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Timecode changes after capture
Hello!
I’ve been bringing in ALEs to Final Cut Pro and whether I batch capture or just capture one clip at a time, for some reason the time codes (media start) are changing after the capture.
The timecodes would be like this:
01:10:23:00
01:20:34:05
01:23:34:20and it changes to:
01:10:23:08
01:20:34:06
01:23:34:20Sometimes the media start doesn’t change, sometimes it does and when it does it’s completely random.
Anyone know why it’s doing this?
I need the timecodes to start on 05 or 00 so it’s become a huge hassle to fix this. I have to make the file offline, then change what was a 00 to a 05 and sometimes that fixes the problem, sometimes I have to try another number again.
I’m working off a 23.98 project, bringing in 29.97NDF footage converting with blackmagic. I never had a problem with this before and I used to do it all the time last year.
Could this have something to do with an A or B frame?
THANKS!!
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7 Replies
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Ana,
If you are working with a MPG-2, or similar, based format, I guess FC capture full GOPs.
Rafael -
Hmm… not sure about that, I’m capturing off of a digibeta that is a HD downconvert.
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We had a similar problem on several of our workstations. Footage would be logged via log and capture and then when it was batch digitized, the timecode would slip several frames. What we found was that we had accidentally set our Easy Setups incorrectly. We are shooting 29.97 and had our capture preset to 30. It was a drop frame v. non-drop frame issue. When we corrected our capture preset to match our footage the issue was resolved.
I hope this helps.
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If is a problem of DF/NDF is easy to know it.
There is a difference of one frame every 10 seconds of footage.
6 frames per minute or 12 seconds per hour of footage.
Rafael -
I haven’t worked with DF 24/23.976 stuff, but the difference would be somewhere in the range of 72 to 86 frames per hour. (Depending whether the math is done at 23.98 or 23.976) 24 times 60 secs time 60 mins = 86400. 23.98 times 60 secs times 60 mins = 86328. Difference: 72 frames.
In 29.97, the difference between drop frame and non-drop frame is 108 frames per hour.
At the 29.97 frame rate, drop frame skips 2 frames of count every minute, except for the even 10 minutes (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 00). So that’s 2 frames of count skipped for 54 out of 60 minutes, which is 108 frames in an hour. That’s 3 seconds and 18 frames difference in count per hour.
Both formats have the same number of frames, the difference is that in drop frame, the counting (addressing) scheme matches the clock on the wall by skipping frame counting numbers (since a count system of 30 is working within a time base of 29.97).
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Thanks for all you help everyone 🙂
I’m going to have to check this drop frame thing out when I get back to work. However — I’m not sure it’s that because I know that the footage was NDF and I would have to have been really stupid to put my batch capture at DF… no no… actually I would have noticed the commas, it’s not DF.
However, the problem HAS been fixed… we told Technicolor that the ALEs they gave us were coming in at 29.97 and even though the tape was 2997, we’re capturing it at 23.98 so they need to be 23.98.
That worked — whatever they’ve been doing on their end, our clips are now coming in with frames ending in 5’s and 0’s.
The numbers still change after batch capture though. They gives us ALE’s with frames that end in 4 or 6 or 8 even though we asked them not to… however once they’re captured, they’re fixed…. so…. hahaha…. I really have no idea what’s going on!
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Hi Steven,
Thanks for the correction.
I’m in PAL land and I learnt about NTSC more than 20 years go. I would need to refresh few things.
But glad to be in Pal land. I think I would be unable to survive in NTSC land with so many different kind of TCs.
Rafael
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