New Phantom but high filenumber on video

[jonstatt]

Mine was on pre-order from DJI. I got a shipping notice from Szechwan. Mine started at 1. It went to 2, 3, 4 and up from there. I can pull batteries, swap memory cards, smash it into trees, replace cameras and the wifi transmitter - it's never skipped a number. That counter is deep inside the drone's brain somewhere. If yours isn't starting at 1 - it's used.

Wouldn't this just be a kick in the nuts if dji is really just swapping out used phantoms with different parts and selling then as new units!!!
Looks like we need to dig deeper into this because I sure as **** didn't plunk out my $$ for a refurbished pos!

Where do you think all these used parts would be coming from? It is more hassle than its worth to open up an old Drone, extract its parts and put it in a new one. I just don't buy that at all. There is something else going on here...it could even be some kind of testing on the factory line.....

As I said, mine has a serial starting with a new range that nobody else has reported yet..and it still started at 97

 

[AmosMoses]

The more I think about it it makes sense AND IS PISSING ME OFF! Most companies will offer refurbished units for sale to recoup some loss from warranty replacements. Dji sure as hell doesn't so they have to be doing something with all those returns!!!
Damit!

 

[Wibble]

Mine was on pre-order from DJI. I got a shipping notice from Szechwan. Mine started at 1. It went to 2, 3, 4 and up from there. I can pull batteries, swap memory cards, smash it into trees, replace cameras and the wifi transmitter - it's never skipped a number. That counter is deep inside the drone's brain somewhere. If yours isn't starting at 1 - it's used.

Wouldn't this just be a kick in the nuts if dji is really just swapping out used phantoms with different parts and selling then as new units!!!
Looks like we need to dig deeper into this because I sure as **** didn't plunk out my $$ for a refurbished pos!

Where do you think all these used parts would be coming from? It is more hassle than its worth to open up an old Drone, extract its parts and put it in a new one. I just don't buy that at all. There is something else going on here...it could even be some kind of testing on the factory line.....

As I said, mine has a serial starting with a new range that nobody else has reported yet..and it still started at 97

Well I was involved in the computer industry for years - happens all the time. Why throw away a perfectly good camera?
I really don't mind when it is non moving part. If my camera came off something returned for having poor GPS lock I really dont care. Of course the worry is what else are they recycling?

 

[AmosMoses]

Mine was on pre-order from DJI. I got a shipping notice from Szechwan. Mine started at 1. It went to 2, 3, 4 and up from there. I can pull batteries, swap memory cards, smash it into trees, replace cameras and the wifi transmitter - it's never skipped a number. That counter is deep inside the drone's brain somewhere. If yours isn't starting at 1 - it's used.

Wouldn't this just be a kick in the nuts if dji is really just swapping out used phantoms with different parts and selling then as new units!!!
Looks like we need to dig deeper into this because I sure as **** didn't plunk out my $$ for a refurbished pos!

Where do you think all these used parts would be coming from? It is more hassle than its worth to open up an old Drone, extract its parts and put it in a new one. I just don't buy that at all. There is something else going on here...it could even be some kind of testing on the factory line.....

As I said, mine has a serial starting with a new range that nobody else has reported yet..and it still started at 97

Well I was involved in the computer industry for years - happens all the time. Why throw away a perfectly good camera?
I really don't mind when it is non moving part. If my camera came off something returned for having poor GPS lock I really dont care. Of course the worry is what else are they recycling?

It's my understanding that these file numbers aren't stored in the camera as others have replaced the entire camera and SD card but the files were consecutive. That indicates that the "brain" of the Phantom stores it somewhere. Either way it's deceptive! If I'm buying a refurb I'd like to know and not be lied to. Am I wrong?

 

[jonstatt]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

 

[AmosMoses]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

If the number of "defective" and returned units is high enough I think it would be possible.
Some are reporting very high file numbers though! Even in "testing" eventually the test becomes use.
As far as I can find, I've never seen one phantom being sold by dji as a "refurb". Idk but I paid for a NEW unit. Not a pieced together slightly used one.
Not going to fly with me! Pun intended. [WINKING FACE]

 

[Wibble]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

Why would cameras be dead or broken? i would have thought they would be the most reliable component in the whole system! No moving parts at all in the camera itself!
Of course people aren't taking parts out! The whole thing will go back for refurb.
We used to do it with laptops all the time - 20 "broken" laptops come in - swop all the bits around you end up with 12 good ones.
I thought maybe factory testing but my V2 started at 00001 - my V3 is 1946 - that is a LOT of testing!!!

 

[AmosMoses]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

Why would cameras be dead or broken? i would have thought they would be the most reliable component in the whole system! No moving parts at all in the camera itself!
Of course people aren't taking parts out! The whole thing will go back for refurb.
We used to do it with laptops all the time - 20 "broken" laptops come in - swop all the bits around you end up with 12 good ones.
I thought maybe factory testing but my V2 started at 00001 - my V3 is 1946 - that is a LOT of testing!!!

+1!
Me thinks we might be getting laughed at by the communists... [WINKING FACE]
Question. Did you (the company) turn around and sell them as "NEW"??? I would certainly hope not! That's exactly what I'd expect a refurbished unit to be.

 

[jonstatt]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

Why would cameras be dead or broken? i would have thought they would be the most reliable component in the whole system! No moving parts at all in the camera itself!
Of course people aren't taking parts out! The whole thing will go back for refurb.
We used to do it with laptops all the time - 20 "broken" laptops come in - swop all the bits around you end up with 12 good ones.
I thought maybe factory testing but my V2 started at 00001 - my V3 is 1946 - that is a LOT of testing!!!

You are assuming 1946 tests on the SAME drone. What I said was, suppose they put their own SD card in the factory into the Drone temporarily that already has 1945 files on it from previous drone testing, the camera would automatically jump to 1946 on the next one as it won't over-write an existing file. I think my explanation is far more likely than reusing old parts.

 

[AmosMoses]

I am also in the computer industry and I know that it would be infeasible to take parts out of old Drones, send them to China, and then re-use them. Because in order to do that, they would all have to be retested as well. I simply don't accept that is what is happening here and there is some other explanation. Certainly and for sure it is not the cameras being recycled because they are the one thing that is more likely to be dead and broken than any other part...so there simply can't be many "perfect" cameras around. Like I said before, it is more likely that the drones are hand tested in the factory and one of the tests is some kind of automated camera test. For example even Parrots Bebop drones are all hand tested (they even leave the test video from the factory on the memory).

Another possibility. They use a test memory card at the factory that already has 100 pictures on it. If 001 and 002 etc are already gone. it will NOT over-write the picture..it will jump to the next free number!!

Why would cameras be dead or broken? i would have thought they would be the most reliable component in the whole system! No moving parts at all in the camera itself!
Of course people aren't taking parts out! The whole thing will go back for refurb.
We used to do it with laptops all the time - 20 "broken" laptops come in - swop all the bits around you end up with 12 good ones.
I thought maybe factory testing but my V2 started at 00001 - my V3 is 1946 - that is a LOT of testing!!!

You are assuming 1946 tests on the SAME drone. What I said was, suppose they put their own SD card in the factory into the Drone temporarily that already has 1945 files on it from previous drone testing, the camera would automatically jump to 1946 on the next one as it won't over-write an existing file. I think my explanation is far more likely than reusing old parts.

I don't think I agree with the whole SD card theory. No expert but since the camera has to actually capture the images I don't see how putting an SD card with a bunch of photos/videos on it would instantly change the file count of captured images.
Also, you're suggesting that dji has a mass phantom graveyard somewhere?? [emoji45] They're doing something with all the defective units!

 

[crash1sttime]

So is someone saying that all their videos dont start at 1, my Vision always starts at 1 once i have deleted the files that are on the SD card.

Have you tried using the app to reset the camera settings and see if that clears the count, its the icon above the format SD card in the left menu

 

[AmosMoses]

So is someone saying that all their videos dont start at 1, my Vision always starts at 1 once i have deleted the files that are on the SD card.

Have you tried using the app to reset the camera settings and see if that clears the count, its the icon above the format SD card in the left menu

No. I can assure you that is 100% incorrect. You can change the SD card, gimbal, and camera to all brand new stuff but the file count doesn't ever go down. It's stored somewhere in the "brain" of the Phantom.

 

[jonstatt]

Maybe I am really bad at explaining myself. Let me try again.

Let's say Drone 1 is on the factory line. They put a blank SD card in it to test it's camera. They take a picture. This increments the count from 001 to 002.

Then they take that memory card out of Drone 1 and put it in Drone 2, and take a picture. As this card already has a picture with 001, it will not over-write this file and will jump straight to 002.

Then they take that memory card out of Drone 2 and put it in Drone 3, and take a picture. As this card already has a picture with 001 and 002 on it, it will not over-write either of these files and will jump straight to 003

I have certainly seen cameras do exactly this before....if their internal count doesn't match the card, it will jump to the first available number. I am not in a position to test this with my Vision+ at the moment as it would mean creating 97 dummy files and I don't have the time. But it would explain exactly the behaviour being seen here. The reason one Drone is 97 and another is 1978, is because when they test the cameras, they are moving their "test" SD card from drone to drone without clearing it first.

 

[Wibble]

I can see that being possible - someone will test it I am sure.
I still think they will reuse components though - they arent going to bin perfectly good parts that have been returned for other reasons!

 

[Wibble]

One thing though - why doesnt this happen on the V2???

 

[rbhamilton]

Woops. I was wrong. The "Never goes down" theory just went down in flames. I just updated my camera firmware number is reset to 0001 and started counting back up from there. So I guess it's possible to reset the number easily enough at the factory. But I don't know how you could make it a higher number or why you would want to.

 

[jonstatt]

I can see that being possible - someone will test it I am sure.
I still think they will reuse components though - they arent going to bin perfectly good parts that have been returned for other reasons!

They do re-use those parts for repairs of other units normally and they stay within the country. So for example, if you return yours with a bad GPS module in the USA...they can take out the usable motors and ESCs and put them in Fred's drone who has had a failed ESC or motor and also lives in the USA. To start opening drones up, figure out which parts are reusable and ship them all back to China to feed into the factory line just seems more expensive than it's worth to me... I understand there is little trust in DJI and I totally understand why. This wrong ESC thing with V3s is inexcusable and should have resulted in a recall to check them all. To let drones out that are known to be defective and could drop out of the sky and injure someone is unforgivable really.

 

[jonstatt]

I just updated my firmware on the camera and now my camera has reset to 0001 and started counting back up from there. So I guess it's possible to reset the number easily enough at the factory. But I don't know how you could make it a higher number or why you would want to.

Apologies for going off-topic but where is this camera firmware update for a Vision+? On the DJI website there is an odd labelling

Phantom 2 Vision+ FC200 Firmware v1.3.0g

But FC200 is the vision (non plus) camera.

 

[Chuck67]

Oh my goodness people !
Who cares what number your camera starts on. Get over it.
I have been watching this forum for months now and all it seems like is a total ***** fest on how shitty DJI products are. Flyaways, apps not working, gimbals shaking, blah...blah. I love my bird, I use it daily, it is a tool for me. I have an android device ( note 2) that is used exclusivly for the phantom. I must be one of a handful of people that upgraded to v3.10 with no problems and downgraded back to v3.08 with no problems. I turely believe that most problems that arise are user error not DJI's fault. Remember you bought it no one twisted your arm and DJI don't owe you **** other than a limited warranty after you buy it.
I saw this morning on Facebook someone wanting to start a class action lawsuit against DJI. Go jump over there and join up. Me I am going out to fly and enjoy my DJI Phantom 2 Vision Plus

Sorry if I offended anyone...just had to get that off me chest. Off of soapbox now

 

[rbhamilton]

Phantom 2 Vision+ FC200 Firmware v1.3.0g

That's the one. It's on the vision 2+ page and it loaded up fine on my camera.

http://www.dji.com/product/phantom-2-vi ... s/download

Phantom 2 Vision+ FC200 Firmware v1.3.0g

At least for me it reset my counter to 1.

So I renamed the 2 files on my card back to the proper numbers for my numbering sequence, powered up and took a picture. Bingo. Right back on track.

Then I powered down, put in a blank card and took another pic. The numbering sequence held up.