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No timecode in DV files
Big trouble for me. I just had 8 tapes shot on a Sony F900 camera downconverted to dv avi files, digitized by the post house to a hard drive. I can open them up in Vegas 6 and play them etc all is well, but the timecode is wrong. Each DV tape was broken up into 2 gigabyte files, so there are 4 or 5 avi’s per tape. Each avi starts at 0:00:00:00. Clearly wrong. I’ve played back the dv tapes on a dv deck and the timecode matches the F900 HD tapes.
I just loaded some of the avi’s into Premiere Pro and it sees the correct timecode as well. I’ve always been able to see timecode in the trimmer until now, of course, when I really need it. Is there anything that can be done so that Vegas can read the timecode properly?
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9 Replies
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Check the format of your capture drive. If it is anything other than NTFS, it will have a 2 GB file size limit. It should be formatted in the NTFS format. I don’t know if this has anything to do with your timecode problem or not.
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Actually, FAT32 has a 4 gig file size limit. The 2 gig breaks have to be from somewhere else.
I know that Scenalyzer Live had to be modified so that both Vegas and Premiere could both see the timecode correctly.
How did you capture these files?
Edward Troxel
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Just a thought, never having experienced DV T/C problems. If Premiere sees the correct T/C wonder what would happen if you tried rendering the files out of Prem as new DV files and then see if Vegas can pick up the correct T/C on them. Shouldn’t lose much if anything in quality I guess. As Ed asks, how were they captured, sounds like a curly one!
Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney -
Doh! Forget the dumb suggestion. Of course it’s going to generate new T/C on the render outs!
Chris Young
Sydney -
I didn’t capture them. A post house took the HD tapes and down converted them and digitized them to my NTFS formatted external hard drive. I think they might have been down converted and digitized via a Miranda box hooked up to the Sony F900 to an nNovia hard disk recorder via firewire out of the miranda box. Convoluted, and I’m not positive that’s how it was done, I just know that they had contemplated using that particular array of equipment to do live down converts. The nNovia hard disk supposedly gives two choices for creating avi’s. Either Microsoft DV or Canopus DV files. I was told that these were Microsoft DV avi’s. Nevertheless, Premiere plays them with the proper code but Vegas, and now I just tried them in Final Cut Pro 5 and it doesn’t see the time code either, although, they are avi’s so FCP doesn’t like avi’s to begin with.
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Re-Rendering in Premiere or using any other app or utility to try to “fix” this problem is not going to work. Sorry to say I think the best thing to do is get new downconverts. The “agony” you go through in a re-do of the critical prep phase (preparing new dubs for offline) will be much less painful than the massively expensive post production trauma you will experience when you show up with an EDL with every singe edit completely wrong.
I guess you could cut in Premiere- although I have no idea how accurate their EDLs are especially wrt to cutting 24p using downconverts.
Before proceeding any further though, we have a whitepaper describing the steps you need to follow if you want to use DV for HDCAM offline in Vegas:
https://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step2.asp?DID=513
Make sure you are completely clear on all the steps- assume any substitutions of processes or gear will put you back in the exact same spot you are in now. If you have further questions about this you could contact me at dr.dropoutATSYMBOLsonypictures.com
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Getting the new down converts is probably my only solution, but, if I can’t say what’s wrong with the old ones, i’m not sure the new down converts are going to be any different. If I had to choose between a “canopus” DV avi or a “microsoft” DV avi, which one should I choose?
Unfortunately, I’m at the mercy of a post house that has the Sony HD deck that can play the originals.
What I would really like to know is why one program can see timecode while others cannot, it’s like the old DV avi 1 and DV avi 2 format problems. If there’s a compatibility issue I’d like to know about it so I can advise my clients accordingly.
As far as the edl list out of premiere or vegas, I’m not going to deliver in 24p HD so I won’t be doing an online, but I plan on reading that white paper anyway, for future reference, as I work with 24p Sony F900’s on a daily basis.
So thanks. -
Oops. Sorry for the mis-information..
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Would it help if the 2nd batch of dubs were time code window
dubs with the code burned in?Probably not if your doing an EDL conform.
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