movie files over 4GB?

[sunt5240]

Hi,
I made several 4K movies lasting 10 mins or more. But when I see on files they are split into shorter files with size about 3700MB. I used exFAT FS so there should be no problem with supporting big file size. Is it any option you can set up or is any firmware limitation?

 

[old man mavic]

Hi,
I made several 4K movies lasting 10 mins or more. But when I see on files they are split into shorter files with size about 3700MB. I used exFAT FS so there should be no problem with supporting big file size. Is it any option you can set up or is any firmware limitation?

it is the way the drone stores the file on the card i use 1080p 30FPS and my videos are in 13m 30 second segments, the higher the resolution you use the shorter each segment becomes

 

[dawgpilot]

GoPro does the same thing. You have to join the files together in post if they are too big.

 

[Olav van Gerven]

The simple reason is, that android/windows use a file alloction system that restricts the filesize to around 4GB. This is from the ancient times that no one ever thought you would need more then 1 GB storeage in a computer, since tapes where State Of The Art.
Apple uses another system and has no problem with bigger files.
As I edit my videos most of the time, I have not noticed any missing frames, so for the quality of the result, it seems to be irrelevant.

 

[gb160]

I noticed this too, strange there isn't a setting to override this if you're using a Mac or other os that isn't so fussy.

 

[gb160]

This is becoming increasingly annoying now, surely they have to add a switch to enable/disable this?

 

[old man mavic]

This is becoming increasingly annoying now, surely they have to add a switch to enable/disable this?

there is nothing you can do about it its the way that info is stored in the drone on the SD card

 

[gb160]

there is nothing you can do about it its the way that info is stored in the drone on the SD card

Surely this can be addressed via a software update on the drone, no?

 

[z28lt1]

This is really just finding a compromise that can work for everyone. I think a lot of smaller SD cards were formatted initially with FAT 32, which doesn't allow files over 4GB. So, imagine some unsuspected person is taking awesome video, hits the 4GB limit, the drone can't write to the card and close the file, so the whole video is corrupt -- there would be all kinds of posts how could DJI let that great video be corrupted. While its not an issue for modern larger cards, who knows what everyone is using.

I'm sure it's possible to put in a software switch somewhere, but as we see from this forum, lots of people don't read the manual or look around at all the settings in the software, so we would have the same problem

As noted, GoPro does the same thing (although haven't tested it with my new one yet). It's the safest solution that makes sure videos aren't "lost" with the inconveniences of those taking long videos having to merge them together in post, which is usually not a bid deal at all for any video editing software. (I actually use different software if I just need to cut or merge so that I don't open up the full editing suite and its quick)

 

[swooshdave]

As noted you don't lose any frame joining them together. Is it a pain, yes. But there are worse things in this world.

 

[sunt5240]

Yes I agree you can merge clips on your own but it takes some time.

What app/method you recommend for fast and easy way to join clips with size 3-4GB

 

[Keule]

What app/method you recommend for fast and easy way to join clips with size 3-4GB

MP4Tools - Home

www.mp4joiner.org

 

[swooshdave]

Yes I agree you can merge clips on your own but it takes some time.

What app/method you recommend for fast and easy way to join clips with size 3-4GB

Well that really depends on what are going to do with them.

 

[sunt5240]

well just I want to upload my movie (whole flight) to yt , when I fly over 5 min there is two or more files...So before upload I need to somehow merge them , I used windows 10 embeeded tools but they convert it to 1080p....

 

[Scoop]

Surely this can be addressed via a software update on the drone, no?

It's not a limitation of the drone. It's a limitation of the FAT32 file system. NOTHING can store a single file that is larger than 4GB in size on a FAT32 formatted file system.

 

[sunt5240]

It's not a limitation of the drone. It's a limitation of the FAT32 file system. NOTHING can store a single file that is larger than 4GB in size on a FAT32 formatted file system.

I dont talk about FAT32, I use exFAT SD card formatted.

 

[z28lt1]

well just I want to upload my movie (whole flight) to yt , when I fly over 5 min there is two or more files...So before upload I need to somehow merge them , I used windows 10 embeeded tools but they convert it to 1080p....

Yes, the Windows utilities are a pain because they go 1080p and don't really even tell you they do.

I use LosslessCut. Free and available on PC, Mac, Linux. While designed for quickly trimming videos, I find its a great merge tool as well

On my reasonably good PC that is 5 years old, the mege of two 4GB files probably takes 6-8 minutes or so. On my new, pretty powerful PC probably less than a minute. Both have SSDs though.

 

[gb160]

It's not a limitation of the drone. It's a limitation of the FAT32 file system. NOTHING can store a single file that is larger than 4GB in size on a FAT32 formatted file system.

It is a limitation of the drone software.
The drone formats the card as exFAT, which has no such limitation, so there could easily be an option for this.

 

[z28lt1]

It is a limitation of the drone software.
The drone formats the card as exFAT, which has no such limitation, so there could easily be an option for this.

Except cards that are 32gb and less are usually formatted FAT32. I'd have to go back and re-test, but I think at least some of the DJI drones formatted 32gb and less cards in FAT32, and larger cards in exFAT. If I can dig up an old 32gb card, I'll try in on the Air 2, suspect it will format in FAT32 as well. And they all support both no matter where it was formatted. So the only other option would be to require 64gb and larger cards formatted in exFAT as a minimum -- which DJI is smart not to do, since they have people coming over from older drones like Phantoms that generally used smaller cards.

Again, it is a compromise they have to make if they want to support smaller cards and how they were formatted and the limitations of those formats. Either people with larger cards deal with the 4gb split, or DJI tells people with smaller cards to go find another drone.

EDIT: Should add another good test will be to see what the internal memory is, as its only 8gb. I'm guessing FAT32. Will test it and report back.

 

[z28lt1]

Quick test.

Internal memory on original AIR is formatted FAT32. Internal memory on Air 2 is formatted exFAT.

Will try to format a small card next.