Sky Drone HD FPV, Crowdfunding

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Not quite a reality yet, but here's something that has caught my attention:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sky-drone-fpv

Even if this design is not all that it promises to be, it is certainly a start toward getting us off old-school composite video. It's long overdue! Good luck Sky-Drone.

[Terry]

Yes a long time coming but did I hear that right that it uses 3G?

I drove for 2 hours last week and only had an Edge signal for about 5 min, thats no good to me.

Terry

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Solutions like this one will not be for everyone due to the cell network limitations. But this technology will be a good fit for those flying in urban areas. For example, I suspect that DJI has sold over a hundred thousand Phantoms in the last two years and most of them are being flown in urban areas where cell signals are typically reliable. And model's like these have return-to-home when RF is not reliable.

[Kilrah]

Yeah it depends how you look at it.

Is it something that can be sold? Probably yes, to a certain type of customer.

Is it what WE want? Definitely not

[Mr.RC-Cam]

The crowdfunding failed, but I see that they moved ahead with it anyway. I will be interesting to hear what the early adopters have to say.

http://www.skydrone.aero/fpv

[Terry]

A 3d printed box, are they actually sending these out yet?

Terry

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Their online store says they expect to ship next month (Jan 2014). But that is probably something that is subject to change.

Everyday I see more and more FPV parts that have that crude 3D printed finish. Equipment prices are so low that I think that the 3D printers will soon be as common on the workbench as X-Acto knives.

[Mr.RC-Cam]

I can't tell what is going on at skydrone. It's Feb and it does not look like they have started to ship the product to the masses.

BTW, DJI has announced their digital system. It looks interesting and the price is reasonable (but not cheap). Latency spec says 80mS.

http://www.cinema5d.com/news/?p=23381

[Terry]

Now the market has grown the investment in this sort of equipment is coming at a pace.

This is one reason I feel there is no point putting effort in to ideas, my hard work will get overtaken in a very short time and the kid next door will be able to buy better off ebay before I know it!

Interesting to stand back and see what turns up though

Terry

[Kilrah]

Got 4 of the DJI units on order, can't wait to get my hands on one

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Awesome. After you have checked it out, please come back and tell us all about the DJI system.

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Skydrone appears to be vaporware since they are now 9 months past their anticipated Jan 2014 release.

But here's another new entry to the HD FPV market that looks interesting:

http://www.wirelessdv.com/en/index

[Terry]

Amazing but dose the latency increase as the signal drops?

Terry

[Mr.RC-Cam]

Unlike some other digital video solutions, it does not stop the live video image when the signal is marginal. However, the image gets nasty looking (which is better than no image at all).

[Terry]

Seems good, has anyone done any side by side tests with an analogue system?

Terry

[Mr.RC-Cam]

It's a very new system, so we will have to wait for user feedback.