I’ve been flying rc since 1982 and mainly fly 3D fixed wing aircraft.
I’ve flown combat,raced pylons,sport,3D aerobatic but no pattern planes.
 Telemetry,flight stabilizers or controllers with 3D flying isn’t really needed nor is FPV types of equipment so now that I’ve decided to try a quad I want to make sure I get good equipment the first time I purchase.
 I just want to get a cinewhoop style drone.Not a racer or 6S just for in sight flying and using googles.
  The brand of googles,radio,camera,etc.... I’m starting to decide on but I still need to do some more research to see which ones would best fit my style of flying.

 What is the GoPro camera function on a drone if there’s already a camera sending live stream to googles?

welcome to the forum. the main result for the gopro is to record HD footage (what you see on youtube). the FPV camera that you see in the goggles is lower resolution. if you want to know what the goggles footage looks like, just search FPV DVR on youtube.

Welcome!

That was a really cool new-to-FPV question.  Like voodoo said, it's for our HD footage.  But then that got me thinking how HD footage is so FPV lol.  It has absolutely no bearing on the FPV experience itself and if anything is a huge weight burden on the craft.  But that's just how we roll lol.  

As to the difference, on my videos, I like to show what I see in the goggles then transition to the HD footage.  This should give you an idea of how much more appealing HD footage is over the goggle's DVR ...

Welcome to the forum 

If you're only just starting out with FPV and you have the money to spare then you might be better advised to just go straight for the DJI FPV Goggles system, then you won't have to suffer a poor quality analogue video feed like most of us who have been doing this for a while are used to. The DJI gear only got released last year as was a revolution for the FPV hobby. Just search on YouTube for "DJI FPV Goggles" and you will find a load of content.

If you don't need to record in anything higher than 1080p 60FPS then you only need the DJI Air Unit and DJI camera on the quad. 1080p is recorded on the Air Unit and 720p video gets streamed to the goggles. If you want 2.7K or 4K video then you will have to add a secondary HD camera to the top of the quad like a GoPro.

Of course, when wearing DJI FPV Goggles you will have to be comfortable with looking like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly  Be aware that the DJi FPV system only has a range of up to 4km in the best environmental RF conditions. I probably wouldn't fly it out much further than 2km.

https://store.dji.com/product/dji-digital-fpv-system

You can also get Cinewhoop combos like this...

https://www.banggood.com/IFlight-X-DJI-M...94466.html

https://www.banggood.com/IFlight-BumbleB...8590.html?

Welcome  

As always, it's all about the money   

The digital optics are great, just too rich for my blood. If you go the DJI route, a lot of the other decisions are already made.

If you go with analog, what you see when flying is good to fly with but lower quality...and...the FPV feed has information you need while flying, but an action camera or HD recording does not have that info (reference the.ronin's video). Also, now...there a lot of choices for goggles and radio transmitters. Personally, I have a Jumper T16 transmitter , but I am watching the RadioMaster TX16S.

I understand about purpose of GoPro.
Another question I have is how many electronic systems are in a drone?
There’s a receiver,esc,flight stabilization or controller,GPS,video signal sent to googles,telemetry signal,etc...?
How many signals are being sent back and forth from drone to googles and transmitter?
With 3D planes it’s a one way signal to receiver then servos move control surfaces and control throttle but with FPV there’s quite a bit more things going on.
I probably have some terminology incorrect but hopefully you get the jist of question.

The "hub" and brain of everything is the flight controller which is essentially a mini computer that flies the craft. It contains the gyro/accelerometer, optional barometer and various other components needed to fly the model. The FC is a sophisticated piece of hardware that makes all the decisions, calculations and adjustments based on various parameter configurations.

The FC communicates with various external devices via serial communication data ports, and all the data from those external peripherals is used to make decisions on and some of the telemetry data is also displayed in the OSD of the goggles as well as being sent back to the transmitter via the receiver's RC link, if the receiver supports two-way data transmission.

The wiring diagram below shows a good typical overview of the type of peripherals that are connected to a flight controller. Click on the image for a full size view.

Snow's diagram is a very good example and includes pretty much all of the features that one could have including various options.

If I may, let me offer my simple explanation:

First, if you want to add FPV to your plane, car, or boat; all you have to do is buy a Camera/Vtx combo, attach it, power it, and go. You could add FPV to anything you already have.

There are two essentially separate systems:

1) The Remote Control system which includes an Rx receiver on the craft and a radio transmitter controller. This system is usually 2.4 Ghz (you might even have a radio transmitter since you are already into RC). Here there are options for long range system that run at different frequencies.
  
2) The Video system which includes a camera, a video transmitter, Vtx, on the craft and a method of viewing, usually goggles, but could be a monitor. This system runs at 5.8 Ghz and is for flying the craft FPV. 

NOTE: If you want HD recording, then there are options both within the FPV setup or external, such as GoPro.

As in Snow's diagram, the more complex setup routes the camera feed into the flight controller where it picks up the OSD information before sending it out to the Vtx and on to the goggles, but it is still essentially separate from the remote control system.  

That might be a great addition to the FPV Guides section. Just took a look and while it covers a whole lot of topics, I didn't see one that just outlined the basic components of a traditional quadcopter.

I'd actually go so far as to call out 3 systems with the flight controller being the overlap: 1) powertrain, 2) control, and 3) video.

Powertrain:
* Flight controller (sends commands to ESC - cannot be bypassed)
* ESCs
* Motors

Control:
* Flight controller (receives and processes commands from receiver and gyro - cannot be bypassed)
* Radio receiver

Video:
* Flight controller (overlays telemetry data in on-screen display - can be bypassed)
* FPV camera
* Video transmitter

Makes sense and it’s came a long way since I lasted thought about FPV.
When I last thought about getting a Taranis or into telemetry the DJT module was the latest version so it’s changed a lot and seems to have gotten even better and more stable.
I have DX7 and Futaba 8FG which for 3D flying is all that I’ve needed.
I have been thinking about a cinewhoop and have been looking at iflight and a few other brands.
A FrSky x-lite pro may work for me and I was thinking either crossfire or FrSky receiver option in the bnf or PNP version.


The googles and camera is where I’m trying to decide.
Analog may be plenty for what I’m looking for but if cost is similar I don’t see any reason not to use digital.
So far I’ve been looking at fat shark and Skyzone googles.
So it’s looking like 1000-1500 to get fully set up with a good cinewhoop?

For radio, I would look into "Jumper" or "Radiomaster" which is the least hassle from a compatibility standpoint. They are very realible, extremely affordable, and increasingly taking over the market. I miss my 8FG very much and own a Taranis X9D and X-Lite. I'm not sure how you'll get along with the small form factor of the X-Lite coming from any full-size radio. And if you do feel the urge to go small form factor, I'd steer you towards the TBS Tango 2 using the Crossfire system.

Starting from nothing, going DJI digital for video transmission makes a lot of economic sense. It's also light years ahead of anything out there (I beta tested what's light years behind). But it is a developing tech. You'll find most still fly analog. Fat Shark is the clear encumbant but Skyzone has a very strong following. I don't think you can go wrong with either.

In addition to cinewhoop, you might look into long range as well which I think you might also enjoy. That budget should be sufficient for what you are looking for.

Well now, that budget will get you a long way. I own a Jumper T16 and absolutely Love it  ...however, the RadioMaster is looking really good. Both of these come with Multi-protocol modules which means they control just about everything (FrSky, Spectrum, FlySky, Bayang, "toy protocols", etc.) except long range. However, the new Jumper T18 is said to also include the FrSky R9 long range protocol. Also, the RadioMaster is a "clone" (for lack of a better word) of the Jumper. Part of the development team working on the Jumper split off to form RadioMaster. Any of these transmitters are less than $200.

If you go digital, the goggles will set you back between $500-600. High end analog is about the same, however, you can find less expensive ones. If you go digital, that solves the camera issue; either DJI or Caddx vista. 

If I had the budget, I would seriously be looking at a digital system (and assuming that you can wear eyeglasses with the DJI goggles; if I can't wear my glasses or get the correct diopter for the goggles, then they are useless to me anyway; big consideration for me)   

Depending on what you decide, a BNF will be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars and up. The 3 inch market is booming with cinematic quads...generally less than $500.

(23-May-2020, 11:23 AM)iFly4rotors Wrote: Well now, that budget will get you a long way. I own a Jumper T16 and absolutely Love it  ...however, the RadioMaster is looking really good. Both of these come with Multi-protocol modules which means they control just about everything (FrSky, Spectrum, FlySky, Bayang, "toy protocols", etc.) except long range. However, the new Jumper T18 is said to also include the FrSky R9 long range protocol. Also, the RadioMaster is a "clone" (for lack of a better word) of the Jumper. Part of the development team working on the Jumper split off to form RadioMaster. Any of these transmitters are less than $200.

If you go digital, the goggles will set you back between $500-600. High end analog is about the same, however, you can find less expensive ones. If you go digital, that solves the camera issue; either DJI or Caddx vista. 

If I had the budget, I would seriously be looking at a digital system (and assuming that you can wear eyeglasses with the DJI goggles; if I can't wear my glasses or get the correct diopter for the goggles, then they are useless to me anyway; big consideration for me)   

Depending on what you decide, a BNF will be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars and up. The 3 inch market is booming with cinematic quads...generally less than $500.



  I also wear glasses and without them I couldn’t drive a car safely.
 I have seen jumper multi protocol module.

 I will probably buy the whole system a little at a time.1st the transmitter,then the drone,and finally the googles.
 I have to get goggles with corrective properties so that will narrow down choices. 
 Soon DJI FPV will get cloned if it hasn’t already.That’s one thing about anything that’s in demand it get cloned.I guess patent law’s are unforced globally?
 I’ll probably get a FrSky because I’ll still fly 3D planes with it.Futaba fassst won’t bind to multiprotocol modules but maybe that will change.
I need look at goggles with corrective sight properties.

I need to consider what size of drone to get also.
Big enough to see for insight flying but light enough to bounce instead of breaking into pieces.
Also bigger props,batteries,etc.... cost much more.
My friend has a mavic mini and it’s about the right size for line of sight for me.

Just a note, the Jumper and RadioMaster will work with your 3D gear.
Anything you can fly with an FrSky, you can fly with Multi-protocol radios.