Timecode off between Quicktime file and PP

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Are you sure it’s 02:57:49;27-02:19:19;22? cause the second number is before the first….

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Ok, so, assuming that you actually meant 01:57:49;27-02:19:19;22,

Then:

01:57:42;25 is the non-drop frame equivalent of 01:57:49;27.

Somewhere, something didn’t know the clip was drop frame. Both Programs apear to be counting the actual clip as dropframe, but FCP and QT appear to be counting the Timecode leading up to the start of the clip as non-drop.

What camera (or program) generated this clip?

[Rikk Desgres]

Yes I meant 01:57:49;27.

I got the files from a client. I don’t know how they were generated. They are ProRes422, so he may have done a conversion before I got them. How do I fix this? I will be going to Davinci for color grading and I need timecodes to be correct.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

I’d suggest before we go to all the trouble that you do a quick test.

Send a quick timeline to DiVinci and see if it works. (if you’re not the one doing the color grade just download DiVindi Lite…)

[Rikk Desgres]

I did an XML info FCP (CS5 can’t produce an XML that Resolve can read) and EVERY media file name was “Clip.” One by one I relinked the files based in the timeline name, which was correct. Once I did this everything was frame accurate with the correct timecode. I am at the early assembly stage of a long film. Once it’s finished I don’t want to have to do this for every clip in the film. This has not happened to me before. These files are from someone I never worked with before, so I’m unsure what has been done to the files prior to me getting them. I will try to contact the camera person and see if I can shed more light. I’m thinking of cutting in FCP instead of PP for this film.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

I just had an idea.

Since you have FCP, stick this messed up file in a matching timeline, set the timeline start timecode to match the first frame of the file (probably you should use the number Premiere gives you, since I’m pretty sure that’s the “correct” one. I can explain why) and render out same as source! That should generate a new file with no generation loss and a fixed timecode.

If this was anything other then a ProRes file it wouldn’t work… at least without generation loss, Lucky!

[Rikk Desgres]

Tried that on one clip and when bringing in the clip in FCP and checking it in QT it has what PP has for a start 01:57:49;27. But when I bring it into PP it has 01:27:56;29. So something is messed up with PP timecode display.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

I’ll bet this is it: https://blogs.adobe.com/premiereprotraining/2012/03/a-couple-of-timecode-issues.html

[Rikk Desgres]

This is 29.97 footage not 23.976. So it may not be the problem in the link you provided

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Well, it’s probably related. I think the issue behind both your issue and the one I linked to is the way quicktime saves timecode and Premiere’s rather incomplete support for it. I’ll be eager to hear whether your problem goes away with CS6, seeing as this incident with Jeffery Harrel has brought rather a spotlight down on Premiere’s rather bad Quicktime support.