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2089 26 2018-1-11
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Chewbacca
lvl.3
United Kingdom
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Why are these muppets at DJI unable to realease a tried and tested firmware? Every time they release one its just garbage. There is nothing "pro" about the phantom 4 pro. Infact you'd not trust a DJI drone in any "pro" mission critical apllucation ever. Absolute amatuers when it comes to software.
2018-1-11
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Nebuchadnezzar
Captain
Flight distance : 3428747 ft
Spain
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they have accustomed their users to being testers ....  and im sick of testing ( in my own device)
2018-1-11
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Labroides
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Flight distance : 9991457 ft
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I'll put a contrasting opinion.
I've been running a P4 pro since the model was released and never had a problem with it.
I think it's a great machine for pro use.
The results I get from the camera are great - and the people that buy for them think so as well.
Perhaps the Phantom isn't your problem?
2018-1-11
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m1shootr
First Officer
Flight distance : 118894 ft
United States
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Labroides Posted at 2018-1-11 02:45
I'll put a contrasting opinion.
I've been running a P4 pro since the model was released and never had a problem with it.
I think it's a great machine for pro use.

I agree. Most, (not all) problems with firmware lie with the monitor device. I have not had any problems with either the P3A or the P4P after multiple firmware updates. I am knocking on wood also.
2018-1-11
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Mallory Dog
lvl.1
Flight distance : 997008 ft
United Kingdom
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Well, I must be unlucky.  I've had a shedload of issues with the video display on my ipad mini that I use freezing, thought I'd got that fixed and now the video feed oscillates between OK, green pixelated speckles and black.  Camera seems to work OK so I think it has to be a video signal issue.  Tried swapping between frequencies, but no different.  ALL firmware, updates, ios etc up to date as of 24 hrs ago.  Still getting the occasional processor overloaded message at first startup, inspite of having deleted almost everything except DJIGo4 and the stuff I need to actually run the iPAD.  All worked fine when I first got the system, started going wrong after an update about 4 months ago.  The aircraft itself flies fine, so there isn't a safety issue per se.
2018-1-11
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MediaByMarc
lvl.4
Flight distance : 130423 ft
United States
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This is why I don't do the firmware updates. This is not just with the P4P as I had problems with updates on my Inspire 1. It got to the point where I couldn't fly due to loss of signal during flight. Once I rolled it back everything was fine.
2018-1-11
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PaulSouthport
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1448799 ft
United Kingdom
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Had a P2V : worked fine - as described.
Had 2 P3S : worked fine - as described.
Had a P3A :  worked fine - as described.
Had a P4 : worked fine - as described.
Have a P4P : works fine - as described.

On all of these I have done all software and firmware updates with no issues.
2018-1-11
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Nebuchadnezzar
Captain
Flight distance : 3428747 ft
Spain
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PaulSouthport i dont think really the problem is from firmware , in fact I think it's a conflict between application and hardware ..., I live in Spain and since the last firmware 1.5.40 and application 3.1.23 everything was a disaster.... worst .. i live in a no happy fly zone CE

I tested a method just using last FW 1.5.40 and andoid app 3.1.23 , the method is fool the gps (plane mode) before power ON rc and aircraft . in this way i get FCC MODE (11 channels insted 13 in 2.4ghz Band).
Now i can fly without contant losing signal advices ... above all is green now  ...


that's why I deduce that there must be some communication problem between devices due to the software, or the hardware in the las FW and app updates ....


Fake GPS APP
2018-1-11
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hallmark007
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Flight distance : 9812789 ft
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You know sometimes what you read around here dims the brain, so I think today I will go test new firmware, expecting bad transmission upside down pictures RC loosing signal etc etc, surprise surprise drone works same as last time I flew it, I don’t believe I’m lucky, but I do believe there are a small number of people with problems for whatever reason I don’t know, hopefully they get sorted soon.
2018-1-11
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luciens
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Most of the problems I'm seeing that seem to get reported are of the "works for me" and "doesn't work for me" variety. There's no magic to that - that always means the configurations are different between the working and non-working cases, most likely the tablet being used and the OS version. Not sure what else to point to that the user can vary in terms of using a different piece of hardware or software, but if there are other items those are suspect also.

What is almost certainly the case is that DJI doesn't have the QA resources to adequately identify and test all the different supported combinations. That may or may not be their fault, since QA and support are very expensive cost centers in hardware/software companies. So upper management at most software companies deeply despises QA/support/test and will do everything they can to keep it small and cheap. So they cut as many corners there as they can; sometimes that's ok and sometimes not. It just depends on what they starve in QA and verification and how badly they starve it.

For the end user, though, that would be the thing to try to identify if there's a problem. The folks going "works for me" might be asked what tablet/OS version they're using and any other information about any other 3rd party apps/hardware they might be using with it. Then, ditch what you got and go buy that . Literally, that may be the only choice to get it working....
2018-1-11
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AlanHd
Captain
Flight distance : 797365 ft
United Kingdom
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While I agree a lot of the problems can be put down to the mobile device being used, not all problems can be. I updated a brand new P4P to the last official firmware and on my second flight just hovering it decided to act like a bucking bronco. The beta 600 firmware fixed that and I do not intent to update to the latest firmware.
2018-1-11
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MaintenanceKing
lvl.1

Australia
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PaulSouthport Posted at 2018-1-11 11:41
Had a P2V : worked fine - as described.
Had 2 P3S : worked fine - as described.
Had a P3A :  worked fine - as described.

I've use 50+ phantom 4 pros and let me tell you - they break Constantly.
It's complicated hardware/software, but to use your own anecdotal evidence to ignore people who have had different experiences to you isn't very productive.
2018-1-11
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PaulSouthport
Second Officer
Flight distance : 1448799 ft
United Kingdom
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MaintenanceKing Posted at 2018-1-11 15:12
I've use 50+ phantom 4 pros and let me tell you - they break Constantly.
It's complicated hardware/software, but to use your own anecdotal evidence to ignore people who have had different experiences to you isn't very productive.

I wasn't ignoring anyone, nor was I making any inference, despite your defensive response.
I was responding to the original assertion that DJI software is junk to counter that it's not always so.
But, I'll take the bait: If you are breaking 50+ P4Ps constantly - you're doing it wrong.
2018-1-11
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MaintenanceKing
lvl.1

Australia
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PaulSouthport Posted at 2018-1-11 15:54
I wasn't ignoring anyone, nor was I making any inference, despite your defensive response.
I was responding to the original assertion that DJI software is junk to counter that it's not always so.
But, I'll take the bait: If you are breaking 50+ P4Ps constantly - you're doing it wrong.

I work for a training company, so there might be some truth to that

I should have clarified I was referring to updates and firmware issues. About half of the DJI updates have given me trouble.
2018-1-11
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dorbot
Second Officer
Flight distance : 844770 ft
France
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I'm fairly certain most problems are due to DJI GO4 requiring too much horsepower from whatever device its on.
I tried an overclocked nexus 9, and a nexus 6p neither worked flawlessly. The android pro plus controller is not much better. It seems laggy and underpowered to me.
All had green bands on the screen and random lagginess ,lockups and app crashes which make flying a nerve wracking experience.
I never used dji go 3 but it may mitigate problems of underpowered devices.

Bought a 16 gig 2017 ipad with gps and have had no problems since apart from unstable hovering after the latest firmware update which was fixed by an IMU and/or compass calibration.

Now, in my experience, there is commonality of failure there.
All android devices I tried including the plus controller are crap.
I really hate to say it, but the answer seems to be to give the church of Jobbs a stack of cash to make the problems go away.
I don't know if Android versions are just hashed together like a console port on the PC, without proper testing or optimisation, or if there are no android devices with enough grunt to make it work with the latest versions of DJI GO4.
I don't even know what the latest Android tablets are called? pixel? does it work on that? Its pretty pricey too. Just seems that for a variety of reasons you seem to have to submit to being bent over and buy Apple crap just to stay afloat and budget about another £400 for an adequate device.
From what I can gather the ipad air 2 and the nvidia shield are marginal now.............

Then you have to consider folk who just don't RTFM, don't use fast SD cards or recalibrate everything (IMU particularly) after firmware updates and only update the aircraft but not the controller or the app and fail to restart afterwards and are just generally doing it wrong. So the latest firmware screwed my bird....... When the update process is only partially completed.
DJI could make the update process a bit more streamlined though I think lately it has improved.
Some people run odd combinations of versions or modded APKs  so their FCC hacks will still work.

To conclude, if only a few people are having issues with the latest firmware and those who are not having problems appear to be using recent high end apple devices, then it is unlikely to be a firmware issue.
More probably an it is an underpowered device running a questionable Android app port.

Maybe I've just been lucky.

2018-1-11
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Genghis9
Captain
Flight distance : 961 ft
United States
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dorbot Posted at 2018-1-11 17:01
I'm fairly certain most problems are due to DJI GO4 requiring too much horsepower from whatever device its on.
I tried an overclocked nexus 9, and a nexus 6p neither worked flawlessly. The android pro plus controller is not much better. It seems laggy and underpowered to me.
All had green bands on the screen and random lagginess ,lockups and app crashes which make flying a nerve wracking experience.

Point of order please
Current understanding and current manuals state that for the most part calibrations are not necessary unless the system explicitly says you must perform one or tech support directs you to do so.  Conducting these calibrations unnecessarily can actually introduce error in to the system where none existed before.
I have had a couple of updates thus far, and I have never performed a single calibration for any reason and my craft flies great as advertised (1 caveat, I have yet to fully use all of the special flight modes, but I anticipate no problems).
2018-1-11
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Punchbuggy
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Flight distance : 483166 ft
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Genghis9 Posted at 2018-1-11 18:04
Point of order please
Current understanding and current manuals state that for the most part calibrations are not necessary unless the system explicitly says you must perform one or tech support directs you to do so.  Conducting these calibrations unnecessarily can actually introduce error in to the system where none existed before.
I have had a couple of updates thus far, and I have never performed a single calibration for any reason and my craft flies great as advertised (1 caveat, I have yet to fully use all of the special flight modes, but I anticipate no problems).

But of course you're just referring to IMU and compass calibrations. After each update it's always appropriate to re-do VPS and gimbal calibration, especially if the update process included a reset to factory defaults (which I typically now do).
2018-1-11
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Genghis9
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Flight distance : 961 ft
United States
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Punchbuggy Posted at 2018-1-11 18:12
But of course you're just referring to IMU and compass calibrations. After each update it's always appropriate to re-do VPS and gimbal calibration, especially if the update process included a reset to factory defaults (which I typically now do).

Well to be clear I am not really saying not do any calibrations, it is your property and you are free to perform whatever actions you choose with it.  
What I am trying to point out is doing such calibrations if not required is not necessary and should be left alone, and to that end it goes for any calibration.  However, I will grant you that some are less complicated and have a very narrow effect on the unit's operation while others, like the IMU, are not only a critical action but if performed incorrectly or goes wrong then the whole craft can be rendered inop.
I would restate, for myself I have performed no calibrations of any kind after a couple of updates and she flies just fine.
Hope that clarified my point...
2018-1-11
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MaintenanceKing
lvl.1

Australia
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dorbot Posted at 2018-1-11 17:01
I'm fairly certain most problems are due to DJI GO4 requiring too much horsepower from whatever device its on.
I tried an overclocked nexus 9, and a nexus 6p neither worked flawlessly. The android pro plus controller is not much better. It seems laggy and underpowered to me.
All had green bands on the screen and random lagginess ,lockups and app crashes which make flying a nerve wracking experience.

there's definitely weight to the argument that dji go 4 eats up cpu/ram. I've observed similar things. I dont think that should be affecting the problems we've had with the last firmware update though
2018-1-11
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Punchbuggy
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MaintenanceKing Posted at 2018-1-11 18:21
there's definitely weight to the argument that dji go 4 eats up cpu/ram. I've observed similar things. I dont think that should be affecting the problems we've had with the last firmware update though

Yep - agreed. The inadequate CPU performance is typically only impacting on video transmission decoding; specifically, the cause of green screen and image drop-outs in GO 4.

My suspicion is that it's the firmware installation process. A .bin file is downloaded and then unpacked as separate controller modules for application - one of these may not be properly unpacked or installed. That's why I now do the firmware update, rest to factory default, then refresh the firmware again. I haven't have an update issue with my P4 or P4P since. Even the Dumld@re tool requires you to flash the firmware twice.
2018-1-11
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Genghis9
Captain
Flight distance : 961 ft
United States
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Punchbuggy Posted at 2018-1-11 18:39
Yep - agreed. The inadequate CPU performance is typically only impacting on video transmission decoding; specifically, the cause of green screen and image drop-outs in GO 4.

My suspicion is that it's the firmware installation process. A .bin file is downloaded and then unpacked as separate controller modules for application - one of these may not be properly unpacked or installed. That's why I now do the firmware update, rest to factory default, then refresh the firmware again. I haven't have an update issue with my P4 or P4P since. Even the Dumld@re tool requires you to flash the firmware twice.

I am no expert with this stuff...but I have thought the same thing, that somehow it was either the way these birds were getting updated or how folks were doing the updates.  
I will only run updates or whatever using Asst 2 directly off my computer and not my phone or tablet specifically to avoid what you are describing here.  
If you are correct, what can be done about it?  
Is this an issue of the onboard computer or the SW or the CPU etc.?
2018-1-11
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Punchbuggy
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Genghis9 Posted at 2018-1-11 20:00
I am no expert with this stuff...but I have thought the same thing, that somehow it was either the way these birds were getting updated or how folks were doing the updates.  
I will only run updates or whatever using Asst 2 directly off my computer and not my phone or tablet specifically to avoid what you are describing here.  
If you are correct, what can be done about it?  

The .bin file must be downloaded, unpacked and modules applied regardless of method. Otherwise, I always use Assistant 2 to update the craft as I want to take latency risk out of the equation - I'd rather trust a download via wired connection than by a WiFi one.
What the issue is I can't say, but let's go by what's been seen. Even the Dumld@re tool requires you to refresh the firmware twice - a single application doesn't guarantee successful installation of all components for some reason. That's why when performing an update with Ass2 I do the update, reset to factory defaults (to ensure a clean environment based on that iteration of firmware), and then refresh again.

Perhaps being overly cautious, but it's been 100% successful for me since doing that for both my P4 and P4P.
[edit: oops - I already said that in my earlier post. It's been a long day...]

2018-1-11
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Genghis9
Captain
Flight distance : 961 ft
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Punchbuggy Posted at 2018-1-11 20:27
The .bin file must be downloaded, unpacked and modules applied regardless of method. Otherwise, I always use Assistant 2 to update the craft as I want to take latency risk out of the equation - I'd rather trust a download via wired connection than by a WiFi one.
What the issue is I can't say, but let's go by what's been seen. Even the Dumld@re tool requires you to refresh the firmware twice - a single application doesn't guarantee successful installation of all components for some reason. That's why when performing an update with Ass2 I do the update, reset to factory defaults (to ensure a clean environment based on that iteration of firmware), and then refresh again.

Good to know
I will keep this process in mind for future actions
I really hope DJI can get this act together better than it seems
2018-1-11
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Bashy
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Flight distance : 2354357 ft
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Thing is though, whats to say the 1st installation didnt go ok and the second then failed and you end up with "issues" "that software" the requires 2 times install could be cause of the way that program runs, there could be an issue with the program that is resolved by doing a second installation, of it could be a failsafe on the software creators side so you are less likely to brick your ac, as far as i know DJI do not say we need to do it twice unless specifically told to do a refresh cause of an issue brought on my the 1st go.

I do not believe the bucking bronco is brought about cause of a dodgy device, same goes for any gimbal issue, ya see, if it was cause of the device then it would be doing it already (before the new FW), many have the same device as before, they update the FW and bang, their AC is not working  as it was before. But, this could quite well be (as some have said above) due to an issue during the FW update and not the actual update itself.

I have not had any major issues that i am aware of after an update but, i do feel shes not as stable in the hover as she once was, but then that could just be the wind, and then theres the issue i have with distance, but again, i dont know if thats this FW, that FW or the other FW or even been like it since factory (HW issue)
2018-1-11
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DJI Elektra
DJI team
Hong Kong
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Bacca, are you using P4P? Please tell me the problem you encounter with the beta. Thanks for your support.
2018-1-14
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Labroides
Captain
Flight distance : 9991457 ft
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dorbot Posted at 2018-1-11 17:01
I'm fairly certain most problems are due to DJI GO4 requiring too much horsepower from whatever device its on.
I tried an overclocked nexus 9, and a nexus 6p neither worked flawlessly. The android pro plus controller is not much better. It seems laggy and underpowered to me.
All had green bands on the screen and random lagginess ,lockups and app crashes which make flying a nerve wracking experience.

the answer seems to be to give the church of Jobbs a stack of cash to make the problems go away.
I don't know if Android versions are just hashed together like a console port on the PC, without proper testing or optimisation, or if there are no android devices with enough grunt to make it work with the latest versions of DJI GO4.
...
Just seems that for a variety of reasons you seem to have to submit to being bent over and buy Apple crap just to stay afloat and budget about another £400 for an adequate device.

Or get a good Android device with a fast processer and graphics chip and enough RAM.
I run it on a Huawei M3 with 4 GB RAM and it runs perfectly.
There are other devices that work well too.
Then you have to consider folk who just don't RTFM, don't use fast SD cards or recalibrate everything (IMU particularly) after firmware updates and only update the aircraft but not the controller or the app and fail to restart afterwards and are just generally doing it wrong.
There's no need to recalibrate anything after an update.
There's no need to buy the fastest or most expensive cards.
As long as your SD cards are fast enough, they are fast enough.
2018-1-14
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Chewbacca
lvl.3
United Kingdom
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Reading through the comments on this there is inference that the problem might not be the p4p and might be me. Ok so :
Horizon never straight issue, even after multiple calibrations- me
High wind warning when there is zero wind - me
Video feed inverts halfway through recording - me
Loss of signal, aircraft disconnects - me
Can't store video camera settings - me
White balance giving picture completely unusable sepia effect - me
I have no faith in these software updates and that is not why I spent £1600 on a drone for. I am astounded that DJI are
so sloppy with thier testing, if infact they even test thier firmware updates. I have fully resigned myself to the fact that one day this expensive bit of kit is either gonna fall out of the sky or fly off somewhere completely out of my control and that is not a nice feeling.
2018-1-15
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