Major issues with low quality footage and setting, any help is appreciated!

[joeyjackets]

Hi, I am brand new to all of this, I recently got a job that requires me to do some light drone videography. The company purchased a Mavic pro 2 which I was pretty excited about because I had see a lot of the amazing footage it is capable of around the internet. However, my experience with using it has been beyond frustrating unfortunately. I watched plenty of instructional videos explaining all the basics and how to use all the menu items, etc. Even when I fly it, it looks amazing on screen as I am capturing the footage. The problem starts when I pull the footage to use in my video editor. I have the settings to record at 4k, 30 fps, mov, H.265 in the drone log format, however when I get the footage from the SD or controller, it is scaled down, terrible quality, and none of the settings are correct. Instead, the footage is 1920x1088 resolution, mp4, H.264 codec and unusable quality. It's almost like it is kicking out proxies instead of the full resolution footage. No matter what settings I try and record with, it is always the same result, it's like everything I select is being overridden by some setting I am unaware of. I searched around looking for others who have the same problem, but I can't really find anything that matches my issue (maybe I am not using the right search terms). So I figured I would join here and see if any of you beautiful experts might be able to educate me or help figure out the problem. Let me know if you need further information, I am really hoping I am just missing a stupid setting somewhere and just need to switch it off . Thanks in advance!

 

[SmilingOgre]

Please forgive me if I am being over simplistic. It is not my intention to question your abilities.

1. What editor are you using?
2. Did you set the timeline in the editor to 4k UHD?
3. Did you set the playback resolution in the editor to a fairly high resolution?
4. The resolution from the SD will not match that sent to the controller. Use the file from the SD.
5. Did you confirm your settings after making them in the drone? Top center of the screen should show 30P 4K
6. If you play the file from a viewer without the editor involved how does it look?

 

[RH009]

To add to that, make sure your SD card is a U3 card.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Which "SD" are you downloading from, the mSD card from the drone is the one you should be using.

 

[joeyjackets]

Thank you all for the quick replies! To answer your questions:
I use Davinci Resolve for editing, I am pretty well versed in cameras and video, it's just the drone stuff I am new to. I have imported footage into my editor, mostly to check and see if it is as bad as it is when I preview it in the media player. So once I noticed the problem, I have since stopped bothering with video editing since I can tell the footage is unusable when I preview it from the viewer. All specs I provided above were pulled from the clip meta data.

I will have to check on the card when I am back in the office tomorrow, I am not sure if it is a U3 card, it was purchased before I was hired so stay tuned for that bit of info.

The majority of the files were pulled from the SD, although I have also had an issue where even when I set the source to record to the SD, it will still kick it to the controller instead. Not sure if that is related to the same issue or not. Additionally, when I select to format the SD and controller memory, it does not delete the previous clips. I have had to do it manually.

Settings are confirmed, it displays all the options I chose correctly on screen while flying.

The footage is always bad no matter the viewer, the only time it looks OK is when viewed on the controller. But that could also be due to the smaller screen.

As far as which SD I am downloading from, I can't remember what it was off the top of my head, but it's the only folder that any video clips in it outside of the included tutorials, etc. I will check on this as well tomorrow when I am back at work.

 

[Kilrah]

I have the settings to record at 4k, 30 fps, mov, H.265 in the drone log format, however when I get the footage from the SD or controller, it is scaled down, terrible quality, and none of the settings are correct. Instead, the footage is 1920x1088 resolution, mp4, H.264 codec and unusable quality.

You're taking the footage from the controller instead of the card in the aircraft.

I have also had an issue where even when I set the source to record to the SD, it will still kick it to the controller instead.

As long as there's a card in the aircraft it'll record there, that doesn't mean there's isn't also the low res version on the controller. The full quality footage is ONLY on the aircraft.

 

[SmilingOgre]

That's a wild one for sure. I'm not sure how the drone handles less than adequate SD cards. My cine cameras will start dropping frames and warn me. Drone files to show up as MP4 on my computer but they have never been translated to a lower resolution. I'm beginning to also wonder about the card. I can't qualify that as again I don't know what the drone will do with a sub spec card. Could it be that the drone is saving it as best it can? Will be interesting to see the resolve for this one.

 

[MS Coast]

I'm not trying to be the "drone police" and I mention this only because you say you are brand new to drones and may not be aware of it. To avoid potentially getting into a bind somewhere down the road, you'll need a Part 107 license to fly for your company.

Details here:

Become a Drone Pilot

www.faa.gov

 

[Gagey52]

When I started flying, I’d do the setup for the video, once I got in the air I’d forget to check the settings were as required. Got a bit excited I guess. And welcome to the forum.

 

[joeyjackets]

I'm not trying to be the "drone police" and I mention this only because you say you are brand new to drones and may not be aware of it. To avoid potentially getting into a bind somewhere down the road, you'll need a Part 107 license to fly for your company.

Details here:

Become a Drone Pilot

www.faa.gov

I am in the process, thanks for looking out!

 

[joeyjackets]

When I started flying, I’d do the setup for the video, once I got in the air I’d forget to check the settings were as required. Got a bit excited I guess. And welcome to the forum.

Thanks!

 

[Johnmcl7]

You're taking the footage from the controller instead of the card in the aircraft.

I think you're spot on here.

 

[joeyjackets]

You're taking the footage from the controller instead of the card in the aircraft.


As long as there's a card in the aircraft it'll record there, that doesn't mean there's isn't also the low res version on the controller. The full quality footage is ONLY on the aircraft.

This was this issue, thanks! And I feel stupid

 

[Cymruflyer]

I am in the process, thanks for looking out!

Have you done your TRUST test already? If not you could be stopped by the law and be in trouble.

 

[Cymruflyer]

I am in the process, thanks for looking out!

You know you need to have your Part 107 BEFORE you start working for the company in a flying capacity, right? It does not work by going about getting it and still doing work for the company with the drone. You could get busted and pay a lot of money in fines. You can't legally fly for the company UNTIL you have your 107 and your company could get fined as well, knowingly allowing you to do this.

 

[CaseyK]

You know you need to have your Part 107 BEFORE you start working for the company in a flying capacity, right? It does not work by going about getting it and still doing work for the company with the drone. You could get busted and pay a lot of money in fines. You can't legally fly for the company UNTIL you have your 107 and your company could get fined as well, knowingly allowing you to do this.

Please read post #8 again. He has been informed!

 

[Cymruflyer]

Please read post #8 again. He has been informed!

I know that but he seems to think that because he is in the process of getting his 107 that he might be okay to keep doing it. If you read what I stated from his response, you might understand the point better.

 

[Arnold LeVine]

Can we assume your PC or Mac has enough RAM, processor, and Video Card to handle 4K H265 and Davinci? That combo takes a LOT of horsepower.
Also, does DaVinci use a low res proxy for editing? Could that be why it looks bad on screen?

 

[Cymruflyer]

Can we assume your PC or Mac has enough RAM, processor, and Video Card to handle 4K H265 and Davinci? That combo takes a LOT of horsepower.
Also, does DaVinci use a low res proxy for editing? Could that be why it looks bad on screen?

Probably best to read the responses before adding a new answer. If you did that, you would see that the OP has already stated what his mistake was and that all is now well, no longer requiring people's ideas.

 

[Johnmcl7]

This was this issue, thanks! And I feel stupid

You're not the first one to make this mistake and likely not the last either, the quality of the cached video as you've found is much lower quality than the video stored on the drone.