WHEE! I’m digitizing – now what’s wrong with my timecode?

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Budrick21] “Whenever I enter ins and outs into the capture window, it’s always a little, and gets worse as I get into the later parts of the tape.”

What do you mean by this…it’s always a little….?

[Walter Biscardi]

[Budrick21] “It appears that somewhere inside the system DF-NDF conversion is taking place, but I can’t think of any controls that are available in either the KONA or the Final Cut set up that would either fix it, or screw it up.”

Final Cut Pro cannot capture 720p anything other than NDF. So your timecodes are going to become NDF as they are captured.

Supposedly this will change with FCP 6, though I’ve been told this will NOT happen upon release. It will happen some where later as an update. Why, I don’t know, but this is what i was told at NAB.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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[David Eells]

I meant to say a little off. As Walter says below, in this configuration FCP knows only non-drop timecode. It’s capturing the right stuff, but converting the timecode. An annoyance, really.

[David Eells]

Thanks, Walter. I’ll live with it. It’s mostly an annoyance at this point.

[Gary Adcock]

Other people have responded but understand the basis

23.98 is and alwaysnon-drop, without regard to format, film had no need for drop frame that is an NTSC issue. This time base in all formats is specified as NON DROP by SMPTE.

Drop frame is a dead legacy in the digital age, there is no need to worry about bleed on audio into video when they are delivered in discreet signals.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows