Inspire Video Quality

damoncooper · Jan 11, 2015

Have any of you yet watched your footage on a large screen (ie 65-inch+) TV?

I thought I had rock solid video with my Phantom 2 after a GP 2K shoot last fall. Unfortunately the micro vibrations and jello were undetectable on a computer screen and mobile device but was enough to induce nausea on my 65-inch Sony 4k TV.

I couldn't get rid of it post no matter what I tried with Adobe PP and After Effects.

Before I pull the trigger on an Inspire I need to know if the footage is free from micro-vibrations and jello. Especially after the wobbling of the I1 production gimbal I've seen in many videos.

Not everyone cares about broadcast-quality video suitable for 65-inch+ TV display sizes but I'd very much like to have my videos able to watch comfortably on my TV.

Thanks in advance.

jason4vu · Jan 11, 2015

Ill have my inspire Thursday and will be able to test then on large screens. 65&163

damoncooper · Jan 11, 2015

Cool thanks

damoncooper · Jan 12, 2015

Ok I spent the evening watching Vimeo and YT Inspire footage on my 65-inch 4k TV and I will say that it all looked really (REALLY) poor.

For quality control I went and watched S900+GH4 video and the improvement was striking.

I also noted that Vimeo and YouTube both suck wind at streaming to large screens at high resolutions.

But at this point, I'm pretty bummed at the quality of the video output of the Inspire.

It does seem to take pretty good still photos though.

If someone could point me at a few links to download their raw MP4 files vs streaming, I can try them direct to the TV via Sony FMP-X10 4k media player via USB drive and I'd be happy to report back.

shockwave199 · Jan 12, 2015

'If someone could point me at a few links to download their raw MP4 files vs streaming, I can try them direct to the TV via Sony FMP-X10 4k media player via USB drive and I'd be happy to report back.'

I think that's the only way to know. Weren't you really seeing upscale? There's too many variables with what people did to their footage to really know by streaming stuff. But GH4 compared- I've only ever saw that the GH4 is awesome. This ain't that, for sure.

damoncooper · Jan 12, 2015

Yeah I'm happy to try a direct file and report back if folks could point me at some MP4 files to test (4k or 1080p is fine)

Tahoe Ed · Jan 12, 2015

All the raw 4K files that I have are in .MOV. Sorry.

airdrone · Jan 13, 2015

damoncooper said:
Ok I spent the evening watching Vimeo and YT Inspire footage on my 65-inch 4k TV and I will say that it all looked really (REALLY) poor.

For quality control I went and watched S900+GH4 video and the improvement was striking.

I also noted that Vimeo and YouTube both suck wind at streaming to large screens at high resolutions.

But at this point, I'm pretty bummed at the quality of the video output of the Inspire.

It does seem to take pretty good still photos though.

If someone could point me at a few links to download their raw MP4 files vs streaming, I can try them direct to the TV via Sony FMP-X10 4k media player via USB drive and I'd be happy to report back.

do not understand your problem, you have not gotten yourself inspire1? I have 65 "phillips pus9809 and has not this problem you are talking about. Inspire1 have wonderful 4k recording. What is your problem ?????

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

The video from this platform as far as I can tell when viewed on a large screen from the streaming sites is full of artifacts, motion-chop and stuttering, and color problems.

Video produced by a DJI S900 and Panasonic LUMIX GH4 does not suffer these same problems when viewed and streamed on the same platform. Video is virtually liquid smooth and mostly stutter-free except for the odd streaming-related artifact and color and detail are crystal clear.

To be fair, I haven't yet tried a original MP4 file on the large screen platform. Hence, my offer to test if someone cares to provide a few.

I don't have any "problem", I'm just trying to determine for myself whether I should buy an Inspire or an S900+GH4. Everything about the Inspire is awesome and having a prebuilt integrated pre-tuned package is very attractive.

But it's really the video quality that I'm after having flown the Phantom 2 + GP + H3-3D now for a year.

Again, if someone could possibly get me an original MP4 file to try I'd be happy to report back and provide close-up screen vid captures of the playback here for your own analysis.

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

Tahoe Ed said:
All the raw 4K files that I have are in .MOV. Sorry.

Ed, I'll take em. I have a MediaCenter PC connected with an ultra high-end graphics card I can use to display to the Sony TV in 4K native.

I'll be happy to report back here for everyone's edification and if the results are good, proceed with the purchase and help others who have similar concerns.

Anticipate · Jan 13, 2015

This is youtube, and it's at 24P which they don't handle well with stuttering. But you can see micro vibrations (or lack thereof) in low light.

- it's 19 min of flight at 4K. Kind of boring, but meant for testing, Enjoy. Tell me if you can see how the center is a but blurry. You won't see if it you are not watching a 4K display.

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

Ok, I realized I can download the original MOV/MP4 4K files from Vimeo if the posters have enabled downloading on their videos so I'm downloading a bunch of original Inspire 4K files now.

I'll test tonight and report back here.

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

Ok verdict after downloading and watching 16GB worth of original Inspire 4K footage on a Sony 4K XBR65850 65-inch TV via Sony FMP-X10 4k media player:

1) Streaming artifacts are gone obviously (watching direct file)

2) Stutter on high motion shots is predictable and happens every 3-10 seconds. Frequency of full-frame stutter seems proportionate to the amount of motion in the shot. Watchable but slightly uncomfortable for the viewer. Probably not noticeable on mobile devices or computer screens.

3) Low-light performance leaves a lot to be desired. In particular, not an insignificant amount of noise in the form of "static" is added to lower-light or shadow areas of shots. Probably imperceptible to the average viewer on computer screens, probably not noticeable at all on mobile devices, but enough to distract on a 4k TV.

4) I was of the impression the lens was flat (vs the GoPro fisheye lens), but it's not. Panning still produces some perceptible image distortion. Large formats will exaggerate the effect unfortunately and gives the viewer some disorientation as objects distort slightly as they move on screen. I suspect / hope software makers (Adobe and others) will produce Inspire1-specific lens distortion presets to allow for fixing the distortion in post-production so this probably isn't a major issue.

5) No jello or micro vibrations were perceptible in any of the Inspire 4k videos I tested, which is excellent.

Overall impression: The Inspire 1 camera is much improved over GoPro 3 + Phantom combo, but lags far behind the Panasonic LUMIX GH4 which exhibits only barely imperceptible noise on low light and none of the other issues above.

Summary for me: I'll probably be buying one and if DJI offers a camera upgrade I'll be very interested in that. The GH4 is the desired gold standard to try to match IMO. If DJI can come close to its performance in a camera upgrade they'll have a truly amazing platform in the Inspire.

Tahoe Ed · Jan 13, 2015

damoncooper said:
Ed, I'll take em. I have a MediaCenter PC connected with an ultra high-end graphics card I can use to display to the Sony TV in 4K native.

I'll be happy to report back here for everyone's edification and if the results are good, proceed with the purchase and help others who have similar concerns.

http://dji.serveftp.org/VIDEO/Inspire4Ksample.zip
http://dji.serveftp.org/VIDEO/Inspire4Ksample_opposite_angle.zip

Here they are note that this was with a beta test unit that has since been sent back to China. I am currently using a near production unit until my production unit arrives on Thursday.

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

Thanks Ed, I'll try these as well tomorrow and report back.

Tahoe Ed · Jan 13, 2015

I have a GH4 and admit that it is a great camera, but with glass it is almost the same cost as the Inspire. My GH4 resides on my S1000 with a Zen HD gimbal, A2 and Lightbridge. But that is almost a $10k combo with the Futaba 14SG.

damoncooper · Jan 13, 2015

Tahoe Ed said:
I have a GH4 but with glass it is almost the same cost as the Inspire. My GH4 resides on my S1000 with a Zen HD gimbal, A2 and Lightbridge. But that is almost a $10k combo with the Futaba 14SG.

Yep, understood

. If DJI could produce an Inspire 4/3 sensor core with the needed boost in processing power akin to the GH4, they'd likely be able to charge upwards of $799-$1499 for it (depending on how good it really is) as a "pro" option for the Inspire and prosumers like me would pay it.

We don't need the heavy body of the GH4, just its inner goodness

Ultra310x · Jan 13, 2015

damoncooper said:
Ok verdict after downloading and watching 16GB worth of original Inspire 4K footage on a Sony 4K XBR65850 65-inch TV via Sony FMP-X10 4k media player:

1) Streaming artifacts are gone obviously (watching direct file)

2) Stutter on high motion shots is predictable and happens every 3-10 seconds. Frequency of full-frame stutter seems proportionate to the amount of motion in the shot. Watchable but slightly uncomfortable for the viewer. Probably not noticeable on mobile devices or computer screens.

3) Low-light performance leaves a lot to be desired. In particular, not an insignificant amount of noise in the form of "static" is added to lower-light or shadow areas of shots. Probably imperceptible to the average viewer on computer screens, probably not noticeable at all on mobile devices, but enough to distract on a 4k TV.

4) I was of the impression the lens was flat (vs the GoPro fisheye lens), but it's not. Panning still produces some perceptible image distortion. Large formats will exaggerate the effect unfortunately and gives the viewer some disorientation as objects distort slightly as they move on screen. I suspect / hope software makers (Adobe and others) will produce Inspire1-specific lens distortion presets to allow for fixing the distortion in post-production so this probably isn't a major issue.

5) No jello or micro vibrations were perceptible in any of the Inspire 4k videos I tested, which is excellent.

Overall impression: The Inspire 1 camera is much improved over GoPro 3 + Phantom combo, but lags far behind the Panasonic LUMIX GH4 which exhibits only barely imperceptible noise on low light and none of the other issues above.

Summary for me: I'll probably be buying one and if DJI offers a camera upgrade I'll be very interested in that. The GH4 is the desired gold standard to try to match IMO. If DJI can come close to its performance in a camera upgrade they'll have a truly amazing platform in the Inspire.

DId you compare to the 1080p ? low light seems to be pretty good imo

damoncooper · Jan 14, 2015

Ultra310x said:
DId you compare to the 1080p ? low light seems to be pretty good imo

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If you want to enable original file downloading on that video I can pull it and test it on the 65-inch 4K TV and report back tomorrow night.

Hmmm...the download options only list options to download up to 720p. Did you upload a 1080P file?

Quadpilot · Jan 14, 2015

damoncooper said:
Yep, understood . If DJI could produce an Inspire 4/3 sensor core with the needed boost in processing power akin to the GH4, they'd likely be able to charge upwards of $799-$1499 for it (depending on how good it really is) as a "pro" option for the Inspire and prosumers like me would pay it.

We don't need the heavy body of the GH4, just its inner goodness

That's the Holy Grail that we are all waiting for, and it will come, but consider that, while it won't necessarily wipe out the S900 and S1000/Zenmuse line, it will definitely put pressure on DJI to design a larger copter with the Inspire's app functionality, digital video signal and camera control, if not it's modularity. There will always be those for whom hexs and octos are the minimum standard for safety and larger sensors mean larger camera bodies, even in the form factor of the Inspire's design. When DSLRs first came on the scene, innovation was top down, flagship camera to prosumer to consumer. Now the process seems almost reversed, with secondary players like Samsung and Sony and Panasonic leading the innovation train, not Canon and Nikon.

Hop aboard, DJI.