4:3 VRX output

[daring sinew]

Can we have a 4:3 output mode from the VRX so that it doesnt get stretched vertically on our 4:3 screen goggles. Could be as simple as adding black bars to the top and bottom of the 720p output (letterboxing)

[foggy mortar]

I agree that they need better 4:3 support. Right now all it does is cuts the sides off the image (not using the whole sensor like when a 4:3 sensor is used for a 16:9 image). However, it's implementation is lacking.
When in 4:3 mode Walksnail transmits with black bars on the side making it a 4:3 image when looking through a 16:9 screen. This is not effective for goggles with 4:3 displays as the black bars are still seen. I feel they would be better off stretching the 4:3 image to 16:9. In a 16:9 goggle this will look different, but in a 4:3 goggle it will look native.
Another option would be to make a togglable option to have the black bars or stretch when in 4:3 mode, giving more options for the end user to set up their gear to best suit their needs. Basically, this will allow 4:3 goggles to display a 4:3 image correctly (added feature), and allow 16:9 goggles use a 4:3 mode (current settings).

[daring sinew]

Yes I agree, i hadnt seen the 4:3 camera option when i made this post, but i tried it now and its worse 😂 stretched image and black bars on the side that crop out the original FOV.

I have been used to flying 4:3 cameras stretched to 16:9 and this took no time to adjust to, actually, it felt really natural from the first instant. A 16:9 camera stretched vertically to 4:3 is extremely unnatural, and i am still not used to it....

So there are two parts to this:

1. 4:3 sensor cameras where you have the option to display 16:9 (stretched) or the original 4:3
2. HDMI output options: 720p/1080p or 800x600/1024x768. The latter two should just letterbox the image to get it to 4:3 aspect ratio

Either of those would be suitable, but the second option can be done in a firmware update - the former would require a hardware change.

[pulsar inlet]

Bear in mind, goggles like the hdo2 are always 16:9 in HDMI mode, you always get the top and bottom cut off

4:3 would probably end up an even smaller image = 960x720, not 1024x768 or 1280x960 etc

[daring sinew]

Yes, that is preferable to vertically stretched.
The 4:3 aspect ratio for hdmi output should be optional. Hdo users wouldn't use it for example. Just for us that have our hdmi video stretched to fit 4:3

[pulsar inlet]

Nice. Which goggles have that function out of interest dom?

[foggy mortar]

Skyzone 03O' are forced 4:3

[daring sinew]

I feel like I might have the same optics in mine, Xflip goggles, same 1024x768 resolution, oled. They are pretty laughable goggles, but I won't complain since I won them on an auction for $50

[mossy dew]

I've mentioned about this to them but have not yet had a response

As soon as I know you guys will be informed!

[faint yacht]

I'm also very interested in a feature like this, the stretching definitely impacts the experience. Has there been any updates around this @mossy dew?

[mossy dew]

update on this one

[faint yacht]

So that means future cameras? Not a firmware fix? Ugh that’s disappointing

[mossy dew]

I'll relay this on to them, think they misunderstood what we want

[faint yacht]

Thank you

[faint yacht]

Hey @mossy dew were you able to make them understand?! Do you think this is still possible? I'm going to hold off investing more in the system till there is a fix, or my current goggles crap out...

[flint sapphire]

yap me too,, I wish Walksnail will solve this problem, I have to more tilt my camera than before and it make me not enjoying

please Walksnail bring back 4:3 native on my VRX

[flint sapphire]

I think you have to show this video to them bro

https://youtu.be/BuZM3dElYdw?t=427

I using HDO2 , same like Bardwell said on his video,, 4:3 on HDO2 is not stretching this is 16:9

when I choose 16:9 on VRX setting my video is wider than 4:3,, but the height is same

[faint yacht]

Was it better in previous firmwares?

[flint sapphire]

No, what I mean is make a native 4:3

[faint yacht]

Got it. From what I understand, with a 16:9 camera the best they can do is take a little field of view to make an un-stretched 4:3. I’d take that trade off

[flint sapphire]

sorry,, so the camera has 16:9 sensor?

[faint yacht]

It does… so we can’t have native 4:3, but could get 4:3 with less fov

[flint sapphire]

omg,, case closed in here, I have to think twice to continue using my VRX

thx brother for your info

[mossy dew]

well not if they release 4:3 cameras which i'm sure are on the horizon

[faint yacht]

Yeah I’m hang up my VRX. For me, this is a fatal design flaw. Maybe I’d spend to replace the camera for a 4:3, but ultimately I’ll probably just fly analog till I need new goggles and see what’s out at that point.

[flint sapphire]

Yap bro,, I will doing like you are, but I wanna try to tilt up my camera first if I can't enjoy, I will sell

[daring sinew]

Ugh I never asked for a 4:3 camera. I wouldn't complain but it's not the point of this request.

Fatshark automatically letterboxes the hdmi input, so it shows black bars top and bottom.

Other goggles (skyzone) give you the option of what to do.

But many goggles don't give you the option and they stretch the 16:9 image to 4:3 screens.

Im asking for caddx to letterbox the output hdmi so that the output resolution is 1280x960 (for 720p mode) or 1920x1440 (for 1080p). It doesn't require any new hardware, just adding black bars on top and bottom of the video output so it's a 4:3 aspect ratio on the output resolution.

[faint yacht]

This x 💯

[faint yacht]

Coming soon, hopefully!

[daring sinew]

Thats great for Skyzone 03 owners. What about the rest of us?

[daring sinew]

@mossy dew Right after mentioning how draining it must be for Carl to get tagged for everything HDZ related, here i am pinging you in the same way (sorry). I missed the chance to catch you last night when you were chatting to WS dev. Any chance you got to discuss this 4:3 stuff? I am back to flying this on my low resolution 854x480 Sky02S because they have 16:9 screens. I look at the VRX DVR and think "it must be soo nice to be able to fly with that sort of clarity in 16:9"

[mossy dew]

Hi all!

Just had some news regarding this

This should be fixed in a new beta firmware

I should receive it shortly and share it here for people to test out.

[faint yacht]

That’s amazing! I’m happy to test it and report back! Thanks @mossy dew

[flint sapphire]

Could I test it?

[mossy dew]

I now have the firmware

@daring sinew as you originally submitted this awesome feature request please check your DMs for a test firmware.

I'm technically not supposed to be sharing it just yet but as I'm unable to test it myself I thought I'd pass it on.

Assuming that goes ok then we can publish it in here as a beta

[faint yacht]

I’m happy to test it, if you don’t mind sending it my way as well.

[daring sinew]

Thank you! I'm heading out for the weekend... Glad I brought my WS stuff!

[mossy dew]

Of course.

that's what this whole server is about

For anyone else who would like to test it, please dm me

[mossy dew]

Sent

[mossy dew]

Sent

[daring sinew]

Sent this to @mossy dew as well, but first impression : they added a new mode "4:3 Full" to the camera menu. When selecting that, the stretch is gone! However, it's also a much lower fov. I think that on normal goggles this would result in the image being stretched sideways, but on my goggles it stretches vertical so it goes to a normal aspect ratio.

It's not quite what I wanted (full fov with black bars top and bottom) but it's not bad. Unfortunately I don't have time to actually fly right now... Will have a go tonight to see if the reduced fov is OK to fly with

[faint yacht]

This update is amazing. There is def less fov in a side by side, but once you're flying I felt I had more fov than my analog cameras. Probably just my imagination but at a minimum it was a non-issue.

thank you @mossy dew for getting a hold of this and for whatever convincing you did to get this through

[daring sinew]

Yes, regardless of whether the fov is an issue or not, I am super thankful that they listened to our concerns and pushed out a fix one month after I raised it. And Chinese new year was in the middle there!

[daring sinew]

2 packs on my tinywhoop and yeah I agree the loss of fov is less important than the vertical stretching we used to have. Flew back to back with my analog whoops, and didn't need any readjustment!

[faint yacht]

Hey all, I think I noticed a minor bug with the new beta firmware. I believe the VRX DVR records slightly horizontally stretched now. I'm just now watching some replays from last night's flight while I'm charging. I'm going to record two flights, one in 4:3 and one in 4:3 FULL. I let everyone know if I still think I see it. @daring sinew and anyone else who is testing, do you see the same?

[daring sinew]

I see the VRX DVR records in 16:9... I thought it was recording the full image, even if the goggle view is cropped. Maybe its recording the 4:3 stretched to 16:9 (see my video in the videos section).

If so i dont think thats a bug, maybe a quirk, but if the recording is always 1080P then that will be 16:9

If you can, try one flight in each of the 3 aspect ratios (so also test 16:9)

[faint yacht]

I did just that. I'm reviewing the footage now. I'll try and grab similar views under each mode and see if I'm right. I can 100% confirm image is just right through the goggles, its is only the recording after the fact.

the good news is that video editing can fix the recording, so it isn't nearly as much of an issue was the goggle view

I'm pretty confident it records the image with the same adjustment to make it look beautiful in our goggles

[faint yacht]

how the hell did you get the weight down so low!?

[daring sinew]

I added weight 😉 switched to a proper canopy as I was worried about breaking the vtx in a crash, which I do a lot

Followed the shutterbug fpv hdzero build, but used 0702 motors (23000kv) because when testing I found they had far lower current draw and just as much pep as my 0802 motors. So I can get 3-3.5 min flights on 8 month old tattu 300mah batteries, landing at 3.3v

[faint yacht]

And the fc?

Must be a hm Diamond?

Did you use those fancy screws? That’s my analog build weight 😂

[daring sinew]

FC is the old betafpv 5A ELRS (SPI). I got one of the new ones but it uses a thicker PCB (i got the "classical" one thinking the only difference was motor plugs). I'll order another one soon but should be the same weight.
Yes to reny (actually peek) screw for the motors. The canopy screws are the tiny mobula6 screws (very small head). And the FC is mounted underneath (note the WS VTX is sunken right into the frame). Frame mods are just to access the usb port on the vtx, and of using the lightest props/minimal wire length everywhere

I am confident I could break 22g if i used the superbee, did some frame lightening or used the old 26000kv 0702s (no PCB, they are 0.2g lighter for the set)

[daring sinew]

I think recording 4:3 should stretch the video to 16:9 - this is much easier to correct in post processing than removing black bars or any other method.

[daring sinew]

@mossy dew i did see these two glitches in one of the dvr files. I don't recall seeing any problems in my live feed, could this be a firmware issue or is it possibly just something else?
https://youtu.be/jwxEnYSAO7Q

At 21s and 39s

[foggy mortar]

Please check your Message Requests @mossy dew. Thank you.

[faint yacht]

I haven't seen that happen with mine as of yet. I'm typically flying 1080p, high bitrate, but 25mw since I'm mostly around my house, which has had solid recording. In post, if you take the 4:3 FULL VRX recording and reduce the x axis to .75 it becomes perfect. Then run it through OSD overlay and it looks amazing

[daring sinew]

I'm still only flying standard bit rate, 720p and 25mw.

While it hasn't gotten approval for flying in Japan yet, when it does, it will be limited to that setting, and I don't want to be getting used to such clarity/range only to be disappointed when I go back lol
I'm still amazed at how far I can go on this power, compared to analog it's much clearer

[flint sapphire]

Just installed FW 4:3,, it's help me! But yeah the basic cam is 16:9 so in here just crop the width, I hope walksnail will be sell a cam with 4:3 sensor, I need more up & down like traditional cam 🍻 wanna try to fly this weekend!

[faint yacht]

coming from analog, no question 720p at 25mw will be substantially better. Its too bad they won't let you use the system to its potential...

[faint yacht]

yeah a dedicated camera would be nice, but this fix will make the system amazing until that day comes.

[flint sapphire]

Agree,, but yeaahhh it's fvckn rainy in here 🤣🤣🤣

[faint yacht]

whoop build time!

[foggy mortar]

May I please test the firmware?

[flint sapphire]

just tested 4:3 fw.. in goggle I can watch 4:3 ratio but in VRX and VTX recorded still 16:9 ratio

[foggy mortar]

Why will it not allow me to update my VRX or VTX. The VTX just goes solid red and the VRX just beeps fast...

Did y'all update from 31.36.8 or 29.33.16?

[foggy mortar]

OK I found the problem. The hardware checks the filename for a greater firmware. I was trying to update from 31.36.8 to 31.4.8. Here's the problem 4 is less than 36. In future firmwares, they need to add the 0 to the filename. In this case it should have read as 31.40.8.

[daring sinew]

Ahh yes I was on 29.33.16. I was wondering why they went ftpm 36 to 4!

[dusty thistle]

How do I test this firmware on my VRX? I'm already using 31.36.8

[daring sinew]

Message @mossy dew, though I feel like they can put this FW out for public use now, seems stable, works great

[faint yacht]

This! I only see improvements over the current stable release. It should be more accessible to others

Range and image has been great. Only annoying thing that you need to alter dvr to get to the correct aspect ratio. But that’s a small price to pay for what you get. It needs a new number before it’s release!

[daring sinew]

I even managed to do that on my phone using ffmpeg app. Altering the aspect ratio is expected. Nobody these days wants to see 4:3 digital video files... All our tvs/pcs are 16:9

[foggy mortar]

Agreed. This has only improved on what is out there. I also agree with the name change (i.e. 31.40.08) so people will not have to manually rename them. The computer sees 31.4.8 as less than 31.36.8.

[faint yacht]

@daring sinew @foggy mortar can you confirm in 4:3 FULL you can't see the red boarder warning when signal is low? I've never seen it, but when I switched to buzz, I hear the beep when signal gets to 1 bar

[daring sinew]

I see the red signal warning (on the right side only) when signal is low. I don't here the buzzer, but not sure if that is a final warning or not

[faint yacht]

Odd. I don’t see red border on any side, but it beeps slow then fast as signal gets lower

[daring sinew]

Is that a setting on the vrx (beep for signal low)?
Border is only a few pixels wide. I wonder if yours is getting cropped (or do you use focus mode?)

[flint sapphire]

I can see, it's normal on red border and buzzer, np with that

[faint yacht]

🤔 so weird. I’ve never seen it on different firmware or quads. Warning remind? Anything else I should do?

[flint sapphire]

hhmm maybe you can try clean install,, format all the card then re install again

[mossy dew]

some pretty exciting news coming soon regarding this suggestion

😉

[daring sinew]

Hehehe, combine that with your message in the main channel, and I guess I know why they did the firmware for this suggestion first... While saying "working on hardware right now"... Seems some hardware needs 4:3 support 😉

[flint sapphire]

my future with walksnail is bright 🔥

[flint sapphire]

could you tell a clue? 🤣

ohh I hope is 4:3 camera 🔥

[forest fiber]

anyone help me please,, my vtx v1 unable to flashing the firmware after copying file, it should be blinking red led, but the red led is stay after green led blinking and pushing the bind button for 8second

[ornate citrus]

Is this feature request merged into the latest stable fw release?