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Live video on iPad Mini4 / iPhone6s goes from good to bad for no reason

dharris99

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2018
Messages
5
Reactions
1
Age
52
Problem
I'm relatively new to the Mavic Pro, it's my 4th drone after buying several cheaper toy drones like Hubsan and Bugs3, etc. Having live video problems (SD video is fine). After going through several camera settings and reading several posts, I cannot figure out why the live video starts out good and quickly goes bad - see two screenshots from my iPad mini 4 for below.

Was unit in a crash
No

What have you tried so far?:
Camera settings changed, no effect.
Tried DJI Go 4 App and Litchi App, both latest versions, and tried iPhone6s, same problem.
Also tried shutting down iPad Mini4, closing all Apps, clearing video cache on Mavic, manually changing transmission settings.

What device are you using
ipad mini 4 and iPhone 6s, both same problem

What firmware are you running ( aircraft, remote controller)
Newest

What Go app version are you using
Newest version, Litchi also shows the same problem

Any modification?
Its all a stock unit

Did you change anything or install any apps?
No

Do you have a video or pictures of the problem?
Yes, see attached.

Notes and observations:
Maybe it's heat related, but it happens even before the fan comes on, just sitting on my desk pointed out the window - takes maybe a minute or two to happen. However, when I leave it for a while, a few hours, and restart everything it's good again... then quickly goes bad.

Anyone seen this kind of problem? Must be something known. Looks like the video bandwidth just throttles way back and the bits per pixel becomes super low.

 

Attachments

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newest 01.04.0400, ?

seen a few people with this issue, might be best to rollback
 
Yes, that’s the version – which one to roll back to is best? The immediate fw before also had the same problem, I think v1.03
 
Yes, that’s the version – which one to roll back to is best? The immediate fw before also had the same problem, I think v1.03
I would try the one before if it was working ok
 
I have been having a similar issue over the past few weeks with my MP connected to a Moto Z Force, both latest DJI Go 4 App update as well as previous. Your images appear exactly as what I've been seeing. Have had the drone for a year and never crashed.
The video feed works perfectly for the first 10-15 minutes then garbles. Once this happens turning movements seem not as smooth, although might simply be me overcompensating because I can't see. Landing, changing battery and restarting the app doesn't help, unless the MP has been off for a considerable time.
Haven't proven to my satisfaction yet, but I think the problem might have something to do with overheating because it happens sooner during the flight when the air temp is over 90°F and/or there is a higher wind. On a cooler day (60°F-ish) 2 weeks ago it happened only momentarily once through three battery changes. Once the video starts pixelating and I land, the undercarriage feels almost hot to the touch. I don't remember if it used to feel that warm months ago before the problem arose.
 
Thanks for that feedback

I also think it may be heat related - the firmware could be reading the high heat and throttling back the video compression quality. It's likely the live video transmit is lower priority that the SD card record quality, and so it gets reduced to cool down the embedded processor. It strange it's not more widley reported, however it's common that manufacturers cost reduce components on later builds. They could have cheaped out on removing some heat disipation, or we just have borderline spec MPs.

Mine is only a month or so old,it's often the earlier production models are sometimes better hardware wise. I sent an inquiry to DJI customer supports all see what they say .
 
To close off this thread, I returned the unit and had a replacement sent out which no longer had the issue. It looks like it's a defective unit problem.
 
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