Court Reporters – Legal Videographers: How to Change Time in Windows 10 for Syncing

Court reporters working with legal videographers need to sync time before every deposition so that they can provide a transcript with timestamps that match the time on the video that is created by the videographer’s camera’s date/time generator. Videographers have told me that most of the reporters they work with do not know how to change time on their laptops, especially if they are on Windows 10, so the videographers change the time on their cameras.  But I think it is a good idea for the court reporter to know how to change time as well.

There are two problems with changing time on Windows 10. First, it is not obvious or user friendly how to make the change.  Second, Windows 10 does not allow for seconds to be displayed unless you download additional non-Microsoft, third-party software, for example, T-Clock Redux or TClockEx. (I have not vetted either product.)

The first problem is easily dealt with if you follow Method One or Method Two to access the date/time:

Method One:

1. Right click on the Time on the bottom right-hand side of your computer
2. Click on Adjust Date/Time.
3. Click Change under Change Date/Time.

Method Two:

1. Change date and time in PC settings. Access PC setting by going to Start and clicking on PC settings
2. Open Time & Language. You will reach the same window as in No. 3 above.

There are two ways to solve the second problem, not being able to set seconds.

1. I change my time to be the closer choice to the videographer’s time. For example, if the videographer says it is 9:24 and 14 seconds, I would change my time to be 9:24. But if the videographer says it is 9:24 and 48 seconds, I would change my time to be 9:25
2. Change the time to be whatever the videographer’s next minute is on his/her camera. The videographer has to count down to the minute, and then you hit enter, which can seem like a long time if the countdown is from 10 seconds.(I typically choose No. 1 to solve the problem unless the videographer’s camera is almost on the minute. My personality doesn’t sit well with waiting 45 seconds with my finger hovering over the Enter button. I have things to do getting ready for a deposition to begin.)

The main goal of this article is to let court reporters and videographers understand one issue that only comes up in Windows 10 that we need to think through in order to sync time and create the best product for our clients.

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