DJI changes codec

[shb]

I like to join all the little files on a flight with avidemux. It normally works real good. But on my recent trip I switched to h265 to save storage. I found that when you do a circle quick shot, DJI switches back to h264, so you cannot join that with the h265 files without reencoding. I see this as a major problem/defect. Why do they have to change the codec?

 

[WanderLost]

I like to join all the little files on a flight with avidemux. It normally works real good. But on my recent trip I switched to h265 to save storage. I found that when you do a circle quick shot, DJI switches back to h264, so you cannot join that with the h265 files without reencoding. I see this as a major problem/defect. Why do they have to change the codec?

From what I understand, the h265 requires more processing and when the drone is executing some master shots, the extra CPU power required to encode h265 exceeds the limits of its computing power - hence the drop to h264.
It's similar to the loss of obstacle avoidance when flying in sport mode. The CPU can't process the avoidance information fast enough at higher speeds.

 

[GadgetGuy]

From what I understand, the h265 requires more processing and when the drone is executing some master shots, the extra CPU power required to encode h265 exceeds the limits of its computing power - hence the drop to h264.
It's similar to the loss of obstacle avoidance when flying in sport mode. The CPU can't process the avoidance information fast enough at higher speeds.

Actually, H.265 encoding is usually used for complex tasks because the resulting files are significantly smaller, allowing more information to be processed within the CPU and write speed limitations. Almost all higher fps rates require H.265. It's a tradeoff. Some simpler tasks may default to H.264 because of its easier file handling.

 

[umanbean]

Actually, H.265 encoding is usually used for complex tasks because the resulting files are significantly smaller, allowing more information to be processed within the CPU and write speed limitations. Almost all higher fps rates require H.265. It's a tradeoff. Some simpler tasks may default to H.264 because of its easier file handling.

Thanks... Learning something new everyday, love it

 

[Dave Maine]

H265 on all cameras is much more compute intensive, as the h265 code is much more complex. As chips continue to improve, with more computing power and less weight and power consumption this problem will go away.

 

[shb]

From what I understand, the h265 requires more processing and when the drone is executing some master shots, the extra CPU power required to encode h265 exceeds the limits of its computing power - hence the drop to h264.
It's similar to the loss of obstacle avoidance when flying in sport mode. The CPU can't process the avoidance information fast enough at higher speeds.

Maybe you're right, I don't know. Because of that, I will avoid h265 in the future. You only save around 20%.

 

[RangerEd]

From what I understand, the h265 requires more processing and when the drone is executing some master shots, the extra CPU power required to encode h265 exceeds the limits of its computing power - hence the drop to h264.
It's similar to the loss of obstacle avoidance when flying in sport mode. The CPU can't process the avoidance information fast enough at higher speeds.

You are absolutely correct. I've done hardware and software development in the past.
There tradeoffs that have to be made. The h265 algorithms are more significantly more CPU intensive than h264 which is why the h265 produces significantly smaller file sizes. Same is true when going from h264 to mjpeg which produces significantly smaller file sizes than mjpeg.

 

[RangerEd]

From what I understand, the h265 requires more processing and when the drone is executing some master shots, the extra CPU power required to encode h265 exceeds the limits of its computing power - hence the drop to h264.
It's similar to the loss of obstacle avoidance when flying in sport mode. The CPU can't process the avoidance information fast enough at higher speeds.

Don't you have it backwards?

 

[shb]

Most modern computers have built in chips that encode h264 and h265, so the main processor doesn't have to do it.

 

[WanderLost]

Don't you have it backwards?

While the h265 codec makes smaller files under the best conditions, it requires extra processing power to do that compared to h264. DJI's implementation doesn't appear to be very useful for compressing the data since the h264 and h265 files are almost identical. Having the choice though is good for some people's workflow and video post-processing.