[David Friedman]

Did you ever get this figured out Mike? I’m having exactly the same scenario (only my AVCHD footage is from a Panasonic AF100). Thanks.

[David Friedman]

Not adding any reel name is precisely when I do not see the timecode once in FCPX. When I add the TC track AND a reel name in qtChange then I DO see the timecode in FCPX. Go figure. Bouke seems to be onto a fix for it in qtChange though.

[David Friedman]

Thanks Jeremy – I think I’ve finally figured it out.

My first problem, that seems to have been causing the script errors in qtChange, was that I was using Photo Mechanic to ingest my video files (and the THMs) from CF card to hard drive. For some reason those that were ingested by Photo Mechanic throw the script error in qtChange, while the same files manually copied in the Finder do fine in qtChange.

Second thing was that both Bouke and I were curious about your step of deleting the Normal TC track while in qtChange – since the Canon clips don’t have a TC track to begin with. I tried it anyway and it didn’t work for me. What I did find though was In qtChange, if I only Add/Change the TC track, but don’t check any of the three “add to Reelname” options, then qtChange does add TC that does show up in QT Player but it does NOT show up in FCPX. But if I also select any or all of the three “add to Reelname” options then the timecode DOES show up in FCPX.

So now I’ve eliminated Photo Mechanic ingest from my workflow and I’m using qtChange with settings like this (where I’m selecting “clipname” in the “add to Reelname” choices):

[David Friedman]

I have been in touch with Bouke throughout my troubleshooting of the issue. He’s been extremely helpful, but we’re still plugging. (And I do have latest qtChange, v 1.83)

It would be useful Jeremy if you could supply those details from your setup please? I’m trying to eliminate variables. Also, just to be clear, you’re having 100% consistent success with it? Thanks.

[David Friedman]

That’s very interesting Jeremy, thanks. I’ve tried doing it your way, but I’m having spotty luck at best. Often, but not always, qtChange is giving me a script error when I try with deleting the Normal TC track (it feels like it’s getting confused because my Canon 5DMkII native QT files don’t have a TC track to begin with). And still only some of those that do work in qtChange are showing their timecode in FCPX.

Would you mind telling me a few more of your tech details? What camera are your clips from? What framerate are you shooting? What framerate setup are you using in qtChange? What Mac OS are you on?

My answers to above are: 5DMkII, 29.97 fps, NTSC DF, OS 10.6.8.

Thanks!

And, as a side note, while Grinder does work I’m not entirely happy with it because: 1. It has a known bug wherein it gives QT clips artificially long durations (original duration x10 I think); 2. It only does NDF timecode, not DF.

[David Friedman]

Thank you Jeff. That solves it. Not sure why the timecode track added by QTChange would be any different than the one added by Magic Bullet Grinder, but apparently it is. I just tried adding time-of-day timecode to my h.264s with Grinder (without any transcoding in Grinder)and those DO keep their timecode when imported into FCPX. Grinder it is! Thanks.

[David Friedman]

Has anyone on this thread actually been successful at this? Getting time-of-day timecode with DSLR footage in FCPX? I’ve tried using QTChange to add a timecode track to my QT files (and the resulting timeocde track does show up in QuickTime Player 7, etc.), but then no matter which of several import methods I’ve tried into FCPX they all end up with 00;00;00;00 starting timecode once in FCPX.

[David Friedman]

Can anyone using the Panasonic AVCHD to DVCProHD transcoder software give me ballpark transcode processing times please? I realize the times will vary from user to user depending on camera and hardware specs, but I just want to get a sense of where the range lies. So, for example, how long does it take your setup to transcode 10 minutes of AVCHD footage?

Thanks,
Dave