This might be a stupid question, but are the video artifacts real in this? For some reason they look way more like analog (like a vhs tape) than digital artifacts but surely that can't be the case?
Ukraine
News and discussion related to Ukraine
*Sympathy for enemy combatants is prohibited.
*No content depicting extreme violence or gore.
*Posts containing combat footage should include [Combat] in title
*Combat videos containing any footage of a visible human must be flagged NSFW
Donate to support Ukraine's Defense
Donate to support Humanitarian Aid
Analog is commonly used in fpv drones. Mostly due to low cost, low latency and when the signal starts to degrades you get those artifacts, instead of a blackout or higher latency. You need quick and precise control with those drones, so video quality is often a lower priority.
So.. they look analog cause they are analog.
Not at all a stupid question. Answering from a perspective of flying fpv drones recreationally for 4-5 years.
Videos look analog because they most often are. These fpv drones are using very similar if not identical equipment as recreational commercial fpv drones. Analog fpv is a lot simpler, cheaper and easier to get hold of in large quantities, the latter is probably the largest driving factor as they are using the drones as disposable ammunition. Image quality is worse but is probably good enough for the most part.
Also, if digital bonks out, you get a blank screen. If analog does weird stuff, you get this.
They are probably using analog video transmission. Good enough, cheap, and disposable.