Re: AG-AC160 - Time/Date stamp
 

James,

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

Re: AG-AC160 - Time/Date stamp
 

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.