X7 Judder/Stutter - HELP!

[Donnie Frank]

Thanks for the time, effort and suggestions, Donnie.

My pleasure.

I think the fact that the issue is the same on both X5S and X7 rules out the camera.

Agreed.

I have read that this kind of thing is not uncommon; but it's much worse than it was with my previous X5S pre-f/ware updates.

Have you considered rolling back the firmware? I have a couple tutorial videos on how to roll back Inspire 1 firmware. The same regimen may apply to your Inspire 2. But there are caveats and a risk of "bricking" the camera. But it if it's useless anyway...

I believe there are some third-party companies out there that allow firmware modification, which may be your winning ticket. I think the company is called "No Limit Drones" if memory serves.

I barely noticed it before; now footage is unusable. I just wouldn't output jittery footage in a pro' environment.

Agreed. Neither would I. Especially in the film industry environment.

I'll try replicating the pan with my Mavic 3 and see if it suffers same.

I honestly wish you would try the pan test in low lighting - specifically outdoors at night. This may help in the troubleshooting process. Another thing I would try is to soft focus your camera to see if that minimizes the problem.

I did a video on how to rebuild a Bogen 3047 head. During final testing the footage suffered from some of the same digital jitter that you're suffering from. Albeit, not as bad. This is on a Canon 70D. I show you this so you know that it's a known issue throughout the entire filming community - not just limited to drone cameras.

D

 

[Eagle33331]

The f/ware won't roll back, unfortunately and I don't want to go 'off piste' to try to do it. DJI must sort it out. The fact that the cameras are fine in NTSC and jagged in PAL (regardless of whether I shoot 25fps or 30fps or whether I watch on a 50hz screen or a 60hz screen) really points to a glitch in PAL encoding on my I2. I get what you're saying about inherency of this issue in some places, but given it's absent in NTSC, I should expect it to be absent in PAL too.

 

[Donnie Frank]

The f/ware won't roll back, unfortunately and I don't want to go 'off piste' to try to do it.

I understand. Rolling back FW is a PITA.

DJI must sort it out.

What is ironic here is that PAL is native to China as is DJI. One would think that sorting out PAL issues would be a priority.

The fact that the cameras are fine in NTSC and jagged in PAL (regardless of whether I shoot 25fps or 30fps or whether I watch on a 50hz screen or a 60hz screen) really points to a glitch in PAL encoding on my I2.

Agreed.

I get what you're saying about inherency of this issue in some places, but given it's absent in NTSC, I should expect it to be absent in PAL too.

Again, agreed.

Good luck with this. Keep us in the loop.

D

 

[Eagle33331]

I just repeated my test on my Mavic 3 at 25fps 50hz (PAL). Footage was smooth. I think whatever module controls video recording/encoding on my I2 needs replacing. I've contacted DJI and asked my dealer to ask them.

 

[Eagle33331]

Here's an update for anyone interested. I contacted DJI Support. They were excellent. The Dutch Support dept. was in touch with me throughout last weekend, agreed recording in PAL is faulty and, at this point, think it may be aircraft 'sensor'-linked. Two days later the I2 is on it's way to them and I'm hopeful they'll replace what needs replacing and return it asap. After reading so much negative press about DJI support, I have to report they've been exemplary with me and performed way beyond my dealer - whose position was there was nothing abnormal about my footage. Thanks, everyone.