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Air2S laggy video playback

Chase2S

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Joined
Feb 24, 2022
Messages
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Age
39
Location
Macon, GA
Hi folks. My Airs 2S is basically new. I've flown it maybe 10 times total. The video playback has been excellent and smooth up until recently but the last 2 times I recorded, the playback from my sd card has been extremely choppy/laggy. It's not my computer as I can look at older vids and they are normal. I don't recall changing any setting that could have caused this. The last time out I did make various changes to resolution and frame rates to try to correct this issue but to no avail. The live view on my Fly app screen has not changed and it appears to be fine as always. Are there any other setting I should check or things I should try before assuming something has seriously gone awry with my camera?
 
Move the files from the SD card to your computer to see if they are still playing choppy. It could still be the MicrroSD.

Check to see if you have been recording in MOV or MP4, h264, or h265.... those are easy settings to change with different demands on your computer that could be causing the issue.

Also see if you are recording in 5.4k or 4K....

Any of these changes could be causing your problem. The Air 2s isn't likely to be the cause other than a settings change you didn't anticipate.
 
If you are shooting higher resolution frame rates, it will default to H.265. You have no other choice and it will not reset to H.264 after that on lower resolution and frame rates. You will have to go in there and manually switch it back in the settings.
 
H265 is very difficult to play back smoothly on all but the newest computers. Most computers aimed at video work will have hardware decoders installed to reduce the H265 playback problems.
 
Thanks for the replies. Why would this have started all of sudden like and how do I manually revert back to H264? Oh and I'm using an early 2015 Macbook pro...
 
Thanks for the replies. Why would this have started all of sudden like and how do I manually revert back to H264? Oh and I'm using an early 2015 Macbook pro...
I use the highest resolutions and most processor intensive settings on my Air 2s. I had to upgrade from a 2015 MacBook Pro to a 2021 MacBook Air M1 to be able to edit and playback the 4K and 5.4k files coming from the aircraft. I am usually set to h265 and MOV.

I am not sure why you started having difficulty all of a sudden but it probably means something is selected differently for recording. h264/h265 is a setting under the camera tab from the three dots menu on the upper left side of your DJI Fly screen. The highest resolution / frame rate combos like 4k/60p will only let you use h265.

For files you have already recorded, that are stuttering, try playing them back with VLC Player.
 
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The other thing you can do, is transcode the problematic files into an editing codec like ProRes. The files will br huge, but they should play just fine on more modest PCs.
 
Are you playing the files from the SD card? If so, that's your problem - the interface to these are not fast enough for resource heavy files like these. Move the files to your main drive, they should work much better.
 
Are you playing the files from the SD card? If so, that's your problem - the interface to these are not fast enough for resource heavy files like these. Move the files to your main drive, they should work much better.
I WAS but I transferred one of the mp4 files to my onboard ssd and it was still glitchy, so I will try some of the other settings.

update: Thanks guys. Going in and changing back to H264 fixed this issue! I also changed to a different sd card but I doubt that was the issue, as the other card is even newer and better card than this one. I guess if I decide to work with higher resolutions I will need a newer computer.
 
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