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FIRMWARE V1.4.9 is now officially released!

So I'm having a different issue. Tried pointing down, and no issues I could find.
It's when NOT in boat mode and landing with it pointing straight down right?
(I personally feel like that's asking for debris on the lens, but that's me paranoid)
But what I'm getting is when I try and zoom with the camera (more just to look, I hate taking ACTUAL pictures zoomed) I get an error message.
View attachment 4752
Then it will usually zoom at some point and jump all around. It happened on new pixel 3a, and on a pixel 2.
The other issue I have is that after I get that error message, I can't "view" the pictures on the drone, and then download the full res versions. It says failed to download information.
Anyone using a Pixel for this and having issues? I tried putting it in USB debug mode to see if that helped, and no luck. :(

Edit: maybe it's Android 9 related? I tried turning on USB debug, stop checking for bad behavior of app, etc tried different defaults for USB device, ("none" to file transfer, to pictures, to tether, etc. allthose behaved the same)

Yes, it's landing with the camera pointed down, and NOT in boat mode. I use a landing pad so I don't worry about debris. On your issue, I'll try to see what happens when I try it....

LP
 
..........On another flight while testing RTH, it landed and I could no longer move the gimbal with the wheel or the app - only a reboot fixed it. On yet a third flight, again the gimbal reset/restarted itself after landing. Anybody else notice any odd gimbal behavior? I'd like to think it's the new firmware rather than a hardware issue given they did mess with the algorithm.

LP

I noticed the same today when I flew. Also had a weird glitch after one landing where I tried to stop video recording and it wouldn't.

Overall though I am very happy with the EVO even after this update. I noticed that the camera appears to pan up and down more smoothly and the horizon stayed level no matter how quickly I inputted direction changes.
 
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I noticed the same today when I flew. Also had a weird glitch after one landing where I tried to stop video recording and it wouldn't.

Overall though I am very happy with the EVO even after this update. I noticed that the camera appears to pan up and down more smoothly and the horizon stayed level no matter how quickly I inputted direction changes.

Welcome to the rather exclusive club. So far only 4-5 people have come forward with the gimbal restart after landing issue. Nobody in the FB group has mentioned it. It might be good to open a ticket with Autel on it just so they hear it a few times.

That said, I noticed the same positives as you - horizon is pretty darned stable now.

LP
 
@LeafPeeper Yep... and I also reset the camera. Once you do the camera reset you have to change back to whatever settings you like to use. It defaults to .mov at 30fps and if you use a grid you need to turn it back on. I'm about to go out and shoot some aerial video of a 300 ft. ship a buddy of mine is restoring in an hour or so... will not be using ..BOAT MODE! ... lol ...Perhaps ship mode should be next.
@LeafPeeper @Ansia .. Shot the ship yesterday and the EVO flew well, video looks good (could have used an ND8 rather than the clear glass as it was really bright sunlight at 2:30 PM). For the most part the horizon was good... however I did notice a few horizon problems with the gimbal tilted down and when I was doing a crossflight dolly shot I noticed a bit of gimbal twitch. I also noticed some twitching in straight fly overs as well as some jello effect from the sensor. Previous to this it was rock solid. I have done a couple more gimbal calibrations and will test this evening once the wind subsides a bit. They may need to do a followup on this gimbal thing. I also landed with the gimbal tilted down about 75 degrees with no "reset". Might just need to fly the EVO a few times and put it through it's paces and perhaps it will settle down. I'll post some video of the flight once I get it edited. All the best, Jim
 
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@LeafPeeper @Ansia .. Shot the ship yesterday and the EVO flew well, video looks good (could have used an ND8 rather than the clear glass as it was really bright sunlight at 2:30 PM). For the most part the horizon was good... however I did notice a few horizon problems with the gimbal tilted down and when I was doing a crossflight dolly shot I noticed a bit of gimbal twitch. I also noticed some twitching in straight fly overs as well as some jello effect from the sensor. Previous to this it was rock solid. I have done a couple more gimbal calibrations and will test this evening once the wind subsides a bit. They may need to do a followup on this gimbal thing. I also landed with the gimbal tilted down about 75 degrees with no "reset". Might just need to fly the EVO a few times and put it through it's paces and perhaps it will settle down. I'll post some video of the flight once I get it edited. All the best, Jim

Thanks @jcommstudios. I flew again yesterday too, and didn't notice any twitching during flight as you describe. In fact, as I've said in other posts, I think the horizon is even more stable, even in boat mode. It does seem to yaw drift a little more in boat mode, but this seems to make sense given that they've said they increase the IMU tolerances in order to make it work. I must say, I'm *speculatively* learning a lot about how Autel differs from DJI through all this.

As to the gimbal reset, mine won't do it at 75 degrees either. It doesn't start until around 82 degrees of tilt, and of course, with boat mode OFF.

On to my new experiments. Again yesterday I got the reset as expected under the stated conditions. I also still don't get it in boat mode. I tried calibrating the gimbal again 3 times before flying, and it made no difference. I also tried calibrating the gimbal in boat mode, but it wouldn't even start - as it threw an error saying the aircraft was moving. I'm guessing this too is due to the fact that they increase the IMU tolerances in boat mode. Given that Autel calibrates the IMU automatically on startup, I now see why enabling something like boat mode was so difficult for them. The bird has to be still on startup for it to calibrate a 'not moving' point - unlike DJI where calibration is a separate activity where values are set and saved.

LP
 
So, to try to NOT send mine back, (it's 19 days old... or I'd exchange it at Best Buy) I did a firmware downgrade, then upgrade.
removed application on phone, deleted all cache files, storage etc. Removed my google account from the beta, Then updated to latest app and firmware.
My issue with the parameters failing and zoom or toggling from video to still came right back. It's not AS frequent, but i still can't see items in the library, and download full size images. :(
Now when I land with the camera pointing straight down, I get the gimbal reset as well as you guys.
Sigh.
I really didn't want to send this back.

Edit: just checked Best Buy, i'm not "elite" by 4$ so the extended exchange doesn't apply. emailed customer service to see if I buy something now, will that apply to previous purchases. (I bought the Evo, then 2 pixel 3a's on sale) haha.
 
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So, to try to NOT send mine back, (it's 19 days old... or I'd exchange it at Best Buy) I did a firmware downgrade, then upgrade.
removed application on phone, deleted all cache files, storage etc. Removed my google account from the beta, Then updated to latest app and firmware.
My issue with the parameters failing and zoom or toggling from video to still came right back. It's not AS frequent, but i still can't see items in the library, and download full size images. :(
Now when I land with the camera pointing straight down, I get the gimbal reset as well as you guys.
Sigh.
I really didn't want to send this back.

Edit: just checked Best Buy, i'm not "elite" by 4$ so the extended exchange doesn't apply. emailed customer service to see if I buy something now, will that apply to previous purchases. (I bought the Evo, then 2 pixel 3a's on sale) haha.

Ouch...sorry to hear. Not sure what you mean by firmware downgrade - as Autel doesn't allow you to go backwards.....unless you mean the app and not the actual Evo/controller firmware.

Can you try a different phone? For my drones, I usually just buy cheap prepaid type phones and throw away the SIM so I can use them as dedicated devices. How about picking up a cheap phone at BB and trying that?

Whether you return it or not, I would ask that you report the gimbal reset to Autel though. I still want them to hear it from more than just me since right now they think mine has a pitch motor issue.

LP
 
Incidentally, the first person responded on FB that he now has the gimbal restart issue. He originally said he upgraded and did not have it....but he has it now.

LP
 
When I put the old bin file on the SD card, it went through the process saying it was updating. I didn't bother to actually CHECK that it did anything,
but it SAID it did.
That's odd. Wonder why that did something if it's not supposed to? Or wonder if it just unpacked then did nothing?
But yea, I also did the app downgrade on my phone. I tried it from my pixel 3a, my wife's pixel 3a, and by buddies pixel 3.
All had the same issue constant. My old moto g4 seems to have the issue "less" but still happens some. (But it has a cracked screen, and turns off randomly etc.)
I've tried with their OTG cable, a "normal" usb to usbC cable, and with a different OTG cable. All behaved the same way.


Interesting, I just "assumed" copying the old bin, since it said "unpacking" then took about the same time, went through everything like it was updating then said "must reboot to use" that it ACTUALLY downgraded the firmware.
But it doesn't.
I just ran it again from EVO_FW_V1.3.46.bin and all the versions are the same as 1.4.9. so it basically just runs through and then does nothing. :)
oops.
 
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Unfortunately I forgot to try this last night because I was so focused on the gimbal cal experiment. Sorry about that. If I get to fly this weekend, I will try your tests. I never zoom, so it's doubtful I would have noticed it - much like I suspect many haven't tried landing with the camera facing downward.

LP
 
Also, I mentioned the gimbal restart on my ticket. So they are looking at that as well. I'm not sure if I'm shipping it back today, or gonna wait till Monday which will let me fly it this weekend. While it's annoying, I can "deal" with these quirks for a short term. :)
 
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So, to try to NOT send mine back, (it's 19 days old... or I'd exchange it at Best Buy) I did a firmware downgrade, then upgrade.
removed application on phone, deleted all cache files, storage etc. Removed my google account from the beta, Then updated to latest app and firmware.
My issue with the parameters failing and zoom or toggling from video to still came right back. It's not AS frequent, but i still can't see items in the library, and download full size images. :(
Now when I land with the camera pointing straight down, I get the gimbal reset as well as you guys.
Sigh.
I really didn't want to send this back.

Edit: just checked Best Buy, i'm not "elite" by 4$ so the extended exchange doesn't apply. emailed customer service to see if I buy something now, will that apply to previous purchases. (I bought the Evo, then 2 pixel 3a's on sale) haha.
Firmware downgrades are not possible.
 
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Thanks @jcommstudios. I flew again yesterday too, and didn't notice any twitching during flight as you describe. In fact, as I've said in other posts, I think the horizon is even more stable, even in boat mode. It does seem to yaw drift a little more in boat mode, but this seems to make sense given that they've said they increase the IMU tolerances in order to make it work. I must say, I'm *speculatively* learning a lot about how Autel differs from DJI through all this.

As to the gimbal reset, mine won't do it at 75 degrees either. It doesn't start until around 82 degrees of tilt, and of course, with boat mode OFF.

On to my new experiments. Again yesterday I got the reset as expected under the stated conditions. I also still don't get it in boat mode. I tried calibrating the gimbal again 3 times before flying, and it made no difference. I also tried calibrating the gimbal in boat mode, but it wouldn't even start - as it threw an error saying the aircraft was moving. I'm guessing this too is due to the fact that they increase the IMU tolerances in boat mode. Given that Autel calibrates the IMU automatically on startup, I now see why enabling something like boat mode was so difficult for them. The bird has to be still on startup for it to calibrate a 'not moving' point - unlike DJI where calibration is a separate activity where values are set and saved.

LP
@LeafPeeper Here is a link to the ship shoot.. MV Aurora - Vimeo link
It was super sunny at 2:00 PM and I flew bare glass. Probably should of gone with an ND8. Came out decent as is. Just a test pass for a short documentary we plan to do on the ship. Pretty interesting history on the ship. wikipedia MV Aurora . All the best, Jim
 
@jcommstudios Nice! Still looked good even without the ND filter. I never even bother with ND filters or CPLs because the crispness or lack of motion blur never really bothered me - especially in 60fps. Did you shoot in 30 or 60? The final output video looked like 30...

LP
 
Got to make one observation here... how many of us actually have a boat to test things out. Have you ever thought that EVO app is so smart and needs to detect you are in fact on a boat before it would activate?!

GO!
 
@jcommstudios Nice! Still looked good even without the ND filter. I never even bother with ND filters or CPLs because the crispness or lack of motion blur never really bothered me - especially in 60fps. Did you shoot in 30 or 60? The final output video looked like 30...

LP
@LeafPeeper I shot in 60p /edited the native 60p on a 30p time line to slowmo a couple of shots. Output is 4K 29.97 (30p). 60p seems to be gag most computers at 4K. I usually don't shoot with NDs but in this situation an ND4 or 8 would have been OK.
 
Got to make one observation here... how many of us actually have a boat to test things out. Have you ever thought that EVO app is so smart and needs to detect you are in fact on a boat before it would activate?!

GO!
Not exactly sure if you're joking or not.

Here's my interpretation of what boat mode is doing. Given that the IMU recalibrates every time you boot the Evo - unlike DJI or the XStar - it would make sense that the Evo has to remain still at boot up in order for it to calibrate. It wouldn't be still on a boat - which is why launching from a boat or from your hand wasn't possible before. Autel has stated to me that boat mode increases the IMU tolerance on boot up. If this is indeed what they did, there wouldn't be any app detection, just an on/off switch, and you could theoretically test the functionality by hand launching.

That said, the gimbal restart happens with boat mode OFF. I would like to say it has nothing to do with boat mode, but since it was introduced at the same time as boat mode and the new gimbal control code, I'm not convinced that they aren't related.

LP
 

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