Date/Time Super #$%^&!!!

[Chris Borjis]

The A1U permanently BURNS the data into the image?

Thats incredibly odd.

there has to be a way to turn that off for capture.

If it can’t be turned off, a reshoot is all you can do.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Nicholas Franczyk] “Shooting in 1080i HDV on a Sony A1U, the date/time super got turned on. “

It’s actually on the footage? The super wasn’t just turned on when you were capturing?

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[Nicholas Franczyk]

I haven’t actually seen the footage yet. The problem was first discovered when a tape was played back in a different camera.

The option that was accidently turned on in the menu is called “DATE REC” – “Superimpose the date and time directly on the pictures when recording.”

I think we’re screwed. I’ll be getting a tape in the mail tomorrow.
Thanks for your help

-Nick

[Steven Gonzales]

I also think it was turned on for playback. Here’s from the A1U user manual\

Data code during playback (p.28)
The date/time during recording and the
camera setting data will be recorded
automatically. They do not appear on the
screen during recording, but you can check
them as [DATA CODE] during playback
(p. 64).
DATA CODE
During playback, displays the information
recorded automatically (data code) during
recording.

[Nicholas Franczyk]

These are the two entries in the A1U user manual that I think are pertinent to the problem. I love everyone’s optimism, but I’m not sure I share it. Apparently the guy that was messing with the settings called Sony today and they told him him that it was imprinted on the video. Apparently this feature is intended for legal proceedings and law enforcement use? I’ll know more when I get a tape. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.

-Nick

[Walter Biscardi]

[Nicholas Franczyk] “Apparently this feature is intended for legal proceedings and law enforcement use? “

Well that actually makes sense, though I have to say, this is the first camera I’ve ever heard of that actually records the date / time permanently on video.

If that truly is on the footage, there’s really nothing you can do to mask it off.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

Read my Blog!

STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!

[Chris Borjis]

If this is a legal matter (I do some from time to time)
then it’s not all that uncommon to make a dub of the
master and burn the date/time into that for the courts.

The original camera master should be clean.

[Mark Suszko]

Let us assume the worst, that the burn is permanent, and not a metadata feature that can be made invisible with a menu setting.

Some things I might try:

If the video is short, just buckle down and hand-roto it, or have photoshop do it: export a frame movie (or progession of stills) to a folder in photoshop, create and record an action to clean the first frame, then apply that recorded action to the entire image stack in the folder, go get coffee. Something like this may work since the burn is always locked into place on the screen, so you can limit where an effect has to be applied with some precision. Will it be perfect, no, but better, maybe. Remember you need leading zeroes to keep the frames in proper sequence: if you have 1000 frames, the first one needs to be named 0001, not 1. The seocnd one needs to be 0002, etc.

Here’s something else I’d try:
Dulicate the video track and gaussian or motion blur it severely. Stack the tracks in synch. Use a luma key or play with modify>compositing mode to key in the gaussian blur layer only thru the white parts of the burn layer. This should get you into more of a glass-letter look instead of hard white, without modifying any of the good pixels around the burned areas. Shifting the x/y position of the gaussian layer may also help.

In a compositor, track the footage, and apply an offset copy a few pixels over to cover the white characters. I think I’d have to make a separate instance for each letter, but I’m not an AE guy.

Please let us know how this goes, it is a common problem for editors that have footage brought to them by clients with consumer cams.

[Nicholas Franczyk]

Here’s a screen shot. It is burned on to the image. So far no luck in minimizing the text. I’ll post info if I have any luck. Thanks for all your help.
-Nick

[Andy Mees]

you might want to give this a try:
https://cowcast.creativecow.net/podcast/watermark-removal–10