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First videos are terrible

dixiefla

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I just got my M2P and am practicing first flights taking videos. I just took several "first" videos. Clearly I don't know what I am doing yet. They ALL were terrible:

1. Blobs of highlights kept jumping into the image, I assume due to momentary overexposure, with the camera trying to readjust maybe?? I had the video set on 4K 30 fps, auto everything,, with a PolarPro 8PL ND filter on an overcast day. So I don't know why these anomalies would appear if they are overexposures that camera is trying to deal with. It just wasn't that bright a day.

2. The videos are choppy. Rather than the smooth videos I have seen on YouTube, mine were all choppy. Very annoying.

3. In some of the videos, the camera "skipped", almost like the camera was stopping and starting again, or like it was taking still photos. These were a fraction of a second, then video ran again. This was a different issue than the "choppiness".

3. For most videos I was flying in normal mode. But even when I tried Intelligent Flight Modes, first QuickShots, doing Dronie, Circle, and Helix the drone is flying very smoothly, but the videos are choppy, in addition to having the highlights flashing into the picture, they skip or chop. Finally I tried Cinema mode, but didn't see much difference, maybe a bit smoother.

I have seen on YouTube that one shouldn't use "auto" but instead set the camera for manual and adjust the exposure etc. I'll try that, which may get rid of the highlight flashes, but what would cause the choppiness and the skipping, even when using QuickShots, which I understand is only 1K, and flies the drone smoothly??

Any help would be appreciated.
 
What is your playback device at home?
If the vids are smooth on YouTube then the data must be there.
 
I'm using an SanDisk Extreme 64g V30 (the recommended SD card). I am playing back on my PC with Windows 7. 64bit.

I went back into the controller and now I see most of the "manual" camera adjustments are for still photos. So there isn't much to change for videos, but maybe I have some setting wrong??
 
I'm using an SanDisk Extreme 64g V30 (the recommended SD card). I am playing back on my PC with Windows 7. 64bit.

I went back into the controller and now I see most of the "manual" camera adjustments are for still photos. So there isn't much to change for videos, but maybe I have some setting wrong??
Two tests may help.
- try a different card reader and/or cable... obvious end points for this testing.
-upload to your personal media channel, like YouTube for instance... if the file is OK here it’s your computer or transfer method for sure.
 
Well the plot thickens. I went back and played a couple of them on the smart controller. First they ran smoothly but the color was off. Then I chose "original" instead of the default "QuickShots" in the upper right corner, and lo and behold, they ran properly, and all the problems were gone.

So it must be a codec thing, or some limitation in Windows on my PC. I play videos all the time on my PC and have never had a problem. Using Windows Media Player, and I saved these videos as MP4's.

Then I tried VLC Media Player on the PC, which is supposed to be a very good universal player, and they don't play at all, I just get a frozen image as the progress bar shows the video "playing".

So perhaps I need a special video player program on my PC to play these properly? I will now try them on my TV right from the SD card and see if they play properly.
 
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Thanks. I like watching YouTube, but I'm not a member and don't want to post my videos on YouTube. I'll try to find a player for Win7 that will play these videos on my PC and my TV.
 
Thanks. I like watching YouTube, but I'm not a member and don't want to post my videos on YouTube. I'll try to find a player for Win7 that will play these videos on my PC and my TV.
FYI.... You don’t have to share the videos you upload. It’s free.
 
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it sounds like your computer is not fast enough to play 4k videos they need a fast processor and a good video card to handle 4k i can only record in 10-80 30fps to be able to play them back smoothly on my old equipment before you go any further just try a short video using those settings and play it back and see if it corrects it
 
I just got my M2P and am practicing first flights taking videos. I just took several "first" videos. Clearly I don't know what I am doing yet. They ALL were terrible:

1. Blobs of highlights kept jumping into the image, I assume due to momentary overexposure, with the camera trying to readjust maybe?? I had the video set on 4K 30 fps, auto everything,, with a PolarPro 8PL ND filter on an overcast day. So I don't know why these anomalies would appear if they are overexposures that camera is trying to deal with. It just wasn't that bright a day.

2. The videos are choppy. Rather than the smooth videos I have seen on YouTube, mine were all choppy. Very annoying.

3. In some of the videos, the camera "skipped", almost like the camera was stopping and starting again, or like it was taking still photos. These were a fraction of a second, then video ran again. This was a different issue than the "choppiness".

3. For most videos I was flying in normal mode. But even when I tried Intelligent Flight Modes, first QuickShots, doing Dronie, Circle, and Helix the drone is flying very smoothly, but the videos are choppy, in addition to having the highlights flashing into the picture, they skip or chop. Finally I tried Cinema mode, but didn't see much difference, maybe a bit smoother.

I have seen on YouTube that one shouldn't use "auto" but instead set the camera for manual and adjust the exposure etc. I'll try that, which may get rid of the highlight flashes, but what would cause the choppiness and the skipping, even when using QuickShots, which I understand is only 1K, and flies the drone smoothly??

Any help would be appreciated.
You are watching low quality cache files and not the high quality video that is stored on the SD card. This is why the “original” video you see when you play back on the smart controller looks better. It’s streaming the video saved to the SD card and not the cache videos that get saved to the device( in your case the smart controller?)

Import videos directly from the SD card to your computer only.
 
Update Windows 7,to Windows 10,its free and runs much better. Sounds like you might need faster PC too. Windows 7 would have a hard time with Dlog.
Thanks. I like watching YouTube, but I'm not a member and don't want to post my videos on YouTube. I'll try to find a player for Win7 that will play these videos on my PC and my TV.
 
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I found I was having the same problem and as I recall it happened AFTER an update. This was about 6 months ago and I have not been able to fly since b/c it is below freezing here with snow and I haven't had and time to try to resolve it. I do suspect it has something to do with the update I did last summer though because prior to it I had beautiful videos. I too have all the recommended SD cards and SC etc. I hope others post more info about this so I can get my birds videos fixed too. As such I don't even want to fly with the videos not playing correctly.
 
Hey, thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I'm really relieved that its a playback issue, not a problem with the actual videos.

I found a free player online called PotPlayer, and it plays them fairly well on my PC. On one I got an error saying it could not play H265 and had a link to download some patch or codec. Now they all play ok, just a tad of choppiness.

BTW, after editing a couple with sound in the Smart Controller, the edited ones play great on my PC with VLC Player (which can't play the raw ones, even after I changed the config to supposedly work.)

You are right I probably need a faster PC. I may upgrade the video card, and I'll bet that will make a difference. I don't want to upgrade Windows -- tried Win 8 and 10 at my office, hated them--they want everything to be translated into apps like a cell phone instead of programs on a PC. I guess I'm too old school.

The big test will be if these play on my big screen TV, which is where I really want to play them. So far connecting the SD card in a reader to a USB port on the TV doesn't work--says it "won't connect". I've ordered a card reader that uses HDMI, so I'll try that.
 
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A few points to consider. Firstly, since you are just starting out, there is no need to be shooting in 4K because all you are doing right now is practicing. Shooting in 4K takes up a lot of space on your memory card and on your computer HD. You do not need that sort of quality while you are learning. You also need a much faster computer and high end video card to view stutter free video.

Get an Extreme Pro Micro SD card, that also will help. Also don't bother with manual settings and ND filters right now. There is nothing wrong with the Mavic 2 Pro video in straight auto mode, plus just shoot in 1080 or at the most 2.7K while learning, to save yourself time in practice editing, space on cards and computer HD. I am a photographer and know what I need to do to get great manual still and video shots, but I often choose auto, because it does a great job. Once you get your self sorted out with flying and filming angles, and everything is going well, then you change your setting to get back up there in quality.

At that point, you can begin to play with manual settings and then you can also start playing with ND filters when the need arises. You do not need ND filters in lower light like an overcast day, you may need them when there is too much light out there for filming at the settings you want. Also you do not get RAW video, you only get RAW with still images.
 
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....- tried Win 8 and 10 at my office, hated them--they want everything to be translated into apps like a cell phone instead of programs on a PC. I guess I'm too old school...

I am old school too but I have been using windows 10 since it was launched. I also hated the app-like interface but soon found that it could be disabled to make everythings look more or less like windows 7.
 
For your info. It's pointless to shoot 4K with M2P as there is no difference from 2.7K. The most surprising thing is that resolution wise, 4K video of M2P is inferior to M1P :eek:


 
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