I'm a legal videographer and just bought one of these new Panasonic cameras. The selling point was the ability to burn in the time/date stamp. I have been using an old PD170 for many years but thought it was time to upgrade. Had to sell my EX1R to pay for the new Panny. Anyway, got it yesterday and I'm sitting here setting it up now. It does indeed burn the time/date, but unfortunately, it's about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the screen, which is too high. Since this is my first Panasonic, I was hoping that someone could let me know if there is a way to adjust the location. Thanks for your help.

James Downie

This may be a dumb question James, but did you check if the D/T stamp remains that far up the image in all recording modes (all AVCHD - as well as DV)?

I've been using an HMC150 (and occasionally an HMC40) well over a year for legal video, and the date/time position on both cameras is placed in frame similar to the venerable PD170.

Also, is your attached image from an external source or directly from the AVCHD file? The reason I ask is the manual states: "The size and position of the time stamp characters in external output displays may vary from the displays in the LCD monitor or viewfinder."

Yep, I have the camera attached to a DVD burner via the RCAs and to a laptop via firewire. It's in the same location on all media. I spoke with another legal videographer who got a sneak preview of the camera and he said the location of the stamp was not at the same height as it is now. I can't imagine why they would move it. The response I got from Panasonic yesterday was basically "that's where it is and you can't do anything about it." Can't imagine they'd market this camera to this industry and not let it be adjusted.

Also sent the image to another HMC40 user and he was also amazed that it was so high.

I spoke with another legal videographer who got a sneak preview of the camera and he said the location of the stamp was not at the same height as it is now. I can't imagine why they would move it. The response I got from Panasonic yesterday was basically "that's where it is and you can't do anything about it." Can't imagine they'd market this camera to this industry and not let it be adjusted.

For legal videography that position is completely unacceptable - and by that I mean both the time stamp AND Panasonic's stance. FWIW, you should contact Jan Crittenden @ Panasonic. She's on this forum from time to time.

I had planned on getting an AC130 for legal videography due to the dual slot recording capability. However, if its D/T stamp is the same as the 160, I'll just stick with the HMC150.

I've been looking for her contact info on here and several other sites. You wouldn't happen to have it, would you?

I've been looking for her contact info on here and several other sites. You wouldn't happen to have it, would you?

PM sent with her contact info.

Try this guy, he was very helpful with a question I had last year about a hcm 80 time stamp. Not sure he is still in the same position though:

Wes Carr
Area Sales Manager
Broadcast
Panasonic Solutions Company

Office: 352-735-0211
Wes.Carr@us.panasonic.com
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Lets hope its a easy solution or else the 130/160 camera's won't work for the Legal profession

Carl R. Sobeck, CLVS

Mark, thanks for the info. I sent her an email and I'll let you know what I find out.

Carl, I'll try Wes too. Thanks!

James, any update yet?

They say the engineers are looking at it, but it could take a while.

This is the thing that eats at me the most. Another videographer in Columbia, SC got his hands on one of these cameras a few weeks before the official release at a Panasonic preview. He captured some video on his laptop and compared it to the video that I captured. While the stamp was still a little too high (yet usable), it was considerably lower than that of my camera. He was initially told it was a stock model that was the same as the ones that would be sold upon release, but after some digging, he found out that it wasn't a stock model but one that the Panasonic engineers brought themselves. So the stamp was purposefully raised at some point before release.

We now have the firmware in house to update the AG-AC130 and the AG-AC160 Time Date Stamp to a lower position on the screen. This does require a trip to Panasonic. Depending on which side of the Mississippi you are on call either the LA office 323-436-3503 or the NJ office 201-392-4081.

Thank you for your patience on this one.

Best regards,

Jan

Sent my 160 last week for the update. Got it back yesterday and all is well. The stamp is now at the bottom of the screen, as low as they could have possibly put it. I can whole heartedly recommend this camera now for legal deposition work. If anyone wants to see a screen grab, email me and I'll forward one to you.

James Downie
Blufish Media
jdownie@blufishmedia.com

.... or I suppose I can just attach a pic. :)

James,

Great to hear (and see) that this is working. Thanks for keeping on it and letting us know.

Now the question must be asked: will the firmware for new purchases be updated before shipping? Or, if someone buys an AC-160 even 6 months from now, will it still need to be sent-in to be updated? I doubt that units already shipped will be returned to the factory for the update, so how will buyers know if their unit has the latest firmware?

While I love my HVX-200 and HMC-150, I wish Panasonic would pay just a bit more attention to the needs of the legal video business. It seems as it's an afterthought for Panasonic, yet it's a field that mandates long-form recording, e.g. depositions, with a real need for redundant recording, i.e. a 2nd/backup recording unit. While the original HVX writes to FireWire, the Date/Time stamp was not sent that route, so even a Firestore unit didn't help.

Similarly, the HMC can output to an HDMI recorder, but I'm not aware that the Date/Time stamp goes that route. Also, AFAIK Panasonic doesn't even make an HDMI recorder, though that would be unnecessary if not impractical due to file sizes. Something like the AG-HMR10 would be good, but even that doesn't allow redundant/backup recording from the HMC-150. A Panny version of Sony's DVDirect products would be helpful.

Legal video, particularly a deposition, requires multiple mics, a mixer, camera, tripod, backup recording device, headphones, a separate audio recorder (strictly for audio backup), usually a monitor, and occasionally some lighting.. IOW, lots of connections to get right, (sometimes upwards of 6 mics), and lots of "pieces" to monitor, all while listening to testimony and noting objections, etc. Quick set-up, compact equipment, and traveling as lightly as possible is a requirement, but piecing together components from different manufacturers and/or brands can make that difficult and needlessly time-consuming.

I've been a loyal Panny customer since I bought my first camera. (I even buy Panny's Gold SDHC cards for the HMC), and I'd really appreciate being able to buy and use components that I know will work together smoothly - and correctly handle the date/time stamp (and only the date/time stamp) with no other icons, warnings, or notices being recorded, rather than having to gerry-rig a backup recording system with some competitor's product or a third-party device. I'd invest in the AG-HMR10 or similar device if it could accept a signal output by the HMC-150 and allowed recording of only the image and date/time stamp.

This isn't meant to be a rant, but more a plea for just a little more notice of the legal field from Panasonic.