how can i have the date and time show up on my canon vixia hf m50

[jerrysulew]

Cannot get the date and time to show up onscreen in ANY videos on my new vixia HF M50. Can somebody help me on this?

[Tim]

Hello Jerrysulew, 

You can show the date and time using the Captions option.  The process is described below.

Add a new level of enjoyment to your scenes by decorating them. You can add animated graphics, stamps and even your own freehand drawings. The supplied stylus pen will be especially useful for decorating scenes.

You can decorate scenes as they are being recorded.

IMPORTANT

• The screens and settings that appear may differ depending on the model you are using.

NOTE

You can open the decoration screen when the LCD panel is stowed with the LCD screen facing away from the camcorder. In such case, make sure [Autostart Decoration] is set to [On].

Decorating Scenes while Recording

1. Touch [ 
 ].

2. Touch [Decoration].

3. The decoration mode screen appears.

On the decoration screen, there is a canvas where you can draw freely, and a toolbar with tools lined up for creating your drawings.

Select the tool you want to use from the toolbar, and make drawings on the canvas.

Icon	Tool name	Function
	Pens and Stamps	Select the type of pen or stamp and its color. You can also save a canvas or load a previously saved canvas.
	Animated Stamps	Select animated stamps to add to your decoration.
	Captions	Add the date, date and time, story title* or story theme* as a caption that will be included in the recording.
	Image Mix**	Choose one of 27 different frames to add onto the canvas. Image mix can be used in combination with the pens, stamps and animated stamps.
	Freeze screen**	In recording mode: pause the live video. Touch [   again to restore the live video. You can add decorations to and record the frozen image. In playback mode: pause the playback. Touch [   ] to resume playing back the scene.
	Minimize toolbar	Minimize the toolbar to the top of the screen to view almost all of the canvas. Touch [   ] to restore the toolbar.

* Not available in 
 mode.
**Not available in 
 mode and for MP4 movies.

4. Use a tool from the toolbar as explained in the following procedures.

5. Press

You can add decorations even while recording a scene.

6. Touch [ 
 ] to exit the decoration screen.

NOTE

For AVCHD movies, decorations will appear in the thumbnails of scenes in the [ AVCHD Movies] index screen and gallery. For MP4 movies, decorations will not appear in thumbnails.

To use [Pens and Stamps]

1. Touch [ 
 ].

The [Pens and Stamps] screen will appear.

2. Select the desired pen or stamp from [Tools].

• Select Colors.

Touch [ 
 ].

Select white or black from [Colors].

Alternatively, you can touch [ 
 ] and select a color from the displayed colors.

3. Draw freely on the canvas.

Touch [ 
 ] > [Clear] > [Yes] to clear the canvas and start again.

NOTE

The canvas with decorations can be deleted, saved, and loaded.

• You can save the decorated canvas right after a decorating action.
• If the memory that contains the canvas is initialized, the canvas will be deleted.

To use [Animated Stamps]

1. Touch [ 
 ].

2. Touch one of the control buttons.

3. Touch anywhere on the canvas to place the selected animated stamp. You can also drag some animated stamps to a different location.

NOTE

When the [Animated Stamps] tool is used, the date/time will not be displayed or recorded.

To use [Captions]

1. Touch [ 
 ].

2. Touch [Date] or [Time].

When recording a scene using Story Creator, you can also select [Title]

(the story&&&&&&&&&s title) or [Story Scene] (the story scene category).

3. Select the desired text settings and touch [ 
 ].

• Touch [ 
   ] (white text on dark background), [ 
   ] (white text) or [ 
   ] (black text).

Touch the caption and drag it to the desired location.

To use image mix

1. Touch [ 
 ] to open the [Select Image] screen.

2. Touch [ON].

3. Touch [+] or [-] to select a different image mix frame.

 / 
 / 
 / 
 / 
 / 
 / 
 / 

You can touch one of the memory icons at the bottom of the screen to read image mix frames saved on a different memory (When recording on or playing back scenes from a memory card).

Touch [ 
 ] to mix the selected frame with the live video.

NOTE

• When [Rec Media for Movies] is set to [ 
   ] (the built-in memory), you will not be able to select image mix frames saved on a memory card (For camcorders that have internal memory only).
• For AVCHD movies, image mix cannot be selected during playback or while converting a scene to standard definition (For camcorders that have internal memory only). Select the image mix during playback pause or before starting the conversion.

To use freeze screen

1. Touch [ 
 ].

• The control button will change to [ 
   ] and the picture will be frozen.
• Decorate the screen using the other tools in the palette.

2. Press the

• The decorations created will be recorded with recording scenes that are on pause.
• Press the

Touch [ 
 ]. The screen will return to normal.