The Official Panasonic HDC-TM900 Owners Thread

I'd like to know what all the diferences are between the TM700 and the new TM900 if anyone has an extensive list.

I would like if the 7 hours battery of the tm300 would work on the tm900

Thank you

Panasonic told me today that the 2 batteries they are offering are a 1hr 25min standard battery and an extended life battery good for 3hrs 50 min.

They might very well come out with bigger ones later but so far this is all that they are talking about now.

The other model batteries likely will not work and probably have a chip inside that will make certain they stay incompatible.

Differences that I know of:

Bigger LCD- 3.5" with better resolution vs 3.0
New Improved Hybrid Stabilization w/Active mode..2x better according to Panasonic.
New Crystal Engine Processor..reduces noise by 45% more
Ability to Record 3D (with optional lens)
20X intelligent zoom vs. 18x

There may be more, but these are the main ones if I remember correctly.

Congratulations!
Mine is due in on Friday.
Here is the extended battery and the charger for charging without the camera.
I'm sure prices will drop eventually. Slated for April availability.

Get the PS3 that has the biggest hard drive, it's worth it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...TERY_PACK.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...VW_VBN260.html

You can always put a bigger HD in it if you wish to. It's very easy to do. I have a 750GB HD in my PS3. I think I paid around $50.00 for it.

Well I received my 900 today...yes, I ordered the 900. So here are my initial thoughts on how this compares to the CX700:

* Outdoor quality of the 900 is significantly better than the CX700. Colors are richer, more saturated and yet look very lifelike. The CX700 by comparison looks a bit washed out and pale. Additionally the 900 provides greater detail & sharpness than the CX.

* AWB works better on the 900 and does not shift like I saw on the CX700.

* The autofocus is more stable on the 900 and doesn't get wonky as you begin a zoom or pull back from a full zoom.

* The VF on the 900 is larger than the Panasonic 700, a pleasant surprise. By comparison to the letterboxed CX700, it's almost huge...well not huge, but surely larger.

* The LCD on the 900 is very nice, the extra 1/2" of real estate does make a difference.

* Low light is definitely better on the Sony. Images are much cleaner in very low light if you're stuck in a really poorly lit area. If low light is your thing, the Sony is the better choice.

* Manual options of these two has been discussed already.

* Data rates can get extraordinarily high. I saw them peak in excess of 30mbps and the PS3 does not like that. For some reason my clips gave the PS3 much more trouble than Mark's clips. I have no idea why.

* I'm not crazy about the menu system in the 900, I think the 700 was more straightforward.

On the downside, I've got an annoying rhythmic 'beep' that begins about 2 seconds into each clip. It's a very low level beep, but it can be heard and it follows a pattern almost like a heart monitor. I've heard it with autofocus disengaged or engaged, AGC on or off and I've heard it whether played back from the camera or the PS3. I'm suspecting it may be a problem with my individual unit, but I'd like to hear from other owners once they get theirs. I can't seem to upload full 1080p clips from the 900 to Vimeo. I get a 'failed' each time I try and I wonder if it's not that very high data rate that Vimeo doesn't like.

Overall a very nice bump up in quality from the Panny 700 and in conditions other than low light, definitely better IMO than the CX700.

How does it compare with low light from the TM700?

To be honest tingham, I don't have a good recollection of how the 700 performed in the same areas. I believe the 900 is less noisy, but when I shot in really low light, there was still a fair amount of noise.

The Sony did a better job, but at the same time the Sony had considerable trouble holding focus. So manual focus is a must in those situations. The 900 didn't begin to have that trouble.

Thank u, as I saied before the sony cx550 was better that the panasonic hs350 in low light, expecially if u turn on on the sony the low light setting....I love instead the backlight compensation od the panasonic....I wish sony would have that...and I loved panasonic rich colors....I think I am going for the canon this time.....I am just courious how the cx700 is in low light compared to the cx550.....maybe I should sell my cx550 and buy the cx700, and the canon.....for the panasonic, my drag down are:

1) the low light

2) the battery chip that does NOT allow me to use home made extended long life batteries

The Canon may well trump them all when its finally released. It just may have the best balance between good & low light performance. We shall see...assuming this thing is ever released.

Sure hope that's the case. I need a cam with true manual audio adjustments, great in low light & a lanc jack is mandatory. Sony fails with audio, Panny has no lanc & is a mediocre performer in low light.

My TM900 does not have any beep. Likely a defective unit, probably power supply.

All my original 108060p videos did upload to Vimeo eventually, but I had a few failures before they "took." Others have reported that experience. The uploader software that Vimeo offers helped.

Mark, I do have the uploader, but thus far it hasn't worked.

What makes you think it's the power supply?

I think I remember some other other camera model in which early units had beeping, and it was the power supply.

Anyway, it's not fixable by the user. You should exchange it straightaway. The unit I was using had racked up almost 30GB's of video, and no beeping or other strange noises heard from the camera or on any sound track, even in silent room videos.

What rotten luck (but could be something that afflicts other units).

Yeah, I'll need an exchange on this puppy. Otherwise the PQ is really top-notch.

My pocket just cry when I think that I am going to spend 1500 $ for interlaced videos....I really do not understand why they did not implemented progressive nad what I am going to lose using once again an interlced camera over a progressive...so far I always used interlaced camcorders :

ie.. canon hv10, sony xr550, panasonic hs350

Yes, I totally agree with you and wish Canon implemented 60p, but for what I'm using it for, the priorities mentioned above are more important. I think the Vixia HF G10 will drop in price since the competition is quite a bit lower.

It's funny, a friend of mine actually prefers the interlaced video because he was not happy with his PS3 not being able to play videos from the TMV700. He also doesn't like editing 1080p either, so he's hoping the Canon is a winner.

Editing is one thing but playing - one can get a $120 Sony Bluray player: it has a usb port and plays 1080p effortlessly off a usb stick. Or you can get one of those media boxes, around $100; most of those play the files fine.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sony-BDP-S...layer/13984867

It does take a little upgrading to realize the potential of progressive.

For cheap editing: tsMuxer (free) allows you to cut and combine, all without re-rendering, 1080p clips. Thus, no loss in quality and instant results. All of the TM900 videos I uploaded were assembled with this software on a laptop.

Wow Ken, the shipping companies must love you.

I think it's interesting that The Panny is better in bright light but the Sony is better in low light yet has trouble with the focus. That makes it kind of a wash. My wife prefered the TM700/900 footage everytime over the Sony even when she didn't know which camera it came from.

When mine comes in I'll check for a beep, is it possible you have a setting buried in the menu that is doing that?

What did your PS3 do when the data rate climbed?

I think Canon will be the winner for low light performance this year, they seemed to have focused on that.

Ken: here is something I am really curious about, and I think only you now can answer this: how does the intelligent zoom on the TM900 compare with ETC mode on the Gh2. As I recall you have the GH2.

These features seem to employ the same technology, and have the same claim of extended zoom without resolution loss. I have been impressed with Intelligent Zoom on the TM900, and it appears not noticeably (that's good) in all of my videos.

Can you check this out?

I think it's funny that last year Panasonic had the TM700 and this year Sony has the CX700 and Panasonic has the TM900. I have trouble remembering which is which is the 700 the TM or the CX.

It sounds like the TM900 is working really well for you. I hope mine does too.
My wife has tiny hands so she probably won't be able to use it very well either.

I had trepidations about the Sony but figured this year they will nail it. but I guess not.

Friday I am so looking forward to testing the TM900 out. My wife likes to model clothes so I might do some videos of her doing that.

Hi Mark, I don't have the GH2, although I do recall someone posting a lot about it. I believe it was Paulo Teixeira who has the GH2, but I could be wrong.

I was just taking the piss, don't worry about it.

I do think it's funny all the 700 and 900 and how similar they all sound, kinda reminds me of Microsoft in the early days.