4K video from Mini2 refuses to play on PC

[lissforester]

Hi,
I have had my Mini 2 for about 10 months now and am very, very pleased with it, I have kept it up to date with all the available software updates and the latest Fly App.
My issue is 4 K video refuses to play on my computer, mostly just stalls/freezes, or sometimes will play for a few moments then stalls and appear to backup and repeat a few seconds before stalling again.
2.7 K is a bit better, but, even then it falters before moving on and plays for 10 to 15 seconds before faltering again.

I am using a couple of very good Micro SD cards, one is a Sandisk Extreme V30 U3, the other a Kingston Canvus React Plus Professional Photography V90 U3. Pic attached.

My Computer has an Asus Rog Strix B550 Mother Board, a AMD Ryzen 5 5600G CPU and 16 Gigs of HyperX Fury 3200 DDR4 Ram.
The power supply is a 550 Watt Corsair.
I built the computer about a year ago During United Kingdom lockdown.
I am wondering if the problem could be my graphics card, the card I was looking at during the planning of this build was about £300-350 British pounds (about 475$ USA Dollars) because of currency mining and a general world wide shortage of chips the card went up to £1200-1300, when it was available. (I understood at the time there were a number of fake cards being sold).
The graphics card I have in the computer is a Passive Nvidia 2 gig GDDR 6 Card, it is basic and as its passive there is no fan cooling involved, which enforces the fact its a basic card most likely OK for office type use.
I am loathed to fork out £1200 (16004$) for a possible rip off card, or even a genuine one come to that.

I understand that something called graphics card Bottlenecking can happen where a Fast CPU sends information so fast that the slow graphics card can not handle the volume of data so it just stacks up against the card and stalls it.
Any thoughts or conformation of this would be gratefully appreciated.

I have been doing all my flight video in 1080p, my computer handles this just fine and to honest it is certainly acceptable quality.
But us boys are all the same, if our Mercedes or Yamaha will do 150 -160mph ...........................................................

 

[Phantomrain.org]

You really need a strong processor with some good Ram to run 4K on your computer smoothly let alone try to edit the footage.

What I would recommend is 2K footage is fantastic, you can really tell the difference between 1080 and 2K but you cannot tell the difference from 2K to 4K as easily as I have posted on the subject many times.

So Consider converting your 4K to 2k H264 with a converter and you should be set up nicely.


Here is what I have and a barely get by without a few hold ups . If my computer is dedicated to the Video Im good but if I am running Adobe anything , than no so good.



Gear to fly in the Rain, Capture the Storm
Phantomrain.org

 

[eEridani]

@lissforester

It isn't a CPU to GPU bottleneck. It might be a HDD storage bottleneck. Though, just caught the passive GPU mention. That may have an effect - but even CPU based graphics will play 4k well enough. But check your disk speeds first.

If you record in H.265, the default player on a PC won't play it. So install VLC player to play H.265; or record in H.264, which is compatitble with Media Player.

As another note, few spinning hard disks can keep up with 4K video. You need an SSD. And if playing off the SD card, you need a reader that actually supports the V30 spec. Most don't.

Find a copy of CrystalDiskMark 64S ... and check the bandwidth of your data pipeline. Anything under 100MB/s is too slow.

CrystalDiskMark

About CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software. Download Standard Edition Aoi Edition Shizuku Edition System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64 Key Features Important Notice -> FAQ Unit M...

crystalmark.info

One of my Samsung V30 SD cards in my Samsung USB reader.


And my other drives:

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I think some of my early videos were recorded in default resolution but using Windows 7 my 'ancient' lap top couldn't play them, Windows 10 on the same laptop (it's dual boot) could play some of them. In the end I reduced the drones' recording resolution.

 

[SethB]

1) Make sure you’ve set your camera to record in h.264. Not h.265!
Modern computers rely on dedicated hardware decoding of video, and basic or older GPUs do not have hardware support of h.265. It may well be that your computer will play 4k in h.264.

Or maybe not.

2) You can transcode to something your PC may play better using Handbrake (great h.264 transcoder), or ShutterEncoder (versatile transcoder). Or maybe you’re editing in Premiere or other editor that has a proxy workflow available - this is what it’s for!

It’s true that video playback may be bottlenecked in any of the areas mentioned previously in this thread. Hardware decoding is required for h.265 playback. Hardware decoding for h.264 should be present on a basic GPU.

More info than you ever wanted to know about codecs and transcoding is available here.

 

[eEridani]

Found this link:

ASUS Launches An Old GPU: The NVIDIA GT 710 with Four 4K HDMI Ports

www.anandtech.com

Says the old GT 710 (nVidia passive) can playback 4k60. And if you don't have a true 4k monitor, it'd do even better.

 

[Chaosrider]

@lissforester

It isn't a CPU to GPU bottleneck. It might be a HDD storage bottleneck. Though, just caught the passive GPU mention. That may have an effect - but even CPU based graphics will play 4k well enough. But check your disk speeds first.

If you record in H.265, the default player on a PC won't play it. So install VLC player to play H.265; or record in H.264, which is compatitble with Media Player.

As another note, few spinning hard disks can keep up with 4K video. You need an SSD. And if playing off the SD card, you need a reader that actually supports the V30 spec. Most don't.

Find a copy of CrystalDiskMark 64S ... and check the bandwidth of your data pipeline. Anything under 100MB/s is too slow.

CrystalDiskMark

About CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software. Download Standard Edition Aoi Edition Shizuku Edition System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64 Key Features Important Notice -> FAQ Unit M...

crystalmark.info

One of my Samsung V30 SD cards in my Samsung USB reader.
View attachment 137558

And my other drives:
View attachment 137559View attachment 137560

I'm definitely going to get an SSD with my new machine. What I haven't decided yet is whether to get an HDD internal to the machine, or just stick with the external HDD storage, which has historically served me well. All the apps, and any files that I want to process, will go on the SSD, at least for the processing.

What I'm afraid of is that I may be looking at a $2K machine, and I'd rather not spend that much. Still, my current machine is from 2013, and once every 8 years I can afford to do it right!

Either that, or limp along until the chip shortage eases a bit.

TCS

 

[Deleted member 103366]

"limp on" I would say, your videos aren't going anywhere.
But one question, can external HDD's match internal HDD's for speed?

 

[lissforester]

You really need a strong processor with some good Ram to run 4K on your computer smoothly let alone try to edit the footage.

What I would recommend is 2K footage is fantastic, you can really tell the difference between 1080 and 2K but you cannot tell the difference from 2K to 4K as easily as I have posted on the subject many times.

So Consider converting your 4K to 2k H264 with a converter and you should be set up nicely.


Here is what I have and a barely get by without a few hold ups . If my computer is dedicated to the Video Im good but if I am running Adobe anything , than no so good.

View attachment 137548

Gear to fly in the Rain, Capture the Storm
Phantomrain.org
View attachment 137547

Hi Phantomrain,

The AMD Ryzen 5600G processor is a very quick processor and one that a lot of gamers go for. The base speed is 3.9GHz and clockable to 4.4GHz it has 6 core and 12 threads, so processor is not an issue, I spent ages before build time looking at processors and user reviews before I settled for this CPU.
As I did with the Asus Strix B550 Mobo.



My main drive is a Samsung 970 EVO M.2 PCle NVMe SSD drive with a Read speed of 3621.28 MB/s measured with CrystleDiskMark8.
Windows 10 is embedded on this M.2 drive, I have two other Corsair Standard SSD drives, one for main onboard storage and the other for temporary onboard storage, for when I am working on a project.
So I don't think drive speed or volume should be an issue.

Granted I may pop 2 more 8 GB memory modules in the available ram slots to see if this helps

I always my copy my video clips from the Micro SD card to the main drive (M.2 NVMe) and play them directly from that drive before storing them on the storage drive (500Gig Corsair SSD)

I am afraid I am next to useless when it comes to editing and my efforts are very basic.
I use a programme called 'AVS Video Editor' but I still believe that the software is much more capable than me.
I did post a link to my Google Drive in Mavic Pilots once with a video clip in a folder within G Drive but veiwing it from the drive was in a very low resolution but when i tried to download it from my G drive I was given a warning that files of this size (To Large) cannot be scanned for viruses so I removed the link.
I personally know the file is fine and clean but no one on here knows me so why would they take the risk.
If you or anyone else could advise how you post the files in here I would appreciate your advice.

PS:
I have watched many of your videos with you flying in terrible weather with wetsuits on your drones and I just have to shake my head in disbelief.
Thanks also for your written posts, I have found them illuminating and informative as I have many others posts in here.
Although I have to cringe when I am watching videos of guys going for the long/max distance flight especially over water, then they go and cancel RTH that the onboard algorithm has initiated and fly on for another mile or so. Ahhhhhh! It's a disaster just waiting to happen.

Many thanks
Tom.

​

 

[lissforester]

1) Make sure you’ve set your camera to record in h.264. Not h.265!
Modern computers rely on dedicated hardware decoding of video, and basic or older GPUs do not have hardware support of h.265. It may well be that your computer will play 4k in h.264.

Or maybe not.

2) You can transcode to something your PC may play better using Handbrake (great h.264 transcoder), or ShutterEncoder (versatile transcoder). Or maybe you’re editing in Premiere or other editor that has a proxy workflow available - this is what it’s for!

It’s true that video playback may be bottlenecked in any of the areas mentioned previously in this thread. Hardware decoding is required for h.265 playback. Hardware decoding for h.264 should be present on a basic GPU.

More info than you ever wanted to know about codecs and transcoding is available here.

Hi Seth,
I appreciate the advice, but, this old boy is from the time of the dinosaurs when it come to software and you might just as well be talking to me in Italian, or Chinese.
I don't know what or how to change or check if I am in H264 or 265 it's all double Dutch to me.
I am more of a hardware person, I like screws and cables.
any further help would be appreciated.
Tom
Lissforester

 

[lissforester]

@lissforester

It isn't a CPU to GPU bottleneck. It might be a HDD storage bottleneck. Though, just caught the passive GPU mention. That may have an effect - but even CPU based graphics will play 4k well enough. But check your disk speeds first.

If you record in H.265, the default player on a PC won't play it. So install VLC player to play H.265; or record in H.264, which is compatitble with Media Player.

As another note, few spinning hard disks can keep up with 4K video. You need an SSD. And if playing off the SD card, you need a reader that actually supports the V30 spec. Most don't.

Find a copy of CrystalDiskMark 64S ... and check the bandwidth of your data pipeline. Anything under 100MB/s is too slow.

CrystalDiskMark

About CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a simple disk benchmark software. Download Standard Edition Aoi Edition Shizuku Edition System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64 Key Features Important Notice -> FAQ Unit M...

crystalmark.info

One of my Samsung V30 SD cards in my Samsung USB reader.
View attachment 137558

And my other drives:
View attachment 137559View attachment 137560

Hi eEridani,

Please see my reply to Phantomrain with reference to My Drives & CrystalDiskMark Speeds.

My drives are all SSD's and my Main C: Drive is a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2.

Great advice though about reading from a Micro SD card through a adaptor/reader.

I do have a remote/USB Samsung 7200 rpm Disks (Spinning Platters) but use only for general storage and not any video or photo related stuff as the read speeds are down on them.
Thanks for your contribution really appreciated.
Tom

 

[Chaosrider]

"limp on" I would say, your videos aren't going anywhere.
But one question, can external HDD's match internal HDD's for speed?

I think so, but it depends on the port. An old, slow USB port won't cut it.

But my theory is to do all of my active work on the SSD, so the HDD speed isn't likely to be a factor.

TCS

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Like mentioned before, an external SSD would probably be better through a USB3 port or better. You might not have the option of recording in H.264 with 4K on the Mini 2. I have a Mavic Air 2 and when you record 4K 60fps, your only option is H.265 (plus if you film in 4K60, it will not change back to H.264 at other resolutions, you have to manually change it back from H.265 to H.264).

 

[tlswift58]

Hi Seth,
I appreciate the advice, but, this old boy is from the time of the dinosaurs when it come to software and you might just as well be talking to me in Italian, or Chinese.
I don't know what or how to change or check if I am in H264 or 265 it's all double Dutch to me.
I am more of a hardware person, I like screws and cables.
any further help would be appreciated.
Tom
Lissforester

H264 and H265 are settings in FlyApp in camera settings. I tried H265 and none of my PC's - new and old - would play them (requires a CODEC). Had to switch back to recording in H264 thru the app and I don't have any issues. I tried 4k and 2.4k and files were just huge. 1080p is a good setting if you don't have a 4k TV and are posting to social media. Yes, you can downgrade from 4 / 2.4k to 1080p, but can't go up from 1080p. So, you have to decide what works for you. 2.4k may be a good medium point.

There are decent video cards with 2-4 GB's of RAM on the market in the $200-$400 range; which should easily work with most systems. With the "chip shortage" the new fast cards are out of this world expensive and not something most of us droners need for video / pic production work.

For those whom backup to an SSD - you may want to rethink that or at least have a HHD as a backup. SSD's are great, yet they only have so many read / writes built in before "poof" they die. HHD's do eventually die to, so a dual drive / NAS setup is something to think about to protect your files from disappearing one day when you least expect it. A simple 2 drive dock costing maybe $20-$30 and a a couple of 2+ TB harddrives at about $60 is cheap insurance. If you shoot at 4k, then you want much larger drives for sure as you'll eat up 2TB's in no time.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Hi Phantomrain,

I use a programme called 'AVS Video Editor' but I still believe that the software is much more capable than me.
I did post a link to my Google Drive in Mavic Pilots once with a video clip in a folder within G Drive but veiwing it from the drive was in a very low resolution but when i tried to download it from my G drive I was given a warning that files of this size (To Large) cannot be scanned for viruses so I removed the link.
I personally know the file is fine and clean but no one on here knows me so why would they take the risk.

So the google drive default message is the to large to scan for Virus , No reason to delete the file , its normal protocol for Google drive on any large file.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

For those whom backup to an SSD - you may want to rethink that or at least have a HHD as a backup. SSD's are great, yet they only have so many read / writes built in before "poof" they die. HHD's do eventually die to, so a dual drive / NAS setup is something to think about to protect your files from disappearing one day when you least expect it.

I archive to a dual layer blue ray burner after a while. It takes up very little room and will last longer than I'll ever need.

 

[SethB]

Hi Seth,
I appreciate the advice, but, this old boy is from the time of the dinosaurs when it come to software and you might just as well be talking to me in Italian, or Chinese.
I don't know what or how to change or check if I am in H264 or 265 it's all double Dutch to me.
I am more of a hardware person, I like screws and cables.
any further help would be appreciated.
Tom
Lissforester

H264 and H265 are settings in FlyApp in camera settings. I tried H265 and none of my PC's - new and old - would play them (requires a CODEC). Had to switch back to recording in H264 thru the app and I don't have any issues. I tried 4k and 2.4k and files were just huge. 1080p is a good setting if you don't have a 4k TV and are posting to social media. Yes, you can downgrade from 4 / 2.4k to 1080p, but can't go up from 1080p. So, you have to decide what works for you. 2.4k may be a good medium point.

There are decent video cards with 2-4 GB's of RAM on the market in the $200-$400 range; which should easily work with most systems. With the "chip shortage" the new fast cards are out of this world expensive and not something most of us droners need for video / pic production work.

For those whom backup to an SSD - you may want to rethink that or at least have a HHD as a backup. SSD's are great, yet they only have so many read / writes built in before "poof" they die. HHD's do eventually die to, so a dual drive / NAS setup is something to think about to protect your files from disappearing one day when you least expect it. A simple 2 drive dock costing maybe $20-$30 and a a couple of 2+ TB harddrives at about $60 is cheap insurance. If you shoot at 4k, then you want much larger drives for sure as you'll eat up 2TB's in no time.

Recording in h.264 is as @tlswift58 wrote above - it’s a camera setting in the DJI app on your phone/tablet.

If you need support on changing your Mini 2’s camera settings, a brief google search turns up many youtube videos and other guideance (the manual!) | dji mini 2 h.264 setting | that show how to do this… which is a little too tedious to type out here!

***edit***
False trail, I stand corrected. The current Mini 2 firmware only produces h.264 files.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I archive to a dual layer blue ray burner after a while. It takes up very little room and will last longer than I'll ever need.

I never considered that , but that is good idea .
So what is the most data you can put on the blue ray disc ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

I never considered that , but that is good idea .
So what is the most data you can put on the blue ray disc ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

25GB on a single layer Blue Ray and 50GB on a dual

 

[Phantomrain.org]

25GB on a single layer Blue Ray and 50GB on a dual

My fear on that has always been that the DVD gets Scratched and it will not load. Other than the extra size does the Blue Ray have any extra protection towards scratching ?