DVR / LCD Screen / 5.8 GHz Receiver Rundown

joshuabardwell

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I recently decided to get a DVR to record some flight video. I decided that an on-board camera like a Mobius wasn't what I wanted. For one thing, I didn't want to deal with getting it mounted on my plane and copter, or switching it back and forth between them. For another thing, many of the small hand-held DVRs come with a screen, so that would also let me share the view with bystanders while I was flying, which is something I've really wanted.

Since I did a ton of research before making a purchase, I wanted to do a little write-up and share with y'all.

Mini Security DVR Micro Sd Card Recording
Amazon.com - $35

Literally the only thing this one has going for it is price. Reviews say that the video quality is not good and there are reports of it crashing or not recording sometimes.

Small Hand-held DVR with 2.5" LCD Screen

FoxTech DV02 - $105
GetFPV Lumenier - $115
ReadyMadeRC FPV1000 - $115

As near as I can tell, these three are the exact same product, under different badge.

GOOD:

All of them record in D1 resolution, which seems to be the gold standard for SD security camera recording. It offers over 600 lines of resolution, which is more than you'll actually get from the video signal. Format is MP4/AVI at 7000 kbps, which should be pretty good. Built-in battery. Tiny and unobtrusive, so easy to slip in a pocket or flight bag. Includes JPEG photo mode, and has an external trigger button, so you can snap shots and start/stop recording while you fly. Cannot take JPG while recording video, so it's one or the other.

MEH:

Recording time is reported at 3 hours (pulling about 200 mA out of a 1000 mAh 1S), so even with the typical battery life inflation that occurs, you can probably get through a day of flying on one battery. Can order extra batteries to swap out in the field and extend recording time, about $15.

BAD:

Takes 5v input through external barrel jack, so you'll need a BEC or voltage regulator if you want to run it off an external pack. Screen is usable for reviewing footage, but tiny, so not great for impressing bystanders.

I was really tempted by these little devices, but I decided I wanted to kill two birds with one stone and get something that can be used to show the FPV video to bystanders, as well as record. The thing is, you can get into an LCD screen with built-in DVR and 5.8 GHz receiver starting around $130, so at that point, you are almost getting the LCD screen for free! But as you will see, I soon found things I didn't exactly like about the $130 LCD screen, and ended up settling on something a bit more expensive. So the screen wasn't exactly free, but... well, anyway, you'll see.

FoxTech RC800
FoxTech - $117

GOOD:

Price/Performance is very good. Change band/channel via soft switches (no fiddling with DIP switches).

MEH:

Soft sunshade attaches via stick-on velcro. No diversity.

BAD:

Doesn't use standard tripod mount. No internal battery or compartment. Internal voltage reads about 1.5 volts low due to diodes protecting the input. As a result, auto-battery cutoff cuts off way too soon. This can be disabled, but then you risk running your battery flat.

FoxTech PVR-58-II
FoxTech - $149

GOOD:

Big enough for clear viewing; small/light enough to mount on a transmitter or easily pass back and forth between friends without dropping it. Folding hard-shell sun shade doubles as screen protection during transport. Can record photo as well as video (but not both at the same time). Built-in battery. Standard tripod mount.

MEH:

300 cd/m^2 LCD -- probably good enough, but not awesome

BAD:

Way better stuff is available for the price. It almost seems like this is a product that kind of got left on FoxTech's product list after newer stuff came available, but they never got around to marking it down for clearance. I keep thinking maybe I am missing some killer feature that this has that justifies the price, but I can't find it.

FoxTech RC700D
FoxTech - $137
HobbyKing - $137
BangGood - $147

Of the above, Banggood is $10 more, but they ship from Canada, whereas FoxTech is from China and HobbyKing is from the International warehouse. Banggood has free shipping, so the prices are pretty close.

GOOD:

Big 7" screen. 450 cd/m^2 brightness. Diversity receiver. Folding hard-shell sun shade doubles as screen protection during transport. Standard tripod mount.

MEH:

Doesn't come with battery, but comes with a compartment for a battery, as well as a JST lead, so you can easily use whatever LiPo fits the compartment. DIP switch channel settings. Doesn't record photos as far as I can tell.

BAD:

1.5 volt drop on battery input due to protection diodes means internal volt reading is incorrect and auto-shutoff will trigger way too early. Even if you disable auto-shutoff, it will shut down around 7 volts (even though it is supposed to work down to 6 volts) because of this voltage drop, which means you won't be able to get the most out of a 2S battery. On the other hand, it's hard to find a 3S that fits well in the battery compartment. Screen shuts off when using video out, so you CANNOT use this both to feed a set of goggles and as an external viewing station for bystanders. This cannot be changed via firmware.

FoxTech Explorer 7
FoxTech - $270
BangGood - $220

The Banggood product is not actually the same maker/model as the FoxTech, but near as I can tell, it is exactly the same product, only $50 cheaper.

GOOD:

Big 7" screen. 450 cd/m^2 brightness. Diversity receiver. Folding hard-shell sun shade doubles as screen protection during transport. Auto-channel-scan. 1024x600 resolution and HDMI input means it can be used for HD FPV (if you have such a thing) or for viewing of other HD sources (portable LCD screen for movie watching, etc...). Built-in battery. Standard RCA jacks so no annoying 1/8" plugs with leads hanging off of them. Standard tripod mount. Dedicated "screen shot" button allows taking still images in flight while recording video.

MEH:

DVR can only record from SD inputs, not HDMI. This is actually a requirement of the HDCP standard, and copy-protected media would not play on the screen if it weren't the case. Still, meh.

BAD:

If you intended to mount this on your transmitter, it might be a bit bulky, but this is true for all the 7" screens. It'd be nice if this was 4:3 instead of 16:9, so that it could display FPV full-screen without stretching--but then again, since it has an HDMI input, you expect to be viewing high-def content on it as well.

To me, this was the clear winner, and it's what I ended up ordering.
 
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Balu

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Thanks for the write up.

Auto-channel-scan? But it doesn't start to scan for a different channel if you lose signal for a split second, does it?
 

joshuabardwell

Senior Member
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Auto-channel-scan? But it doesn't start to scan for a different channel if you lose signal for a split second, does it?

No. That would be horrible! You press a button and it scans until it finds a channel in use. If you hit the button again, it continues the scan. Like an FM radio.
 

johnmw

propulsion impromptu
interested in that FoxTech RC800, my budget is about there..
some useful info to consider, thanks for sharing!
 

joshuabardwell

Senior Member
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interested in that FoxTech RC800, my budget is about there..
some useful info to consider, thanks for sharing!

IMO, the 700D is a better choice, and only $20 more. Standard tripod mount. Battery compartment (so no battery velcroed to the back). Hard plastic sun shade instead of stuck-on-velcro soft shade. Diversity.

The only place (as I see it) where the 700D loses is the DIP switches to set channel instead of soft switches.
 

johnmw

propulsion impromptu
hmm OK,
i'll take a closer look on that.
wonder if these run on h.264 codec? that'd be a bonus.
thanks man.
 

herk1

Trash Hauler emeritus
I have an RC700D on the way, so I can answer any questions about that when it comes in.

A couple of minor corrections about the prices quoted for the RC700D: the HobbyKing $137 price you show for the RC700D was only effective during their sale last week. Not to mention the fact that HobbyKing didn't actually have any RC700D's in stock the entire time of that sale price (and they still don't)! But the Foxtech $137 price you show does NOT reflect the storewide 5%-off sale that Foxtech was having last week (and is still going on)...which brings the Foxtech price down to $130 (which is what I paid for it, not including the $20 shipping).
 

joshuabardwell

Senior Member
Mentor
I was this close to buying the RC700D, until I found the clone of the Explorer 7 for cheaper than the FoxTech price. I really like that the Explorer 7 has a screen shot button. Sometimes, for my job, I have to do work that involves going on top of buildings and up in bucket trucks to check sight lines for radio links. I have a fantasy of using a multirotor for that, although real-world considerations like the FAA and my boss may prevent that. Being able to put screen-shots of each link into a report would be very cool. I don't see myself ever using the HDMI input, but it's nice to know it's there.
 

johnmw

propulsion impromptu
I have an RC700D on the way, so I can answer any questions about that when it comes in.

A couple of minor corrections about the prices quoted for the RC700D: the HobbyKing $137 price you show for the RC700D was only effective during their sale last week. Not to mention the fact that HobbyKing didn't actually have any RC700D's in stock the entire time of that sale price (and they still don't)! But the Foxtech $137 price you show does NOT reflect the storewide 5%-off sale that Foxtech was having last week (and is still going on)...which brings the Foxtech price down to $130 (which is what I paid for it, not including the $20 shipping).

thanks for the heads up and help offered!

I was this close to buying the RC700D, until I found the clone of the Explorer 7 for cheaper than the FoxTech price. I really like that the Explorer 7 has a screen shot button. Sometimes, for my job, I have to do work that involves going on top of buildings and up in bucket trucks to check sight lines for radio links. I have a fantasy of using a multirotor for that, although real-world considerations like the FAA and my boss may prevent that. Being able to put screen-shots of each link into a report would be very cool. I don't see myself ever using the HDMI input, but it's nice to know it's there.

wouldn't that be neat for other type of inspection as well... hmm..
 

joshuabardwell

Senior Member
Mentor
Oops.

2sSICWV.jpg
 

joshuabardwell

Senior Member
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I received my Explorer 7 / PVR-732 monitor today and got it basically set up. Some things a new user should know:

The screen and DVR are internally separate. It's as if there was a DVR inside the screen that was plugged into a video input, instead of as if they were sort of one unified unit. So one set of buttons on the front "talks" to the DVR and one "talks" to the screen itself. That's why, for example, there are two menu buttons.

One caveat is that both the DVR and the screen need to be set separately to NTSC if you are going to use NTSC instead of PAL. If you set the screen to NTSC but not the DVR, then when you bring up the DVR display, it'll be all distorted. So you need to first set the DVR to NTSC, then the screen.

The screen worked fine with my ImmersionRC 600 mW transmitter, at least on the bench. I haven't range-tested it compared to my FatShark goggles, but you better believe I will.

The sun shade is very nice. It has a matte coating on the inside to reduce reflections. It's solid, and seems like it will do a good job doubling as a screen protector during transport. Depending on how good the friction-fit is, I may put a dab of hot glue on to hold it into place.

EDIT: Range is good, but not quite as good as with my Attitude goggles. I'm not sure if this is due to a less sensitive receiver or a frequency mismatch with the Immersion transmitter. I'm not dissatisfied, though.

The only major complaint I have is that the DVR seems to use a low enough bitrate that there is serious blockiness in fast-motion scenes, such as proximity FPV or if there is a video glitch that makes the screen jump. The picture looks as good as the goggles during live view, but during DVR playback, there are times when it looks absolutely terrible. The screen just becomes a big smear of color, with huge JPEG-style blocks all over. This is with the resolution/quality set at the highest level, as far as I can tell. I wish there was a way in firmware to increase the bitrate of the codec. For proximity FPV, the DVR is more or less useless.
 
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herk1

Trash Hauler emeritus
We seem to be acquiring similar FPV gear over the winter...I also got the Immersion 600 mW video transmitter and Fatshark goggles. Still waiting for my DVR/monitor thingy to come on the slow boat from China or whatever (LOL at your "Canada" joke). Meanwhile I got some extra Fatshark CP antennas to replace the stock vertical ones.
 
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herk1

Trash Hauler emeritus
My Skytech RC700D finally came in. I've been playing around with it indoors, and yesterday the weather was good and I got a chance to give it a workout outdoors.

The good:

- When I ordered the unit, I asked Foxtech if the new shipment of RC700D's that they got in had the power switch (their photos online showed no power switch). They said yes and, sure enough, my unit has the power switch.

- The 1800 mAh 2S LiPo that I got for it (this one) fit perfectly in the battery compartment. Many models of these devices don't even give you a battery compartment.

- The picture is very bright and clear, and there are several brightness settings to dim it down if you don't want it so bright. In fact it was so bright that when using the full bright setting outdoors, I didn't even need to use the sunshade, on a day that was "almost" sunny (just some very thin hazy wisps of cloud).

- The bottom side of the unit has a receptacle for a tripod mount, which I wasn't totally sure when I ordered it whether it would be a standard-size/thread tripod receptacle. It is! It's so handy to have the monitor standing up at eye level on the tripod.

- It defaults to the same frequency as the Immersion 600 mW transmitter, and the top band of seven frequencies is the same as the seven frequencies in the Immersion transmitter...and even the DIP-switch patterns for setting those frequencies is identical for both.

Both good and bad:

- It worked fine with my Immersion 600mAh transmitter, except for some occasional minor video glitching (similar to what was on the demo video you posted Joshua), possibly due to using the stock vertical antennae (vs. CP antenna on my transmitter). I did not recall seeing any glitching at all during the same flight while flying with the Fatshark goggles (also CP antenna). I need to try the RC700D with a CP antenna.

The bad:

- It has the same problem that everybody complains about with the battery voltage being sensed (and shown on-screen) about a half-volt lower than the actual battery voltage. So it wants to start powering down and/or restarting to avoid damage to the battery too early, when there is still plenty of usable time left on the battery. This is using a 2S battery, with the battery configuration setting set for 2S. There is an "ignore" option for the battery that seems to fix the problem so far. The unit will still cut off with that setting, but it cuts off at a lower voltage which is about right for a 2S battery.

- It has an onscreen display (date/time, NTSC, voltage, etc.) that is kind of annoying and seems to come on whenever it wants, and there is no option to control it. This is another common complaint about this model. There is an option however to control whether or not the recordings are date-stamped, and the other onscreen text does not pass-thru to the recordings.

- I was a little disappointed that the 1800 LiPo that I got for it didn't last longer. I ran the monitor for about 45 minutes total, and when I got home my Cellpro reported the battery down to about 25 percent charge remaining. But like I said, I used full brightness without using the sunshade. With the sunshade I could have turned the brightness down and possibly gotten better battery longevity.