Timecode Breaks in FCE 2

[David Battistella]

Why not try logging arounf the breaks. To do this start any clip 4 to 5 seconds after a break and end a clip at least 3 seconds before a break. This forces FCP to capture what you have selected.

It takes a bit loner but is a smoother way to go.

David

[Kreative Kuh]

The clip I’m trying to get is very short and between the breaks. But I’ll play with it. But I guess my larger question is whehter this is a problem that arises so frequently that I should just assume it is going to happen on a regular basis. That’s what seems to be the case now. And if that is true, do all versions of FCE do it? Does FCPro do it?
Another question is whether there is something I can do to avoid the breaks in the first place. Is there something about starting and stopping the camcorder in certain ways that causes this to happen?

[David Battistella]

Kevin,

You shoudl always be rolling 5 to ten seconds of tape before and after a take just to avoid these problems altogether.

THis is a common problem with the stop start button and itchy fingers hitting the button saying “go” without proper tape rollup.

For now,

just use capture now with dec control set to NON CONTROLLABLE DEVICE, cue the tape to before the break, hit play and capture away.

David

[Tom Wolsky]

The timecode breaks warning can have spurious causes. Your complete system set-up would be helpful, camera/deck, drives, computer, how everything’s connected, the settings on the tape, and the settings you’re using to capture. Did you update to 2.0.3 BTW?

All the best,

Tom

Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 2 Editing Workshop” Class on Demand “Complete Training for FCP5” DVD

[Enzo Tedeschi]

And just to add to that, Kevin, if you go back on your camera while you are shooting and play back a take to see what you have and then continue shooting, this can also create tc breaks. After previewing your take, make sure you overlap a second of the last take and go over it. This will help ensure continuous timecode.

And if you leave ample time after your take has ended (as David had suggested), then you won’t stress about losing a second before the last camera-stop.

e.

[Kreative Kuh]

Just to be clear: whenyou say “go over” the last second or two of the previous take, you mean film over it, right? I seem to recall the first time I had this problem I did exactly what you described. There was a little blank space between takes and that’s where (I think) the problem arose.

[Kreative Kuh]

Is “dec control” something in FCE, or something on the camera?

[David Battistella]

Tom is right.

Many camera’s have built in end search, so that if you hit the button after watching a take it takes you to the last TC and continues to record from there.

David

[Gunleik Groven]

Deck controll is what controlls the deck or camera – thus a feature of the program.

In FCP you can set capture presets to “uncontrollable device” f.ex. to capture across narrow timecode breaks.

That is not to say you should try to avoid the problem altogether, following the suggestions from the other gentlemen. But as you obvioussly need that tiny clip, disabling deck controll might do the trick.

If you have some other way to digitize the footage (Like advc-100 or 110), you could go through the analogue out on your deck/camera and capture through that.

I’ve had to do that myself on a bad tape where the TC was totally messed up.

Good luck!

Gunleik