How To Record Onboard Video With Older FPV Goggles

Here's how to install a DVR to your goggles to record and relive flights.

Unfortunately, not all FPV setups record the video you see through your goggles or monitor. As soon as you've seen it, 'whoosh!', it's gone. This, as you might imagine, is not always ideal.

You might not have room to fit another conventional camera like a GoPro. You also wouldn't be able to find a crashed airplane or quad by playing back the footage.

Although nowadays you can get a modern pair of DVR (Digital Video Recorder) equipped Fatshark goggles like the Dominator HD3 for $399, you can still upgrade older headsets to record video. It's really quite simple. All you need is an external DVR.

Getting yourself a DVR

Many brands produce DVRs, so it's usually best to have a search online to find out what other people are using with the headset that you own.

This is an external DVR that I bought from Eachine for around $12. It has a small micro card slot. This makes it easy for you to record your video onto a card to then transfer it to your Mac, PC, or wherever you want to.

Connecting a DVR to your Goggles

The DVR that I acquired to experiment with recording video from my old Fatshark Predator V2 headset is helpfully powered from the headset battery.

This means you can mount the DVR to your goggles just next to the battery where the LiPo balance cable can reach.

To connect the DVR to the headset, you'll need to use the included cable. This cable has a jack at each end which plugs directly into both the DVR box and the goggles.

Using the DVR

Generally speaking, DVR boxes like this one from Eachine are pretty straightforward to use. They have simple buttons that start recording, stop recording and playback the video. This one also has a menu function so that you can scroll through settings. This is a nice feature as you can adjust brightness, toggle time cutoffs and choose your video format.

Hopefully this article has shown you how simple it is to acquire, install and set up a DVR to record your RC flying. We hope you have many fun hours flying FPV and get a ton of enjoyment out of playing back your favorite flights.