New Firmware Is Availiable!

Peter Solmssen · August 10th, 2006, 03:26 AM

Just so. We need to know when we're well off. I have been eyeing the Panasonic SDR s100 because it seems to me that Panasonic will have to upgrade it to HD to keep up with the competition. It is a handsome, well-made camera with a beautiful screen, and a nice size. I took some shots with a store model, and loved the image on its screen. When I viewed them on the HDTV, they were quite washed out (despite 3 CCDs) and couldn't compare with the Sanyo HD1 shots taken at the same time, even after allowing for the difference in resolution.
I will try to learn to appreciate the really remarkable films that I have made with the Sanyo, and bide my time until something truly better (and solid state) comes along. My morale has been better since I built a little folding hood for the screen that has eye-level and waist-level magnifyers -- a big help outdoors.

Erick Hanoteau · August 10th, 2006, 04:20 AM

Can you tell us a little bit more about your "folding hood" Peter?

Thanks a lot

Erick

Lynne Whelden · August 10th, 2006, 06:14 AM

I, like you, am keeping fingers crossed on what Panasonic may do with the little S100. It does seem like a natural for them to upgrade it to HD because they're so close as it is. But meanwhile, the Sanyo will hopefully make the necessary changes to stay ahead of the "pocket pack."

Mike Lewis · August 10th, 2006, 07:41 AM

I just had a look at one of the AVCHD samples (ezhqp1) posted in the AVCHD thread. Makes the HD1 look good!
Edit: I used PowerDVD deluxe 7 as the player and renamed the file to .mpg.

Peter Solmssen · August 10th, 2006, 05:02 PM

Erick -- I cut four squares of black cardboard and taped the edges together to form a box that would fold flat. I attached a fine plastic elastic to the front to hold it onto the screen (must be thin so as not to block the mikes). This helps outdoors somewhat; I attached a small magnifying lens to another piece of cardboard and taped it to one top edge of the box so that it can flop over the top, making an eye-level finder that can still fold pretty flat.
All of this was a crude experiment, but is working well enough that I haven't gotten around to improving it. Actually, it works well enough to show that the image on the screen is pretty crude itself.
You can also buy various hoods from www.hoodman.com

Mike Lewis · August 11th, 2006, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Solmssen

You can also buy various hoods from www.hoodman.com

In the UK Camera Bellows (who have been going since 1897 apparently) also do these: here's one aimed at camcorders, with a Velcro loop round the display, but they also do one with a magnifier for digital cameras, and I suppose could put the 2 together:
http://www.camerabellows.com/Video.html
Peter's link didn't work for me, but the Camera Bellows site has the names of their US dealers.

Philip Raymond · August 12th, 2006, 08:59 PM

Mike, I use the Transcend 4 GB card Model TS4GSD150 and it is SDHC compliant according to the manufacturer. I bought it just a month ago and the place where I bought it is still selling it for $99. I haven't had to upgrade the firmware either and it works great.Like Dimitri, mine is a EX model, maybe that has something to do with 4GB cards working without the firmware.

Peter Solmssen · August 13th, 2006, 03:13 AM

My apologies. The link should have been www.hoodmanusa.com

Mike Lewis · August 13th, 2006, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip Raymond

Mike, I use the Transcend 4 GB card Model TS4GSD150 and it is SDHC compliant according to the manufacturer

I had a dig about on the Transcend web site looking for some reference to the SDHC spec in relation to their cards, but I was unable to find one, hence my comment:
http://ec.transcendusa.com/center.as...ard&indexnum=2

Philip Raymond · August 13th, 2006, 07:38 PM

Sorry, my bad, I mis-read SDMI (the music industry compliance) for SDHC. You're right, it isn't an SDHC card, but nonetheless, the Transcend card works great and doesn't require the firmware upgrade. The only reason I would do this upgrade, is if I needed to use a card larger than 4GB. I read on a different user forum that Panasonic will charge around $265 for a 4GB SDHC card. You mentioned it appeared Transcend is not selling this card, you are right about not selling it from their website. I got mine from Newegg.com and they are still selling it and there are no signs that it's a clearance sale either.I guess I'm of the school "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I'm just going to stay with what I'm using. If you're interested, here's the link to Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820163159

Mike Lewis · August 15th, 2006, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip Raymond

Sorry, my bad, I mis-read SDMI (the music industry compliance) for SDHC. You're right, it isn't an SDHC card, but nonetheless, the Transcend card works great and doesn't require the firmware upgrade. The only reason I would do this upgrade, is if I needed to use a card larger than 4GB. I read on a different user forum that Panasonic will charge around $265 for a 4GB SDHC card. You mentioned it appeared Transcend is not selling this card, you are right about not selling it from their website. I got mine from Newegg.com and they are still selling it and there are no signs that it's a clearance sale either.I guess I'm of the school "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I'm just going to stay with what I'm using. If you're interested, here's the link to Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820163159

I've just tried a new Transcend 4GB card with the part number that you've given, and it does work OK, even without formatting, in the updated HD1, even though not marked SDHC.

I'm not going to try to format it though, just in case. I've been trying a 2GB card from a firm called Datawrite, also claimed 150x. I can't get the HD1 to see this as formatted, though it works in my other cameras. I've even tried formatting it with the Panasonic SD card formatter off their web site, in all the option permutations. This still doesn't work. If you format it and then, without powering off, record, then the recordings are fine when you take the card out and look at it in a card reader. But when you put it back in the HD1, or even just switch it to play mode, it wants to format it again, and each time you power the camera off and on, the same thing happens. So Datawrite are a firm to avoid, certainly with the updated firmware.

Philip Raymond · August 20th, 2006, 07:22 PM

Mike, I failed to mention in the last posting, I did in fact format the Transcend 4GB card in the HD1 camera before I ever used the card. This was also when I first bought my HD1 (about 6 weeks ago) and it had never been use before.After formatting, I used my HD1 for the first time and it's worked great ever since. Formatting shouldn't be a concern or an issue with this card.Not to mention (for what it's worth), Sanyo's HD1 manual states a new card should always be formatted first, before using the card or the camera for the first time.

Mike Lewis · August 21st, 2006, 02:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip Raymond

Formatting shouldn't be a concern or an issue with this card.

The concern I had was the fact that I've upgraded my firmware to the version which officially supports SDHC cards, and then it had failed to format some 2GB cards I have. In fact, I have since formatted the Transcend card, and it still works OK, so the problem does lie in the brand of 2GB card I tried (mentioned further back in this thread).

Stefan Hartmann · October 5th, 2006, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimitri Sorokin

Diagonal bug is still here :(

Too bad,
this is a k.o. for me.

I will not buy the HD1 or HD1A until this diagonal bug is fixed !

The camera has otherwise a nice resolution,
but when you look at:

http://www.elecard.com/download/MP4_HD.php

and
http://www.elecard.com/download/mp4-avc.php

you can see, that these files look much much clearer
and like real HDTV...
The HD1 and HD1A make both the display so grainy
with this bug, it annoys me all the time, so I can´t stand
it to see my videos being recorded with this annoying bug...

I hope that they soon have something else out,
otherwise I will wait for the new Hitachi small size AVCHD cams
that were shown in the latest Japanese show report,
where also the new Panasonic AVCHD cam was shown,
but the Panasonic cam is a bit too big for my applications.

Many thanks.

Regards, Stefan.

Paul Nowicki · October 5th, 2006, 08:35 PM

What camera was that bike footage taken with? Looks Good...and that one chick has a real nice ass..

August 10th, 2006, 03:26 AM	#16
Peter Solmssen Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 133	Just so. We need to know when we're well off. I have been eyeing the Panasonic SDR s100 because it seems to me that Panasonic will have to upgrade it to HD to keep up with the competition. It is a handsome, well-made camera with a beautiful screen, and a nice size. I took some shots with a store model, and loved the image on its screen. When I viewed them on the HDTV, they were quite washed out (despite 3 CCDs) and couldn't compare with the Sanyo HD1 shots taken at the same time, even after allowing for the difference in resolution. I will try to learn to appreciate the really remarkable films that I have made with the Sanyo, and bide my time until something truly better (and solid state) comes along. My morale has been better since I built a little folding hood for the screen that has eye-level and waist-level magnifyers -- a big help outdoors.

August 10th, 2006, 04:20 AM	#17
Erick Hanoteau Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Brussels Belgium Posts: 47	Can you tell us a little bit more about your "folding hood" Peter? Thanks a lot Erick

August 10th, 2006, 06:14 AM	#18
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	I, like you, am keeping fingers crossed on what Panasonic may do with the little S100. It does seem like a natural for them to upgrade it to HD because they're so close as it is. But meanwhile, the Sanyo will hopefully make the necessary changes to stay ahead of the "pocket pack."

August 10th, 2006, 07:41 AM	#19
Mike Lewis Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Cheshire UK Posts: 96	I just had a look at one of the AVCHD samples (ezhqp1) posted in the AVCHD thread. Makes the HD1 look good! Edit: I used PowerDVD deluxe 7 as the player and renamed the file to .mpg.

August 10th, 2006, 05:02 PM	#20
Peter Solmssen Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 133	Erick -- I cut four squares of black cardboard and taped the edges together to form a box that would fold flat. I attached a fine plastic elastic to the front to hold it onto the screen (must be thin so as not to block the mikes). This helps outdoors somewhat; I attached a small magnifying lens to another piece of cardboard and taped it to one top edge of the box so that it can flop over the top, making an eye-level finder that can still fold pretty flat. All of this was a crude experiment, but is working well enough that I haven't gotten around to improving it. Actually, it works well enough to show that the image on the screen is pretty crude itself. You can also buy various hoods from www.hoodman.com

August 12th, 2006, 08:59 PM	#22
Philip Raymond New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Evanston, Illinois Posts: 16	Mike, I use the Transcend 4 GB card Model TS4GSD150 and it is SDHC compliant according to the manufacturer. I bought it just a month ago and the place where I bought it is still selling it for $99. I haven't had to upgrade the firmware either and it works great.Like Dimitri, mine is a EX model, maybe that has something to do with 4GB cards working without the firmware.

August 13th, 2006, 03:13 AM	#23
Peter Solmssen Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 133	My apologies. The link should have been www.hoodmanusa.com

August 13th, 2006, 07:38 PM	#25
Philip Raymond New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Evanston, Illinois Posts: 16	Sorry, my bad, I mis-read SDMI (the music industry compliance) for SDHC. You're right, it isn't an SDHC card, but nonetheless, the Transcend card works great and doesn't require the firmware upgrade. The only reason I would do this upgrade, is if I needed to use a card larger than 4GB. I read on a different user forum that Panasonic will charge around $265 for a 4GB SDHC card. You mentioned it appeared Transcend is not selling this card, you are right about not selling it from their website. I got mine from Newegg.com and they are still selling it and there are no signs that it's a clearance sale either.I guess I'm of the school "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I'm just going to stay with what I'm using. If you're interested, here's the link to Newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820163159

August 20th, 2006, 07:22 PM	#27
Philip Raymond New Boot Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Evanston, Illinois Posts: 16	Mike, I failed to mention in the last posting, I did in fact format the Transcend 4GB card in the HD1 camera before I ever used the card. This was also when I first bought my HD1 (about 6 weeks ago) and it had never been use before.After formatting, I used my HD1 for the first time and it's worked great ever since. Formatting shouldn't be a concern or an issue with this card.Not to mention (for what it's worth), Sanyo's HD1 manual states a new card should always be formatted first, before using the card or the camera for the first time.

October 5th, 2006, 08:35 PM	#30
Paul Nowicki New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Posts: 23	What camera was that bike footage taken with? Looks Good...and that one chick has a real nice ass..