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Recording on SDXC cards-video quality question

christangey

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DJI lists recommended SDXC storage for the Mavic 4 Pro consisting of Lexar and Kingston storage cards. What is not clear (and never seems to be clear) is if I am using the creator combo will the cards be able to match the data speed of the internal drive or are they somehow limited by their own SDXC format? So to keep the question simple, if I were to record video on the 512 gig internal Drive am I able to record at the same data rate if I use a 512 gig micro SD card in the slot? Of course I'm not talking about All-I, I've given up on that "workflow" anyway.

DJI_20250720182214_0109_D.jpeg
 
No ... recording to a micro SD card won't be as fast as to the internal drive.
Yes but is that just a card format restriction or have DJI also set a "speed restriction" to the card? I'd like to think not, which would mean as the microSD technology improves we'll be able to get bit rates similar to the internal SSD.
 
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DJI lists recommended SDXC storage for the Mavic 4 Pro consisting of Lexar and Kingston storage cards. What is not clear (and never seems to be clear) is if I am using the creator combo will the cards be able to match the data speed of the internal drive or are they somehow limited by their own SDXC format? So to keep the question simple, if I were to record video on the 512 gig internal Drive am I able to record at the same data rate if I use a 512 gig micro SD card in the slot? Of course I'm not talking about All-I, I've given up on that "workflow" anyway.
The data rate may be different, but for continuous video, I'm not aware of any limitations, other than no All-I , as the video recording itself should be unaffected, as long as you use a supported micro SD card that can keep up. Any overflow is likely kept in a buffer on the internal SSD.

For stills, however, using the internal SSD will certainly shorten the time in between shots, allowing for a much faster continuous shooting speed for large Free Panos, Panos, 100MP stills, 50MP stills and RAW photos.
 
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thanks Gadget
 
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Yes but is that just a card format restriction or have DJI also set a "speed restriction" to the card? I'd like to think not, which would mean as the microSD technology improves we'll be able to get bit rates similar to the internal SSD.
The drone doesn't support faster microSD cards because it's limited by the hardware in the drone, there are several faster types of micro SD cards but the Mavic 4 doesn't have the hardware to use them. The older UHS-II spec offers faster speed than standard SD cards and the newer SD Express cards utilise PCI-Express and NVME similar to SSDs:


However it's not just DJI, despite UHS-II being announced 14 years ago its adoption wasn't particularly widespread and the only SD Express device I've seen so far is the Nintendo Switch 2. Some companies offer an SSD solution like DJI have or use other faster standards like CF Express.
 
I installed a Lexar 1TB Professional Silver Plus Micro SD Card in my MP4 Pro and although the SD card has a write speed of 150MB/s, I prefer to defaulr to internal storage with 512GB in my creator combo version.

The following is gleaned off google.
While the Mavic 4 Pro can utilize SD cards, the maximum write speed is limited to 120 Mbps (15 MB/s), regardless of the card's capabilities. This limitation does not affect the internal storage's performance.
The Mavic 4 Pro's internal storage offers fast write speeds. This is especially true in the Creator Combo's ALL-I mode, which is suitable for demanding video formats
 
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I installed a Lexar 1TB Professional Silver Plus Micro SD Card in my MP4 Pro and although the SD card has a write speed of 150MB/s, I prefer to defaulr to internal storage with 512GB in my creator combo version.
Sure is easier with an internal SSD of that size, designed for All-I. The faster still frame shooting makes it worth the risk of losing the day's shoot, if the drone becomes unrecoverable, and one is unable to copy off the recordings in between battery changes. Bringing along a laptop helps with the latter, as the transfer speed is super fast!
 
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Sure is easier with an internal SSD of that size, designed for All-I. The faster still frame shooting makes it worth the risk of losing the day's shoot, if the drone becomes unrecoverable, and one is unable to copy off the recordings in between battery changes. Bringing along a laptop helps with the latter, as the transfer speed is super fast!
I usually try and remember to turn screen recording on plus the controllers have video cache and its good for lower resolution copies in case the drone is lost.
 
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I usually try and remember to turn screen recording on plus the controllers have video cache and its good for lower resolution copies in case the drone is lost.
I keep intending to remember to do that as well. Good also for reviewing distracting pop up messages that are dismissed before being able to fully read them, and documenting the exact order panos are shot in. Hopefully, I can now successfully remember to turn on screen recording every time, maybe with a reminder sticker on the RC underneath the screen.
 
While the drone may not be able to write to an SD card at the card's fastest speed, having a faster card will benefit you when you read the data from the card. Here's a good write-up from Matt Cole of card reading and writing speeds On the Capacity, Performance, and Reliability of microSD Cards

In addition to testing and reviewing cards, Matt also lists what readers he uses and recommends.
 
While the drone may not be able to write to an SD card at the card's fastest speed, having a faster card will benefit you when you read the data from the card. Here's a good write-up from Matt Cole of card reading and writing speeds On the Capacity, Performance, and Reliability of microSD Cards

In addition to testing and reviewing cards, Matt also lists what readers he uses and recommends.
Good information, but for me, reading cards is the last of my problems. It's all about quality on the front end.
 
I installed a Lexar 1TB Professional Silver Plus Micro SD Card in my MP4 Pro and although the SD card has a write speed of 150MB/s, I prefer to defaulr to internal storage with 512GB in my creator combo version.

The following is gleaned off google.
While the Mavic 4 Pro can utilize SD cards, the maximum write speed is limited to 120 Mbps (15 MB/s), regardless of the card's capabilities. This limitation does not affect the internal storage's performance.
The Mavic 4 Pro's internal storage offers fast write speeds. This is especially true in the Creator Combo's ALL-I mode, which is suitable for demanding video formats
Very interesting. I had suspected there was some limitation in the DJI system regardless. What's your experience with All-I? I just don't have the time to play with it at the moment. I'm hoping that DJI come up with a solution with Apple in particular regarding the workflow, because at the moment it's a pain to work with...and I have a high-end desktop. I can't imagine what it would be like for those who own less powerful machines.
 

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