The Panasonic TM900 Users Thread

[Peter Rush]

Cheers guys - will try it

[Colin Rowe]

Originally Posted by Mike Prendergast

You can change the Mic setting by:

Set to Manual
Menu - Record Setup - MIC SETUP - [select option]

Pg 74 of the manual describes all the options but Stereo is one choice.

The menu settings are only effective in manual mode. If you shoot in ia the camera seems to default to 5.1. I had this happen when I first got my TM900, set to manual and you can freely choose, and set the audio

[Mike Prendergast]

Colin, That is strange because i set my TM900 MIC to Front and use Auto most of the time and never had to set it again.

[Chris Frishmuth]

Looking for a little help here. I have a HDC-TM900 that is a couple of years old. It has performed great but I ran into a problem yesterday with it. I had plugged it in to my PC to transfer off all the video/still photos as I normally do every few months. After transferring, I usually disconnect the camera, select the playback mode, and use the camera itself to erase all of the video.

Anyway, I moved the 3-position mode selector switch (camera/video/playback) switch to the playback position but it never switches to playback mode (the mode where you get all the thumbnails of the recorded stills and video). I've tried removing the battery, plugging in the camera, etc..but cannot get it to switch to the playback mode.

Has anyone else encountered this? I don't have my manual handy and was also wondering if there was a factory reset pinhole somewhere on the camera? I found the setting in the menu, but wasn't sure if there was a hardware reset switch somewhere on the camera.

If push comes to shove I suppose I can delete the contents of the camera directories via the computer, but it would be nice to have the playback mode functioning.

Any help would be appreciated.

Chris

[Peter Rush]

Does anyone know if it's possible to have the TM900 record to an SD card and then to it's internal memory when the card is full - or indeed record to it's internal memory and then to the SD card when that's full?

Pete

[Riki Rana]

Hello everyone, this is my first post. Have been reading the wealth of info on these forums and thanks to everyone for it.
I have a Panasonic TM900 which I am sure, I have not used to its full capacity. I would be highly obliged if someone could guide me to the best settings. I have Sony Vegas for processing and most of the videos I use are for home use.
I also have a question regarding using the remote control when the camera is tripod mounted. Since the remote control receiver is in the front, if someone is sitting at the back then the remote does not work. I had a old Sony camcorder where the remote receiver was a popup kind and could be operated from anywhere in the room. Is there a wired remote available for this camera ? Thanks

[Guy Caplin]

You can make a wired remote control out of you existing infra-red unit. It is a bit tricky but worth doing. What you need to do is unsolder and remove the infra-red diode from the front of the remote. This will leave two holes in the remote's PCB. Carefully solder and connect a thin flexible two core multi-stranded insulated cable - one core to each hole. This cable needs to be as long as you need to go from the front of the camera to where you intend to use the remote control. Then solder the cable ends to the two wires from infra-red diode that you have removed. Mount the diode close to the front of the camcorder facing the IR receiver hole.

Two points to watch:

You must connect the diode with the correct polarity otherwise it will not work.

It is almost impossible to split the remote plastic casing into it's two halves to get at the diode, so carefully cut the bottom half through with a junior hacksaw, close to the diode.

Also insulate the solder connections to the diode with heat-shrink.

I've used mine this way for over two years with no problems and have extended the cable up to 20 metres.

[Alastair Traill]

Hi Riki
I have not tried modifying the IR remote but I have successfully used two other methods to remotely control a 900. The first way it to use a reflector to direct the IR remote beam onto the camera sensor. I use aluminium for the reflector – even when black anodized it works well. No doubt there are many other materials that reflect IR. The second way uses an IR extender available locally in kit form. The sender picks up the signal from the remote, copies it and transmits to a IR emitter on the end of a cable that can be placed where its output is “seen” by the camera’s sensor. Not quite as neat or as adventurous as Guy’s solution but works OK.

[Riki Rana]

Originally Posted by Guy Caplin

You can make a wired remote control out of you existing infra-red unit. It is a bit tricky but worth doing. What you need to do is unsolder and remove the infra-red diode from the front of the remote. This will leave two holes in the remote's PCB. Carefully solder and connect a thin flexible two core multi-stranded insulated cable - one core to each hole. This cable needs to be as long as you need to go from the front of the camera to where you intend to use the remote control. Then solder the cable ends to the two wires from infra-red diode that you have removed. Mount the diode close to the front of the camcorder facing the IR receiver hole.

Two points to watch:

You must connect the diode with the correct polarity otherwise it will not work.

It is almost impossible to split the remote plastic casing into it's two halves to get at the diode, so carefully cut the bottom half through with a junior hacksaw, close to the diode.

Also insulate the solder connections to the diode with heat-shrink.

I've used mine this way for over two years with no problems and have extended the cable up to 20 metres.

Thanks Guy for your suggestion, I doubt I would be able to do as you suggest as am not so savvy with diy

[Riki Rana]

Originally Posted by Alastair Traill

Hi Riki
I have not tried modifying the IR remote but I have successfully used two other methods to remotely control a 900. The first way it to use a reflector to direct the IR remote beam onto the camera sensor. I use aluminium for the reflector – even when black anodized it works well. No doubt there are many other materials that reflect IR. The second way uses an IR extender available locally in kit form. The sender picks up the signal from the remote, copies it and transmits to a IR emitter on the end of a cable that can be placed where its output is “seen” by the camera’s sensor. Not quite as neat or as adventurous as Guy’s solution but works OK.

Both your suggestions whilst workable, would be difficult for my use as I needed to stop and start recordings using the remote whilst the camera stands on a tripod a distance away in a concert. I wonder if it would be a big problem for Panasonic to implement RF remote controls instead of IR into their cameras?

[Andy Wilkinson]

I've also seen people use a piece of aluminium/tin foil, bent into a position to create a reflector a few cm in front of camera's IR sensor to allow wider coverage of operation with a remote from behind.

[I think from memory it was in the XDCAM EX section, which is another area of this forum I occasionally frequent, and the guy was using it for nature recording - so possibly from some distance away].

Not sure what the limit of the TM900s IR sensor is in ideal situations or what the effect would be on range reduction of using a reflector - but since it's a very simple, cheap to no-cost solution it might be worth at least testing to see if it's reliable enough.

[Riki Rana]

Yes that could be worth trying, thanks for your suggestion

[Riki Rana]

As I have mentioned in my first post, I have been using the Panasonic straight out of the box and have been using AVCHD HA 1920 to record video. I have seen the dedicated 1080/50p button but have not yet ventured there. Is it advisable to shoot in the 1080/50p resolution or should I stick to the HA option. I am using Sony Vegas and now learning Edius to process the files. My viewing of final output is streaming through a Popcorn C300 onto a Full HD plasma TV.
My processing would be done on my laptop which is a Sony Vaio I5 with 8gb ram. Sony Vegas runs beautifully no problems, but I have noticed that the trial version of Edius is unable to play even the AVCHD clips and the sound is distorted and a lot of stuttering. I thought I would have to fine tune the settings, but am not sure if the laptop is good enough.
Mainly holiday videos as am a over enthusiastic amateur.

[Guy Caplin]

Following on from Andy's suggestion, you might try a small concave mirror (shaving mirror) to reflect and concentrate the IR beam onto the sensor.

The other solution is to buy an X920 and download the wifi control app to your smart phone.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Riki Rana

As I have mentioned in my first post, I have been using the Panasonic straight out of the box and have been using AVCHD HA 1920 to record video. I have seen the dedicated 1080/50p button but have not yet ventured there. Is it advisable to shoot in the 1080/50p resolution or should I stick to the HA option. I am using Sony Vegas and now learning Edius to process the files. My viewing of final output is streaming through a Popcorn C300 onto a Full HD plasma TV. Mainly holiday videos as am a over enthusiastic amateur.

Rika,

1080p50 is in a different league resolution wise. I only ever shot HA mode once and it was so much poorer (but I needed the card space). Try a 1080p50 on a few test clips and see how your PC/NLE handles it (in my case PC wise I use Vegas 9E on a 2010 i7 box - handles it no problems - but my main workflow is CS 5.5.2/Mac Pro based). Assuming your computer set-up works OK I doubt you'll ever go back to HA mode...