Reporting for Next Firmware Update for HMC150

Peter Wayne

Peter Wayne

Member
Any idea when is the next firmware for HMC releasing?

I am waiting so many days in Hope of getting some good updates for HMC150.

My thoughts for future Firmware Update:

1. Safety Zone of 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio (like Canon A1)
2. Slowest Shutter Speed - at least 1/4th instead of 1/15th.
3. Interval Recording (in Video or in Pictures)
4. Photo Shoot (like HMC40)
5. [If Possible] SD recording to MPEG2 (like in new Sony NXCAM)

Is there any way to Report the Panny about what we want from Update?
or should we start Petition for our most essential requirements?
 
I can pretty much guarantee you that none of that will happen.

With only the rarest of exceptions, firmware updates do not add new features to the cameras. They are used for bug fixes, not new features.

New features come out on new cameras. If there were to be an HMC150A, then those might be possible.

I encourage folks to write to Panasonic and tell them what you want to see. I'm just saying that historically it just doesn't happen that manufacturers release new features in firmware updates in professional video cameras.
 
Barry, Panasonic Website only has Inquiry section to ask. No section to tell something or complain.
Let me know if there is one.
 
Just because Sony makes lame decisions, does not mean that Panasonic should follow. MPEG-2 SD @ 9 Mbit/s ? This is DVD-video quality. This is what $200 camcorders record to. If anyone cared to compare video from DV and MPEG-2 consumer camcorders from the same price group, MPEG-2 camcorders are always inferior. Sony could flank Panasonic by offering DV (or DVCAM, does locked audio make sense for tapeless?) recording, providing clear upgrade path from DV to AVCHD, similar to HDV, which allows recording in DV. Instead, Sony simply reused codecs and parts from its consumer lineup. Sony offers no clear format upgrade path, none. Just a bunch of different formats that have incompatible codecs and media. Even its tapeless recorders for HDV cameras, all two of them, have different recording formats. NXCAM is not a step forward, it is step to a side. I am wondering when Sony will blow up because of tangential forces its product "lineup" produces?
 
Peter, 2.40:1 safety zone and slow shutter 1/4th, looks like possible things to me.

Interval Rec is most liked thing in such case, but adding any such feature may completely change the specifications of the camera.

Photo Shoot is not possible because, the camera is not physically ready for clicking photo, or you may need to click photo by user Button.
In such case Panasonic have to add some image formats such as JPEG or TIFF.

About SD Mpeg2, don't expect anything like this from Panasonic HD.

And According to Barry's experience, don't expect any 'NEW' feature via Firmware update.
 
Peter Wayne said:
Barry, Panasonic Website only has Inquiry section to ask. No section to tell something or complain.
Let me know if there is one.
Click to expand...
Well, fortunately, this forum is a home for the Panasonic USA brand manager for the HMC150, Jan Crittenden Livingston. So if you get a list of requests going, we can make sure she sees it.
 
Peter Wayne said:
Is there any way to Report the Panny about what we want from Update? or should we start Petition for our most essential requirements?
Click to expand...

You bought the camera with it's current feature set. Are you willing to pay 'more' for the added features? If so, how much more? If not, why would they add features for free when you were willing to buy it without them?

They will/should save the new new features for new models that means you part with more cash. This is the reality of running a business.

I bought 3 (three) HMC151 cameras now ( to run in a multi cam setup) and don't expect to see any new features. Any they choose to give me will be welcome, but I bought all three based on the feature set they already had.
 
Exact said:
If not, why would they add features for free when you were willing to buy it without them?

They will/should save the new new features for new models that means you part with more cash. This is the reality of running a business.
Click to expand...
Yep. That's how it works.

In three years of having an HVX200, no new features were ever released. In a year with an HPX170 and HMC150, no new features have been released. Bug fixes, yes -- fixes for the E series P2 cards or the Class 10 SDHC cards... but new features? Nope.
 
Not including DV recording on the AVCCAM/NXCAM cameras is a big mistake, IMHO. AFAIK, BBC used the Z1 for widescreen DV videos because the PD150/170 and the DVX did not have native widescreen mode. The new Sony PD175 confirms that there is still need for DV recording. Panasonic could make inwards into quarters of those who need DV now, but want to upgrade to HD later.
 
I kinda like not having SD. I can say to the other camera users.. "oh no, my camera ONLY shoots HD". lol, no I am not that snobby...really... :D

All joking aside, I could see them adding new safety's. Wasn't there a firmware update years ago that added 16:9 safety zones to some of the DVCPRO (SD shoulder mounts) line? It's been a while but I could have sworn so.

As for other changes (within the reality of the hardware etc). While in the past we have not seen feature additions in firmware, with this market changing at lighting speed I wouldn't be surprised if we did see some additional features. I also wouldn't be surprised if we didn't.

Unlike some manufacturers, panny tends to release cameras with feature sets that work, not cams that are released as large scale beta tests (like the way MS releases Windows...).

Like I said though, this price point (which is key over the p2 cams) is getting really competitive. Add in the <groan> DSLR's and you can see the need to stay competitive in a more timely fashion than Panasonic is used to (Half priced vari cams anyone? And that's in the slower changing High end pro line!).

Now whether Panny deals with fast changing competition by releasing new features, or just releasing new cams sooner or just staying by their existing release periods (what? roughly 3 years per cam?) is likely only to be known only by the executives of the company.

Escalating release schedules costs money. If the sales are still going strong, then why bother releasing sooner, as long as when you do release a new cam it is at the forefront, and works out of the box.
 
I'd like panasonic to improve framerate control e.g. 2 , 4, 12 ,...,24, 26 , 28 , 48 ,.... etc etc

its not a feature really its not :)
 
On the HPX300 you can; the DRS is an on/off setting on a user button. You assign the level in the scene file, then you turn it on/off in the user button.

On the HMC150, you can program two scene files to be exactly the same, with the only difference being that one has DSR on, the other off. Then you can toggle between them by rotating the scene file dial. Not the exact same as pressing a user button, but pretty much the same.

With the understanding that DRS cannot change during a recording; you have to stop recording before the DRS change takes effect.
 
2.40:1 aspect ratio Safety Zone is very essential for me and also to many others.

So, can anyone from Panasonic tell us when exactly the next update release will be?
Can we get to know the date of release in advance?
 
my request is not a new feature, but a modification of an existing feature: please add a red outline to the EVF DETAIL feature that the cam already has. This would make judging DOF focus on a soft background so much easier than the focus graph (which is only useful if the everything in the frame is in focus)

marshall.jpg
 
New features are sometime added in firmware updates. Just look at the Canon 5D markII. They added manual control to their video mode.

Last month, they also announced that they will add 1080 24p and 25p next year to the already 1080 30p mode.
 
please add a red outline to the EVF DETAIL feature
Click to expand...
Been clamoring for that for years. They actually added it to their monitors, but haven't added it to the cameras yet. Keep askin', it's such an obvious one they just have to do it sooner or later...
 
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