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Time Code On screen Problem
I’m using Sony Vegas Pro 10.
I have a series of video clips filmed at 1920×1080, 23.976.
I have created the project to match.
I have imported the individual clips into the time line to make one continuous video. I want to create an onscreen time code that starts at 00:00:00:00 at the beginning of the timeline and increments continuously until the end of the video (ie – overriding the individual time codes of the chunks of media)
I created a new video track above the existing one. I inserted a generated media – Sony Solid Color, made it transparent and then selected Match Event Length so that it ran for the full length of the composite video in the time line.
I then right clicked on this new video track and selected Media FX – Sony Timecode.
In the Timecode box I selected:
Format SMPTE Film Sync 23.976
The time code displayed on screen in the video preview window as I expected.
However, the on screen time code does not match the time code displayed in the project time code window in the bottom left hand of the screen, just above the media tracks.
If moving the cursor forward from the start by one frame each time, the project time code runs as I expected: 00:00:00:21 – 21 – 23 and then 00.00.01:00
The onscreen time code however appears to be always one frame behind.
If I move the cursor forward on the time line one frame at a time, the on screen time code in the video preview window displays 00:00:00:00 and then, moving forward one frame with the cursor, we still see 00:00:00:00, even though the project time code is now displaying 00:00:00:01The video preview time code is then consistently one frame behind the project time code until we reach:
Project time code: 00:00:00:23
Video previw time code: 00.00.00.22
Moving cursor frame forward now results in:
Project time code: 00:00:01:00
Video preview time code: 00:00:01:00
In other words, the video preview time code has jumped one frame and now matches the project time code.
Moving cursor one frame forward now results in:
Project time code:00:00:01:01
Video preview:
00.00.01.00
and so on until the end.
Surely they should match as both are set at 23.976 and the project media are 23.976 ?
What am I doing wrong?
I could work round it of course, but it still seems wrong to me.
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15 Replies
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Possible solution #1.
Make sure you’re zoomed in far enough so that you’re only stepping forward one frame at a time.Possible solution #2.
There’s no need to add a new track. Just add the Timecode FX to your preview window and it should display properly. -
Thanks, Mike.
1) Yes, I am zoomed in. The project timecode advances by one frame each click of the right arrow.
2) Not sure I understand. What I wanted was a time code that runs from zero to the end of the time line. My understanding is that if you add the Video FX time code to the timeline media, it goes back to zero at the beginning of each new event.
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Pete, good to know about stepping through your frames.
2) I mean dropping the FX on top of your preview window, not on the timeline anywhere. Doing it this way affects EVERYTHING on your timeline and is another way of getting a project wide FX happening.
Having said all this, I just realized what your problem is.
In your initial post you said:
I then right clicked on this new video track and selected Media FX – Sony Timecode.
In the Timecode box I selected:
Format SMPTE Film Sync 23.976I’m not sure where you got that but the Film one comes up SMPTE Film (24 fps).
Set it to SMPTE Film IVTC (23.976 fps) and everything will match as expected 🙂
SMPTE Film timecode is true 24 fps, not 23.976.
I can easily explain the difference between drop frame and non drop frame video but this difference is a bit (ok, a lot) tougher.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it.Note that with 23.976 fps time code, the ‘second’ counter is still increased after 24 frames, even though 24 frames add up to slightly more than a real second. When working with other time sources, confusion can arise since a ‘second’ in 23.976 fps time code notation is slightly longer than a real second, it is 1.001001001..etc (24 x 1/23.976) seconds long. In other words, when a time code was reached of 00:16:40:00, this does not mean the video has played for 16 real minutes and 40 real seconds (1000 seconds), but that it has actually played for exactly 16 minutes and 41 seconds (1001 seconds).
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Again, Mike, many thanks. Here is the Timecode setting that I used:
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Ok, now I am thoroughly puzzled.
The only thing I can think of is to make sure that you’ve got the Time Display readout (above the video & audio tracks) set to 23.976 too.
If you’ve already done that (and I’m sure you have), then I’m stumped 🙁 -
Thanks, Mike.
Yes, the time clock above the video/audio tracks is indeed set to 23.976 also.
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upload your project here so we could check it out.
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can’t really do that as it’s somebody else’s footage. But I’ll keep trying to find a solution.
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All we need is the veg file. We can substitute our own footage.
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