Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 16-Aug-2020, 11:20 PM (This post was last modified: 06-Sep-2021, 10:41 AM by SnowLeopardFPV. Edit Reason: Added "EDIT" footnote. ) **************************************************
EDIT: This whole thing has turned out to be an elaborate SCAM by A Day At The Range (aka ADATR), real name Michael Cardenas who has now stolen everyone's money, deleted his YouTube channel, Patreon account, and Discord server, and then disappeared into thin air. Read this thread for the whole story. ************************************************** Not much information yet but watch this space. Someone in the community has managed to hack the DJI FPV Goggles firmware with their own custom version that enables video to be output on the HDMI connector to any HDMI capable device without having to use the $700 DJI Smart Controller as an "interface". The way I understand it is that there is also some additional hardware involved (likely DIY'able), and the hack also allows video to be fed into the HDMI connector as well so that you can use the goggles to play your favourite FPV simulator (or watch movies on) if need be. I have no idea if the person behind this is planning to go public with it, but if they are then the risk would of course mean using custom firmware that is effectively untested by DJI. EDIT: Another group of developers have actually managed to get video out fully and reliably working for the DJI FPV System. See another thread on that HERE. ![[-]](https://intofpv.com/images/collapse.png) • Posts: 5,336 Threads: 675 Likes Received: 3,166 in 1,752 posts Likes Given: 2,041 Joined: Jan 2016 Reputation: 141 Just saw this rumour on FB.
Can't wait to see how it performs and is done. • Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 Yeah. I think the grey area might be going public with the custom firmware because I don't know what DJI's stance would be on that from a legal standpoint. If original firmware has been hacked then it could be infringing on some legalities and DJI could try to bring the hammer down on the author, so it would be a risk. That said, there have been a number of hacks on DJI's other platforms to remove geo-fencing, height limits, plus customisation of other stuff, and nolimitdronez seem to have gotten away with selling DJI hacks for years without any legal repercussions that I'm aware of. It would however be good if this ended up forcing DJI to implement native HDMI input/output on their goggles without the Smart Controller being needed so people could safely use the official firmware without having to resort to a hacked version. It is possible because DJI themselves have a small dongle that simply plugs into the HDMI port on the goggles to allow output to any device, but they refuse to release it to the public because that would deny them sales of the $700 Smart Controllers. • Posts: 536 Threads: 19 Likes Received: 261 in 173 posts Likes Given: 168 Joined: Sep 2018 Reputation: 10 (17-Aug-2020, 12:03 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: Yeah. I think the grey area might be going public with the custom firmware because I don't know what DJI's stance would be on that from a legal standpoint. If original firmware has been hacked then it could be infringing on some legalities and DJI could try to bring the hammer down on the author, so it would be a risk.
That said, there have been a number of hacks on DJI's other platforms to remove geo-fencing, height limits, plus customisation of other stuff, and nolimitdronez seem to have gotten away with selling DJI hacks for years without any legal repercussions that I'm aware of.
It would however be good if this ended up forcing DJI to implement native HDMI input/output on their goggles without the Smart Controller being needed so people could safely use the official firmware without having to resort to a hacked version. It is possible because DJI themselves have a small dongle that simply plugs into the HDMI port on the goggles to allow output to any device, but they refuse to release it to the public because that would deny them sales of the $700 Smart Controllers. Hopefully they will add it, I mean who will pay 700 usd for a smart controller just to get HDMI out? Orqas connect module allows you to stream FPV feed to your phone, even if it is analog it is a pretty amazing feature • Posts: 1,197 Threads: 59 Likes Received: 593 in 396 posts Likes Given: 210 Joined: Mar 2019 Reputation: 42 Honestly this feature would have me buying a set straight away.
I live stream events and we have been seriously considering getting a Mavic 2 and a smart controller to do some drone shots while live, but we really wanted to use our "proper" quads, this would make a DJI setup for all of them worth it lol. • Posts: 214 Threads: 9 Likes Received: 110 in 76 posts Likes Given: 34 Joined: May 2019 Reputation: 6 Hope they hack "live"audio feedback as well. It's the other real feature missing apart from the no hdmi out without that dumbass smart controller. • Posts: 214 Threads: 9 Likes Received: 110 in 76 posts Likes Given: 34 Joined: May 2019 Reputation: 6 Where did you find this out Snow if I may ask? • Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 (21-Aug-2020, 07:53 PM)Flickeryvision Wrote: Hope they hack "live"audio feedback as well. It's the other real feature missing apart from the no hdmi out without that dumbass smart controller. If you're talking about audio out from the quad to your goggles then the Air Unit doesn't even broadcast the audio data over the air. People have asked DJI but they've said they're not going to implement it with the excuse that the audio data would take up too much valuable bandwidth that's needed for the video feed. I find that hard to believe TBH, but DJI make all the decisions and don't seem to listen to their customers requests, so I wouldn't hold your breath. People have been requesting that DJI implement the full set of OSD warnings and also the LQ OSD value for Crossfire for ages, but DJI aren't listening. Users will only get those things if DJI themselves decide it's useful, not the users. (31-Aug-2020, 07:38 AM)Flickeryvision Wrote: Where did you find this out Snow if I may ask? Direct from JB. One of his subscribers has done it. • Posts: 214 Threads: 9 Likes Received: 110 in 76 posts Likes Given: 34 Joined: May 2019 Reputation: 6 (31-Aug-2020, 09:53 AM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: If you're talking about audio out from the quad to your goggles then the Air Unit doesn't even broadcast the audio data over the air. People have asked DJI but they've said they're not going to implement it with the excuse that the audio data would take up too much valuable bandwidth that's needed for the video feed. I find that hard to believe TBH, but DJI make all the decisions and don't seem to listen to their customers requests, so I wouldn't hold your breath.
People have been requesting that DJI implement the full set of OSD warnings and also the LQ OSD value for Crossfire for ages, but DJI aren't listening. Users will only get those things if DJI themselves decide it's useful, not the users.
Direct from JB. One of his subscribers has done it. Yea I'm not getting my hopes up to high when it comes to the audio from the quad. I got to fly for the first time today and it will take some getting used to but it should be fine after some more packs. The image is amazing though and I LOVED flying behind stuff that I could not have even dreamed of on analog. I'll post my first experience somewhere soon. I need some help on getting to bf osd to show up. I'm probably doing something wrong but I can't figure out what. And thanks for the answer! I hope the person will make his findings public someday soon. I've been asked to work on some video clip productions and need to be able to show the flight without having to buy a otherwise useless 600 euro smart controller... • Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 (31-Aug-2020, 05:42 PM)Flickeryvision Wrote: I need some help on getting to bf osd to show up. I'm probably doing something wrong but I can't figure out what. To get the OSD working you need to have the grey and white wires from the Air Unit connected to a spare UART (grey to RX and white to TX), and then you need to switch on MSP for that UART. You also need OSD switched on in Betaflight Configurator with the relevant OSD elements selected and moved into the position where you want them displayed. Not all of the Betaflight OSD elements are supported. The ones that are are listed in the post below. Then once you've done that you then need to select the "Custom OSD" option in the DJI goggles to get the Betaflight OSD elements to show up. https://intofpv.com/t-esc-only-makes-fir...5#pid96095 (31-Aug-2020, 05:42 PM)Flickeryvision Wrote: I hope the person will make his findings public someday soon. I've been asked to work on some video clip productions and need to be able to show the flight without having to buy a otherwise useless 600 euro smart controller... If you need the ability to show a live flight video feed then you might just have to just suck up to DJI and buy the Smart Controller. There's still no word on whether the guy responsible is going to release the hacked functionality. I know who it is but I'm reluctant to share the information because I know other people have already been trying to bombard/hassle him with requests. Best to just let him get on with it and decide himself if/when he wants to make it publicly available. If you're involved in video production stuff then you might find the video below that Tommy posted a few days ago interesting. It also mentions why he decided to buy the Smart Controller... • Posts: 214 Threads: 9 Likes Received: 110 in 76 posts Likes Given: 34 Joined: May 2019 Reputation: 6 (31-Aug-2020, 06:45 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: To get the OSD working you need to have the grey and white wires from the Air Unit connected to a spare UART (grey to RX and white to TX), and then you need to switch on MSP for that UART. You also need OSD switched on in Betaflight Configurator with the relevant OSD elements selected and moved into the position where you want them displayed. Not all of the Betaflight OSD elements are supported. The ones that are are listed in the post below. Then once you've done that you then need to select the "Custom OSD" option in the DJI goggles to get the Betaflight OSD elements to show up.
https://intofpv.com/t-esc-only-makes-fir...5#pid96095
If you need the ability to show a live flight video feed then you might just have to just suck up to DJI and buy the Smart Controller. There's still no word on whether the guy responsible is going to release the hacked functionality. I know who it is but I'm reluctant to share the information because I know other people have already been trying to bombard/hassle him with requests. Best to just let him get on with it and decide himself if/when he wants to make it publicly available.
If you're involved in video production stuff then you might find the video below that Tommy posted a few days ago interesting. It also mentions why he decided to buy the Smart Controller...
I did all those things to try and get the osd working. I might have selected a few that are not supported though. Don't know if that would make the whole osd not work. I even tried multiple uarts and switching the wires in those uarts. Ah well I'll fiddle some more tonight and try to get it to work. About the hdmi, I don't make enough yet to justify the smart controller. I'm hoping to get the director I'm working for to buy one for me at this point. Otherwise I'll have to fly analog on jobs. He can look through the low quality image but as Tommy says it doesn't have that wow factor for the clients. • Posts: 438 Threads: 53 Likes Received: 378 in 189 posts Likes Given: 223 Joined: Jul 2018 Reputation: 18 I'm sure selecting non supported OSD elements won't make the whole thing not working - because I have it like so. I didn't change anything in my OSD setup coming from the analog system, so there is a few elements enabled that are not supported by DJI - for example total arm timer. Which is a shame because I really liked that element  I have the Mamba F405 MkII FC, the DJI Air Unit hooked to UART3 and then just those steps Snow has mentioned - MSP enabled in the Ports tab (all the other options for the UART3 disabled), Custom OSD selected in the goggles and it just works. Are you sure your RX and TX wires are the right way around? • Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 The guy behind this is talking about the possibility of producing and selling monitor kits that include his DJI FPV Goggle hack and which would come in either a wired or wireless form. He mentioned possibly ~$200 for the wired kit and $250 for the wireless kit, but these are currently just finger in the air prices and if he decides to proceed with this the price may end up being higher. Nothing more than that for now, so just continue to watch this space  • Posts: 21,416 Threads: 595 Likes Received: 9,039 in 6,690 posts Likes Given: 1,428 Joined: Jun 2018 Reputation: 796 One other thing I forgot to add is that the same guy has also done another firmware hack which removes the range limitations on the DJI FPV Goggles. So that confirms/proves that DJI were limiting the range via firmware. There was no word on how far you can fly with the limitation removed, but I guess it will then be purely down to environmental conditions rather than the range being prematurely cut short by the firmware. So that is certainly something which may be of interest the long range guys and gals on here. • Posts: 214 Threads: 9 Likes Received: 110 in 76 posts Likes Given: 34 Joined: May 2019 Reputation: 6 Ooooooohhhh excellent news! I'll be setting some money aside so I can order when it comes out before dji takes legal action ?.
I figures the osd thing out btw. Basically I ruined one of my vista units. I forgot that when I setup my first unit I misread the labels on the fc and swapped the wiring, so the 9v was hooked up to the tx or rx, can't remeber exactly anymore. No smoke or anything and it's still functional except for the bf osd unfortunately. The other unit is working fine but the FC on that quad died so I'm waiting on the replacement. Aaah the fpv (go broke) life! • |
