AC130 as a deposition camera ALERT. (and AC160 too?)

[ELN614]

(this was mentioned in a different thread but I think it deserves it's own thread)

Time date stamp doesn't sit at the bottom of your image in DV mode.
I am not sure about HD mode but I suspect 99% of legal video guys shoot in SD mode..
sample below. You might want to stick with HMC80 until they fix this (if they ever do).

42773

[Jan_Crittenden]

please know that we are studying this and should have an announcement about in the next week or two.

Thank you for your patience.

Jan

[Deer Film]

I don't know if this would work until they find a fix. And you will probably laugh at me, but I would add the time stamp in editing.
Or put a digital clock on the wall in the background.
Or when you film, position the camera lower, so later you can crop in editing and have the time stamp below.
Hey, don't laugh, but I have done some weird fixes when I get in a bind.
(I doubt this will work for you, but it was fun to try to figure something out. ) :)

[Barry_Green]

I don't know if this would work until they find a fix. And you will probably laugh at me, but I would add the time stamp in editing.
You can't. In legal videography, the reason the court specifies the time stamp is because there is to be no editing.

[ELN614]

please know that we are studying this and should have an announcement about in the next week or two.

Thank you for your patience.

Jan

Well this response shows some promise.:beer:

[ELN614]

A follow up of samples from different cameras displaying it's time date (TD) positioning.
.
First is a Panasonic AG-DP800HP which is a retired camera. Notice the TD is perfectly positioned.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z235/Lee614n/timedate/DP800H.jpg

Next is a JVC X3 which records VHS and is soon to be retired. Notice the TD is also well positioned.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z235/Lee614n/timedate/JVCx3.jpg

Third is the Panasonic HMC80. TD is a tad high but still acceptable.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z235/Lee614n/timedate/hmc80.jpg

Fourth is the AC130/AC160. Way too high to use for Depositions.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z235/Lee614n/timedate/AC130.jpg

Spliced images to show side-by-side.
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z235/Lee614n/timedate/timedateshow4.jpg


I hope Jan might show this thread to the engineer.. so the engineer place the TD correctly. (from seeing real world examples of depos w/ TD)

[Alphacam]

The time stamp is just there to be there, why not put it right down on the bottom?
No need for title safe positioning with modern monitors and PC playback.

[Jan_Crittenden]

We are well aware of the issue and it is under study on how to resolve.

Thanks. Will post back when I have some news.

Thanks,

Jan

[Admir]

How on earth did something this big pass all the controls before releasing a new camera? I mean, I would understand something a bit more hard to notice, but this in literally in front of you =P.

[Jan_Crittenden]

How it happened? When you are looking at cameras, two which act the same, and the one that doesn't, the 250, is right, and checking everything sometimes things become a little automatic. Like you know they have gotten it right on the previous 13 cameras and on the 250, and there are other more burning issues you don't check each one. You don't realize that because they change the screen, that changes the mapping, and that the 250's firmware, processing is sufficiently different, it displays like the 370. If you think this job is easy, consider that it slipped past all of us, not just the US, but everywhere. We all made fine use of the word ASSUME. So a little patience here and it looks like we are closer to resolution.

Thanks,

Jan

[scapsinger]

You don't realize that because they change the screen, that changes the mapping, and that the 250's firmware, processing is sufficiently different, it displays like the 370.

Dadgum! That means that I actually might have possibly known what I was talking about when I guessed "the HMC150 display was a 4:3 screen, and I wonder if somehow or another the current display is based upon the same programming logic (such as "place stamp X pixels from the bottom of display") and so as the code was carried over from the HMC150 maybe somebody forgot to make an adjustment for the new 16:9 LCD screen on the AC160/AC130 cameras"

The evidence of my genius is here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?265317-AC130-not-shipped&p=2462964&viewfull=1#post2462964

Now I'm sure that qualifies me for a free camcorder...right? Right. Maybe at least I get added to Panasonic engineer's Christmas card distro list.

[Gary Huff]

I would take a Christmas card signed by Jan over a new camera any day.

[scapsinger]

I would take a Christmas card signed by Jan over a new camera any day.

Dude, you got something on your nose there...to the left, yeah, right there. Got it.

[ELN614]

Update: Panasonic fixed the Time Date and positioned it to the bottom of the screen just inside the safe zone.

[kwkeirstead]

Re the date/time problem. Nice to hear it is fixed.

Regarding the process - perfectly understandable. My company makes software, we manufacture multiple products for different industries, where mostly only screen labels change. No one could stand to do 100 tests across 8 products, so guess what, some of the most obvious things happen, often on only one of the 8 and you just have to hear about it and then fix it.

We used one software product to do a pilot drug trial in healthcare - with 12 weeks and 8 stages, there were 600,000 permutations and combinations. Impossible to test them all.