Timecode question

Excuse the elementary level. I shot half a tape, turned off the camera, then shot the second half the tape. The first half was already captured and edited. When I go to Log and Capture the second half, no timecodes show to put in and out points to capture it. I figured that FCP was confused because the timecode started again and so I have duplicates of each setting. So two questions, how do you avoid this when shooting and turning off the camera? Does everyone buy a separate tape no matter how much tape is used? And how can I get FCP to log and capture the second half of my tape? This must be simple to you guys. Thanks.

Welcome Jeffrey,
Not sure I have an answer why you're not seeing timecode. But...as a workaround (not sure it would even work)..try capturing with an altered 'reel' name. IOW, if you originally captured off this tape with a name of CAMTAPE1...then try putting the tape in and giving it a reel name of CAMTAPE1A...this may 'trick' FCP into recognizing the timecodes that could be similar as coming from a different source tape.
I'm not familiar with how FCP file structures work in this regard, but maybe other 'gurus' can verify whether this procedure will work or not.
As to your other concern about avoiding timecode breaks to begin with.
Here are my tips for 'best shooting practices', for avoiding timecode breaks...particularly when editing in NLE's...
- Get in the habit of always rolling 5 sec. of tape before action starts and 5 seconds of tape after action ends.
- Try not to turn the camera off.
- Try not to do 'searches' on tapes that are being recorded on.
- If the camera is turned off, or you need to search back into the tape, make sure you do NOT roll past the end of the last recorded frame...preferably stop a couple of seconds prior to the last recorded frame, and begin recording there.
- If your camera is capable of generating Bars, try to record 10 seconds of bars in between scene or location changes.
-if you have to pop the tape out of the camera at any point, follow the above listed practice of cueing up to a couple of seconds prior to the last recorded frame, and start recording there to pick up continous timecode.
-Really, really try not to... (IOW - DON'T) use 'free-run' timecode. It will make editing an absolute nightmare...particularly for NLE's.
Sorry for the long post, hope it helps.
Kevan

Similar Messages

Navigate timeline with timecode question

Hello all...
I'm an Avid user looking at Premiere for certain projects. Last night as I was watching a tutorial the tutorialist selected the timeline panel (clicked inside of it) and then entered a timecode, which automatically selected the timecode display in that panel, he then hit enter and the CTI jumped to the time code.
He said that it was not necessary to select the timecode display. He also did this several times. He was using CS5...I have CS5.5.
It does not work for me. It would be very good if it did. I like to use the mouse as little as possible.
Does anyone have any further information on this feature? Does it actually work? Was it only CS5?
Thank you.
Joe

Are you saying that you highlight the timecode or just the timeline panel? Sounds to me like you're saying the tc itself. Because if I click on the tc itself, I can type timecode in there as well. What I'm talking about is:
Say you're working in the timeline panel (therefore it is selected - just the panel), and you just start typing numbers (ie, timecode that you'd like to jump to)...does that do it for you? In this tutorial, he said that it wasn't necessary to highlight the tc istelf. Just as long as the panel is selected. And he did it several times. Though it may have been through the magic of editing. It's a Lynda.com video titled "0203 Understanding timecode"...at 2:13 of the video he does it for the first time...for anyone who might have that tutorial series.
I actually think that I should upload the video to youtube to demo that I'm not crazy.
I just checked youtube and I don't have to upload it, someone else has.
Check out starting from around 2:10 ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvllKGxyFmI

Premiere Pro 5.5 timeline timecode question

Does Premiere Pro 5.5 output TC on HD-SDI when using Kona 3. There have been reports by users that when recording the HD-SDI output (like to a Ki Pro Mini) that they are not seeing any Timeline Timcode coming out the spigot. Any Adobe folks or others know if this is true of false?

As a preemptory response...yes I am in touch with AJA engineers as well to try and get an answer to this question

Two short questions on timecode

Hello,
I've got two short ones on timecode.
1) These days, I get quite a lot of HDV tapes. Since most of my other footage is shot on DV, I convert HDV to DV. However, when capturing that footage, I do get lots and lots of timecode breaks (I capture whole tapes), but the TC seems to be fine in the HDV player (Sony HVR-ME10). Does anybody else find that HDV tapes have TC breaks?
2) Totally unrelated, I just read that using Capture Now means that FCP ignores the TC that is on the tape and creates its own on. Is that true? Or is it true only when I choose Device Settings>Non-Controllable Device? I'm just curious, and also it could one day get me in trouble....
If anyone has any thoughts on these two questions, I'd be thankful.
And now the best part of the day: LUNCHBREAK!!!
Cheers,
Colin
PowerMac G5 2.5GHz DP and PowerMac G4 500MHz DP
PowerMac G5 2.5GHz DP and PowerMac G4 500MHz DP

It all depends on the project. I have a client who will mark up a transcription of an interview, numbering sections in the intended order. I zip thru the clip putting in markers, naming them with the appropriate numbers (and marking an out for the marker - a very useful feature). I simply turn the markers into subclips (by dragging them into another bin), do a sort by name and drag to the timeline. Very, very fast.
Oh and a hint. If you're intending to do a numeric sort, always add leading zeros to your clip names (if you have 99 clips, make sure 1 thur 9 are number 01 - 09 - if you have a 100 to 999 clips, make sure you add another leading zero).
FCP has many, many possible workflows. In my old avid days, I used to obsess about figuring out the fastest way to do things. Now, I concentrate more on doing the creative stuff. But everyonceinawhile, I do have a aha! moment.

TimeCode Generation Filter question

My client needs me to burn a timecode onto the video so that can make edits and comments relating to specific times in the video. I am using FCP 5.1.4.
I have so far done it this way:
Generated a 15 minute slug.
Put the TimeCode generation filter on that slug.
Adjusted the crop of the slug so that it's cropped to the same size as the timecode numbers.
Is there a cleaner way to do this? I tried setting the opacity of the slug to 0% but that make the timecode invisible as well.
Any ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated.
-- Joshua

James M. wrote:
you need to nest your entire sequence and add the TC gen to that...
select the whole timeline and press option+C to nest.
I have to admit I haven't done a lot with nesting so if you wouldn't mind, let me clarify how this nesting is working to make sure I'm doing it correctly:
I select my entire sequence, called "module 1", all clips, etc. and then nest them. I'll name this sequence "nested module 1".
It creates a new sequence, named above, which I continue to do all my editing in, etc. but when I want to apply my timecode filter I do it on "module 1".
Question: When I make changes to the "nested module 1" sequence, does it continue to automatically update my "module 1" length, etc. In other words, is that relationship btwn the two sequences a snapshot or a live-connection?
Thanks!
-- Joshua

Odd questions re: timecode generator

Hello
I have a rather weird question concerning a workflow that im sure most on this forum do NOT use.
I have an edit consisting of animated qt .movs, 1280x720 @ 24fps, with NONE compression. Hefty, lossless files. There is also audio, though this is inconsequential to my predicament.
This edit needs to go out to someone @ 720x480, letterboxed with running timecode on the bottom bar. It needs to be compressed to a QT .mov with MotionJPEGA compression.
So, heres my current method, used many times, but highly quirky and VERY slow.
First I take my 1280x720 footage into a 720x480 sequence @ 24fps with mojpegA compression, obviously causing all to need rendering down. On top of that, I put color bars (black), cropped to the correct size, to letterbox the animations at the top and bottom of the frame. Then on the lower letterbox bar, I apply a timecode generator filter.
The problem comes here. With the filter applied, I then stretch out the clip its applied to, in a track over top of my animations to the end of the sequence (like 17 minutes long). Then everything gets rendered down (over the period of like 3-5 hours) and we have a clean, 720x480, letterboxed and timecoded sequence. Fantastic, right? Well, inevitably, a change will be made prior to export and a single couple of seconds will need to be updated under the bars and generator. As soon as anything under those tracks is adjusted, WHAMO, it needs rendering again, for the ENTIRE sequence.
is there a way to go about avoiding this gigantic hurdle? I need the ability to make changes to individual sections of a large, rendered sequence, without needing a full, fresh, and extremely lengthy render-down.
any help is greatly appreciated.
thanks
matt
mac g5

It's the code generator that's doing you in. Is there any way to avoid applying it until you know there are no more changes? Or working in shorter sections?
I can only guess that you're off-lining something for conform later, or prepping for a composer, or whatever.
Aside from maxing out the ram in your machine, I don't see a way to speed up your process; but what if you change your process somehow? For example, open the clips in qt, export as dv in your codec and put THOSE in your timeline?
This might shorten your render.
You might also consider pushing back a little bit with the others involved in the production with you and all sit down and figure out another better way to do what you need.
This probably isn't much help...

Question about TimeCode breaks

Hopefully the questions will get less!!
Having discovered the HV30 can shoot in both HDV and DV mode, I am now trying to capture the scenes, which is going well. However, my ref book goes into quite a bit of detail about the issues of "timecode breaks".
I purposefully added some breaks to the movie I shot, by simply stopping and starting, nothing else. Used the Capture Now feature. FCE was able to find these breaks ( DV Start/Stop Detect) without problems, so I wonder what it is that I am missing about the significance of this method. {Capture is being done from HV30, FCE 4.0, 10.5.2) using a 800f/w cable directly to a drive on the computer).
Thanks in advance.

I have worked out a solution for timecode breaks which is easy and relatively uncomplicated.
Background:
I recently borrowed by Father's Canon ZR700 mini-DV video camera. I have an older ZR200. Both are decent cameras, especially for the price. However, when I tried to import video from the ZR700 camera using FCE 3.5.1, I experienced breaks in the time-code which produced an unworkably slow process as FCE looked for timecode breaks.
Solution:
After some thought, I decided to use iMovie 06 to experiment with off-loading the video to DV and then "sharing" it back to "video camera" via mini-DV tape.
By using this transfer technique and employing the ZR200 camera as the "sharing" camera - which takes a little extra time and loses the original time code information - I was able to produce a tape which created a smooth and continuous import into FCE without timecode breaks.
I went on to experiment with this same process using the original ZR700 as the "sharing" camera, that is to say, I shared the DV back to the same tape from which the original video was extracted, and it worked fine.
Although I can't exactly explain why this works, I suspect that the timecode is placed in the video using a different route than the record head and FCE can see it.
Why the Canon ZR700 model exhibits such random and poor quality timecode quality is unclear. It may be this particular unit or for some other reason associated with the design or production quality. However, the older ZR200 camera is great and gives solid timecodes on all my videos.
Last note: I also used a record speed of LP versus SP when I "shared" in iMovie 06, even though the original video came from an SP tape. I can't see any difference except that the tape lasts longer.
WARNING: This technique loses - or appears to lose - the original recording information which is imprinted on the tape, including the date and time when the video was recorded. In order to re-create that information, I place a note into the video in iMovie 06 which states when (date and time) the video was taken. Some people care about this information, others don't.
Well, that's my solution to dropped or irregular timecodes. I would be interested to know if this technique works with other cameras.

Basic Current Timecode Field question

I tried to figure this out for quite a while, as it seems so simple and basic. But I am still confused!
I am working on some teaching clips from a text. In the Viewer, the duration of a clip (I&O not set) is 00:00:06;14
In the Viewer, the Current Timecode Field (upper left field) is 1:00:32;01.
Is the Current Timecode the original timecode from the tape? And if so, why would one want that info? Two clips from different tapes could have an identical timecode?
Thanks,
Sonny Taylor

Yes, that is the original source timecode, which can be very beneficial in a multitude of ways.
Tapes can and do have identical timecode...the key to that is giving them 'REEL' names when capturing. That is what FCP uses to designate a source.
K

Offline edit, timecode and nested sequence question

I'm working from DVcam dubs on a 10 song, 5 camera video shoot. It will be mastered from original HDCam tapes eventually. Too keep things orderly I planned to create a sequence for each song, edit from a multiclip, then dump each finished song segment into a new master segment. However when I ran a test to see if this would work it seems that the new master sequence time codes only refer to the time codes from the individual song sequences, not the original tape (each clip starts at 01:00:00;00). Thus when I go to recapture from the original HD tapes, the time codes would be off. Is there a way to make this process work or should I be editing everything into one master sequence right from the start? I plan on making an offline copy of the final sequence using Media Manager so when I take it to the final production house they can just capture the final sequence with handles, not all 6 hours of tape. It's just cuts and dissolves. Any workflow suggestions would be appreciated.
G5 Quad Mac OS X (10.4.5) 4.5G RAM, DSR-11

The clips should still reference their original timecode on the tapes as long as you have not replaced the clips themselves with proxy clips or self-contained movies that have had their timecode modified. This should not be affected by nesting sequences.
You should probably collapse your multiclips before running Media Mangler.
I actually use the proxy clips method often when working with multiclip. As you are aware, the multiclip can only be as long as the longest angle, and you cannot have multiple clips in one angle, so what to do if several tapes are captured in pieces? -
I create a sequence which is an image of each tape, with the starting timecode modified to match the tape's timecode. I then export these to reference movies which I re-import to FCP. I then assign the relevant reel names to these proxy clips, and create my longer multiclips with these.
I cut my multiclip sequence, collapse it and use MM to create offline:remove unused. It creates a new sequence which correctly references my tapes and timecode. I was amazed the first time this worked for me.
Hope this helps.

Timecode Function and FCP Remote Control Questions

We are considering using FCP to produce Quicktime clips with a Black Magic HD Extreme card for ingest from an SDI source.
I need to know if we have the option of inserting window timecode in QT file, and if this can be turned on or off easily.
I also need to know if FCP will need to act as the master controller for the source deck, or if there is a way that I can have FCP act as the slave from a RS-422 hardware controller (such as one of the JL Cooper boxes).
Thanks,
S. Smith

I need to know if we have the option of inserting window timecode in QT file, and if this can be turned on or off easily.
If the deck has HD SDI out with SUPER, then you just turn on the Character Generator and have it display TC. But neither FCP nor the Decklink (or AJA) cards add visual information. You can add it later, after you capture. There is a filter called TIMECODE READER, in the VIDEO FILTERS>VIDEO section.
I also need to know if FCP will need to act as the master controller for the source deck, or if there is a way that I can have FCP act as the slave from a RS-422 hardware controller (such as one of the JL Cooper boxes).
With a capture card that has RS-422 control, FCP can control the deck. But you cannot control FCP remotely with RS-422. You can with Apple Remote Access or if you have two machines running Leopard, BACK TO MY MAC.
Shane

Question about changing TimeCode of media clip

Hello,
The short I'm working on was shot in 35mm, 24fps. First of all, some info about the project:
- One-light transfer to BetaSP PAL (the dailies were sped up by 4% to match PAL's framerate), with burned in TC and keycodes
- Made a dupe of the dailies in DVCam PAL with slave codes so that the DVCam's address track matches the burned in TC
- Captured each lab reel as one long media clip into FCP (8 reels in total)
- Creat subclips for each scene and for sync'ing audio.
Everything worked out fine except for 1 lab reel. During the DVCam dupe, the TC jumped by 1 frame half way into the reel. So in the last half of this reel, the address track is 1 frame off (comparing to the burned in TC). Luckily, the TC jump didn't occur during any important scene.
Since making another DVCam dupe was not an option (long story about working in Asia), I thought of a way around this. I divided this reel into 2 sections at the point where the TC jump occured. I created an Auxiliary Code for the section with the 'bad' TC so that the Aux Code matches the burned in TC.
Now the rough cut is done. I need to export an EDL to re-telecine the neg for full grading.
My question: is it a bad idea to do an EDL with both regular TC and Aux Codes? Or should I just change the TC on the 'bad' reel ?
Sorry for the length explanation. Thanks in advance.
G5 2.3GHz Dual Core, 4.5GB RAM, 2 500GB drives Mac OS X (10.4.4) Powerbook G4 on OS 10.3.9
G5 2.3GHz Dual Core, 4.5GB RAM, 2 500GB drives Mac OS X (10.4.4) Powerbook G4 on OS 10.3.9
G5 2.3GHz Dual Core, 4.5GB RAM, 2 500GB drives Mac OS X (10.4.4) Powerbook G4 on OS 10.3.9

You're probably fine using the Aux TC in your EDL.
In that case, should I create Aux TC for the lab reels with the correct TC as well (with the Aux TC being the same as the address track? That way the EDL would only deal with just the Aux TC rather than a mixture of regular TC and Aux TC.
you could make a new DVCam PAL from your
captured footage (restoring the matching TC with the
burned in TC) and then recapture the media you used
from the fixed section.
I don't have access to a deck that allows preset TC. Would it be the same if I just change the TC on the bad section? I know that typically it's not advisable to change TC in media clips. But in this case, it's just the dailies, not the final media.
TD

Audio Export Question - H264 with timecode

How do I get an H264 audio clip with time code on the actual audio track? This is what a transcriber wants from me.
Thanks!

I figured out that this is impossible without the right adapters.

PCMCIA firewire card for G4 laptop (follow-up to excessive timecode breaks)

1.) It was recommended that I get a new firewire bus to resolve excessive timecode breaks when importing from a Canon camcorder to an external hard drive. I've been reading through posts on this topic...and saw getting a new firewire port mentioned a few times... How come when I called Apple to check on the cost of a new firewire card for my laptop Powerbook G4, I was told that nothing could be added without replacing the entire logic board? Am I missing something? I didn't say "PCMCIA firewire drive" - is that something special? Any idea of the cost to purchase and install?
2.) Apple recommended just capturing to my internal hard drive, and transfering the projects. Apart from this being cumbersome... I need a little verification: if I transfer PROJECT X to my external hard drive, then do I also need to transfer my Audio Render, Autosave,Capture Scratch, Render, Thumbnail, and Waveform folders? [I realize this is basic, but I'm wary of losing the information the project needs and getting it all messed up]
Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.3.9) FCP 4.5, LaCie external HD
Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.3.9) FCP 4.5, LaCie external HD

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=BEAFWT2&is=REG&Q=&O =productlist&sku=304014
pcmcia is an card slot. If you have a 12" PB you may not have one.
If you have a pcmcia slot, buy the card. Slide the card into your computer and start up. Put the camcorder on the card and your fw drive on the port built-in to your computer. Even if this does not solve the timecode issues, it will save you other headaches in the future.
Question. Does capturing to your internal drive solve the timecode issues you are having?
I disagree with the advice of capturing to your internal drive and transfering the project after the fact. There are a bunch of reasons why, and all of them are qualified, so I hesitate to go further until I know whether or not capturing to the internal drive is making your timecode headaches go away.
I suspect capturing to the internal drive will not help the timecode issues which will make the whole point moot. But hopefully I'm wrong :>
Tom
ps
When you talk to representatives from Apple, you have to be conscious that if they are not specialists in the area you are focused on their advice may be based on general recommendations from an IT or home user perspective. There is a difference between talking to a sales person on the floor of the Apple Store and someone from the Genius Bar. And the person at the Genius Bar may have a tremendous background in network installations, but never have opened FCP. Or you might get lucky and get a FCP savvy genius, who would be a bit weak when talking about some other area.
This is not a knock, just a reality. It is difficult to be deeply conversant with even one area. It is not realistic for the generalists you usually deal with to know the best answers to very specific questions.
I'm working toward becoming a certified trainer with FCP and it is not easy or cheap to become an expert at this one application, never mind all the possible applications and hardware combinations for wildly different needs and budgets.

Multi cam shoot using P2 cards. How to move clis to timecode positions

multi cam shoot using P2 cards. How to move clis to timecode positions. We were using free TC. I want to a large # of clips from both cams. and have them move to the correct TC position on the timline. In Nuendo eith audio u hit apple a or ctrl a right click move to orgin. Avid will take care of it for u. FCP???

If you read the "Apple Pro Training Sereis; Final Cut Pro 5" book, it's very easy. You can sync the clips manually by setting In or Out points, specifying TC, or using one of the two Aux TC fields. Since this is the first, and most basic step in doing Multiclip editing, I'd suggest you get the book, or read the appropriate section of the User Manual. I don't think anyone wants to post a full "how to" article in a forum.
It can be done, you're clips have to all have been recorded with synced TC, or they simply won't sync up in any NLE. Read the book. Cause even if I did have the time to explain FCP's Multiclip editing in this forum, you'd still have questions that are in the book.
If you actually walk through the first steps of building a Multiclip to edit, it's blatatnly obvious in the first step. I'd give it a try first.
Problem is the DVCPRO-HD codec is going to require a higher end Mac with tons of RAM and either RAID, or internal drives to do a DVCPRO-HD Multiclip, as DVCPRO-HD (P2) is a pretty high bandwidth codec. I use it daily, I know, it takes horsepower to do.

Is there any way to export 2.35 Anamorphic source to a 16x9 letterboxed frame WITH timecode or text overlays?

I have been trying to export temp cuts of an anamorphic project (2.35:1) in a letterboxed 16:9 frame with timecode and text overlays and other Additional Video Effects. Converting the 2.35 to 16x9 has been a breeze with the Preserve Aspect Ratio option in Cropping & Padding . The problem is that the black bars that that puts in the 16:9 frame appear OVER any of the Additional Video Effects, thus covering them up.
E.g. if I select a Text Overlay and place it in the Center, I can see it just fine. But if I want it Upper Left, Title Safe, it is covered by the black space of the Letterboxing. So the Additional Video Effects are getting added, they are just getting covered by the letterboxing. You can even see the very edge of the text in the Title Safe position, peeking out from behind the letterboxing, which is, of course, frustrating .
Thus far it's been a two-step process: letterbox the anamorphic source, then add TC and other video effects in a second job.
So - is there any way to do this in ONE step? It would really help my anamorphic workflow.
(apologies for the lengthy question.)
[I'm using FCPX 10.1.3 & Compressor 4.1.3, in OSX 10.9.5 on Retina MBP, Late 2013, w/ NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB]

Thanks for the reply Russ.
Yes, I've considered adding titles and/or generators in the FCPX storyline, but this creates a need to render the entire timeline. As I'm juggling library locations and hard drive spaces I just didn't want to add a new render that will occupy a lot of space. It's also a bit of visual clultter for me, so my goal is to find the best workflow for adding this stuff on or after export.

Timecode question

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