View attachment 7719
I shoot aerial photos and video for my forensic animation business as well as for my small film production company. For us, the DJI Groundstation has been very useful and we also have used a couple of video downlink setups to be able to precisely frame shots. On many occasions I have to fly alone and I have sometimes been uncomfortable with having to take my eye off of the aircraft in order to study the Groundstation and/or the video feed.
More than a year ago I became convinced that a true HUD would be extremely valuable to me (and, presumably, to other pilots). Of course, none of the headsets and FPV gear I investigated would provide what I was looking for. To the contrary, the last thing I wanted to do was to strap on some low-resolution goggles that cut off my view of the bird and its surroundings. The closest I found was this rather disappointing attempt at an HUD display by a guy in France:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH3jMuL48kk
The fact that it’s been two years since that video was shot is probably a good indication of the likelihood that he will produce a usable product any time soon.
Thus, I was kind of taken by surprise when one of my partners in my film business mentioned that one of our good clients, EPSON, had contacted us in regard to a somewhat unusual set of video goggles they had developed called MOVERIO glasses. The kicker was that this head-mount display system uses a transparent projection technology. The first thing I thought of was, “Damn, that is essentially an HUD!” However, my enthusiasm waned when I learned that the rig had no way to input video directly as it was built using Google’s Android technology to be able to access the internet.
Sometimes serendipity reigns and things come together. First of all, DJI released its iOSD (On Screen Display) module along with a video downlink. Second, the engineers at EPSON cobbled together a video input board for us so we can feed composite video to the MOVERIO glasses. Thus, with no modifications or hacking at all, these components provide a functional HUD for DJI flyers.
The DJI system accepts the video feed from the Zenmuse gimbal/camera so that it also will allow you to switch to show live video from the aircraft. Thus, you simply put on the MOVERIO glasses and you can monitor all elements of telemetry and see the live video without ever taking your eyes off of the aircraft!
Moreover, it is also simple to use a cheap RGB to composite video converter on your laptop to feed the DJI Groundstation screen to the glasses as well. A simple unpowered 2-way video switch lets you switch between the Groundstation screen and the feed from the multi-rotor.
I have no idea how many flyers out there need this kind of capability and at $600 the MOVERIO glasses aren’t cheap. Nevertheless, I’m sure they will come down in price soon and, at least for us, it’s a no-brainer to be able to get all that telemetry data, positioning info and live video without losing sight of the copter for even a moment.
I shoot aerial photos and video for my forensic animation business as well as for my small film production company. For us, the DJI Groundstation has been very useful and we also have used a couple of video downlink setups to be able to precisely frame shots. On many occasions I have to fly alone and I have sometimes been uncomfortable with having to take my eye off of the aircraft in order to study the Groundstation and/or the video feed.
More than a year ago I became convinced that a true HUD would be extremely valuable to me (and, presumably, to other pilots). Of course, none of the headsets and FPV gear I investigated would provide what I was looking for. To the contrary, the last thing I wanted to do was to strap on some low-resolution goggles that cut off my view of the bird and its surroundings. The closest I found was this rather disappointing attempt at an HUD display by a guy in France:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH3jMuL48kk
The fact that it’s been two years since that video was shot is probably a good indication of the likelihood that he will produce a usable product any time soon.
Thus, I was kind of taken by surprise when one of my partners in my film business mentioned that one of our good clients, EPSON, had contacted us in regard to a somewhat unusual set of video goggles they had developed called MOVERIO glasses. The kicker was that this head-mount display system uses a transparent projection technology. The first thing I thought of was, “Damn, that is essentially an HUD!” However, my enthusiasm waned when I learned that the rig had no way to input video directly as it was built using Google’s Android technology to be able to access the internet.
Sometimes serendipity reigns and things come together. First of all, DJI released its iOSD (On Screen Display) module along with a video downlink. Second, the engineers at EPSON cobbled together a video input board for us so we can feed composite video to the MOVERIO glasses. Thus, with no modifications or hacking at all, these components provide a functional HUD for DJI flyers.
The DJI system accepts the video feed from the Zenmuse gimbal/camera so that it also will allow you to switch to show live video from the aircraft. Thus, you simply put on the MOVERIO glasses and you can monitor all elements of telemetry and see the live video without ever taking your eyes off of the aircraft!
Moreover, it is also simple to use a cheap RGB to composite video converter on your laptop to feed the DJI Groundstation screen to the glasses as well. A simple unpowered 2-way video switch lets you switch between the Groundstation screen and the feed from the multi-rotor.
I have no idea how many flyers out there need this kind of capability and at $600 the MOVERIO glasses aren’t cheap. Nevertheless, I’m sure they will come down in price soon and, at least for us, it’s a no-brainer to be able to get all that telemetry data, positioning info and live video without losing sight of the copter for even a moment.
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