This thread is all over the place and I am having trouble understanding what the debate is about.
Is it whether or not a stock P3P has a better FPV (more downlink bitrate) than a stock P3A?
If so, it was long ago determined that the P3P has better FPV (max 10Mb/s) due to the hardware differences in the gimbal board. One difference is that the P3P has a TI DMSoC chip in part for more efficient compression. The P3A gimbal board does not have this chip, among other differences, and the P3A has an average downlink bitrate in the 2Mb/s range.
Here's a photo of the two gimbal boards from another thread on this topic. The lower P3A bitrate is much
more noticeable when using HDMI goggles, when using a larger screened tablet, or when feeding the HDMI to a TV screen. On the flip side, it is much
less noticeable when using a smaller screened phone or when viewing less complex scenes with no grass or trees for example.
Is it about whether or not the P3P maintains its higher downlink bitrate at a distance?
It has also been discussed and determined that a lower FPV bitrate will help to maintain the FPV feed at greater distance. Because of this, pilots who like to fly BVLOS and set distance records will routinely set to lower bitrates. This means that if you use your P3 primarily for long distance flying, it doesn't matter too much if you have a P3A or a P3P. Pilots outside of the U.S. set their devices to U.S. to enable the custom settings. The setting (slider) has been shown to have a much greater impact on P3Ps than P3As because the P3A FPV is already hardware and software limited. For example, setting a P3A to 10Mb/s (or 8 or 6) on the slider does not
increase its bitrate beyond its max average 2Mb/s (+ or -) limits.
Is it about whether or not putting a P3P camera/gimbal combo on a P3A will give you (effectively) a P3P?
Again, it was long ago determined that it
will once you've also switched to the P3P firmware to make use of the hardware differences in the gimbal. Actually, simply swapping the gimbal board and the FW will do the trick as has been noted numerous times by such experts as
@Ted4797 and
@hunch, but most people who make the switch replace the camera/gimbal combo as a unit since it is so easy to do. Many sell their P3A camera/gimbal to fund much of the cost of a P3P camera/gimbal.
Is it about something else?