Hello, I have a Sony AX100E and I have just noticed its firmware is v. 3.00. I know now it is available the v. 3.10.
1) What benefits can I get if I do the update?
2) My AX100 loses the memory. In fact when it doesn't work for 7 days every time I have to enter into the settings and to configure, language, date and hour. I think I have to change the small battery inside the camera. But is it easy to do it? Can I make it? Thanks for your info.

https://esupport.sony.com/CA/p/swu-download.pl?mdl=FDRAX100&upd_id=10781&os_group_id=6

This is an old update from April of 2016. I have not bothered updating my AX100 as I always use 128G SDXC U3 cards anyway.

Seems the update just allows recording on a SDHC card though why anyone would want to do this I do not know !!!

Also you just need to leave a battery on the camera to retain all the settings. I leave a spare battery on all my cameras to make sure the settings do not change. When I shoot I use larger batteries anyway.

Also you just need to leave a battery on the camera to retain all the settings. I leave a spare battery on all my cameras to make sure the settings do not change. When I shoot I use larger batteries anyway.

Thanks for your news. I'm sorry, I don't understand fine your writings. But is not the problem the small round shape discharged battery that is inside the camera? Why are you telling about larger batteries for shoting?

Thanks for your news. I'm sorry, I don't understand fine your writings. But is not the problem the small round shape discharged battery that is inside the camera? Why are you telling about larger batteries for shoting?

The normal camcorder batteries keep the internal battery charged. Then you do not have the problem. I have used the smaller NP-FV50 series batteries I have to just keep the settings on the cameras and normally use NP-FV100 or FV70 series batteries when I shoot. You do not need to replace the battery it is very small and needs to be recharged frequently. That is not a defect it is by design. The easiest is just to leave a battery on the camera. The main camcorder batteries will last with the camera switched off for months and I just remove and recharge before a shoot. I believe these instruction are in most of the Sony camcorder manuals.

Any suggestions as the best editing software for 4K with an ax100 for mac?

Thanks
Martin

I use FCP X.
But you need a good computer and some very good external hard drives also.
4K will drain all your resources fast.....very fast.

Here is some useful information found on another site. Hope this helps all around.
https://www.sony.ru/res/attachment/file/62/1237492960962.pdf
Martin

I am not a big fan of the 30p judder, especially fast motion that can't be helped at times.


What shutter speed to you utilize for 30p UHD? And.....60p XAVC 1920x1080p. ?

Thank you

4K isn't that expensive to at least stick one's toe into the water - and the AX100 can still shoot 1080p. The judder or stutter or shimmer can be reduced to a significant degree by keeping shutter speeds down so a natural motion blur avoids the "series of very sharp stills" jumpiness.

I just saw UHD Blu-Ray players at a warehouse discount store for under $200 ("half off" the $400-ish retail). 4K delivery on disc may be affordable sooner rather than later, but you'll find that the enhanced detail trickles down even to an SD DVD as well as giving you pan/crop options in post. BR discs might be an option as well? Of course we live in a "streaming" era, and other "digital delivery" options. Protecting one's end product continues to be a challenge, short of physical discs... 1's and 0's can be copied if the incentive to do so is sufficient....

I run in shutter priority mode on my "30p" cams, try to keep the speed under 125(ish), preferably 60 or 90.

The easiest way to explain it is... the slower the shutter speed, the more motion blur you'll get in each "frame", so while you lose some sharpness potentially, motion looks more natural than it would with a series of super sharp stills.

My first shooting with the camera was a shock after shooting 1080/60p, since I was just running auto first time out... it was setting the shutter at 350 or so...very sharp, very shimmery in high detail shots, and jarring when there was motion in or through the scene. The super sharpness of 4K sort of works against you with the lower frame rate, and you have to run manual to reintroduce enough motion blur so moving objects look like they are actually moving, not jumping from frame to frame!

Hi Dave
Your recounting of shutter speeds is good information. I only recently got an AX100 and just ran test of dancers with it set for 4K at 30 frames and 1/60 and gain and iris and focus in auto. Impressed by the clarity and noticed the frame to frame in sharper images. Whole new ball game from my
old pdf150. Lots to learn. But wow what clarity.
Now how to edit and distribute...

Martin

More questions....
Has anyone used a 128 gb card? I shoot dance recitals and need to cover long times such as 1.5 hours, even more. In the past with dv tapes I have had to have arranged breaks where a dancer would go on stage and improvise until she saw my recording lamp on. Works but can be a bit of a hassle, especially if one is clumsy and drops the replacement tape...

Martin

Yes I use 128G Sony SDXC U3 94MBps cards and they work just fine.

Ron Evans

128G and 256G have worked fine for me, Lexar branded SDXC U3.

I've been using SanDisk Extreme Pro 256GB cards lately. Along with the NP-FV100A batteries, I think I'm getting over 5 hours of continuous recording time. Just bought a new charger for the batteries. Very nice, with display of remaining battery life in time and percent, and also shows time to charge to 100%. One thing to know is it holds two batteries, but is a CONSECUTIVE charger. With 4 cameras using those same batteries, I can return from a shoot and put the cams away and stack the depleted batteries next to this charger and just cycle them all through it without having 4 cameras plugged in all over the place.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/672106-REG/Sony_ACVQV10_AC_VQV10_AC_Adaptor_Charger.html

There's also this shooting grip I came across. I heard it works with the AX100, need to find out if it works with the AX53 as well. Looks like a possible solution for handholding the camera. It has built-in remote control buttons for zoom, record start/stop and photo shutter. It's the GP-VPT1 Shooting Grip/Mini Tripod.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/997411-REG/sony_gpvpt1_gp_avt1_shooting_grip.html

I also picked up the RM-VPR1 wired remote control, having just seen in the brochure that it works with both the AX100 and AX53. Got home and tested it, works fine with both. Get two zoom speeds, which I'd describe as "crash" and "creep".

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/925709-REG/sony_rm_vpr1_remote_control_with_multi_terminal.html

There's a wireless version also.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1082056-REG/sony_rmt_vp1k_wireless_receiver_and.html/prm/alsVwDtl

Sony's constantly changing remote protocols is enough to drive one to drink.

Mark

Thanks to Mark, Dave and Ron for the info on larger cards. I should have seen the info on card size in an earlier post by Ron. Maybe I need new glasses.
Looks like Mark found some interesting "toys", thanks.

I have an earlier Sony wired remote which I used with my PD150. Would be nice to repurpose it to the AX100. RM VD1 which clipped on my tripod arm. Has a 2.5mm male plug for the LANC connection. Now I need to find a way of getting to the small usb connection on the camera. If I can find will that work???

Martin

I have 2 adapters. 2.5 to A/V then A/V to small USB. This works for the AX100 but the protocol for the AX53 is different so will not work.

Ron Evans

As Ron says, you need two adapter cables. The exact Sony ones you need are:

VMC-AVM1 (has a flat-style MULTI plug on one end for connection to the camera and a D-shaped jack on the other end)

A-3AV (has a D-shaped plug on one end for connecting to the VMC-AVM1 and a 2.5mm jack on the other end for connecting to your LANC remote control)

These two cables are short, combined length is about a foot.

Mark

The LANC connections moved from that old VD1 plug into the AV plug for a while and then moved again into the MULTI, which as actually a "dual layer" USB port with extra contacts.

In theory you could "hack" an adapter, but the time and effort are probably better spent buying the "right" remote, and having fun shooting!

The two adapter cables were not expensive and have been well worth it for me. Never been impressed with these Sony remotes. With the cables, I can connect a Cannon ZR2000 (no longer available) and get more functions plus 8 zoom speeds. And my remote attaches properly to a pan handle with a huge rocker switch for zooming. This is with the AX100 of course. The AX53 is another story.

I also have a Sony VCT-VPR100 that comes with adapter cables for the remote handle that work with all interfaces including the AX53. Not a great tripod but at least all the interface cables work for everything !!!

Have tried to get the two cords and ran into cost problems. One quote for one was$US14, not a problem.... The delivery was about $US55.
Basically it looks like it will be cheaper to buy a new controller. Looking on eBay and will probably by a new controller for about $US25 delivered. Hate wasting older stuff and I will often fiddle but not worth it for this.
Thanks for the directions...
Martin

New problem.
I shot a dance show this morning ( Using the 4K route) and all was good until my battery quit. Changed batteries and continued. All the files seemed to be good and played back ok.
Later transferred to my iMac and at first all was good. Do not know what happen but in the clip file I found one XML file associated with a MP4 file had disappeared. The regular MP4 file is still there but will not play. Anyway to recover the XML component. Naturally this was the largest segment... Checked the original camera file and it too had the problem


Help
Martin

A corrupt file due to the loss of power. Not many options I'm afraid. AeroQuartet is available if you really need that footage.

The camera can sometimes recover a corrupted directory but that needs to be done in the camera of course.

Well.... put the corrupt file aside for the moment and started on a performance (second of four for the day) recorded in 4K and looks good. Got it into my Premier cs6 and did a whole bunch of editing. Tried to cut down the dead time of all the little munchkins to come up with a decent memory for the parents ( and myself as I have a granddaughter in the performance).

The finish in Premier looks and sounds crisp. Now to get it to Encore to put out as DVD. Normally from my PD150 days I would use the Dynamic link to Encore and all would be good. Tried that with a small clip and it would be WAYYYY to much for a DVD. I thought it would reduce size etc to match the need. No way.

I tried Export, Media and tried several settings but to no good avail. took some results through to a test Encore set up but not very good.


I am over my head at the moment and would appreciate some direction. I was comfortable with the PD150 and tape and premier etc but felt I should progress and went for the AX100.
Any direction for media settings etc to get to Encore....

Thanks
Martin

back to the corrupt file later..... would like to get the other 3 performances away...

I might be out here but when I'm editing I often have footage from say AX100 in 4K and other clips from PMW200 and perhaps AVCHD from a Sony PJ790 and even from a Canon but i'm laying them on a 1080P timeline, so I define the sequence first and the 4K clips i set to frame size, I think in Premiere Pro CS 6 under video effects, scale - you just reduce the scale of the clip down to whatever your sequence is set to.
Then you should be able to dynamic link to Encore (thats the way I do it) or another way is to output the clips as MPEG2 and then load them into Encore. You could also use a Bitrate calculator to make sure the clips will fit on a DVD.

hi all

thanks Rob for the direction, I think.
I think I have some knowledge but just enough to be dangerous.

Please follow what I am doing and let me where I should change direction....ultimately, at this point, I wish to use Encore to make a dvd

I use an iMac 27" I5 late 2016 with 24 Gb of ram (moved from PC about a year ago)
Premier cs 6
I have got a 4K file from the AX100 on the computer and can take a clip from it
Open up Premier with new project
Name the project and select a location
Does it matter whether I select DV or HDV in the capture, as I am not capturing from camera? selecting DV
Having clicked OK I then have the sequence presets, which does not have AVXC-S as an option
Do I make a choice such as AVCHD 720p30 1280x720 with square pixels......don't really think so..
Or do I choose custom and then Settings ? and then what ? Custom,29.97, D1/DV NTSC Widescreen 16:9
video previews??etc and then save as a new preset?

Then presumably I import the file in question.

Two many variables and not enough knowledge.

I could go back to the PD150 (where I was comfortable) for future work but that sounds regressive and wastes my ax100. ( I can hear my wife snickering in the background)

Any help or direction is appreciated.
Thanks
Martin

Hi
Is there anyway to restrict the viewable part of the lcd screen to JUST safe frame.
Rather than the little white guides showing the corners of the safe zone, Id like the entire screen to be safe zone only
thanks

No such setting option for safe area. Maybe use some clear acetate (overhead projector slide material) and use a printer to apply a safe area rectangle line on it. Cut it to size of the LCD and attach with clear tape. It might interfere with the touchscreen function though. Another possibility would be to get some really thin, colored tape (like what they sell for making permanent lines on dry erase boards) and lay out a safe zone on your screen. This could still interfere with some touch screen selections but might be better than a plastic sheet over the entire screen.

...............I could go back to the PD150 (where I was comfortable) for future work but that sounds regressive and wastes my ax100. ( I can hear my wife snickering in the background)
Any help or direction is appreciated.
Thanks
Martin

Usually what I do is lay the clip on a 1080P timeline that way i have a HD clip and i just link it into Encore and it usually takes care of it from there! You could create a custom sequence too.
I did a quick and dirty test here, you'll need to make sure that your in full screen and 1080P resolution to see anything!

https://youtu.be/dfWEeWWTeLQ

Thanks Rob

I am not a quitter so am sticking to my guns, well Ax100...

Your video is most helpful, please leave up for a while and I will look several times more. Truly appreciate the effort you went too. One area I had not been familiar with is the rescaling, as I never had a need/use for it in the past. Can certainly see how it can be used.


I have been playing with my system today and learning some more... Thinking having a 4K video it would be wise to edit in 4K and then Export/Media and then a compatible setup for DVD. I went through several iterations, using just a small clip from the whole clip. Also tried Dynamic linking to Encore. Some were somewhat decent, some stank. In Encore one problem I ran into was that the video, when scrubbing or playing was fuzzy but when stopped was improved.
My thinking was that the fully edited/titled 4K line could be saved and used to produce any level at a future date.

Back to the drawing board.
Many thanks again

Martin

PS Just so you know... my family came from Ireland in the late 1700's (around Kilkenny) and I have been there a couple of times.

I edit with EDIUS so not quite the same and I only use FDR-AX1 at UHD 60P rather the 30PUHD of the AX100. Prefer the smoother motion of 60i or 60P. I edit on an interlaced 1920x1080 timeline most of the time to match the other cameras. EDIUS will scale the whole UHD image to match just like Premiere or I can select the original size image and pan/zoom/ crop into the UHD image as needed. That is how I mainly use the FDR-AX1 to crop into the image. Pans and zooms can be much smoother than manually doing it realtime. Since UHD is 4 times the resolution of 1920x1080 one has the opportunity to re frame the image in editing. Once I have the final edit in 1920x1080 I export for DVD ( scaling and encoding to mpeg2 interlaced for DVD). I normally author in DVDArchitect, do have Encore etc in CS6 but rarely use these days. Most scaling and encoding is done with TMPGenc.

Ah kilkenny!! the Cats... we're huge rivals, but in a sporting way :-)

anyway in Encore the video shows only in a reduced (very) resolution you cant see how good it is till you output.

next time your here look me up ;-)

Hi All

Well...fun..
I imported ,my file into Premier and selected the option for the file format.. Did it all in 3840x . I plan on saving the high quality file for future use.... I edited and saved and used the dynamic link to Encore.
All good, set the chapters etc and saved and using Toast burned a disk to a DVD. Did I mention it took almost two hours to transcode. Burned a DVD and put it in my DVD player. Great, had to adjust the zoom but the thing came out great on my 65" 4k screen. Did I mention that I had put title on Encore with the wrong year.. 2016 instead of 2017.No big deal.. ? I had to make changes in Premier and Encore and then had to transcode again... for about two hours. Now I am going to re burn to a DVD and try it out.
How many errors can one make? I am out of DVD's but have ordered some and will be here next week.

I know I am the only "jeshfukstdriutdurtif " who does this. I hope the rest of you learn.

Martin

Hi Rob et al

Got my footage for three of the four shootings edited and onto DVD's and look very good.
The remaining one is the one where the camera quit at about one hour. The battery was an after market 100 equivalent and I thought had lots of power. I had noticed that it was a bit warm, so not sure if was a shut down due to heat or lack of juice. Replaced the battery and continued, so I assume it was juice not heat in the camera. In any case I ended up with a 28gb file that was not finalised.
Nate suggested the "Treasures" software and fixing company. Looked like it might work but not in the financial area at some US$300 (say Cdn $375). This was a recording of a bunch of very young(3-5) ballet dancers and if lucky might sell 10 DVD's to parents filming with their phones.... Record nice for the school but economics not there.

At this point I would like to recover the file BUT... Now I am more concerned for the future. With my old PD150 I never had a heat question or loss of power and if I did I would only lose what was not shot. Had to change tapes but had that worked out.

Ok, I can run a power cord instead of using batteries ( but rather not as not always accessible) but is there a problem of heat in long continuous recordings, say 1.5 to 2.0 hours? Anyone doing long shoots able to give some direction?

Thanks
Martin

All my projects are in the theatre with minimum of 1 hour at a time. I have run my AX100 for 4 hours on the Sony FV100 battery . I would not trust aftermarket batteries only use Sony for my Sony cameras. Why risk not getting a shot for poor batteries. Have run the AX100 on mains power all day for shows. 2 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon and evening. Absolutely no issues with heat. The Atomos Power Station https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1148546-REG/atomos_atompws002_atomos_power_station.htmlis another option with continuous power in a small package using 2 Sony type batteries.

I agree, I never had overheating issues with my ax100, I also only use original Sony batteries as I have had negative experience with after market batteries when it comes to Sony camera's.

After that first time I had to use the Treasured service, I now only use the Sony branded batteries. Your issue was almost certainly related to cheap batteries and not to excess heat. This issue has actually made me rather cautious for all my other cameras as well, and BP-U60s aren't cheap.

Ron

The Atomos sounds like it would be good but it appears that there is no dummy connector for the AX100 or more precisely the FV series batteries. I have written asking and await their answer. There are also other dummy connectors on eBay but not for the FV series and also plates to hold Sony L series batteries. So close but not there....

I have the Atomos to power the GH5 when I get it !!! I have had no problems with the FV100 Sony's seeming to last for ever !!! Yes I too find it strange that Atomos do not have a FV size for the adapters. Forgot that when I suggested the unit. At first I thought it was just that they focused on still cameras but I do not know of any still camera that uses the L series batteries yet they have an adapter for that in the kit I have. Then of course I realized it could be for some of their own units or monitors that use the L series batteries.

Ron

I think it is that the Sony L series has become a major player over several (Sony!!) cameras. I have them with my old PD 150 and have been workhorses. Various ones, after market etc, are readily available and not too expensive. Also they, as you know, are supplied with the kit. Lots of power at hand.

I have been running some test recordings with my AX100 in 4K mode with my after market and two original Sony FV70 batteries. I will try to summarize over the next few days. Not good for the particular after markets.

You say your Sony 100's are lasting for ever. Are you shooting in 4K? Stop/start? zooming?

No I do not shoot 4K on the AX100 as I do not like the slow frame rates. I like to shoot 60P so I use my FDR-AX1 for that in UHD. For the AX100 always shoot 1920x108060P. My wife uses when we shoot theatre so it is zoomed all the time plus spot focus as needed. For most theatre shows it is about 2 hours total and battery usually still shows 4 hours left !!! Of course it is not stopped but runs for the full act, so about 1 hour at a time with total of about 2 hours normally. I have several FV100's and some FV70 's that came with the AX100 and the NX30U I have too. Though I think I have run the FV70 for over 2 hours too.

I thought you all might like to see the results of some battery testing I carried out at home with a simple run test:

After Market NP-FV100 Battery Failure

The performance failure was at about the one hour point on a Sony FDR AX100 recording in XAVC-S 4K mode. Without warning the camera quit due to battery failure and the 28Gb file was corrupted. No file recovery has been possible. Naturally there are some upset customers.

So, why did the battery fail? Turns out it prematurely ran out of power or the camera decided not to recognize it any longer. I switched batteries and recorded the next two programs without incident.

I decided to run some real world tests to isolate/document the problem.

Method:
1 Fully recharge the battery
2 Set the camera to the exact same parameters
3 Set the camera on a solid surface and turn on RECORD
4 At intervals check the camera for remaining power and note
5 Continue until the camera quits due to lack of power
6 If not on site at failure time the fail time was found by putting the card into the computer
7 Itemise the times and do same with the second battery
8 Repeat with the fully recharged first battery
9 As a benchmark do the same with a SONY branded FV 70 (do not have a SONY FV100)

Battery “A”
Elapsed time (minutes) Camera battery time remaing
0 ....... 3 hr 55min
16 ........ 3hr 43 min
54 ....... 3hr 11min
70 ........ 2hr 58 min
89 ........ DEAD

Battery “B”
0 ....... 4hr 5 min
10 ........ 3hr 43min
37 ........ 3hr 19 min
93 ......DEAD

Battery “A”-2nd time
0 ........4hr 5min
40 ....... 3hr 24min
71 .......2hr 58 min
86 .......2hr 45 min
89 .......DEAD, no warning

SONY FV70
0 ....... 2hr 17 min
25 .......1hr 55 min
72 ........1hr 10 min
107 .......0hr 26 min
132 .......0hr 13 min
138 ......0hr 6 min
140 ...... 3 min
142 .......Orange warning light for about 3-4 minutes and then DEAD

RESULTS:
While the SONY branded battery was not the same “capacity” it actually ended up lasting longer and gave a warning before actually quitting.

The this set of aftermarket FV100 batteries are definitely not a quality and reliable product. Another interesting point to note is that non branded FV100 batteries are marked as 5900 mAH and the Sony branded FV100 is 3410mAH and the FV100 is 3700mAh (courtesy B&H). My SONY FV70 is marked as 1960 mAH.



PS I have ordered some SONY brand FV 100's and contacted the after market supplier.

Martin, excellent research! I think that your posts should be a sticky on this forum. Just goes to show, stay away from aftermarket when dealing with XAVC!

Thanks Nate
I did the testing, out of concern for more failures, and glad I did.
Unfortunately, no matter (Almost) where you get your batteries or memory cards there is a risk of sub quality product. Usually one finds out the way I did and have unhappy customers.
I have ordered some Sony branded batteries ,now. Just to be safe and also have a better hold on the actual times I will probably run a similar test. Same goes for memory. Record a static camera for long enough to record so many gb.
Who is paranoid...not me...

Good research there Martin, yeah i remember getting a after market battery for a Canon DSLR years back it cost about 80% of the genuine one, and had about the same performance too.

It still sits on a shelf here to remind me the old saying - 'Caveat Emptor'

I'm guessing the times in real world will be less when you factor in Zooming, setup times, Recording times will be less than total time.

Donald

There is no question that other factors will be in play in the real world, such as zooming, focusing etc. That being said, the only way to test anything for comparison purposes, is to set the base conditions and carry through with each subject. That is what standards are meant to be about. Basically apples ( same variety...) and apples as opposed to apples and oranges.

What you have proven is that off brand companies have little investment in their research/development/production/QC.

This goes for batteries, and memory cards in particular - both are easily copied/knocked off (all too often with knocked off "branding" so they look nearly identical to genuine OEM product). They just have to copy relatively simple molds, and source some parts that "sort of work" for the intended purpose. If they want to make a bit more on the illicit enterprise, they copy labels and packaging to appear nearly like a known brand name that fetches more $$!

As you found out, they may "work" initially, but fail unexpectedly at the worst possible times.

The reason there is a market for these cheap knockoffs/counterfeits and "off brand compatibles" is that the genuine stuff is often hard to find, especially when an OEM releases newer designs, and the production doesn't keep up with demand. Of course the "compatibles" are typically cheaply made, and so can keep ahead of the pricing, even when the genuine product is readily available at "reasonable" prices.



I've posted before about the multiple times I've sold a camera, only to have a buyer say there is something "wrong" with it, and when I run through my "checklist", I discover they put some knockoff memory they got online into the camera, and when a GENUINE card is put in, magically the camera works PERFECTLY.....

Memory cards and batteries are "expensive", but not as expensive as getting bit by cheap "compatible" or knockoff products failing at the worst possible times....


FWIW, typically if a Sony camera crashes, when you start it up, it will ask to "repair the database", and if you let it do that, it ought to recover the last file. No guarantees, but I've had it work for me a "few" times! Not sure what the implications of sudden battery failure are on that process....

Just to tag on to Dave’s post:
For Sale: Genuine [Sony][Sennheiser][Shure] battery, mic, etc.for sale. Oops, sorry, it’s COUNTERFEIT!

One of the problems with buying something these days is the cheats, scammers, crooks, or whatever you want to call ‘em, are out to get your money. Actually, that was also true in the past but these days things have changed slightly. One way has been to make counterfeit goods and sell them as “Genuine [whatever]”.

One problem with illegal counterfeit goods is they not only cheat the customer with an inferior product, it also cheats the original manufacturer, the one who spent good money to market and technical research, develop the design, patent, market with advertising and trade show exhibits, and provide after sale support.

Another problem is that people who buy the counterfeit item and think that it is the real thing can provide horrible “reviews” of it that impacts the sale of the genuine items.

The resale price of used items are also affected because with counterfeit products floating around it can be very difficult to tell the counterfeit item from the genuine item.

Finally, there may be a change coming. I say “May” because we’ll see how effective and how long it lasts. Some good news yesterday was a report about the US Border Patrol seizure of fake or counterfeit goods at the Port of Tacoma in Washington (that’s Big Washington, not little washington). Among the items were pieces of furniture (okay, not a concern to me), four containers of ceiling fans (ditto), 2,100 LCD televisions with counterfeit trademarks, 950 microphones and cables made in China (Bingo!).

Hopefully this is not just a one-off event, a PR stunt, or if the US Border Patrol is ramping up their oversight on counterfeit products. If so, this has been a long time coming. Having been caught, the counterfeiters will likely make more effort to conceal their activities.