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Timecode breaks on 1.8″ DVD from camcorder – common problem?
Hi,
I received some footage (part of a multi-camera and separate sound recording event) from a DVD camcorder , not sure what brand actually. Although the recording was continuous with no pauses or stops inbetween, StreamClip reports numerous timecode breaks when I used it to convert the 1.8″ DVD contents to a .DV file for editing in Premiere. Sure enough, I see and hear short interruption in the resulting .DV file (one continuous file). It seems as if the camera stopped recording for two frames and then resumed, resetting the timecode.
Regardless of the timecode itself, the problem is that with each interruption (which like I said seems to last about two frames) the footage from this camera gets out of sync with the other two cameras, both of which were mini-DV cameras which stay in sync start to finish when aligned at the beginning.
I’ve already started manually correcting the alignment after each break but my question is actually if this is a problem common to DVD based camcorders? I’ve never had anything like this with DV based cameras, just sync them up at the start in Premiere and they say in sync the entire length of the recording. Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots? Heck, I’d like to avoid them anyway if only for their recording format but correcting these slips is time consuming and not something I’d want to do again.
BTW I don’t have the camera itself nor have I tried putting the DVD in a DVD player and capturing it analog but since StreamClip is reporting timecode breaks I’m assuming that the problem is in the source DVD and not the conversion process.
Thanks,
Arjan -
3 Replies
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[Arjan] Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots?”
I think you answered your own question, there.
[Arjan] I don’t have the camera itself nor have I tried putting the DVD in a DVD player and capturing it analog but since StreamClip is reporting timecode breaks I’m assuming that the problem is in the source DVD and not the conversion process”
That’s a major assumption in itself.
I’d certainly take a look at it coming from a DVD player.
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[Arjan] Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots?”
I think you answered your own question, there.If I did I’m not sure I understand my own answer, except if you are referring to the ‘fact’ that DVD cameras record MPG which is less than ideal for editing. What I meant was, ‘Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots because they have a tendency to have timecode breaks’?
[Arjan] I don’t have the camera itself nor have I tried putting the DVD in a DVD player and capturing it analog but since StreamClip is reporting timecode breaks I’m assuming that the problem is in the source DVD and not the conversion process”
That’s a major assumption in itself.
I’d certainly take a look at it coming from a DVD player.
I suppose you’re right. I I’d had the camcorder and if it had a firewire DV output I sure would have tried that. You may be right about it being too much of an assumption. I noticed that the converted DV file’s audio and video got very noticeable out of sync after 50 minutes by two frames, but when playing back through a regular DVD player it seems ok. I guess I should not put too much trust in StreamClip. I ‘fixed’ the problem by manually re-syncing the footage after every timecode break but I may see if I can borrow that camcorder to see if importing through firewire (if possible) gives better results. If that’s not possible I’ll try the DVD player thing and import it analog. But for this project I’ll probably keep the manually re-synced DV file from StreamClip.
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[Arjan] “[Arjan] Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots?”
I think you answered your own question, there.If I did I’m not sure I understand my own answer, except if you are referring to the ‘fact’ that DVD cameras record MPG which is less than ideal for editing. What I meant was, ‘Should I avoid DVD based cameras for multi-camera shoots because they have a tendency to have timecode breaks’?
“I would simply avoid using a consumer DVD camcorder for acquisition, regardless.
Horrendous compression rate that must then be up-converted for editing.
Then, if DVD is one of the output formats, you must re-compress that batter file again.
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