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Hi all,

We have been trying and testing the HDMI output of the Inspire2 controller.
We want to use it for live broadcasting, but we find the buffering or bit rate is just not good enough for HD broadcast.
We have been experiencing a dark horizontal bar dropping across the screen vertically every 2 seconds or so (like it's refreshing)
Can anyone tell me what best setting would be for live broadcast.
Ideally 1080i 25or50.
Please let us know as we are stuck.
 
Are you just using the regular HDMI output or did you put the radio into "Broadcast mode". Broadcast mode is designed for live broadcast through a satellite truck, news link, etc. It will put a different icon on your screen and prompt you for your broadcast settings when you turn it on. I don't use that mode for anything, but if you have any more questions, I'd be happy to look into it further.

Michael
 
Are you just using the regular HDMI output or did you put the radio into "Broadcast mode". Broadcast mode is designed for live broadcast through a satellite truck, news link, etc. It will put a different icon on your screen and prompt you for your broadcast settings when you turn it on. I don't use that mode for anything, but if you have any more questions, I'd be happy to look into it further.

Michael

Hi Michael,

From what I have learned the "Broadcast Mode" refers to broadcasting to the internet (FB, YouTube etc) when switching to this mode the HDMI output would switch to 720P which is not really suitable for Network broadcasting.
I may be wrong so any input would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Randy
 
So broadcast mode has slightly improved my dropped frames, but it seems to be heavily pixilated especially when camera is in motion. If there is a fix for this please let me know.
The dark horizontal bar dropping top to bottom on the screen is still there though. It's not to bad on the lighter parts, but the shadows are really badly affected.
 
I think the fix for this is DJI's newly-announced Cendence remote (with SDI output) and Tracktenna.

The end of the news chopper? DJI announce Cendence remote for drones with SDI out - NAB 2017 - Newsshooter

You would be right, but the Cendence not being released yet and no word on release date on the tracktenna at all, it will not help our broadcasts we have going on at the moment.
Our only option is to go back to the larger bird with the Connex or Paralinx system which is what we were trying to avoid.
 
Right now the Connex is not up to scratch with the high end Amimon products. We are currently using the microlite HD which is a very expensive, but reliable system.
The Connex is just OK for monitoring, but not good enough for broadcast.
 
MicroLite is the highest quality output I've found thus far, with an excellent link but the latency is horrible. It sits on my shelf now collecting dust. The Connex system isn't very robust, but was never intended for pro use with the HDMI workflow. The Skylink chipset (Bolt, Tomahawk, etc) are the best available at the moment for true SDI workflow, reliable performance and a very nice 1080P video signal. But each one costs more than an entire I2... Will be interesting to see what the DJI remote offers in terms of reliability and signal quality.
 
MicroLite is the highest quality output I've found thus far, with an excellent link but the latency is horrible. It sits on my shelf now collecting dust. The Connex system isn't very robust, but was never intended for pro use with the HDMI workflow. The Skylink chipset (Bolt, Tomahawk, etc) are the best available at the moment for true SDI workflow, reliable performance and a very nice 1080P video signal. But each one costs more than an entire I2... Will be interesting to see what the DJI remote offers in terms of reliability and signal quality.

The almost 1 second latency is something to get use to, but as we do mostly external shots live to air, it doesn't matter at the moment. It's when we start doing play action shot where it will get tricky. Paralinx and Teradek both stack up well, better in the latency department, but longer reconnect time.
Trying to find a Teradek Beam system here in Australia to play with, but seems no one is hiring those out and at $6k aud it's to much to buy for a try out...
We'll keep searching for the right system......
 
Hi:
I´d like to share our experience with the i2
we´re having issues with our Inspire 2 for live feed. We went to a test with the OB truck and the engineer said it was "unacceptable". And we had to give him the reason, as the signal has a strange "breathing". Tested everything. All the setup combinations and always the same. Went from .240 to .330 and the same.
We started this discussion some time ago, but now we are shure it is there.
The issue is almost invisible (unless you had this engineer eye!), but if you look for it, it is there. The way we could certainly and clearly watch it is framing a "siemens star" in front of the lens. And with a big, full HD display (you will not notice it in the ipad, small monitor or cheap HD monitor) you can notice that the center of the star, the one that shows you sharp focus, "breathes", "pulses", in a cycle of two seconds aprox. We reached the conclusion that is a huge variation in bitrate that makes the image go from a sharp one to a slightly soft one. That`s all. But unacceptable anyway.
We checked it against the Inspire 1: horrible video quality, but stable...
And we say it is a bug because we checked every i2 we could find, and it is there (with the "siemens star" it shows clearly). Another way of noticing it is to lower the bitrate to the minimum.
Nobody noticed this? If the image woud be average, but stable, we wouldn´t have any issue. We need to stop this "scan" or "refresh" of the bitrate. You can notice that this "refresh" scrolls the image from top to bottom.
What are the alternatives you had to solve this?
How can you add a Teradek to the i2? Has it video outputs somewhere?
Best regards!
 
That is exactly my question.
Is there a way to get a video feed directly of the I2.

We have not found a way as yet, but have not opened the bird to dissect it's internals.....yet.

We had to go to a larger frame with external link to be successful, but really would like to go back to the small frame.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
It´s a shame that a bird announced as "broadcast ready" it is not.
I don´t know the inside of the Inspire. If it is a modular design or not. If the Lightbridge is a module, you can try to identify the video input (can´t imagine what kind of video signal could they be feeding to the LB...)
Good luck!
 
It's a very clever marketing tool. Yes it is a broadcast ready bird if your platform is social media. It seems the word "broadcast" is now used in a far broader form then what we were use to. It will be necessary to start reading the fine print on the labels. They throw numbers like 4K and 1080i60 and one could be mistaken they actually mean something. Not anymore.....
 
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I have a sample I made to send to DJI of the HDMI output
Dropbox - test hdmi inspire 2 hdv.mov

In the meantime, just rumours, but I heard someone had luck regarding feeding a stable, healthy signal going through a Decimator (the upscalable version)

The sample I made is being uploaded to youtube and Vimeo, but I doubt that due to compression facts, you could notice something (that´s why I´m sending a download link)

Best regards!
 
Last edited:
Thanks man, I saw this on your post.
Still had no bites from the DJI team which tells me they have no solution in sight. Looks like my Inspire2 will go into surgery to see if we can fit a real Downlink to this machine.
Either that or DJI must team up with someone like Paralinx or Amimon....
 
I have used the Inspire 2 for live broadcast for news shots with zero issues and little to no latency. What are you using to capture the signal with?
I achieved 1080i @ 60 flawlessly feeding to a LIVEu backpack.
 
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