DJI LightBridge 2: Professional HD Broadcasting Made Easy

The DJI Company has launched the successor to the original Lightbridge 1 to take professional HD broadcasting to another level of a kind. The Company has undertaken lots of updates and enhancements to bring a new product to capture elegant HD videos. For this reason, the DJI Lightbridge 2 brings joy to the professional photo and videographers with its unmatched wireless HD image transmission.

It allows them to travel further and capture objects at a distance as far as 5km with low latency, more clarity, and top notch quality. That being noted, it can be relatively challenging to have a crystal clear aerial footage without the use of advanced electronics such as the Lightbridge 2.

Keep in mind: The Lightbridge 2 works efficiently with the more professional DJI drones such as the S900 and S1000. Not all the DJI products are compatible with this electronic system. For instance, you cannot use it on the Phantom Inspire 1. More about the compatible products will be said later.

Product specifications:

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What is DJI Lightbridge 2?

A Lightbridge 2 is basically a wireless HD video transmitter that enables video streaming to a wide variety of devices such as the tablets, smartphones, TVs, or any other compatible display. Now, aerial images, captured using the professional drones, can look so elegantly beautiful with low latency at a maximum range. Gone are the poor video feeds that have often been contaminated by low resolution and noise interference.

Key Features of Lightbridge 2

• Integrated remote controller
• Low latency as low as 50ms
• Incredible video transmission range of up to 5km
• Added SDI port
• Dual video streaming
• Dynamic and intelligent transmission
• Multiple remote controllers
• 6000mAh of battery for longer operational time
• Master-Slave mode

Lightbridge 2 is capable of many incredible and intelligent settings such as professional HD broadcasting, responsive navigation, dynamic transmission, and many more.

Professional HD Broadcasting

If you’re in the broadcasting job of your local events, parties, sports or concerts, Lightbridge 2 can be a good companion to you. It’s indeed an indispensable equipment to perfect that job, particularly with the SDI port that is used commonly in the broadcasting industry. This electronic system is advanced in that you can broadcast directly to multiple display devices such as the TV channels or to YouTube using this wireless HD image transmitter.

It comes with the USB, 3G-SDI ports and mini-HDMI that support the broadcast output of 720p/59.94 fps and 1080i/50fps, the video output of up to 1080p/60fps. Lightbridge 2 has been carefully engineered from the ground to meet all the requirements of professional broadcasting of virtually everything.

Maximum Range

The need to come closer to your objects is negated by the incredible range of 5 kilometers reached by the Lightbridge 2. So, professional HD broadcasting is made a walk in the park by this tremendous range that is seldom reached by any other device. Photographers and videographers can now explore many locations as seen by their drones’ camera, and almost capture any complex aerial footage.

The quality of the images or videos will not be compromised by the farthest distance because Lightbridge 2 can successfully transmit them with low latency of 50ms than its predecessors 100ms.

Responsive Navigation

The exciting part about the Lightbridge 2 is its responsive navigation with the speed that can be likened to the lightning speed. This incredible performance of the navigation system is attributed to the intelligent and advanced algorithms as well as the powerful hardware encoder that the DJI has featured in this product. As a result, the latency has been reduced to 50ms, but you must keep in mind that this latency doesn’t include the camera latency.

Camera and drone control signals are efficiently and smoothly transmitted at a higher speed as well due to an incredible responsive navigation. So, coupling the Lightbridge 2 with your aircraft is one step closer to achieving a great real-time video with a transmission range of up to 5km.

Dynamic Transmission

One of the best features of this wireless HD transmitter is its dynamic transmission. You have to use it in conjunction with the DJI GO app to experience this intelligent transmission. With this app, you have an option to focus on lower latency or optimize the quality of the video. Your preferred transmission channel can be manually selected.

The Lightbridge can alternatively and automatically lower the latency in real time instead of having to focus on it manually through the DJI GO app. Its high speed processor selects the best transmission channel and bandwidth dependent on the electromagnetic environment and the distance.

Multiple Remote Controllers

With Lightbridge 2, you can effectively transmit a high definition video wirelessly, to many devices at once by using multiple remote controllers in the Master-Slave mode. A team of controllers can also team up in capturing complex aerial footage or in professional broadcasting with this transmitter.

The team can be made up of four people because Lightbridge 2 supports 3 Slave devices and 1 Master device simultaneously. Ideally, the pilot, the gimbal controller, director and the broadcast team can have the video transmission while located at different places. That’s the incredible functionality of the multiple remote controllers.

Lightbridge 2 lets you have an absolute control on your device

Simply pair it with the DJI GO app that is compatible with the iOS and the Android powered mobile devices to control the camera and receive an HD video transmission. You can also view additional information such as the full telemetry, heading, location, current status of your aircraft on the app. This helps you make your flight, even safer.

Stream videos to any display

Using the Lightbridge 2 does not confine you to stream the video to a single display device. You can virtually output the HD video to any display compatible device such as the tablets, iPads, desktop computers, smartphones and standard TVs.

The built-in ports let you transmit video concurrently to multiple devices by using either a combination of the USB and the 3G-SDI or the mini-HDMI and the USB.

Streaming video from two cameras at once

Lightbridge 2 is also capable of dual video streaming at once from two cameras, viz, the main camera and the second camera. With the main camera, you can capture aerial images and videos, whereas the second camera shows FPV.

Moreover, you can output a picture-in-picture view via the 3G-SDI or the mini-HDMI to any external display device. The camera controls and the views are independent of each other to prevent the gimbal control from interfering with the drone’s navigation or the pilot’s FPV.

These are the core capabilities that the Lightbridge 2 comes with. But keep in mind that it is not compatible with all the DJI products. For instance, you cannot use it on the DJI Phantom Inspire 1.

How does the Lightbridge 2 work?

Most of the functionality of this DJI product has been discussed above. Operating this electronic device should be easier by the way, with the user manual provided by the company. It will certainly show you how to configure the product and install it to work well with your compatible professional DJI aircraft such as the S900. There are YouTube videos that can give you supplemental insights to the ones we gave you.

Price & Value for Money

You must be prepared to spend about $1600 on Lightbridge 2 and its Ground Unit. The Lightbridge 2 costs $1000 on the DJI Online Store, and the unit costs slightly over $500. This is, however, the best value for money considering the massive functions and a significant value they add in professional filming adventures.

In the absence of this combo, your broadcasting may be challenging. The expensive price of these products is justified by the incredible features they come with. The previous Lightbridge is only half the price around $500 at the online store.

Although many online stores may be offering these products, beware of counterfeit products. The DJI has a product warranty on all of its products for any quality defects. There is also the DJI Care Insurance as a service plan, although for now, it is offered only for selected products.

What makes the LightBridge 2 unique from Lightbridge 1?

There has been a major enhancement from the original Lightbridge to the recent one more especially with regard to the output ports and the remote controller. The remote controller has now been integrated into the ground system. That being said, there’s no need to purchase any additional remote or use remotes controllers from other brands.

Furthermore, the SDI (Serial Digital Interface) output port has been added in the latest Lightbridge. With this SDI, you can transmit the HD video using the coaxial cable. It further provides the longest distance for video transmission, and also provides a stable signal.

Professional broadcasters in the TV industry predominantly use the SDI because of its capabilities. So, with this additional SDI port, long gone will be the unstable signal transmission that has prevailed before. There will be no need for extra adapters, and the compatibility with other devices will be improved.

The other enhancement is the reduction of the transmission latency to as low as 50ms compared to the 100ms of the predecessor. The range of transmission has also been incredibly extended to 5km. The picture-in-picture output and the adaptive wireless technology have also been added. One notable improvement is the transmission reliability because of the intelligent wireless technology integrated in Lightbridge 2.

Moreover, the Lightbridge 2 comes with an integrated design that lets you broadcast in no time within a few seconds. The need to mount and configure multiple components is no more. And the need to purchase an additional remote controller is no more too, because the receiver is fully integrated into a new remote controller. All you need is to connect your display device → switch on the system → and start broadcasting in no time

With the integrated remote, you can access a plethora of essential functions. It features hardware controls that are devoted to gimbal pitch control, aerial photo and video capture, flight control sticks, return-to-home and other buttons that can be customized accordingly. In addition, the powerful battery of 6000mAh helps you spend more time in the sky and maneuver your controls.

Given these differences between the DJI Lightbridge and the Lightbridge 2, you can see that it’s not possible to interchangeably use their components. Each is unique. For instance, the air system of the latest product has a working voltage of 32, whereas that one of the original Lightbridge is 3s ῀6s. But the cable from the original product can be used, but provided you set it to 3S that is compatible with the latest product.

But you can upgrade the previous version to the recent version. Even the analog or Wi-Fi-based video downlink can be upgraded to the Lightbridge 2. Then you’ll be all set up and ready to go. This latest version supports a lot of DJI products.

Overview

Users can master its configuration using the DJI GO app that is compatible with iOS and Android devices. Quite frankly, the need for the original Lightbridge will no longer be seen because of this advanced system.

Now that we have introduced and discussed the Lightbridge 2 from the DJI, we are certain that you will overlook other similar electronic system such as the predecessor. This new version is a great tool for all professional photographers. It comes with most of the features improved from the original DJI Lightbridge.

The only drawback for this device is the price tag of over $1000. It is compatible with professional aircrafts and those aircrafts are also expensive. Meaning you have to spend a lot to have this electronic system. It is nonetheless a great investment for serious businesses.

Have you ever come across this device and used it? We would like to hear from your experience. Please share with our readers below.