FPV and OSD

Preamble

Thinking of adding video to your drone setup? Then you will need to immerse yourself into the first item, and possibly consider the second:

• First Person Video – FPV
• On Screen Display – OSD

Articles

• A simple getting started guide: FPV Starting guide and FPV System setup introduction
• A great article on choosing a FPV camera, Selecting a Camera for FPV.
• A great article on choosing an OSD system from Oscar Liang, Choose OSD for quadcopter | FPV data On Screen Display video
• For invaluable information on vieo transmitters for FPV, see FPV Video Transmitter buying guide
• For the MinimOSD there are two great guides Naze32, MicroMinimOSD and GPS | Turorial, which deals, primarily, with the firmware and Oscar Liang’s MinimOSD Micro Setup tutorial – Naze32 PID tuning via OSD menu, display RSSI voltage
• Complete FPV goggles guide – FatShark Skyzone – Drone Quadcopter Multirotor
• FPV – what NOT to buy !!! And what IS good, at any given time period.

Video

DIY FPV, RG402 versus RG316 coax cables – Using RG402 semi-rigid coax for SPV antennas (cheap $1/m) RG316 is too springy

Wiring Diagrams

There are many examples of wiring setups. Here is one for the EagleTree OSD Pro (source?)

FPV/OSD wiring

For the Micro MinimOSD

Micro MinimOSD

Cameras

• HD 700TVL CMOS Mini Security Video PCB Board FPV Color Digital CMOS Camera F7, £4.02
• 1x HD 700TVL CCD mini CCTV FPV Audio Camera 3.6mm Lens RC Airplane Quadcopter PK, £4.32 (on offer, £5.16 otherwise)
• HD 700TVL CCD Mini Security Video PCB Board FPV Color Digital Sony CCD Camera SP, £4.39 (on offer)

• FatShark PilotHD V2 720p 30fps HD FPV Camera 1/2.5″ 5MP digital CMOS RC Plane, £59.07

• 700TVL Mini CCTV Security FPV Camera OSD D-WDR 2.8-12mm Focus Zoomable Lens SP, £5.12

Lenses

• DALRC FPV 2.5mm Lens 120 Degree Wide Angle Compatibale with Mini CMOS Camera, £3.98 (Lens only)

Video Switch

5.8G 3 CHANNEL VIDEO SWITCHER MODULE 3 WAY SWITCH UNIT FOR FPV CAMERA ADORABLE, £3.40

3 channel video switch

Mounts

• Plastic PT Kit Pan/Tilt Camera Platform Anti-Vibrat For SG90 Servo Aircraft FPV, £0.99

Pan and Tilt

• RC FPV Camera Mounting Board LED night Light for ZMR250 QAV250/280 Quadcoptor P`, £0.99

Durable Camera Mount Black Lens Adjustable Angle Bracket for FPV Racing Drone SP, £0.99

Transmitters

Budget

At the lower end of the price range, there are generally three variations for the number of channels available (8, 32 or 40 and also 48) and various levels of power from between 25mW and 1000mW (1W) or higher. The most popular two levels of power are 200 mW and 600mW.

Obviously, the higher the power of your transmitter, the further the range of your signal. However, it is worth remembering that power is governed by the inverse square law, so if you double the power of your transmitter, you will only increase range by 1.41.

• 200mW 32 Channels: 2016 TS5823 Wireless Audio Vedio Transmitter 5.8G 5.8GHz 200mW 32CH FPV Quality, £6.53 + £0.64 (offer, normally £6.95) or 32 Channels 5.8G 200mw Audio Video NTSC/PAL Mini Transmitter Antenna Module BG, £7.90
• 600mW 32 Channels: 5.8GHZ 32 CHANNELS MINI WIRELESS 2DBM A/V TRANSMITTER VIDEO TX MODULE NICE, £8.09
• 200mW 40 Channels: TX320 5.8G 200mW 40Ch Wireless AV Transmitter Video / Audio Sync for FPV, £9.36
• 600mW 40 Channels: HOT SALE TX360 5.8G 600mW 40Ch Wireless AV Transmitter Video Format NTSC/PAL IG, £9.89, or Great Sale 1x TX360 5.8G 40CH 600mW Mini AV Wireless Transmitter For RC Airplane, £9.57
• 8 Channels: Stable Wireless FPV 5.8Ghz Transmitter TX WiFi Realtime Video For Quadcopter BF, £10.33 (has a built in microphone, power unknown)
• 48 Channels: 5.8G 48CH Boscam TS832 5.8GHz 600mw Wireless Video Transmitter for Rc Drone, £13.27

Note that anything over 25mW in the UK, is technically illegal, so to stay within the law, you will probably want

• RC TS5813S 5.8G 25mW 40CH FPV Mini Wireless AV Transmitter for Photography G1D6 ,£ 9.15

FatShark compatible

FPV 5.8G 200mw Mini TS5823 32CH Transmitter TX Immerson Fatshark Boscam RP-SMA, £12.31

For AOMWAY Transmitter(compatible Fatshark,Skyzone) TX1000 5.8G 1000mw 40CH 5.8G, £13.11

5.8G Long Range Transmitter FPV For Quadcopter Drone FPV Fat Shark Compatible KJ, £16.33

TS5823 BosCam 200mW Sender 32TX Transmitter FPV 5.8G Audio Video RC Fatshark SMA, £11.53

Transmitter Raceband 25mW Foxeer TM25 5.8G VTX FPV Race Band Fatshark UK FT951, £19.85

GoPro FPV

You could use a GoPro for FPV in conjunction with the Light L250 5.8G 250mW VTX FPV Transmitter With Connecting Cable For GoPro 3 Hot, £13

LIGHT 250mW(L250) is for Go-pro and DJI FPV transmitter.
Work on one cell battery,and connect directly to the Go-pro(Support Go-pro Hero3 and 3+).
Come with SMA connector and you can have
L SMA Connector so it can easily place on the rear bottom.

Features:

* Super light:7 grams、
* With 32ch,and new LED show you with frequency you are working at.
* Direct connect to Go-pro Hero3 and 3+.
* Work on 3.7v one sell battery.you can use tiny cambers to support it work for long time,500mAh work for 1.3hrs.
* SMA connector,we suggest you to chose the short type of Clover Leaf Antennas.
* A soft 4pin cable will be arrange for FPV use.You can have other source of video in.
* Great to work with DJI 2-Axis and 3-Axis Brush less Gimbals.Use a sticker to stick battery to the back of the gimbals to get balance

Antenna

The mushroom, or clover, leaf antennas are reputedly the superior antenna. They come in two distinct types, 3 and 4 blades. It is important to note that:

• 3-blade antenna is for transmitting;
• 4-blade antenna is for receiving

Transmitter Antenna

• FPV 5.8G Antenna TX Transmitter FPV SMA Audio Video Gains DJI Walkera FatShark, £2.99 + £0.53
• 5.8GHz Circular Antenna Polarized SMA For RC 5.8G Transmitter/RX FPV FatShark, £4.82
• The cheapest, with three bare wire blades, without mushroom cover, is 5.8G 3 Blade Leaves Omnidirectional Gain Antenna For Transmitter, £1.89
• The cheapest with mushroom cover is 5.8G FPV Omnidirectional Antenna RP-SMA plug for DJI Aerial Transmitter TX BF, £2.50

Receiver Antenna

• The cheapest, with four bare wire blades, without mushroom cover, is 5.8G RC FPV Antenna/ Straight Inner Bore Four-leaf Clover Shape For Receiver WS, £1.36
• The cheapest with mushroom cover is 5.8GHz FPV Transmitter Receiver Antenna Mushroom Straight Inner Needle Black F, £3.66

Combo

• The cheapest combo, with both three and four bare wire blade antenna, without mushroom cover, is 2pcs 5.8Ghz Circular Polarized Clover Leaf Antenna High Gain Aerial Set for FPV, £3.19 (normally £3.25 for transmitting and receiving antenna pair)
• With the mushroom cover, 2Pcs 5.8GHz Circular Polarized Antenna RP-SMA TX RX For Quadcopter FPV QL, £3.56, or 5.8GHz Circular Polarized Mushroom Antenna RP-SMA Set Tx/Rx for Multicopter F7, £3.27 (so only £0.08 more than the bare blade antenna combo)
• 2pcs 5.8Ghz FPV Clover Cloverleaf Skew Planar Transmitting/Receiving Antenna BG, £3.55 (@1.775 each, so the transmitting antenna are cheapest here).

Transmitter Power Supply

FatShark FPV Filtered Transmitter Power Supply Adapter for 2S 3S 4S, £11.25

Receiver

Most commonly there are 8, 32 and 40 channel receivers, and the newer 48 Channel. The main difference between the 32 and 40 channels, is that the eight additional racebands are included in the 40 channel version.

Confusingly the RC832 receiver comes in various forms which are able to receive 32, 40 or 48 channels and the case and labeling is usually identical. The only way of telling them apart is by cycling through the channels and counting them (see 1 and 2). The original receiver has a [what? – missing text]

The channels

5.8 GHz channels

The channels used by FatShark/ImmersionRC

“FatShark” frequencies

8 channel

Note that the 805 is not recommended, see Best Boscam RX?

They all internally use the same SkyRF RX5808 receiver module, but in 805 receiver the module placement is a big design mistake, using a too long PCB track that led to antenna coupling issues at those frequencies.
Also, the video output, on the same side as antenna is not the best placement, for ergonomics reasons.
The fancy LED channels display could be attractive, probably this is what catch your eyes, else I can’t explain the interest for this receiver, but not worth.

• 8 Channels: Boscam RC305 5.8G 8CH Channels Wireless AV RX Receiver for FPV Airplane RC RC076, £9.53
• 8 Channels: Top Quality FPV RC805 Audio/Video Receiver (RX) For Boscam Version5.8 With Cable, £10.69

RC805

There is also an RC802 8 channel receiver, but this operates in the 2.4GHz band, not the 5.8 GHz band

32 Channel

• 32 Channels: RC832 5.8G 32Ch Channels Wireless AV Receiver for FPV Airplane RC RC077 2016 BG, £11.46

40 Channel

• 40 Channels: RC832S 5.8G 40 CHANNEL FPV RECEIVER, £14
• Boscam RC832 FPV 5.8G Wireless 40CH AV Receiver 600MW 2db Wireless FPV Image, £14.05
• Eachine RC840 5.8GHz 40CH Raceband Wireless FPV Receiver Module RC Multicopter, 20.99

48 Channel

• Straight Connector Mini 5.8G 48CH 2S-6S Video & Audio Transmitter For FPV Drone, £17.09
• BOSCAM FPV 5.8G A/V Receiver (RX) W/ LED Channel Display RC832 – 48CH RP-SMA, £15.88 + £2.50 postage

RC832 and TX832

Fatshark compatible

Dominator 5G8 24ch NexwaveRF Receiver Module Fat Shark, £15.96

FatShark 5.8ghz NexwaveRF BETA Receiver Module Boscam / Skyzone compatible, £24.99

ChipLRS 100mW FPV OpenLRS Baychi 433 (or 868!!!) receiver USB, £15.40

ImmersionRC

For a dual output, although most RC832 have dual output also, so one output can be viewed, while the other is recorded, try the ImmersionRC Uno5800 5.8GHz Receiver Race Edition UNO5800V4RE, £62.99. For second hand, they go for around £27.99 (i.e. ImmersionRC Uno 5.8GHz A/V Receiver).

The are a number of versions of the Uno, each supporting a different number of video channels. Number of channels supported:

• Version 1 and 2 – The standard ‘ImmersionRC/FatShark/Airwave’ 7 channels
• Version 4.0 – 7 + 25 channels = 32 channels
• Version 4.1 – 40 channels

From version 4 manual (Duo: (link), Duo 5800v4 Diversity Receiver Manual_en, and Uno: (link) Uno 5800v4 Receiver Manual_en)

The Uno5800v4 Alpha has a dual-personality. In stock form, it behaves as it’s predecessors, the v1, and v2. The standard ‘ImmersionRC/FatShark/Airwave’ 7 channels are supported… In its ‘unlocked’ mode, it adds an additional 25 channels…

From version 4.1 manual

ImmersionRC’s newest version (4.1) of their popular 5.8GHz receiver, the Uno 800 V4 now with 40ch This receiver includes the popular Fatshark/ImmersionRC ‘NexWaveRF’ series of A/V frequencies channels and now also includes an additional 24ch for 5.8GHz. Now 1 receiver can cover all 5.8GHz frequencies.

ImmersionRC Uno v4.1

Receiver and Transmitter Combos

48 Channel

• Boscam 48CH 5.8G 600mW TS832 & RC832 V3.0 Wireless Video Transmission System OSD, £35.69 (it is cheaper to buy the transmitter and receiver separately, for £29).

40 Channel

• ?

32 Channel

• TS5823 200mW 5.8G 32CH FPV AV Audio Video Transmitter+RC832 32CH FPV Receiver IT, £22.89

8 Channel

• 5.8GHz TS351+RC805 2KM 65A 200mW Rx Receiver 5.8G FPV AV Transmitter, £20.32

Recorder

• DVR High Resolution Digital Video Recorder for FPV – Fatshark – ImmersionRC, £75
• FPV Mini C-DVR Digital Video Audio Recorder for Motion Long Range Ground Station, £21.39

C-DVR

Fat Shark DVR Upgrade for HD1 and DominatorV2 Goggles, £29.99

Retro-fit your older Fat Shark goggles with modern technology with this must-have DVR upgrade board. The added capacitor ensures no more losing your recording when powering down your goggles.

Note: HD2 and DominatorV3 goggles already include this functionality. User assumes risk of damaging goggles during install.

Googles

Quanum DIY FPV Goggle Set with Monitor DJI Phantom Fatshark Immersion kit TF LCD, £39.94

Quanum V2 Pro Goggles with RC5832 Receiver ideal 4 FPV, £45

Googles Battery

TURNIGY 1000mAh 2S 7.4V 20C 30C LIPO BATTERY Pack WL Toys Syma Fatshark Quad RC, £6.99

Screen

Lilliput 7″ 329/W Monitor for FatShark 5.8GHz FPV Aerial Flying Wireless Camera, £70.88

FX-F408 4.3″ LCD Screen FPV Monitor Receiver Black Wired AV For Camera Drones, £44.28, with a super bright LCD and 5.8GHz 32CH diversity receiver,and built-in rechargeable battery.

Screen only, 7 inch Professional FPV Aerial Photography Monitor For Ground Station, £27

OSD

There are many types and brands, These can be used as standalone devices or in conjunction with a flight controller, or, indeed, can come built in to the flight controller. The BrainFPV is one such flight controller with built in OSD. There are hybrid devices which can be used as standalone or in conjunction with a flight controller.

Excellence OSD

RC Mini OSD System & GPS Module for FPV Transmitter Camera Fatshark ImmersionRC, £34.99

• GPS Coordinate Display
• Time Display
• Ground Speed Display
• Voltmeter
• Stopwatch
• RSSI Receiver Signal Strength Detection
• Programmable Display Content
• Supports NTSC and PAL TV Signal
• Supports Anti-Glare Shade Control Signal
• Supports Manual Calibration

MinimOSD

The MinimOSD is very popular hybrid, although the onboard 5V regulator can get hot. It can operate in standalone or FC mode. It comes in two versions, the v.1.1 version and the extended version with pins down the side which offer extra sensor readings (RSSI, battery voltage, etc.):

MinimOSD v.1.1

and

MinimOSD with Team KV mod

• MinimOSD version 1.1 – On-Screen Display OSD Board MinimOSD APM Telemetry to APM2.0 APM2.5 APM 1 2 UR, £4.67
• MinimOSD with Team KV mod – MAVLink OSD Board MinimOSD APM Telemetry to APM APM2.6 2.52 Flight Control F, £6.19, or AMAZING ON SCREEN DISPLAY APM V1.1 MINIM OSD MODULE FOR ARDUPILOT MEGA MAVLIN, £4.99

Wiring it up is simple

Connecting up the MinimOSD

How to avoid the regulator, and the overheating

minimOSD schematic

Micro MinimOSD

Cheaper and smaller still, is the micro MinimOSD, which has no onboard 5V regulator, and thus avoids the overheating issues of the MinimOSD, but has all the features of a MinimOSD. On eBay, 1pc Micro OSD Mini OSD With KV TEAM MOD For Naze32 F7, £3.56

 

Wiring up the Micro MinimOSD is easy

Connecting up the Micro MinimOSD

HK E-OSD

The E-OSD is rather basic and considerably more expensive than the Micro MinimOSD. It can be hacked to show RSSI on Batt2, see E-OSD RSSI Output Simple Mod – Oscar Liang.

On eBay, Super Simple E-OSD OSD For FPV – Fatshark & ImmersionRC Can be flashed for RSSI, £16.79

HK E-OSD

All in one systems

FatShark Attitude v2 FPV Kit Goggles, 5G8 Transmitter, camera, cp antennas, $210 (£172.80) + $29.41 (auction)

Everything you need to start FPV right out of box

Includes all that’s in picture.

attitude v2 goggles with circular polarized antenna

2x turnigy 2 cell 1000mah lipo

FatShark v4 filtered balance lead supply

FSV2462 Cased 5G8 Transmitter with circular polarized antenna

Lumenier cp-520 camera

all wires and adapters seen in picture included

Fatshark PREDATOR V2 FPV goggles 5.8G plus everything you need for FPV, £151 + £10 (auction)

Fatshark Goggles in good condition plus every thing you need for fpv

Included:

• Goggles
• Battery x2
• Case
• Straight Antenna
• Primal lopo balance charger
• Fatshark  5.8 rc vision tx 250 mw 6 channel
• Rc480 automatiie 5.8 av receiver 42 channals
• Easy cap usb video converter (can be used with tablets with OTG)
• All connecter wires from easycap to rc840
• Zippy lipo battery to power rc480
• Mini iosd plus cable for fatshark ts (some wires have been cut just need reattaching) with connecter for sj cam and connecter for gopro.
• Wimaxit multi-channel lcd display ( it works well but if you turn off and its not fully charged it sometimes wont turn on till fully charged, but if you have a power bank attached it will work)
• Tx 6 or 7  channel transmitter ( bought by mistake but will sell with this bundle)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8aR4JNFUU8  screen recording of easycap on tablet
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzzvEuoBxxM  see monitor in action

Videos

Using an iPhone

What you require is a WFT-01 802W Wireless FPV AV Transmitter and Receiver TX WiFi Realtime Video Kit, £13.25 +£9.74 (offer, normally £13.95) or Realtime AV Video Wifi Transmitter 903W Wireless P2P 30fps Phone Waterproof UK,
£14.25 (offer, normally £15.00) + £9.64 postage, and an iPhone running the WiFi AVin software.

WiFi video transmitter

Budget FPV