Before I updated from 1.0.3 to 1.0.4, the FPV video I saw on my phone when flying my Mini was smooth and uninterrupted.  This made flying fairly easy and confident, and was the case at any distance between me and the Mini that I ever flew.

Now that I've updated to 1.0.4, the FPV video AND the video files "cached" on my phone are glitchy, and stutter, as if there are short interruptions in the transmission of the video.  This make it difficult to fly as well as difficult to know how the video that I'm shooting will actually look.

These brief "Stutters" are not visible in the video that is recorded to the Mini's SD card.  But they are visible on the FPV display on my phone (connected to the RC) AND show up in the video that's cached on my phone as well.

To demonstrate this, I've edited the cached video from my phone, using the built-in video editor in the DJI Fly app and uploaded that to YouTube.  Then I took the SD card, used it in my laptop, and edited to get approximately the same little snippet of video, but this time from the SD card, and uploaded that to YouTube as well.

I see the glitches in the video made from the cached video on my phone, but do not see those glitches in the video made from the SD card video files.

Is anyone else noticing this choppy, glitchy video when flying with 1.0.4?  I haven't been able to fly outdoors since doing the update due to the high winds here, and probably won't be able to for quite some time (if one can believe the weather forecasts).  But I'm not sure I even want to fly outdoors with the video feed being interrupted like this.  It doesn't give me any confidence that the RC is in good contact with the Mini.

I've had this happen on every flight (indoors, of course) that I've made since updating the firmware/software to 1.0.4.

It actually seems more profound when I'm viewing while flying, but the video from the phone cache demonstrates the problem fairly well.


Here are the videos:

Non-Glitchy, from the SD card:


Glitchy, from the cached video on my phone:


Let me know what you folks think, and let me know if you've seen this yourself since updating to 1.0.4.  I really had a lot more faith in the connection between the drone and the RC before this update.  Note that all of my flying has been indoors, and the distance from the RC to the drone has never been more than about 50 feet, with most of it with me within ten feet of the drone, and with the glitches happening no matter what the distance.  And this was the same when I was flying with 1.0.3.  So I think the only variable here is the new firmware.

It is actually quite normal, although it really should not be the case at such short range. But the FPV video has never been intended to be used in any way, it is only there to give you a preview of what is being seen by the camera. The image processor in the camera section develops a lower resolution and low bit-rate version of the video to send back to the RC unit, and it will quite naturally be prone to signal interruptions and glitches.

And yes, it will always be OK on the SD card, and that is where you should be getting the video from to use for editing.

Then why did I see NO glitches when flying before the firmware update?  And why was I able to use the cached video stored to my phone to make perfectly great edited videos before?  Something has changed, at least for me, since installing 1.0.4.

Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. With regards to this issue. Upon checking the video that you have uploaded there could be an interference due to the metal structure on the said location that might cause the interference. I would recommend to please fly the drone in a different location with less interference for us to be able to isolate the issue. In addition, I would recommend to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the issue will persists. Please keep us posted for further assistance. Thank you.

Definitely a good advice, try the drone in other environment free of metal and other refracting structures.

Sigmo Posted at 1-6 20:37
Then why did I see NO glitches when flying before the firmware update?  And why was I able to use the cached video stored to my phone to make perfectly great edited videos before?  Something has changed, at least for me, since installing 1.0.4.

Co-incidence, or perhaps different flying environment, could be anything. It is too easy to blame any change in behaviour to firmware updates, and most times, they have no bearing on the problem. I don't mind how you operate, but you are using the wrong method if you only use the cached video material for your video clips, ask anyone. The only REAL copy of the material is that recorded on the SD card in the aircraft, the FPV copy is lower in resolution and lower in bitrate, so the quality is not as good as that on the SD card. But then, again, you have already discovered that with the glitches.

Maybe the signals are bouncing off of the walls and making too much noise. Did you tried it in an open environment?

I've had a thought.

I've flown the drone in this building many times because the wind NEVER STOPS here (seriously, I've flown at least 20 times in this building because that's about the only place I've been able to play with this new toy)!  And up until I did the firmware update from 1.0.3 to 1.0.4, the video was always smooth and free of glitches.

And I'm usually within ten to 20 feet of the drone while flying because I follow it around flying it so I can practice.  So you'd think that the signal strength would be very good, and indeed, the video has always been smooth and free of the "jerks" and "skips".

But that's not 100% proof that the new firmware is causing this, of course.  If it was, I'd expect other folks to chime in and report the same issue.

So the fact that they're not points to something different about my particular setup - just not necessarily the building in which I've been doing my flying.

I may try re-installing the firmware into the drone, the RC, and, I guess, all of my batteries as well as my phone.  If something got messed up during the update process, anything is possible.

But first, I'm going to try something.  Normally, I've been in the habit of switching my phone to "airplane" mode.  Perhaps I did not do that when doing the test flights after doing the firmware updates.  I had to have the phone connected to the WiFi to do the firmware downloading, etc., so I very well may have left the WiFi connected while doing the subsequent flying.

Having the phone pinging back and forth with our WiFi router in the building while flying may well explain the glitches.  If switching in and out of airplane mode correlates with the glitches, that'll be telling.

I'll probably be able to test this tomorrow night.  And I'll report what I find back to this thread.

Thanks, everyone, for your help.

I have seen other similar posts about this. Mine is also doing the same since the update...Even flying outside not near any metal.

mcailjr Posted at 1-7 15:59
I have seen other similar posts about this. Mine is also doing the same since the update...Even flying outside not near any metal.

I'm going to try it with the phone in airplane mode.  But I'm interested in hearing if other folks are seeing this issue after the firmware update.

DJI Paladin Posted at 1-7 09:44
Hi. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused. With regards to this issue. Upon checking the video that you have uploaded there could be an interference due to the metal structure on the said location that might cause the interference. I would recommend to please fly the drone in a different location with less interference for us to be able to isolate the issue. In addition, I would recommend to refresh the firmware of your DJI Mavic Mini using the DJI Assistant 2 to see if the issue will persists. Please keep us posted for further assistance. Thank you.

Thank you for your response.

I will not be able  to attempt flying outdoors for the foreseeable future.  The weather here has been, and is forecast to continue to be very windy.  Today, as is quite often the case, we had wind gusts over 70mph at the atmospheric measuring station nearest to my home.  With this sort of wind, it would be highly dangerous to attempt any outdoor flying of the Mini.

The weather forecast for the next 7 days calls for continued windy conditions, unfortunately.

I am going to try flying in the same building as I've been flying all along, but with the "airplane mode" enabled on my phone to see if that makes any difference.

If that has no effect, and the glitches continue, I will re-install the latest firmware and software into the Mini, the RC, my phone, and all of the batteries to see if that helps.

It's important for everyone to understand that I have flown inside this same building, in all of the same places many times with firmware 1.0.3, and had no issues whatsoever.  It was only after updating to 1.0.4 that these glitches began.

However, as I mentioned in a previous post, I may not have had the airplane mode enabled when I did the flights after having updated the various firmware.  So trying that is an easy first step.  I will update this thread after I've been able to conduct these tests.

Perhaps the wind will calm down in the not too distant future, and I can fly outdoors.  But getting back to where I can fly in the building without glitches, the way I have all along, will restore my confidence in the linking between the RC and drone.

Sigmo Posted at 1-7 17:57
Thank you for your response.

I will not be able  to attempt flying outdoors for the foreseeable future.  The weather here has been, and is forecast to continue to be very windy.  Today, as is quite often the case, we had wind gusts over 70mph at the atmospheric measuring station nearest to my home.  With this sort of wind, it would be highly dangerous to attempt any outdoor flying of the Mini.

I sorry for the trouble trouble this has caused you, this is not the experience I wanted you to have with your DJI Mavic Mini. Thank you for the additional information and your informative insights. With regards to this matter, please keep us posted for further assistance. Thank you.

OK.  I just tried it again with the phone definitely in the airplane mode, and everything is the same.  The glitches almost seem to be regular, like a heartbeat.  I may try updating everything again to 1.0.4 and see if that clears it up.

The display that shows the radio channel that's been selected and also shows the WiFi interference showed extremely low interference levels on all of the displayed channels, and the drone auto-selected channel 149 which was the same as all of the others.  All green, and all down at the very bottom of the display.