen feet away from me while landing, the last video still gets zapped away.

PilotRadar Posted at 12-20 20:34
After a couple of minutes flying & video-recording my P3S, the button beeps off.  I have to restart it several times.  After downloading from the SD card, I find those videos end in violent jerking then adding black pixels then replaying a few seconds of the same video.  I may only get 2 or 3 minutes of useable video after a 15 minute flight.  On a good day, I only lose the last video, usually the landing sequence.  I'm going to try reformatting the 32g SD card like someone mentioned below.  Otherwise, my stopgap measure has been to intentionally stop the video, take a photo of a scene I don't want to lose, then restart the video while I reposition the bird.  Seems really strange that even though it's just a few dozen feet away from me while landing, the last video still gets zapped away.

It sounds like your SD card is not fast enough. Ty using a Sandisk Extreme Pro card.