DJI’s response to low bitrate on Osmo Action 5 Pro. Anyone else frustrated?

Om said:

Anik said:
Om said:
Anik said:
Hadi said:
Gray said:
They should just add an option for higher bitrate with a warning about battery life.

Exactly. DJI should’ve seen this coming. People don’t want worse bitrate just to get a bit more battery life, especially when it was better on the last model.

I’m new to action cameras. What’s the big deal about lower bitrate?

Lower bitrate means less data, so the video looks worse with more compression artifacts. It’s like watching a 720p video on a 4K screen—looks bad because there isn’t enough data to make a clear picture.

The videos I’ve seen from the Action 5 look pretty good… am I missing something?

If you’re watching on a small screen, you might not notice. But on a big TV or computer, the lower quality is obvious, especially in detailed areas like grass or trees.

Got it. I’ve watched 4K videos on my TV via YouTube and haven’t noticed much. But thanks for the info!

Anik said:

Om said:
Anik said:
Om said:
Anik said:
Hadi said:
Gray said:
They should just add an option for higher bitrate with a warning about battery life.

Exactly. DJI should’ve seen this coming. People don’t want worse bitrate just to get a bit more battery life, especially when it was better on the last model.

I’m new to action cameras. What’s the big deal about lower bitrate?

Lower bitrate means less data, so the video looks worse with more compression artifacts. It’s like watching a 720p video on a 4K screen—looks bad because there isn’t enough data to make a clear picture.

The videos I’ve seen from the Action 5 look pretty good… am I missing something?

If you’re watching on a small screen, you might not notice. But on a big TV or computer, the lower quality is obvious, especially in detailed areas like grass or trees.

Got it. I’ve watched 4K videos on my TV via YouTube and haven’t noticed much. But thanks for the info!

Depends on what you’re filming. Faster scenes with more details need higher bitrate. I didn’t see it much in the reviews because they didn’t have a lot of action.

Anik said:

Om said:
Anik said:
Hadi said:
Gray said:
They should just add an option for higher bitrate with a warning about battery life.

Exactly. DJI should’ve seen this coming. People don’t want worse bitrate just to get a bit more battery life, especially when it was better on the last model.

I’m new to action cameras. What’s the big deal about lower bitrate?

Lower bitrate means less data, so the video looks worse with more compression artifacts. It’s like watching a 720p video on a 4K screen—looks bad because there isn’t enough data to make a clear picture.

The videos I’ve seen from the Action 5 look pretty good… am I missing something?

I’ve watched some reviews and the footage seemed underwhelming to me. The night mode looks really noisy too. They pushed battery life over quality, which is disappointing.

Gray said:
They should just add an option for higher bitrate with a warning about battery life.

Exactly… not everyone is filming in the middle of nowhere, far from a charger!

We need a side-by-side comparison of Action 4 and 5 before making any calls. From what I’ve seen, the Action 5 looks better, maybe because of the HEVC codec, which keeps quality high at lower bitrates.

Skyler said:
We need a side-by-side comparison of Action 4 and 5 before making any calls. From what I’ve seen, the Action 5 looks better, maybe because of the HEVC codec, which keeps quality high at lower bitrates.

HEVC was on Action 4 too, which also had higher bitrate than the Action 5 Pro. Action 4 maxed at 130 mbps, Action 5 barely hits 100 mbps. You shouldn’t drop bitrate on a newer model.

Hadi said:

Skyler said:
We need a side-by-side comparison of Action 4 and 5 before making any calls. From what I’ve seen, the Action 5 looks better, maybe because of the HEVC codec, which keeps quality high at lower bitrates.

HEVC was on Action 4 too, which also had higher bitrate than the Action 5 Pro. Action 4 maxed at 130 mbps, Action 5 barely hits 100 mbps. You shouldn’t drop bitrate on a newer model.

Action 5 tops out at:

60 mbps at 4K 30
80 mbps at 4K 60
100 mbps at 4K 120

It’s really noticeable if you try to reframe anything.

Asa said:

Hadi said:
Skyler said:
We need a side-by-side comparison of Action 4 and 5 before making any calls. From what I’ve seen, the Action 5 looks better, maybe because of the HEVC codec, which keeps quality high at lower bitrates.

HEVC was on Action 4 too, which also had higher bitrate than the Action 5 Pro. Action 4 maxed at 130 mbps, Action 5 barely hits 100 mbps. You shouldn’t drop bitrate on a newer model.

Action 5 tops out at:

60 mbps at 4K 30
80 mbps at 4K 60
100 mbps at 4K 120

It’s really noticeable if you try to reframe anything.

100 mbps is the bare minimum for 4K… 200 mbps is ideal. They really messed this up.

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

Hadden said:

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

Make it happen, DJI!

Reece said:

Hadden said:
Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

Make it happen, DJI!

Thanks for your interest. We’ll pass your feedback on to the team.

Hadden said:

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

If you really listen, then increase the bitrate. 60 mbps isn’t enough. I’m thinking of canceling my order.

Emerson said:

Hadden said:
Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

If you really listen, then increase the bitrate. 60 mbps isn’t enough. I’m thinking of canceling my order.

We understand. The encoding algorithm, not just bitrate, affects quality. We focused on optimizing this in the Action 5 Pro, but we’ll keep your feedback in mind.

Hadden said:

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

So… does this mean you’ll update the firmware for a higher bitrate option?

Ash said:

Hadden said:
Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

So… does this mean you’ll update the firmware for a higher bitrate option?

Thanks for the suggestion. We will pass it on to the engineering team.

Hadden said:

Ash said:
Hadden said:
Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Hello. We’re sorry to hear your concerns. We value your feedback and will pass it on to our team. Stay tuned for updates on our official site. Thanks for your support!

So… does this mean you’ll update the firmware for a higher bitrate option?

Thanks for the suggestion. We will pass it on to the engineering team.

This is disappointing.

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

If DJI’s bitrate isn’t enough, check out Insta360… they offer higher bitrates.

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Adding my voice since DJI support reads these threads. I got the Action 5 combo, but if quality is bad, I’m switching to Insta360. I’ve got extra batteries, so I don’t mind the trade-off.

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Bought the Action 5 after watching a bunch of reviews, but noticed some muddy footage compared to GoPro. Might return it if no fix comes out.

Chandler said:

Hadi said:
Just like always, DJI doesn’t give us the option to change the bitrate on the Osmo Action 5 Pro, and it’s so annoying. The footage looks low quality, and zooming in post-edit makes it even worse. I’d much rather deal with shorter battery life than have my 4K footage look all compressed. Why can’t they just hide a custom bitrate option in the Pro settings? We’re already stuck with 4K instead of 5.3K, and now the bitrate is low too? This is just stupid.

Bought the Action 5 after watching a bunch of reviews, but noticed some muddy footage compared to GoPro. Might return it if no fix comes out.

Same here. I’m going to use the 14-day return window and test it myself. If it doesn’t look good, back it goes.