Originally Posted by twinturbostang

Mine has. Especially if it loses all video signal, like if I power off the video Tx and then power it back on while the DVR is still recording.

Mine has a firmware version of B257.11.06.22. Is there a newer version available?

That is my version.

I have put up with this long enough, so I started looking around and found out that we are not the only ones with this issue.

There is supposed to be a firmware update, but I have not found any sign of someone having access to the update, and have not found any sign of anyone having this issue resolved.

This thread covers the issue. Starting at page 82, Ren discusses a firmware update.

http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread....pan-DVR/page87

Thanks for the info. Hopefully he'll have the firmware available soon.

Hobbykings new:

SD DVR High Resolution Digital Video Recorder for FPV

HobbyKing SD DVR High Resolution Digital Video Recorder (1 min 21 sec)

Test recording off TV

Recording off TV gives you really no idea at all how it'll perform in an FPV application.
A typical TV show or movie requires no more than 2-3Mbit/s even for action.
This is because there's a lot of rules and conventions of filming that are friendly to
digital video compression. Rarely does the camera pan and zoom, and roll all at the
same time. Often only a portion of the frame has high detail, and the background is often
out of focus. There's no static. Static is random and thus incompressible.

A typical high motion FPV video breaks all of these rules.
Every bit of the frame is in focus and may contain high detail and the whole view is
panning, rolling, and zooming all at the same time, combined with static. Where a TV
show may only need 2-3Mbit/s to be *perfect*, an FPV ground recording
may require 7-15Mbit/s to really capture what you see in the goggles.

Quality of the image is only one measure. The other big one we care about here
is how well it records through high levels of static. Some recorders will go to blue/black
screen on static. Some will pause the recording and resume when the image is good
again. Some will just freeze up and lose the whole recording. The reason it's
important is that if your plane goes down far away you will likely lose the video signal
completely in the last few seconds, and it's important to be able to capture as many of
the last moments as possible so you can see landmarks, and OSD data if available.
If it stops recording, or freezes up and loses the recording as soon as there's any
static, it's totally worthless.

ian

Hi Daemon,

Thanks for the info.

Took it for a run yesterday, but being it was tree dodging through the thick stuff on 5.8 I didn't feel I would be doing it justice posting my crackling and poppy signal.Let me see if I have something worth putting up...

Actually, can sometimes learn more from crackling and poppy signal. Every time
there's a burst of static, you'll see it hit the limits of compression, in the form of
blurry areas, or boxy compression artifacts. Some recorders recover from
that almost instantly, some take a second or two before the next key frame
and the detail comes back. High motion, low flying, is the best way to test it.
Watch the ground detail. If you can see it maintained well off into the distance, you're
doing well. If ground detail all just blurs together, then inadequate bitrate.

Here's some examples of high detail, high motion ground recordings.
FPV Japan DVR

FPV Japan ground recording (3 min 19 sec)

Lawmate PV-1000

FPV tricopter hogback quarry run - Ground Recording (4 min 8 sec)

Had to upsample both to HD resolutions just so YouTube would give em a higher max bitrate.

ian

OK Ian, I got busy for you

HK SD DVR test recording (0 min 0 sec)

t
Here you go And I think you'll find the test was 'intensive' with regards to low fast and crackly

I can confirm though that it does record static, watched a minute of it just to make sure.. please don't ask me to watch anymore of it though, a bit to 'Gitmo' for my liking.

WO

that hk recorder seems to do the job, if only they were in stock
does it crop the piture at all?

You can only start recording with the remote, right? no button on the recorder?

Glue, can't confirm if it crops 'for sure' but it doesn't appear to.

Cralis, You have several 'start options' but for us the "auto record on power up' is the option most useful to us. the other modes are things like loop and schedule, seems it's other markets its useful in is as a security cam recorder.

Thanks! Auto Record does sound nice. Is there a way to start a recording, though, manually?
I guess the answer is - yes. Just switch it on!

Originally Posted by WitnessOnly

OK Ian, I got busy for you

http://vimeo.com/59633794
t
Here you go And I think you'll find the test was 'intensive' with regards to low fast and crackly

I can confirm though that it does record static, watched a minute of it just to make sure.. please don't ask me to watch anymore of it though, a bit to 'Gitmo' for my liking.

WO

Ian,
What is your opinion of the DVR after seeing this video. how does it compare in the sub $150 price range?
I value your opinion very highly.

The video (downloaded from Vimeo) looks fine. I couldn't offer any more opinion than that, without having
one in hand. How reliable and easy it is to use in the field is a big part of the equation.

For instance, my tricopter crashed the other day flying in the snow, and the only possible
way I could find it was with the immediate use of my DVR to watch the last few seconds
of the flight. Is why I won't use one without a screen and usually without all rec/play/menu/nav
buttons on the device itself.

ian

I've been running the FPV1000 from ReadymadeRC for a bit now and I'm pretty happy with the quality of the video.

It has some firmware issues with issues like the order you power everything on, but if you do everything right - it just works.

I have run into issues where if you leave it recording static for too long the file gets corrupted, so it's important to shut it down once you've completed your flight.

All in all I'm happy with it especially at a $115 price point.

I didn't have a chance to clear out my OSD before our blizzard meet - so every conceivable option is turned on. I've since gone in and cleared out 60% of the indicators.

Tricoptex Maiden Crius MPNG 2.9 APM - Blizzard Meet of '13 (0 min 0 sec)

Originally Posted by Daemon

The video (downloaded from Vimeo) looks fine. I couldn't offer any more opinion than that, without having
one in hand. How reliable and easy it is to use in the field is a big part of the equation.

For instance, my tricopter crashed the other day flying in the snow, and the only possible
way I could find it was with the immediate use of my DVR to watch the last few seconds
of the flight. Is why I won't use one without a screen and usually without all rec/play/menu/nav
buttons on the device itself.

ian

Thank you. I guess with this one you would want to keep your laptop in the car to check the file if needed.