Inspire 1 .. dji has a major issue

[insider]

Wanted to pass along some info to fellow dji enthusiasts. Earlier this afternoon we had a conversation with a major distributor for dji products in North America. The distributor stated that dji encountered a major issue with the inspire 1 last minute and are scrambling to resolve the problem. This very reliable source stated that a product manager within the Phantom line of quads revealed that the engineers working on the Inspire 1 lineup found that after shipping test units to testers around the world and gathering data back on these initial flights that there was significant and very VERY ( their words not ours ) worrisome problems with the Zenmuse Gimbal as well as the 4k camera that come attached to the quadcopter. There were also stated to be several significant software issues and again possible issues with the H frame folding and its effect on camera shake.

What the distributor was most concerned with was that dji is and has not shown transparency with its distributors or its customers regarding these problems. The distributor stated that at the very minimum their next four shipments from dji wont include any new product lines.

 

[Browneee]

Transparency is the key.... DJI should come on here and tell everyone what the problem is with the delays. We've all shelled out a lot of cash to the dealers or directly to DJI preordering the inspire. That's a lot of money sitting in various bank accounts earning interest which would have better off in our own accounts I'm sure. I'm still excited to receive mine whenever that may be. But seeing as I ordered from the states and I live alls the way down in Australia I'm not holding my breath it will be before Jan 2015 comes to pass .


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[Drone Video Productions]

We certainly need all the info about this kind of stuff as possible! We have a lot riding on the Inspire.

 

[catware]

I disagree. A manufacturer is in no way obligated to tell potential customers about their internal development issues regarding a product that is currently under development. If the product is already in your possession, then yes you should be made aware. But they certainly don't need to tell people who placed 'pre-orders' (and thereby, announce to the public) what their final engineering tasks are, regardless of whether they meet their initial ship date or if that date slips.

 

[insider]

Disagree all you want. Distributors around the nation / world took pre orders close to a month ago with a specific time frame For release submitted to them from dji. Put yourself in the position of being an owner or manager of one of the many outlets that rely on dji distributors to get them stock. Now you are stuck holding peoples money with absolutely no word of any kind from dji regarding this product, its updated possible release date, issues holding things up, nothing, nada. Distributors have to deal with their own customers with nothing to tell them therefore hurting their own customer care and base image. Anyone who has had to deal with dji customer service knows they care very little in providing serviceable consumer help but why pass on that to outlets that do care. If they are so irresponsible as to put a release date / take funds on a product that was still in a development stage well that alone speaks volumes. Now they are in a rush to get right what should have been done so long before announcing a release date. Now initial buyers become beta testers for these rush last minute changes.

 

[sheldrake]

I agree with catware. Also, I do not understand why anyone would purchase from a dealer that requires an upfront payment. I ordered through B&H photo in New York. They only charge your credit card when the item is shipped to you. and they ship all over the world


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[rilot]

Yup, Build Your Own Drone are the same. They took a £100 deposit from me and will bill me the rest once they have my Inspire in their warehouse and ready to ship.

 

[Browneee]

Well as I've posted in another thread. I've spoken online with DJI, regards rumours of compensation for pre purchasing the Inspire. Transparency aside as I do feel there should be more communication from DJI on the delays. They are indeed compensating pre purchased customers with a hard carrying case which also includes customer who pre purchased with one of their dealers. Also she confirmed shipping from factory to dealers should take place in first week of Jan 2015. So as I predicted I won't see mine until end of Jan start of Feb.


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[thumpinhard]

It has been obvious to most of us that the gimbal shake has been problem for a month or so now.
Dji I am sure has known for many weeks.
I don't imagine an easy fix and I think this will be a much bigger delay..
One other concern I have is the speed it records at.
It is fine for Europe..but will it be noticeable to us in the u.s.?

 

[Quadpilot]

It has been obvious to most of us that the gimbal shake has been problem for a month or so now.
Dji I am sure has known for many weeks.
I don't imagine an easy fix and I think this will be a much bigger delay..
One other concern I have is the speed it records at.
It is fine for Europe..but will it be noticeable to us in the u.s.?

How is this obvious to you? Are you privy to some inside knowledge the rest of us do not have? If so, provide the proof that would convince us. If not, Please do not speak....
The last part of your quote leaves me wondering how much you understand about video recording. Are you talking about frames per second, bit rate or what? And what about the Inspire 1 camera would lead you to make that claim?
Making unsubstantiated claims like that which reveal a lack of skill on a forum which is for passionate videographers/photographers is disappointing.

 

[Marc Guilbault]

How is this obvious to you? Are you privy to some inside knowledge the rest of us do not have? If so, provide the proof that would convince us. If not, STFU!
The last part of your quote leaves me wondering how much you understand about video recording. Are you talking about frames per second, bit rate or what? And what about the Inspire 1 camera would lead you to make that claim?
Making unsubstantiated claims like that which reveal a lack of skill on a forum which is for passionate videographers/photographers is disappointing.

Quad that is kinda harsh. I have noticed the gimbal shake on many pro clips of the unit and I wondered the same thing. Have some patience.

 

[ems1016]

Quadpilot:

How is this obvious to you? Are you privy to some inside knowledge the rest of us do not have? If so, provide the proof that would convince us. If not, STFU!
The last part of your quote leaves me wondering how much you understand about video recording. Are you talking about frames per second, bit rate or what? And what about the Inspire 1 camera would lead you to make that claim?
Making unsubstantiated claims like that which reveal a lack of skill on a forum which is for passionate videographers/photographers is disappointing.

Quadpilot:

Making such juvenile and degrading remarks demonstrates a lack of decorum and respect for fellow members on a forum which is for passionate videographers/photographers; you, sir, I find not only disappointing, but your unwarranted tirade quite disturbing.

I do hope the Administrator takes note of your post. If members are going to be allowed to profane and abuse other members on this forum like you have, I want no part of this forum. I hope your juvenile outrage will be stricken. There is no call for such behavior; none. If you can't relate to people properly, then keep your head up in the clouds with your quad.

And, as Marc accurately said, the videos are out there about the shaking gimbal upon ascension. So maybe you're the only one truly in the dark here and should think twice about whom you should be telling to shut up.

 

[diverjeb]

I disagree. A manufacturer is in no way obligated to tell potential customers about their internal development issues regarding a product that is currently under development. If the product is already in your possession, then yes you should be made aware. But they certainly don't need to tell people who placed 'pre-orders' (and thereby, announce to the public) what their final engineering tasks are, regardless of whether they meet their initial ship date or if that date slips.

]
Obligated to inform the PRE consumers about their behind the scenes efforts, NO. Obligated to deliver a promised product on a promised date, YES. If not, then by good conscience and basic good business practice they should inform their customer base _ their most IMPORTANT customer base, those enthusiastic enough to blindly order their vision of the future ON FAITH (such as myself) that it 1) will arrive on promised date 2) will be free of defects on arrival _ they are obligated to be as transparent as glass. NO ONE ordering a first run, prepaid Yamaha R1 race bike would not throw a fit when informed , not through Yamaha but through second and third parties - or forums that their top end race bike they prepaid for was not only delayed but severely delayed and , oh by the way, there are serious defects that we're still trying to work out.

Anyone who shelled out $3,000 for an Inspire is justifiably angry that they are not currently flying the bird they paid for. The people who were the first wave willing and faithful enough to purchase this are true devotees and deserve much more than WE are receiving. Mistakes happen, problems are encountered in everything but it is the responsibility of the service provider or manufacturer to COMMUNICATE to the consumer. I don't want to see the wizard behind the curtains nor do I need to know the inner workings of DJI but don't ******** me guys.

 

[diverjeb]

Disagree all you want. Distributors around the nation / world took pre orders close to a month ago with a specific time frame For release submitted to them from dji. Put yourself in the position of being an owner or manager of one of the many outlets that rely on dji distributors to get them stock. Now you are stuck holding peoples money with absolutely no word of any kind from dji regarding this product, its updated possible release date, issues holding things up, nothing, nada. Distributors have to deal with their own customers with nothing to tell them therefore hurting their own customer care and base image. Anyone who has had to deal with dji customer service knows they care very little in providing serviceable consumer help but why pass on that to outlets that do care. If they are so irresponsible as to put a release date / take funds on a product that was still in a development stage well that alone speaks volumes. Now they are in a rush to get right what should have been done so long before announcing a release date. Now initial buyers become beta testers for these rush last minute changes.

Completely agree.

 

[Airwolf13]

All true. Now that I have seen the second posting of another awful Octofilm 'film' (ha), you can CLEARLY see the gamble shake...again! They got problems with this bird, glad I got my deposit back...

 

[Airwolf13]

And one more thing...Quadpilot, you are WAY out of line here!

 

[Quadpilot]

My apologies to @thumpinhard for the tone of my remarks in his previous post. No excuses, I could have expressed myself much better. Please disregard (and forgive) my intemperate tone.
While in no way excusing my tone, what caused me to respond with such frustration came in reaction to the many posts here and on other MR forums in regard to negative statements of opinion about the Inspire that are based on very few verifiable facts. Who among us has seen, touched, flown, or handled the video files produced by prototype or pre-production units, much less the released product? The few samples of videos and stills that have been posted on YouTube and Vimeo were for the most part compressed and in many cases taken by beta testers verifying flight and app performance, not concentrating on AP. Yes, the Inspire gimbal is seen shaking during transformation, but why is this a cause for concern? After all, one doesn't have to turn on the camera on the ground, as there is is unprecedented camera control available from the transmitter and/or app in flight. Anyway, further refinements may easily solve this problem with hardware/software adjustments.
From all reports it seems that the sensor is the same Sony ExmoreR as the one in the GP Hero4, which many GP users rave about. It has the same bitrate as the GP: 60Mbps. Where this camera leaves the GPH4 behind, in my opinion, is the rectilinear lens that removes the fisheye distortion which requires post-processing correction in the latter, in the unprecedented availability of in-flight camera control for both video and stills, in the ability to mount the included ND and CP filters without affecting gimbal balance, in the quality of the video signal through Lightbridge......and so on, and so on.
I'm not an apologist for DJI. I own a few of their products and have both good and bad impressions of their products and/or service. But that opinion is based on having the actual product in hand and my experience with it. I have ordered an Inspire and hope that it will live up to my high expectations. I'm disappointed that it will be a few weeks late, but I'd rather that it arrives with a few less issues (or none: one can always hope!) than existed at the time of the public launch in November.
Look at how many iterations of the Phantom have led to the current product. The Inspire 1 v1.0 will evolve similarly as user experience and product innovation impacts future versions.
Posters above have expressed their frustration with DJI about delays and perceived product defects. When the delivery van finally arrives, how much of that frustration will be replaced by astonishment at the features of this pioneering product?

 

[Airwolf13]

Some of what you are saying is true. But you have to ask yourself...why are they trying to rush another product into the market place when clearly they have issues with it...and they will most likely have more of them! I'm not so sure this is a pioneering product either, but I am willing to wait to make final judgment and spend my 3k AFTER the issues are sorted out. I pre ordered one based on initial specs and then when I saw the press conf. and the 'leaked' video, I was underwhelmed and got my deposit back (as did many, many others). They should have saved the money they blew on the event and put the money into better customer service!

 

[Pete Gould]

The last part of your quote leaves me wondering how much you understand about video recording. Are you talking about frames per second, bit rate or what? And what about the Inspire 1 camera would lead you to make that claim?

Actually I think I know what he was referring to. The specs for the Inspire 1's camera show that it records "full" square pixel 4K resolution of 4096x2160 only at 24 and 25fps (the cinematic and European frame rates, respectively) and a reduced 4K non-square pixel resolution of 3840x2160 at 30fps (the U.S. television frame rate). See http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1/spec

What seems to be a bit less-known is that the GoPro Hero 4 will only capture 3840x2160, not 4096, at 30fps, which is missed by many because GoPro just advertises "4K" until you get into the fine print.. In fact the GoPro Hero 4 Black doesn't record 4096x2160 at ANY frame rate (see the specifications tab at http://shop.gopro.com/hero4/hero4-black/CHDHX-401.html). So in fact the Inspire 1 will capture at GoPro Hero 4 Black 4K resolution at 24, 25 and 30fps and greater than GoPro resolution at 24 and 25fps.

Above comments are based purely on a review of online resources. I'm not an insider with either company.

 

[Marc Guilbault]

I have no doubt that if I were DJI, and I am not, that I would be much more willing to apologize for being late to the party, rather than ruin the party with a crappy product. Patience is a virtue and I hope DJI makes sure their product is worth the wait. We have things to fly in the meantime.