Dive into gaming perfection with GIGABYTE's 4K monitors. Elevate your play with cutting-edge tech, immersive visuals, and exclusive tactical features.
The post GIGABYTE’s 4K Gaming Monitors: Unleashing the Future of Play first appeared on Trendy Gadget.
Live streaming has proven to be more than just a passing fad. It has become a way of life for many, while some even make their livelihood from this form of media. While anyone with a smartphone can get started with live streaming, decent and professional-quality videos require a bit more effort and investment in the right tools. Unfortunately, many of the “pro” tools come in bulky, expensive, and complicated packages, widening the gap between famous stars and aspiring influencers. Fortunately, there are also brands that aim to empower content creators from all walks of life, delivering tools that will allow them to do more with less, such as the new OBSBOT Tail Air streaming camera that promises a ton of smart features in such a small package. Naturally, we had to check it out to see for ourselves if the 4K PTZ camera’s unassuming appearance belie the power it possesses.
Designer: OBSBOT
Cameras designed for capturing action live and transmitting the video in real-time come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The boxy forms of action cameras are common these days, while the thick sticks of gimbals still look awkward in public. These small cameras, however, are engineered more for capturing fast-paced movement, both of the target and especially of the user. Cameras for live streaming, on the other hand, are often placed in a single spot and have a different set of problems to tackle, particularly that of tracking their targets. Because of their different purpose, they also tend to have different designs, most of which seem to take more after action cams and security systems.
The OBSBOT Tail Air embodies the principle of simplicity and minimalism in its design, bearing no more than what’s necessary for it to function. There are no buttons other than one for power, and the connection ports are so subtle you might find yourself squinting to see them, especially in the dark. The main body is a simple and unadorned truncated cone, with a camera arm rising from one side. The design is compact and lightweight, making it easy to carry around in the provided case.
The OBSBOT Tail Air shaves a few grams off its weight by using plastic materials for its chassis, but that choice by no means makes the device look or feel cheap in any way. It actually feels solid and sturdy, and the matte texture gives it a stylish finish. All in all, the streaming camera has enough visual presence to look presentable in any environment without being distracting, allowing you to focus on the actual act of creating content rather than fussing over the device’s details.
In addition to being lightweight, compact, and portable, the OBSBOT Tail Air’s usability comes from its ease of use. After the initial setup, you could almost just leave the camera running and forget about it, leaving it to the AI to follow you around and adjust the focus as needed. Of course, you’ll want to select some angles or framing, which is as easy as a single tap, but you can also just set up and go for a quick and short stream.
As mentioned earlier, there are no physical controls on the device itself, which is both a boon and a bane for its usability. Everything is controlled remotely, primarily through the OBSBOT Start mobile app, but there are also other options. On the one hand, that means you won’t be fussing over buttons and sliders on the camera when you should be focusing on recording. On the other hand, it also means you’re at the mercy of an external device or remote control, as well as wireless connectivity.
Although the app offers all the bells and whistles you can think of when recording and directing a video, you’re unlikely to be fiddling with a smartphone in the middle of a live stream. Fortunately, you won’t need another person to do that for you, at least not for basic camera controls. The OBSBOT Tail Air’s AI can recognize a few hand gestures that will make it lock on or unlock from a target, zoom in manually or dynamically, and, of course, start and stop recording. These gestures, on top of the camera’s excellent tracking, turn you into a one-man camera team, which is what most budding live streamers are.
This advanced gesture control does have a disadvantage when you have more than one OBSBOT Tail Air setup. All these cameras will be recognizing those same gestures, and you won’t have a way to remotely control one camera at a time. For multi-camera configurations, you’ll need OBSBOT’s Bluetooth remote control and, unfortunately, you’ll have to buy it separately from the cameras, or as part of a bundled offer if those are available.
With so many cameras today promising creators and streamers to take their output to the next level, it might be difficult to pick one out from the crowd. Fortunately, the OBSBOT Tail Air has a few tricks up its sleeves that easily set it apart, starting with the ability to shoot in 4K resolution at 30 fps rates, making it one of the few streaming cameras with this capability. This feature will come in handy with one of the camera’s AI features that lets you choose the framing of the scene with just a single camera.
The OBSBOT Tail Air’s headlining feature is, of course, its AI-powered tracking system. It can lock onto targets, even when those targets go out of frame for a few seconds, and follow that target at a speed of 120 degrees per second. It can do this from three axes, which is where it gets its PTZ or “Pan, Tilt, Zoom” label. That’s true not only for humans and objects but also for select animals such as cats, dogs, and, soon, horses. Tracking is fast and accurate, even for small objects like a teaspoon, which makes the camera also suitable for dramatic close-ups of objects, such as when you’re doing a product review.
AI powers many of the camera’s impressive features, including the innovative AI Director Grids available on the OBSBOT mobile app. The grid presents different frames of focus that you can select with a single tap, letting you easily switch from a close-up up facial shot to a full body shot, all with just one camera. The trick here is that OBSBOT Tail Air actually records video in 4K and then crops it up to a 1080p frame in real time. Considering most live streams are done in 1080p anyway, you aren’t really sacrificing much in terms of quality for the sake of some impressive framing.
There might come a time when you will want to actually work with multiple cameras, and the OBSBOT Tail Air has you covered as well. It supports the latest NDI or Network Device Interface technology that lets you hook up three of these cameras together and control them from a single computer that acts as mission control for the recording session. There’s a bit of initial setup involved, including buying one NDI access key per OBSBOT Tail Air camera and making sure they’re connected to the same local Ethernet network. Once those are out of the way, however, you have full control of an advanced yet easy-to-use multi-cam camera system to really take your live streams to the next level.
For most cases, especially with a single camera, you will be using the OBSBOT Start mobile app instead. It has everything you need to tweak the video recording settings, from those Director Grids to exposure and balance, pretty much like a standard digital camera. At the moment, this powerful app is available only for Android, but OBSBOT is already working on making an iOS version available soon. The one disadvantage to relying on an app for almost all of the controls is that you need a network connection with the OBSBOT Tail Air camera. That’s no problem when stable Wi-Fi is available, but you’d be forced to use a cellular connection when it’s not. That’s true even if you’re recording directly to the device’s microSD card instead of live streaming, so you’ll have to be aware of potential data charges. That’s what makes the Bluetooth remote control almost a necessity, even if it’s a separate purchase.
Aside from its excellent auto-tracking, the OBSBOT Tail Air’s video output is actually impressive as well, even when there’s little light around. That’s thanks to the 1/1.8-inch CMOS sensor with a large 2-micrometer pixel and an equally large f/1.8 lens aperture. Of course, it does its best with bright lighting, but low-light scenarios still deliver decent videos, though with some hiccups in tracking and autofocus. The camera’s gimbal performs the minimal required stabilization, but it becomes immediately clear that this isn’t an action camera. Yes, it can record and stream sports scenes and the like, but it’s best when it’s put on a stable and non-moving platform rather than in your hand. The camera’s internal battery gives you about two hours of use, shorter when doing 4K, and an hour and a half to charge, though you could continue using the camera while charging to minimize downtime.
Action and streaming cameras are relatively new product categories, though they have been around for a few years now. There’s quite a good number of them around, even, which makes their presence also a cause for concern when it comes to the environment. As with any fast-growing consumer electronics segment, there is bound to be plenty of waste during the product production and lifecycle, not to mention increased use of non-sustainable materials, components, and processes. However, that also means there’s plenty of room for improvement and growth, and hopefully, this young company will also set itself apart from its peers in this regard.
Unfortunately, there’s also not much that can be said about the product’s longevity and repairability. As a “static” live streaming camera, it seems that the OBSBOT Tail Air was designed with indoor use primarily in mind, which could explain the lack of any dust or water resistance guarantee. The repair policy is also pretty standard, which means it only covers a small subset under warranty and has to be shipped back to the manufacturer if they do qualify. Repairing them by yourself is pretty much out of the question.
In a world of advanced smartphone cameras and action cams, does a dedicated streaming camera like the OBSBOT Tail Air still matter? The answer is a resounding “yes!” especially considering how much it offers without too much cost. It offers an excellent video recording and streaming experience that you’d be hard-pressed to find without having to buy separate products, like a gimbal, monitor, and additional sets for a multi-camera setup. In other words, the OBSBOT Tail Air crams all those desirable features in a single package, one that starts at around $478.
That price includes a 4K camera that can produce impressive videos even in low light, an excellent AI-powered target tracking system, out-of-the-box support for a multi-cam setup, and an intelligent mobile app that puts you in total control of the stream’s direction. What it doesn’t include, however, is a remote control that is honestly almost essential rather than an add-on, not unless you get it as part of the crowdfunding reward or a bundle. You’ll also need a separate NDI authorization code for each OBSBOT Tail Air device, which you need to buy for $98 if you ever want to have a multi-cam live stream. OBSBOT could have thrown these into the basic package for a slightly higher price tag, but it’s also understandable why it didn’t. Not everyone will have a multi-cam setup, so they might not want to pay for something they’ll never use. Shipping a remote control with each camera when that remote can connect to as many as three will also be wasteful. Hopefully, OBSBOT will offer bundles that include these when the product becomes available on shelves.
Some will definitely roll their eyes, but there are definitely people who consider being a live streamer, YouTuber, or “influencer” to be their dream job. Whether it’s for earning money, sharing knowledge, or just having fun, there’s no denying that live streaming is already a major part of our culture today. It’s definitely easy to get started as long as you have a smartphone, but it’s not that easy to step up your game without devices or at least some accessories that give your streams a professional quality.
That’s the kind of assistance that the OBSBOT Tail Air 4K PTZ Streaming Camera is bringing to the table, especially for solo steamers. With reliable AI-powered tracking that accurately follows even small objects, an impressive 4K camera that performs admirably in both bright and dim environments, and a no-fuss easy-to-use mobile app, this streaming camera is basically all you need for pro-level content. And when you’re ready to graduate to a multi-camera setup, the built-in NDI support will let you easily expand and control up to three OBSBOT Tail Air cameras from a single computer to direct your best production yet, helping you on your journey to Internet stardom.
The post OBSBOT Tail Air AI-powered 4K PTZ Streaming Camera Review: It Doesn’t Get Easier Than This first appeared on Yanko Design.
There are tons of solid computer monitors available right now, which is great for anyone who needs a second screen for their home office setup or a special gaming monitor for their rig. Not to mention, display technology has evolved a lot in the past few years: OLED Flex, QD-OLED and built-in smart platforms have become more prevalent, and things like color accuracy, image quality, size and resolution have seen big improvements, too. Engadget can help you make sense of the computer monitor space and help you decide which monitors (or, at the very least, type of monitor) is right for you. Whether you’re a business user, a content creator, a multitasker or into competitive gaming, you have plenty of options to choose from and we’ve outline our top picks for the best monitors below.
The cheapest monitors are still TN (twisted nematic), which are strictly for gamers or office use. VA (vertical alignment) monitors are also relatively cheap, while offering good brightness and a high contrast ratio. However, content creators will find that IPS (in-plane switching) LCD displays deliver better color accuracy, picture quality and viewing angles.
If maximum brightness is important, a quantum dot LCD display is the way to go — those are typically found in larger displays. OLED monitors are now available and offer the best blacks and color reproduction, but they lack the brightness of LED or quantum dot displays. Plus, they cost a lot. The latest type of OLED monitor, called QD-OLED from Samsung, just came out in 2022. The most notable advantage is that it can get a lot brighter, with monitors shown at CES 2022 hitting up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness.
MiniLEDs are now widely used in high-end displays. They’re similar to quantum dot tech, but as the name suggests, it uses smaller LED diodes that are just 0.2mm in diameter. As such, manufacturers can pack in up to three times more LEDs with more local dimming zones, delivering deeper blacks and better contrast.
In this day and age, screen size rules. Where 24-inch displays used to be more or less standard (and can still be useful for basic computing), 27-, 32-, 34- and even 42-inch displays have become popular for entertainment, content creation and even gaming these days.
Nearly every monitor used to be 16:9, but it’s now possible to find 16:10 and other more exotic display shapes. On the gaming and entertainment side, we’re also seeing curved and ultrawide monitors with aspect ratios like 21:9. If you do decide to buy an ultrawide display, however, keep in mind that a 30-inch 21:9 model is the same height as a 24-inch monitor, so you might end up with a smaller display than you expected. As a rule of thumb, add 25 percent to the size of a 21:9 monitor to get the vertical height you’d expect from a model with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
A 4K monitor is nearly a must for content creators, and some folks are even going for 5K or all the way up to 8K. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll need a pretty powerful computer to drive all those sharp pixels. And 4K resolution should be paired with a screen size of 27 inches and up, or you won’t notice much difference between 1440p. At the same time, I wouldn’t get a model larger than 27 inches unless it’s 4K, as you’ll start to see pixelation if you’re working up close to the display.
One new category to consider is portable monitors designed to be carried and used with laptops. Those typically come in 1080p resolutions and sizes from 13-15 inches. They usually have a lightweight kickstand-type support that folds up to keep things compact.
HDR is the buzzy monitor feature to have these days, as it adds vibrancy to entertainment and gaming – but be careful before jumping in. Some monitors that claim HDR on the marketing materials don’t even conform to a base standard. To be sure that a display at least meets minimum HDR specs, you’ll want to choose one with a DisplayHDR rating with each tier representing maximum brightness in nits.
However, the lowest DisplayHDR 400 and 500 tiers may disappoint you with a lack of brightness, washed out blacks and mediocre color reproduction. If you can afford it, the best monitor to choose is a model with DisplayHDR 600, 1000 or True Black 400, True Black 500 and True Black 600. The True Black settings are designed primarily for OLED models, with maximum black levels at .0005 nits.
Where televisions typically offer HDR10 and Dolby Vision or HDR10+, most PC monitors only support the HDR10 standard, other than a few (very expensive) models. That doesn’t matter much for content creation or gaming, but HDR streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other services won’t look quite as punchy. In addition, the best gaming monitors are usually the ones supporting HDR600 (and up), rather than content creation monitors – with a few exceptions.
Refresh rate is a key feature, particularly on gaming monitors. A bare minimum nowadays is 60Hz, and 80Hz and higher refresh rates are much easier on the eyes. However, most 4K displays top out at 60Hz with some rare exceptions and the HDMI 2.0 spec only supports 4K at 60Hz, so you’d need at least DisplayPort 1.4 (4K at 120Hz) or HDMI 2.1. The latter is now available on a number of monitors, particularly gaming displays. However, it’s only supported on the latest NVIDIA RTX 3000- and 4000-series, AMD RX 6000-series GPUs.
There are essentially three types of modern display inputs: Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and HDMI. Most monitors built for PCs come with the latter two, while a select few (typically built for Macs) will use Thunderbolt. To add to the confusion, USB-C ports may be Thunderbolt 3 and by extension, DisplayPort compatible, so you may need a USB-C to Thunderbolt or DisplayPort cable adapter depending on your display.
Serious content creators should consider a more costly 10-bit monitor that can display billions of colors. If budget is an issue, you can go for an 8-bit panel that can fake billions of colors via dithering (often spec’d as “8-bit + FRC”). For entertainment or business purposes, a regular 8-bit monitor that can display millions of colors will be fine.
The other aspect of color is the gamut. That expresses the range of colors that can be reproduced and not just the number of colors. Most good monitors these days can cover the sRGB and Rec.709 gamuts (designed for photos and video respectively). For more demanding work, though, you’ll want one that can reproduce more demanding modern gamuts like AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 gamuts, which encompass a wider range of colors. The latter two are often used for film projection and HDR, respectively.
Both the Xbox Series X and Sony’s PS5 can handle 4K 120Hz HDR gaming, so if you’re into resolution over pure speed, you’ll want a monitor that can keep up and provide the best gaming experience possible. 4K resolution, HDR and at least 120Hz is the minimum starting point, but fortunately there are 27-inch displays with those specs starting at well under $1,000.
Though the pandemic has eased, monitor supply is still a bit tighter than pre-pandemic levels due to supply and demand issues. To that end, you may have trouble finding monitors at Amazon, B&H or elsewhere for the suggested retail price point. For our guide below, we’re basing our picks on the MSRP, as long as the street price doesn’t exceed that by more than $25.
There are tons of solid computer monitors available right now, which is great for anyone who needs a second screen for their home office setup or a special gaming monitor for their rig. Not to mention, display technology has evolved a lot in the past few years: OLED Flex, QD-OLED and built-in smart platforms have become more prevalent, and things like color accuracy, image quality, size and resolution have seen big improvements, too. Engadget can help you make sense of the computer monitor space and help you decide which monitors (or, at the very least, type of monitor) is right for you with our best monitors buying guide. Whether you’re a business user, a content creator, a multitasker or into competitive gaming, you have plenty of options to choose from and we’ve outline our top picks for the best monitors below.
The cheapest monitors are still TN (twisted nematic), which are strictly for gamers or office use. VA (vertical alignment) monitors are also relatively cheap, while offering good brightness and a high contrast ratio. However, content creators will find that IPS (in-plane switching) LCD displays deliver better color accuracy, picture quality and viewing angles.
If maximum brightness is important, a quantum dot LCD display is the way to go — those are typically found in larger displays. OLED monitors are now available and offer the best blacks and color reproduction, but they lack the brightness of LED or quantum dot displays. Plus, they cost a lot. The latest type of OLED monitor, called QD-OLED from Samsung, just came out in 2022. The most notable advantage is that it can get a lot brighter, with monitors shown at CES 2022 hitting up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness.
MiniLEDs are now widely used in high-end displays. They’re similar to quantum dot tech, but as the name suggests, it uses smaller LED diodes that are just 0.2mm in diameter. As such, manufacturers can pack in up to three times more LEDs with more local dimming zones, delivering deeper blacks and better contrast.
In this day and age, screen size rules. Where 24-inch displays used to be more or less standard (and can still be useful for basic computing), 27-, 32-, 34- and even 42-inch displays have become popular for entertainment, content creation and even gaming these days.
Nearly every monitor used to be 16:9, but it’s now possible to find 16:10 and other more exotic display shapes. On the gaming and entertainment side, we’re also seeing curved and ultrawide monitors with aspect ratios like 21:9. If you do decide to buy an ultrawide display, however, keep in mind that a 30-inch 21:9 model is the same height as a 24-inch monitor, so you might end up with a smaller display than you expected. As a rule of thumb, add 25 percent to the size of a 21:9 monitor to get the vertical height you’d expect from a model with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
A 4K monitor is nearly a must for content creators, and some folks are even going for 5K or all the way up to 8K. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll need a pretty powerful computer with a decent graphics card to drive all those sharp pixels. And 4K resolution should be paired with a screen size of 27 inches and up, or you won’t notice much difference between 1440p. At the same time, I wouldn’t get a model larger than 27 inches unless it’s 4K, as you’ll start to see pixelation if you’re working up close to the display.
One new category to consider is portable monitors designed to be carried and used with laptops. Those typically come in 1080p resolutions and sizes from 13-15 inches. They usually have a lightweight kickstand-type support that folds up to keep things compact.
HDR is the buzzy monitor feature to have these days, as it adds vibrancy to entertainment and gaming – but be careful before jumping in. Some monitors that claim HDR on the marketing materials don’t even conform to a base standard. To be sure that a display at least meets minimum HDR specs, you’ll want to choose one with a DisplayHDR rating with each tier representing maximum brightness in nits.
However, the lowest DisplayHDR 400 and 500 tiers may disappoint you with a lack of brightness, washed out blacks and mediocre color reproduction. If you can afford it, the best monitor to choose is a model with DisplayHDR 600, 1000 or True Black 400, True Black 500 and True Black 600. The True Black settings are designed primarily for OLED models, with maximum black levels at .0005 nits.
Where televisions typically offer HDR10 and Dolby Vision or HDR10+, most PC monitors only support the HDR10 standard, other than a few (very expensive) models. That doesn’t matter much for content creation or gaming, but HDR streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other services won’t look quite as punchy. In addition, the best gaming monitors are usually the ones supporting HDR600 (and up), rather than content creation monitors – with a few exceptions.
Refresh rate is a key feature, particularly on gaming monitors. A bare minimum nowadays is 60Hz, and 80Hz and higher refresh rates are much easier on the eyes. However, most 4K displays top out at 60Hz with some rare exceptions and the HDMI 2.0 spec only supports 4K at 60Hz, so you’d need at least DisplayPort 1.4 (4K at 120Hz) or HDMI 2.1. The latter is now available on a number of monitors, particularly gaming displays. However, it’s only supported on the latest NVIDIA RTX 3000- and 4000-series, AMD RX 6000-series GPUs.
There are essentially three types of modern display inputs: Thunderbolt, DisplayPort and HDMI. Most monitors built for PCs come with the latter two, while a select few (typically built for Macs) will use Thunderbolt. To add to the confusion, USB-C ports may be Thunderbolt 3 and by extension, DisplayPort compatible, so you may need a USB-C to Thunderbolt or DisplayPort cable adapter depending on your display.
Serious content creators should consider a more costly 10-bit monitor that can display billions of colors. If budget is an issue, you can go for an 8-bit panel that can fake billions of colors via dithering (often spec’d as “8-bit + FRC”). For entertainment or business purposes, a regular 8-bit monitor that can display millions of colors will be fine.
The other aspect of color is the gamut. That expresses the range of colors that can be reproduced and not just the number of colors. Most good monitors these days can cover the sRGB and Rec.709 gamuts (designed for photos and video respectively). For more demanding work, though, you’ll want one that can reproduce more demanding modern gamuts like AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 gamuts, which encompass a wider range of colors. The latter two are often used for film projection and HDR, respectively.
Both the Xbox Series X and Sony’s PS5 can handle 4K 120Hz HDR gaming, so if you’re into resolution over pure speed, you’ll want a monitor that can keep up and provide the best gaming experience possible. 4K resolution, HDR and at least 120Hz is the minimum starting point, but fortunately there are 27-inch displays with those specs starting at well under $1,000, so you can still achieve high FPS gaming without breaking the bank.
Though the pandemic has eased, monitor supply is still a bit tighter than pre-pandemic levels due to supply and demand issues. To that end, you may have trouble finding monitors at Amazon, B&H or elsewhere for the suggested retail price point. For our guide below, we’re basing our picks on the MSRP, as long as the street price doesn’t exceed that by more than $25.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-buy-a-monitor-143000069.html?src=rssThe DLab monitor is one of the latest additions to the portable monitor market. It’s praised for its 4K resolution, ultra-lightweight design, and ease of use. Whether you’re a remote worker, graphic designer, gamer, or programmer, you may want to learn more about this powerful device. Here we’ll share all you need to know about the ultralight portable 4K monitor. What Makes DLab a Good Portable Monitor? Desklab, or DLab, is a monitor designed with minimalism in mind. Everything you need from a streaming device is packed into a 15.6-inch panel – 4K resolution, sound, and connectivity. By connectivity, we…
The post DLab: All-Purpose Ultralight 4K Monitor first appeared on Trendy Gadget.
Forget LG’s Rollable TV or Xiaomi’s Transparent TV, an Austrian tech company is setting the gold standard in how televisions look and behave in interior spaces. C-SEED, a company known to make high-end outdoor televisions, has debuted the M1 – a whopping 165-inch 4K MicroLED beast that folds up and tucks away right underneath your floorboard. Before you get any ideas, the television retails for nearly half a million dollars, so it’s safe to say that only a select few will be able to afford this bad-boy.
It may be the world’s coolest party-trick, but imagine being able to summon a television from the underground as your guests watch in sheer astonishment. Hit a button on the remote and the floor splits apart, with this pillar rising from within the chasm. The pillar then unfolds into a wide 165-inch screen, perfect to watch the Golden Globes on.
Fashioned with 5 display panels that open and close like a folding fan, the M1 television really knows how to make an appearance. Its elaborate structure features a base that the display panels lock into once they open out. This base also houses the television’s powerful speaker system, including two 250W broadband speakers and one whopping 700W subwoofer to really pack that punch. While those stats may be impressive to a few, it’s the TV’s design that really gets my heart racing! The M1 doesn’t come with a single folded display, but rather features 5 panels that can seamlessly merge together to appear as one singular panel. The MicroLED technology, combined with 4K, really allows images to stand out with superior contrast and brightness (as well as phenomenally dark blacks), but C-SEED’s Adaptive Gap Calibration Technology takes the cake, as it makes the LEDs near the edges of the panels shine brighter, allowing those seams/lines to disappear, creating the illusion of one large screen instead of 5 small ones. To keep the entire TV lightweight, its frame and outer body comes made from aviation-grade aluminum (with a unique lattice structure behind the screens to provide structure and strength). The M1 comes in 4 colors – Silver, Gold, Black, and Titanium, and boasts a price tag of $400,000. I wonder whether that includes the elaborate in-floor installation charge…
Designer: C-SEED
DJI‘s latest drone doesn’t want you to simply operate it… it wants to put you in a virtual cockpit. The DJI FPV Drone isn’t so much about being an incredible drone as it is about boasting of its one, standout feature – the FPV or First Person View. Armed with a pretty futuristic-looking pair of goggles, a low-latency video transmission unit, and a redesigned set of controllers, the DJI FPV drone is about giving YOU the thrill of the flight by allowing you to see exactly what the drone sees… in real-time!
At the heart of the DJI FPV drone are two incredibly revolutionary innovations. Firstly, its HD Low-Latency Transmission of video that gives you the ability to view high-definition footage from the drone in stunning real-time; and secondly, its set of hardware controllers, which allow all sorts of users to experience the FPV’s glorious adrenaline rush, whether you’re a novice or a pro drone-flyer.
The quadcopter drone was built for the thrill of racing. Its uniquely curved and aerodynamic design is engineered for minimal drag, as well as to house all of the drone’s modular, removable, and replaceable parts, including the battery, camera, gimbal, landing gear, and the top shell (which acts as a helmet, protecting the drone from head-on collisions). Needless to say, if your drone ever feels the wrath of a tree or a boulder, it can, for the most part, be fixed or repaired.
Built for the thrill of racing, the DJI FPV drone boasts of a camera that’s arguably as cinematic as the ones found on its Phantom series of drones. The DJI FPV aircraft can record 4K/60fps video at up to 120 Mbps, capturing crisp details that make footage look as exhilarating as the flight. Electronic Image Stabilization reduces jitter during flight, while DJI boasts of being able to beam videos from the aircraft to the goggles with as little as 28 milliseconds of latency, up to a distance of a whopping 10 kilometers or 6.2 miles. With that kind of speed comes responsibility too, which is why the aircraft comes built-in with a whole set of preventive measures and fail-safes to ensure your drone doesn’t crash or plummet from the sky as its battery dies out. Multiple sensors located on the aircraft allow it to dodge obstacles, while smart RTH features ensure the drone makes its way back home when it’s low on battery. In fact, the gear comes pre-equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), which receives flight location information of manned aircrafts in the area, sending alerts directly to your goggles to avoid problems.
The goggles/headset forms the primary sensory element of the FPV experience, allowing you to see what the drone sees. It isn’t like your everyday VR headset, but rather sports a super-wide 150° FOV (so obstacles never sneak up on you), along with a max frame rate of 120 FPS, giving you ultra-smooth video transmission with practically no delay… so you can zig-zag to avoid obstacles like a fighter-jet, make freefall dives like a falcon, or perform stunts like a, well, stuntman! The goggles even offer a virtual training experience with the DJI Virtual Flight App for your smartphone, allowing you to race through VR environments before you actually take to the skies.
To maneuver the drone, DJI offers two controllers that unlock the aircraft’s true potential. You have the standard handheld controller which lets you operate the drone as you would any other, albeit with three different modes. The S-Mode unlocks simplified flight, giving you the freedom of fully manual flight with simplified controls. The N-Mode, however, is ideal for new users and novices, offering a traditional flight experience with safety features like obstacle-sensing. The M-Mode gives you complete manual control, intended at seasoned FPV drone racers. You can customize parameters and enjoy limitless control over your aircraft, including acceleration speeds of 0-100km/h in a mind-numbing 2.0 seconds!
The second controller feels a lot like entering into VR territory. Styled like a joystick, or the kind of controller you’d get with a VR headset, DJI’s Motion Controller (sold separately) lets you literally control the drone with your hands. You can maneuver the drone by simply tilting and moving the joystick around, giving you an incredibly intuitive and natural controlling experience. Moreover, a dedicated stop-and-hover button lets you instantly pause the drone in mid-air (a feature that’s great in emergencies), and a return-to-home button allows you to summon the drone back with a simple push of a button. Every aspect of the DJI FPV aims at giving you unbridled control over the drone, and putting you in the drone’s virtual cockpit. Unlike DJI’s other drone offerings that are made for videography, the FPV is for the sheer thrill of being able to fly like a bird, jet, or quite frankly, like Tony Stark… minus the weapons and hand-repulsors of course!
The DJI FPV drone currently retails for $1,299 on DJI’s retail website, with an additional $199 for the Motion Controller.
Designer: DJI
