The Official Panasonic HC-X900M Owners thread - Page 6

Sano,

Not to take anything away from Sean's post, but I might be able to add a little.

I have an earlier cousin of the X900. It shoots the same AVCHD and 1080p files.

The latest version of Premier Elements is 11. It is only $80 compared to the $650 for Premier Pro. This version is the first that specifically includes AVCHD and 1080p support. Project settings are a breeze. When you bring in the first clip, it figures it out and sets it.

With no understanding of video editing, I tried a few books, including the Adobe Classroom in Book for the elements version. For me it was slow going. When I tried lynda.com training, my progress accelerated dramatically. Watching the editing work live is significantly more effective than reading about it.

Premier Pro course: lynda.com Premiere-Pro CS6 Essential Training

Premier Elements course: lynda.com Premiere Elements Up and Running with Premiere Elements 11

Some of the chapter titles are shown in a slightly darker font and are intended to be free previews. Full access for a month is $25.

Good luck! Have fun learning video editing and your new camcorder!

Bill

Bill, my experience has been that I learn a lot better by actually doing things. Going through the "Classroom in a book" series is a long slog, but it worked very well for me.

Nonetheless, I have been thinking about lynda.com - so far I've hesitated because in general I tend to find video clips to work better for me as a quick "how do you do this one specific task" rather than as a way to learn a whole suite. I find that if I don't actually put a piece of instruction into practice I tend to forget about the details by the time I've watched several more segments.

In fact, when I went through the "Classroom in a book" series I not only worked through each example, I also created my own "cheat sheet" of how to do specific tasks, which I find comes in handy quite a lot. Learn by doing and by writing it down - I've found that to be incredibly effective.

So I'm curious about your lynda.com experience. Did you actually repeat the tasks shown by the videos? Are the videos oriented to that sort of learning method? I'd be interested in hearing about that and any other comments you have about how it worked for you.

I got a Lynda training CD for Apple's iMovie program on ebay for $18.00 (though some sellers want alot more $$$). In less than an hour
I was editing and making my first movies. There are also alot of free tutorials on Youtube for various movie editing programs.

Whether you get it cheap on eBay or pay list at lynda.com, what appeals to me is the organized method and the overall quality. Relying on YouTube means you learn in an unorganized, random and slow method.

Bill

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely give some of these different resources a try. At this juncture I figure any knowledge I can gain won't be a bad thing because I don't really know much about the editing process or about individual software. I've been using premiere pro because I started the 30 day trial leading into a monthly subscription (30). It seems to be working well. I have looked into the Lynda.com tutorials and following along works out well as I have a triple monitor setup so I can have the tutorial on one monitor while I work in PP on the other two monitors.

One problem I've been running into with my camera lately has to do with the white balance. I've been testing different color cards under different lighting and last night I found the manual white balance would make the whole picture go a shade of pink. Things looked fine if I set the WB to auto, or used one of the presets, but if I tried to set the WB off a card (white, or a number of other shades including light blue and grey) the picture was a washed out pink. I noticed another fellow earlier in this thread mentioned the same problem, however I didn't notice a solution posted for the problem. I'm planning to go shoot some video this weekend around the city, and I was hoping to work with different cards to see what type of colors I get in outdoor lighting. Anyone experience this same issue? If not maybe I'll just need to double check my camera when I have time. If I figure it out I'll make sure to let you guys know!

Thanks as always for the advice,
Sano

Hi I have just bought x900m upgraded from mini DVtapes which were simple. still playing about with this new one but the sd cards from it won't play on my panasonic tv or pan/blue ray am i doing something wrong? i should add i love gadgets but struggle using them so hope you can help. Many Thanks.

How old is your BluRay player and TV? If they are older than a year or so and if you're recording in 1080p60 mode, they probably won't be able to play it. 1080p60 mode is a new standard that was only adopted last year. If that's the case then you should choose one of the 1080i60 modes to record in instead.

I have a Panasonic BDP220 BluRay player and it plays 1080p60 clips straight from the X900M without any problem.

Sweet! I've just recently added a second monitor to my system, so maybe I should have a look at those tutorials too. I'm comfortable with Premiere Pro, but I'd like to learn a little more about some of the other Master Collection tools such as Encore and After Effects.

I guess one of my questions is whether or not the Lynda.com material lends itself to actually working through examples. For example, do they include project files that you can download so that you can follow along with the video?
Edited by Sean Nelson - 1/24/13 at 9:17am

Generally, the lynda.com courses do have downloadable project files. For access to the increased level of service costs an extra $10, or $35 per month.

If you try a course, I would enjoy feedback.

Bill

I'm not jealous. Really I'm not.

Bill

Thanks, Bill. I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate, so I wouldn't hold my breath - but if I do get around to it I'll post my thoughts.

You know it's not really that hard to add a second monitor, assuming you have the space for it. In fact I bought my current computer in 2009 with a cheap, no-fan graphics card to keep the noise down. A year later I upgraded my 1280 x 1024 monitor to a 1920 x 1200 widescreen unit. It was just about a month ago that I finally clued into the fact that the VGA and DVI ports on the back of my graphics card could both run at the same time supporting two different monitors, so I dragged the old one out of the box and set it up. I leave it turned off most of the time, but when I'm running Premiere Pro or doing some other things where the extra real estate is useful I fire it up and enjoy!

I require a laptop as I get to enjoy some retirement travel. I shopped hard an got a very capable computer with a 1920x1080 17 inch screen. I looked at official laptop "workstations" but settled on one marketed as a "gamer". It is speedy and saved me some money. When I'm in my office I have a new Samsung monitor that plugs into the laptop so I get to enjoy two screens.

Premier Elements will spread onto two screens, but works fine on the laptop by itself.

Bil

Shot some footage of the Perth skyshow. The first 10 mins is in color night view mode which is no good for fireworks. Too overexposed with loss of color.
There is also significant smearing when I move the camera [hand held] and the vision seems to have a bit of a stop start stutter to it.

The rest is in normal mode and is much better - after I get the focus sorted!!

The audio was set to manual level and is overdriven in the first scene but actually - for fireworks - sounded the best because in between the explosions the mic was able to pick up a lot of the reflected sound ambience.
The strange short 'zipping' sounds you can hear are also reflections off the buildings behind the camera, quite a bizzare sound, had me looking around wondering what the heck was going on.

I dropped the level back a bit over the next two scenes, but have tweaked them all in vegas + boost the bottom end from about 150 Hz and below, so crank up the amp, you should be able to feel the shockwaves!!

edit: Have just noticed that youtube is skipping the first 25 seconds???? is that happening to you as well?

hmmm... seems to only happen on that video???? But if I drag the slider back to the start, it plays from the start, so......????
Edited by HD pixels - 1/31/13 at 2:26am

Hi,

I would appreciate to know from panasonic X900 users if this camera can delivery great video when recording indoor interviews under average light conditions from the location (without extra video light-stands).
The locations are work places/offices mainly.
I have been using a DSLT camera (Sony A57) to record interviews, which deliveries great video quality. The problem is that the interiews are long ones (2 hours) and it is annoying to stop the interview each 25 minutes (camera limitation). Also, the footage is always on risk of sensor overheating when temperature is higher (most of the time, since I live in a tropical country).
Thank you in advance!
Cadu

As far as lighting conditions of an office, it should do a fine job, but it will split your footage into 30 min long files. Some reported little chunks of footage missing from the beginning of those splits, but I didn't notice any of that with my X900. However, I can't be sure about continuous speech during those splits. It may be slightly broken. Maybe someone else can pitch in with their observations.
As for the heat being in tropical area, I'm afraid your camera WILL overheat during long runs. Under those conditions a pro camera is a must IMO.

Welcome to the forum Cadu!

I don't have a 900. I have a previous version, but almost the same.

A few months ago, I used it to record a long interview, outside, in direct sun on a hot summer day. It was hot enough that some of the people were uncomfortable. If you are in an office and the people are surviving, the camera will do fine. Video cameras are made to do long videos without over heating.

The audio drops mentioned in the previous post have never been a problem for me. Due to file format limitations the files are limited in size. (I think it is 4GB.) It is not based on time. For interviews, you can shoot at lower quality settings and there can be much longer videos in the 4GB files. The occasional reports of audio drops seem to be tied to software. The Panasonic software that comes with the camera is good for a lot of things, including knitting the multiple files together. My understanding is that the camera records to a buffer and continues to record to that buffer while one file closes and the other opens. Therefore, nothing is lost.

Regarding office lighting, the camera should be able to automatically adjust the white balance. If you don't like what you see, it can easily be adjusted manually.

Good luck!

Bill

Thanks everybody for replies!!!

With my A57, the files are split in 2GB blocks. So, at the end of an interview I have plenty of split files. If I copy the files from the card and just add them sequentially in the time line of a editing softwer (e.g. Sony Vegas), there will be "little chunks of footage missing", with a clear lack of audio during the files transition. However, AVCHD files maintain in their headers information that allow the video editing software (and even the software that comes with the A57) to import and join all the split files of same recording session into a big one seamless file. After that no missing footage is realized. I hope AVCHD files from X900 works in this way as well. I will try X900 and let you know about this matter.

There are two other points I would appreciate further discussion from you:

a) I accessed some reviews / forum discussions (including this thread!) and it seems X900 has a fan which produce audible noise in quiet places, disturbing somehow the shot. Also, to complete this “noise” issue, it is mentioned in the Panasonic Manual if the camera is attached to the power ac, it is expected that some noise should happen (p.13=> When the unit is connected with the AC adaptor, sometimes noise may be heard depending on the microphone type. In this case, please switch to the battery for the power supply and the noise will stop).
This problem of noise (fan + power ac) has concerned me. In the interviews I use lapel mics, recording the audio externally. But the camera will be always connected in AC power, what could generate noise which could be recorded by the lapel somehow. Besides, to my overall camera usage, trips, etc. I intend to use the internal mic.
=> How critical/severe is this noise issue (fan and/or power ac)?

b) Panasonic is advertising that the new 3MOS sensor from X920 is delivering 50% less noise than the X900. It is attractive for me, since I don't use light-stands in interviews and sometimes the location light is less then ideal. Also, interviewees tends to use black suits, what is a potential noise generator. However, I am having the chance of taking a like-new X900M for $450, what economically speaking is a great deal. But maybe saving in the present could mean lose in the future!
=> Do you have expectations that the X920 will really excell X900, in order that the X920 should be a "must have"?

Thanks again,
Cadu

The X900 works perfectly for long video clips using the AVCHD file/folder structure. I've seen no noticeable glitches in video or audio at the file switches, regardless of whether I import the footage into Premiere Pro as "AVCHD" (in which case it's imported as a single long clip) or whether I go into the STREAMS folder of the SD card and import each file separately as its own clip and then just butt them together one after the other.

I haven't noticed any noise running the X900 on AC power, but I may not be quite as critical as some. If this is an issue then you always have the option of recording audio on an external recorder such as a Zoom H1, which lasts 10 hours on two rechargeable AAA batteries. That's often a better solution anyway if there's ambient noise and you need to get the mic closer to the speaker. I've found it very easy to drop H1 audio tracks onto my Premiere Pro timeline and synchronize them with the video from the X900.

I'm not familiar with the X920, but the one thing I'd watch out for is whether or not its larger sensors mean that they've changed the specs of the lens. Don't forget that for low-light performance the maximum aperture of the lens is just as as important as the sensor size, and it's harder to build a fast, wide-range zoom lens for a larger sensor than a smaller one.

Hi guys.

I stumbled onto this thread from the great Googles... I have a Pana HC-X900M as a tryout, to replace a now close-to-dying Sony HDR-SR12. I'm happy with the picture, but something is driving my bananas and I was wondering if I missed a setting or if this is by design: I cannot get the camcorder to keep it's settings from operation to operation, in particular the zoom level.

See, I use this CC in a "studio" setup, and it's a real pain in the butt to have to re-frame my picture every time, not to mention all focus and color balancing. But specifically the zoom... Because of it my picture isn't framed the same way every time. Before you ask, because of the way I'm setup I can't bring the CC closer to subject unfortunately.

So, again, is this by design? If so, it's a MAJOR bring down. If not, any idea how I can fix it?

Lastly, if I missed it in the thread, I apologize but you all have very constructive and beefy posts so I skimmed through it all, at best

Thanks in advance.

MrDenis

Unfortunately, there's no way to keep the zoom. Once you power up after powering down, you zoom setting is gone.

I don't know if the X900 is the same as my TM900, but if I go into the setup menu and disable the "Quick Start" feature my zoom is retained when opening and closing the lcd.

You Sir are a genius! Actually, Quick Start was already off, but I saw another option called Quick Power On, and sure enough, once turned off, the zoom level was persistant!

Thank you for the help guys. Now I just hope this will also work for WB and other settings.

MrDenis

unintentionally provoked this problem, I was fiddling around with it and it was working better the the autos and pre sets, and soddenly the only thing I get now is a PINK saturated WB in manual, other modes wok fine, I tried pointing at grey, white and even black and cant get rid of it, also tryd Initial settings also no success, should I contact Panasonic???

Did you try resetting all the settings to default?

Yes, I've hit INITIAL SETTINGS several times, heres it cycling thru WB modes, the pink is Manual.
Seems like it's lost GREEN and BLUE!?
http://youtu.be/VTm9E37aC0w
thanks for finding the time to reply...

Pretty weird! I've never seen anything like this. You might want to go here and try Panasonic Live Chat in Contact Us.

http://www.shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/HC-X900M#assistance You'll see Product Assistance on the right side. Click there, and you'll see Live Chat.

Thanks, but that chat line is for US only, I was directed to the Portuguese support center, they’re picking up the camera Monday from my home.
I’ll keep you guys up to date with this process, I tried to have them send me the firmware to flash it but they didn’t want that so I’m stuck camera less for who knows how log

Sorry, I didn't know you were in Portugal. From what I know, Panasonic cams are not firmware upgradeable, and it's a real pity because Sony, Canon and Samsung do upgrade their camcorders.
Anyways, I wish you good luck with your repairs!