Recording settings, transfer of files, footage quality

[Bee63]

Hi, I’m an absolute noob when it comes to flying drones. I’ve literally watched thousands of videos on YouTube.

Anyway due to our wonderful weather here in the UK at this time of the year I have only gone out to fly a 3 or 4 times. I recorded some footage of my last flight and I’m really disappointed with the quality of the video, it’s not good quality at all, I’d say less than 720p and also have that stuttering effect when viewed on my tv, so I don’t know if that’s as a result of the incorrect gimbal movement settings? I took all four of the different quick shots and viewing them individually they look pretty good, but once I edited all four of them together in the Fly app then the quality is diminished. When viewed on my phone the quality looks ok but on computer and tv not so much.

When I watch some of the YouTube videos the Mavic Mini quality is absolutely stunning, are these just as a result of being overly doctored by an editing program?... does anyone have any help on the perfect settings on each of the tabs when hitting the three dots in the Fly app? as far as I can recall had my settings at 2.7k 30fps, I think was set to CE 2.4ghz. What is the best way to transfer footage to my computer to edit? Remove the SD card from the mini? Transfer over WiFi?

I’m so confused as to why my footage was so bad, so any help would be great! Apologies in advance if this has been covered before!

 

[fificap]

Hi,

By default only a low res version of video is stored on the phone. To have the full res version of the video, you have différents options:
- you can download it to the phone using the galery included in DJI fly app. On this gallery (not the one of the phone, the one of the DJI app), you have only the low res version of the file, you have to select the video and choose download to send the full res from aircraft to the phone. You can then use the edition feature of DJI fly app to quickly edit and mount them directly on the phone (video resolution of resilt will be limited to 1080p).
- you can remove the sd card from the aircraft and copy the full res video from sd card to your computer or other device that can read sd card!
- I've never tested it but i think you can use a micro usb cable to connect the aircraft to a computer and copy the full res video file.

For me the best way to transfert video and edit them on computer is to remove sd card from aircraft.

 

[sirbadger]

You can connect it via usb directly but it's slow, best to use a reader.

 

[G Randy Brown]

I've never tested it but i think you can use a micro usb cable to connect the aircraft to a computer and copy the full res video file.

What a coincidence, I literally just now ordered a card reader...would be more convenient to download directly from the drone...I'll report back if it works (or doesn't) for me.

 

[G Randy Brown]

You can connect it via usb directly but it's slow, best to use a reader.

LOL, my timing sucks...glad I ordered the card now

 

[Bee63]

Thank you for your replies.

At the moment my primary aim is to learn to fly the drone. I screen recorded and also recorded my footage on the mini, just to see how it would turn out. When I watch my footage and compare to some of the videos uploaded onto YouTube there is a remarkable difference and by comparison my footage is not great. Some of the footage I’ve watched of other mavic mini users was really silky smooth cinematic and look like they’re at 2.7 or 4K resolution, and having watched thousands of YouTube videos the quality of others videos was one of the many considerations towards buying this particular drone.

That said, I took the SD card out of the drone and downloaded it on to my laptop using an SD card reader. But again the quality of the footage is not great maybe 720p at best.

So my questions re the above are .... to get the best footage here in the UK for uploading onto YouTube.

- should videos be shot in 2.7k 24 fps or 30 fps or even in 1080p? As mentioned previously my footage had that stutter/jitter which is really annoying.

- Is the quality of the video affected by which network one uses either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz network? (My Mini was connected to the 2.4ghz network when I flew the other day, but is set to 5.8ghz when Auto is selected.

- Is there a difference in video quality between the CE and FCC models? Is the video quality affected by whether or not my iPhone 8 is in airplane mode or not? Am I comparing the video I shot with videos that have been up scaled in the editing process?

- is the process of uploading to a YouTube making things worse? or am I just not doing it correctly (highly possible)

If the footage I have is the best raw footage I can get, can someone recommend a really really simple to use video editor to upscale my footage?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to any help you can offer.

 

[Gobuchul]

can someone recommend a really really simple to use video editor to upscale my footage?

That doesn't really work. You cannot add data that isn't there.

Are you sure the problem isn't with your PC? Maybe it can't handle the 2.7k resolution? I had switch my pro down to 1080p as the my PC can't handle the 4k files.

How many MB are the files and what duration? This would be a very easy way to know what resolution you are capturing the video in.

 

[Meta4]

- should videos be shot in 2.7k 24 fps or 30 fps or even in 1080p?

Either is capable of producing good results.

As mentioned previously my footage had that stutter/jitter which is really annoying.

The usual cause is inadequate software to play the video or a computer with inadequate performance.

- Is the quality of the video affected by which network one uses either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz network?
- Is there a difference in video quality between the CE and FCC models? Is the video quality affected by whether or not my iPhone 8 is in airplane mode or not?

No, no and no

- is the process of uploading to a YouTube making things worse?

Probably not.
Youtube take a while to fully process uploaded videos and they won't appear properly at first.
Try looking at them later.

 

[Dannydperez]

My video playback on my laptop was very jumpy. 2.7k stuttering constantly, 1080 was better, but still not acceptable. Tried watching the videos from the sd card on a friends newer laptop, and everything was smooth as silk. Time for me to get a more powerful laptop. Could that possibly be your issue?

 

[Kilrah]

The quickshots are "processed" by the app from the live stream and output in lower res only. Normal footage from the card will be much better. Quickshots are meant for quick social media sharing, not best quality.