Video feed problems lingering

hjmagleby · Feb 19, 2016

I know that there have been a lot of posts related to video feed troubleshooting but It's hard to make sense of them and I'm wondering if anyone has an Idea what I should do with an issue that I am having with my video feed.

I am using a GoPro hero4 silver. I have updated to the latest versions of both the app and firmware. I am able to get a quick clear connection to the video feed and it seems to be streaming nicely to both my iPhone or iPad. The problem occurs when I make any quicker movements or turns while flying. The video feed will begin to roll on me (like an old VCR) and I have a hard time seeing what the camera is broadcasting back to my phone. If I hold steady for a few seconds and let the solo hover then the video usually corrects itself. It's not terrible but it get pretty frustrating to fly it FPV. I have messed with the video cable and tried rerouting it a couple of times. I have read some of the threads about replacing the video cable. What is the latest on that topic? Has anyone had success with that? Does anyone have other suggestions? I haven't contacted 3DR support yet but I'm about to go that route to see if I can improve the situation.

Thanks

J R · Feb 19, 2016

hjmagleby said:
I haven't contacted 3DR support yet but I'm about to go that route to see if I can improve the situation.

Hj,

I had the same issue when I first got mine. Reported to 3dr and they sent a new HDMI cable. Before I received it, I ordered and installed Relish flat HDMI cable. I never installed the new cable I received from 3dr. The Relish cable solved all of my video issues.

Here's an install video for the Relish cable:

Jerry

Maddog · Feb 20, 2016

Part of the issue is caused by the antenna placement on Solo. As it turns, the antenna orientation changes and can cause poor video. No fix for that.

Also, the video latency (lag) with 2.4ghz is too long to fly FPV. Solo wasnt designed to be flown FPV. Strictly line-of-sight for video work.

SteveReno · Feb 20, 2016

Maddog said:
Part of the issue is caused by the antenna placement on Solo. As it turns, the antenna orientation changes and can cause poor video. No fix for that.

Also, the video latency (lag) with 2.4ghz is too long to fly FPV. Solo wasnt designed to be flown FPV. Strictly line-of-sight for video work.

Maddog, you don't mean "Solo wasnt designed to be flown FPV" ?
I think you mean Solo wasn't meant to fly more then LOS, & the Stream back to your monitor/Mobile isn't far as reaching are other UAV's.

I'm only noting this, cause Solo is perfect for me "Distance wise" & now LOS is law.
Don't take this personally, Just the way i look at it.

Marich · Feb 20, 2016

Seems to me it's the HDMI cable. You describe your video problems as happening when Solo is under load - turning fast, making abrupt movements. Obviously the motors are at max current draw then, being "first in line" power-wise. So, seems as if you might simply have a bad connection - a bad solder job?

RichWest · Feb 20, 2016

hjmagleby said:
The problem occurs when I make any quicker movements or turns while flying. The video feed will begin to roll on me (like an old VCR) and I have a hard time seeing what the camera is broadcasting back to my phone.

I to have started to experience the same, rolling video. But having taken my gimbal off more times than I could recall, I figured it is a connector fatigue on the cable end. I was expecting an issue at some point, lasted longer than I expected however.

I think @J R could be right, that it could be the HDMI cable. Did you check the HDMI connection to the main board? Even though it has a zip tie to holding it in place, it could back out for various reasons.

The cable is more suspect than the HDMI SMT connectors, imho. So I'd just replace with new cable if the above does not resolve. If it turns out the cable doesn't solve, then it's a 3DR thing. Unless you can hand solder...

Maddog · Feb 20, 2016

SteveReno said:
Maddog, you don't mean "Solo wasnt designed to be flown FPV" ?
I think you mean Solo wasn't meant to fly more then LOS, & the Stream back to your monitor/Mobile isn't far as reaching are other UAV's.

I'm only noting this, cause Solo is perfect for me "Distance wise" & now LOS is law.
Don't take this personally, Just the way i look at it.

No worries- that's exactly what I meant but it was past my bedtime!

hjmagleby · Feb 20, 2016

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will check the hdmi cable again and I may order the relish cable. Thanks JR.

bsuttonmci · May 17, 2017

hjmagleby said:
I know that there have been a lot of posts related to video feed troubleshooting but It's hard to make sense of them and I'm wondering if anyone has an Idea what I should do with an issue that I am having with my video feed.

I am using a GoPro hero4 silver. I have updated to the latest versions of both the app and firmware. I am able to get a quick clear connection to the video feed and it seems to be streaming nicely to both my iPhone or iPad. The problem occurs when I make any quicker movements or turns while flying. The video feed will begin to roll on me (like an old VCR) and I have a hard time seeing what the camera is broadcasting back to my phone. If I hold steady for a few seconds and let the solo hover then the video usually corrects itself. It's not terrible but it get pretty frustrating to fly it FPV. I have messed with the video cable and tried rerouting it a couple of times. I have read some of the threads about replacing the video cable. What is the latest on that topic? Has anyone had success with that? Does anyone have other suggestions? I haven't contacted 3DR support yet but I'm about to go that route to see if I can improve the situation.

Thanks

bsuttonmci · May 17, 2017

hjmagleby said:
I know that there have been a lot of posts related to video feed troubleshooting but It's hard to make sense of them and I'm wondering if anyone has an Idea what I should do with an issue that I am having with my video feed.

I am using a GoPro hero4 silver. I have updated to the latest versions of both the app and firmware. I am able to get a quick clear connection to the video feed and it seems to be streaming nicely to both my iPhone or iPad. The problem occurs when I make any quicker movements or turns while flying. The video feed will begin to roll on me (like an old VCR) and I have a hard time seeing what the camera is broadcasting back to my phone. If I hold steady for a few seconds and let the solo hover then the video usually corrects itself. It's not terrible but it get pretty frustrating to fly it FPV. I have messed with the video cable and tried rerouting it a couple of times. I have read some of the threads about replacing the video cable. What is the latest on that topic? Has anyone had success with that? Does anyone have other suggestions? I haven't contacted 3DR support yet but I'm about to go that route to see if I can improve the situation.

Thanks

I am new to the Drone world so plz be patient with us newbies, everyone was there at one time, I have a similar problem to this thread , I am an aircraft mechanic by trade and I do have avionics experience , I am experiencing the same exact problem as everyone that reading and discussing their issues with the live video feed or lack of, I have performed every idea that's been posted on this thread, nothing at this point worked I have come to a dead-end, I was flying my drone obviously without video feed as I was practicing I landed somewhere harder than I would've liked to, The weird thing is that when it landed somewhat on one side my video feed started to work a little bit I could see images but they were distorted and orange in color. A little history with this drone. I traded a DJI phantom 2 and also purchased a brand-new go pro hero 4 black, I am able to view a live feed on my GoPro when I bypassed the gimbal, I have disassembled the drone as far as I could without damaging and anything everything looks to be tight and no broken wires, but now I know that it must be something wrong within the wiring or circuitry of the drone. Can anyone tell me just in case I missed the thread that talks about mods, if there is a mod that deals with the cabling or circuitry for the video feed and gimbals.

Thx

NightStorm · May 17, 2017

bsuttonmci said:
I am able to view a live feed on my GoPro when I bypassed the gimbal,

What does that part mean? Does it mean that you unplugged the gimbal, took the HDMI cable that used to go to the gimbal and plugged it into your GoPro, and now you can see the live feed via the 3DR app?

SPP · May 18, 2017

This is the video signal path :

01. GoPro camera HDMI out female connector >>>
02. >>>> Gimbal HDMI cable male, slim ribbon one original to gimbal
03. >>>> then soldered IN to gimbal PCB board
04. >>>> then soldered OUT to gimbal female HDMI connector
05. >>>> Thick black male to male HDMI cable from gimbal board to Solo motherboard
06. >>>> Female HDMI connector at Solo motherboard

To test if 01 connector at GoPro is faulty
Use other HDMI cable and direct connect to TV or monitor. Tap and shake-shake a bit, see if signal loss
Usually 01 one is not the culprit, unless one mistaken this HDMI as USB and pushed a USB cable hard into this HDMI

To test 02, the slim ribbon cable original to gimbal and at the same time you get to test 04 female HDMI connector at gimbal board and at the same time you get to test the 05 fat HDMI cable. U need to remove the gimbal from the Solo.
-Place the GoPro camera on gimbal connect the male HDMI connector of gimbal
- The HDMI output of gimbal PCB board, use the original fat HDMI cable and connect to a TV/Monitor, this is rather challenging as the 05 cable is short.
Once you get signal to TV/Monitor spin the gimbal left and right and up and down.
Shake-shake a bit the thin gimbal HDMI at GoPro side
In my case, my bad connection is the gimbal itself :
My female HDMI connector at gimbal board is having bad connection when the gimbal spin to the right.
http://3drpilots.com/data/attachments/5/5771-82392d867e72312e47baa7caac0a7fea.jpg

Many people had 05 fat HDMI being the issue and hence they advise you to change that one.

Since the problem is not total loss of connection, but rather intermittent loss connection, you must troubleshoot slowly. HDMI is not like RCA video cable , the yellow one. HDMI has to do "handshake" to connect to display, that takes time. So intermittent bad connection recovery takes more time due to this handshake thingy. If RCA yellow video cable out, it is instant, any bad connection will show as there is no handshake protocol. Just like audio cable red-white, bad connection produce those crackling sound or loss-available-loss sound immediately, no delay. Handshake approval cause screen to blackout first or blue-screen if on some TV, like stand-by..so there is delay. Therefore do the shake-shake test slowly knowing there is a delay on the handshake for every intermittent loss of contact.

The tricky part of this micro HDMI is the size of the connector pins contact point is only like 0.2 mm wide !!! Yikes !!. So any wear and tear on either on the female or male HDMI connector, can cause this intermittent loss of connection and so would vibration ...eventually. Poor dimensional accuracy connector would also give problem.

By right micro HDMI or even medium size HDMI is not a dynamic connector by design, it is a static design where the device is best not to move around or vibrate. Many DLSR video uses medium HDMI female connector and they provide plastic clip HDMI cable lock, sort of.

EXAMPLE :
The HDMI Cable Clip
When using the optional Nikon HDMI cable, attach the supplied clip as shown to prevent accidental disconnection. Do not use cable clips with non-Nikon cables.
http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d500_tips/movie/more_on_movies/img/img_19.png

Have fun troubleshooting....

bsuttonmci · May 18, 2017

NightStorm said:
What does that part mean? Does it mean that you unplugged the gimbal, took the HDMI cable that used to go to the gimbal and plugged it into your GoPro, and now you can see the live feed via the 3DR app?

Yes, that is pretty much the way I did it, at first I was concerned that my GoPro was not working, one other thing, it does record while I am flying

bsuttonmci · May 18, 2017

Thanks, this gives me a lot to try, I will advise and keep everyone posted

SPP · May 18, 2017

Dang how come my attachment so very small ?

My female HDMI connector at gimbal board is having bad connection when the gimbal spin to the right.

SPP · May 18, 2017

I am explaining to OP

, what actually the cause to my video feed issue, the one 1+ month ago.

bsuttonmci · May 23, 2017

SPP said:
This is the video signal path :

01. GoPro camera HDMI out female connector >>>
02. >>>> Gimbal HDMI cable male, slim ribbon one original to gimbal
03. >>>> then soldered IN to gimbal PCB board
04. >>>> then soldered OUT to gimbal female HDMI connector
05. >>>> Thick black male to male HDMI cable from gimbal board to Solo motherboard
06. >>>> Female HDMI connector at Solo motherboard

To test if 01 connector at GoPro is faulty
Use other HDMI cable and direct connect to TV or monitor. Tap and shake-shake a bit, see if signal loss
Usually 01 one is not the culprit, unless one mistaken this HDMI as USB and pushed a USB cable hard into this HDMI

To test 02, the slim ribbon cable original to gimbal and at the same time you get to test 04 female HDMI connector at gimbal board and at the same time you get to test the 05 fat HDMI cable. U need to remove the gimbal from the Solo.
-Place the GoPro camera on gimbal connect the male HDMI connector of gimbal
- The HDMI output of gimbal PCB board, use the original fat HDMI cable and connect to a TV/Monitor, this is rather challenging as the 05 cable is short.
Once you get signal to TV/Monitor spin the gimbal left and right and up and down.
Shake-shake a bit the thin gimbal HDMI at GoPro side
In my case, my bad connection is the gimbal itself :
My female HDMI connector at gimbal board is having bad connection when the gimbal spin to the right.
http://3drpilots.com/data/attachments/5/5771-82392d867e72312e47baa7caac0a7fea.jpg

Many people had 05 fat HDMI being the issue and hence they advise you to change that one.

Since the problem is not total loss of connection, but rather intermittent loss connection, you must troubleshoot slowly. HDMI is not like RCA video cable , the yellow one. HDMI has to do "handshake" to connect to display, that takes time. So intermittent bad connection recovery takes more time due to this handshake thingy. If RCA yellow video cable out, it is instant, any bad connection will show as there is no handshake protocol. Just like audio cable red-white, bad connection produce those crackling sound or loss-available-loss sound immediately, no delay. Handshake approval cause screen to blackout first or blue-screen if on some TV, like stand-by..so there is delay. Therefore do the shake-shake test slowly knowing there is a delay on the handshake for every intermittent loss of contact.

The tricky part of this micro HDMI is the size of the connector pins contact point is only like 0.2 mm wide !!! Yikes !!. So any wear and tear on either on the female or male HDMI connector, can cause this intermittent loss of connection and so would vibration ...eventually. Poor dimensional accuracy connector would also give problem.

By right micro HDMI or even medium size HDMI is not a dynamic connector by design, it is a static design where the device is best not to move around or vibrate. Many DLSR video uses medium HDMI female connector and they provide plastic clip HDMI cable lock, sort of.

EXAMPLE :
The HDMI Cable Clip
When using the optional Nikon HDMI cable, attach the supplied clip as shown to prevent accidental disconnection. Do not use cable clips with non-Nikon cables.
http://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_solutions/d500_tips/movie/more_on_movies/img/img_19.png

Have fun troubleshooting....

I did exactly what you asked and at the end of most all the troubleshooting I inserted the GoPro 4 Black in the gimbal tray and bypassed the gimbal HDMI and took the male end of the HDIM that would normally plug into the gimbal circuitry bypassing the circuitry and plugging the HDMI into the GoPro4 female. It worked like what I believe to be a normal live feed, which would make me believe that somthing in the gimbal is causing the live feed to fail, see pic attached, HDMI bypassing the gimbal

bsuttonmci · May 23, 2017

I did exactly what you asked and at the end of most all the troubleshooting I inserted the GoPro 4 Black in the gimbal tray and bypassed the gimbal HDMI and took the male end of the HDIM that would normally plug into the gimbal circuitry bypassing the circuitry and plugging the HDMI into the GoPro4 female. It worked like what I believe to be a normal live feed, which would make me believe that somthing in the gimbal is causing the live feed to fail, see pic attached, HDMI bypassing the gimbal

SPP · May 23, 2017

Well, my gimbal was the problem just like yours, its whatever HDMI related in it and to trigger the fault on land without motors vibrations, all I need to do is spin the gimbal to the right. In flight , the HDMI feed will come and go, due to motor vibration or when I make hard bank/turn.
I guess u need a new gimbal. I know the pain of a mere HMDI path and we need to throw the gimbal away.

But now its cheap....Amazon.com: Solo,The Smart Drone, 3-Axis Gimbal for GoPro. Model #GB11A: Camera & Photo
I guess if someone is very good at tearing apart the gimbal and can find the same ribbon wire, I am sure it can be fixed, but at how much $$ ?