they keep falling on my head

[Dave Friend]

It could make a difference. Some software encoders might experience problems if not told what counting scheme the source is using. The reason is that the encoder will figure out how many frames it is being asked to encode – then that’s what they do, count frames and pay no attention to timecode. Many of them calculate the frame count by subtracting the starting timecode from the end timecode but they need to be told when to use drop-frame math so as to arrive at the correct frame count. For instance, take two timelines, one DF and one NDF, and both starting at zero and indicating the last frame at thirty minutes. These two timelines will not have the same total number of frames. (The DF timeline has 53946 frames, the NDF one has 54000) So if you tell the encoder it is a DF timeline when it is really a NDF one the encoder might not process the last 54 frames.

Not every encoder behaves this way. I don’t think it matters when exporting a timeline from Premiere.

Dave

[Tim Kolb]

[Dave Friend] “[Tim Kolb] “the error is only 9/10 of a frame”

Isn’t the error actually 3/100 of a frame? (30.00 minus 29.97 = .03)”

Actually, I said:
“Many people who do 30 second spots run non-drop because the error is only 9/10 of a frame…”

I was speaking of the cumulative error for the 30 second spot…

3/100 X 30 = 90/100 or 9/10 of a frame for a 30 second spot.

TimK,

Kolb Productions,
Creative Cow Host,
Author/Trainer
http://www.focalpress.com
http://www.classondemand.net

[Dave Friend]

[Tim Kolb] “the cumulative error for the 30 second spot”

Ah yes. I did not understand what you were saying.