Varicam timecode problem?
by tom jeffs
on
Apr 9, 2008 at 9:32:54 am
Hi there
I recently did a two-day shoot last week onto a Varicam, I'm a sound recordist.
The client required timecoded recordings for transcriptions of interviews, so I took a feed of the TC OUT and recorded that, along with the interview audio, to a Zoom H2 recorder.
The client has contacted me and said that the timecode keeps resetting itself (presumably starting from 0:00:00).
Now I recorded the timecode at a level where theres no chance of distortion, and I recorded as a pure 44.1/16 WAV file, so I don't think its a problem with the recording. I think it may be a camera setting.
We shot many tapes, each of them timecoded per tape number. Nobody noticed any problems with the LCD display on the camera.
So does anyone know what could be the problem here? Could it be a camera setting that sends a different TC out of the TC OUT socket to that shown on the LCD display? Could it be that the camera was shooting an odd frame rate, and the transcription house haven't configured their TC reading software correctly?
I'm flying blind here. I've done TC many times and never encountered this.
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by DWVP Miami on Apr 9, 2008 at 11:23:00 am
I recently did a show and all of the original interview tapes had transcription mp3s done in a similar way. We used an Ederol and Peter Engh timecode box and had no problems. The one thing that you might want to check is were the cameras also genlocked with tri-level sync? In earlier days when we were doing 2 or 3 camera VariCam shoots we were not genlocking the cameras and we would occasionally get a servo error warning on one or both of the downstream cameras. Once we started using the tri-level sync box that stopped. I was never able to see what the result of the error was but that might be one of the effects. I also just got my camera back from Macie Video where they repaired the time code out. One small resistor on the board was burned causing a total black out of TC signal. But these two issues are not related (as far as I know). It might be a good idea to check the camera that you got your signal from though.
best
dw
Dale West
Dale West Video
12225 NE 13th Court
North Miami, FL 33161
305-892-1201
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by tom jeffs on Apr 9, 2008 at 3:17:02 pm
I have investigated the camera side and it appears there are no settings on
the camera that could influence TC OUT in this fashion. I think the
timecode I have recorded as audio on a track is absolutely fine, its just
that the transcription house cannot process it because they do not have
software that is capable of reading timecode directly from an audio track.
Traditionally on cassette or DAT this wouldn't be an issue as the equipment
would read timecode normally and be operated with a foot pedal, but on a
digital file I think the software is expecting a single timecode value to be
stamped in the header of the wav file, and would then calculate the timecode
based on this starting value alone - so if you moved 5 minutes into the
recording, it would simply add 5 minutes to the original value in the
header.
I have been looking around the net for a solution for them, I can't believe
there isn't much software around that can simply and easily decode timecode
from an audio recording. I believe Avid or FCP may be able to do it, but I
don't think the transcription company would have either.
If anyone knows of some software that can do this (read audio timecode and
then put it in the wav files) please please could you let me know.
They've done the transcriptions now so it isn't a major problem, but I'd
still like to be able to email timecoded files - that they can use - over to
them to demonstrate that I've tried my hardest to come up with a solution.
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by DWVP Miami on Apr 9, 2008 at 3:43:35 pm
I've done this with mp3s with two or three different transcription companies and there were no problems. So like you I'm at a loss. I just emailed the files to them and it was the same result as if on cassette. If you want to contact me off list I can let you know who we used perhaps they can be of more help.
best
dw
Dale West
Dale West Video
12225 NE 13th Court
North Miami, FL 33161
305-892-1201
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by gary adcock on Apr 9, 2008 at 9:53:44 pm
[tom jeffs]"I think the
timecode I have recorded as audio on a track is absolutely fine, its just
that the transcription house cannot process it because they do not have
software that is capable of reading timecode directly from an audio track."
Where do people get this stuff.... Maybe they think that because that timecode track sounds like a fax machine when played back?
When a TC signal when recorded onto an audio track it can be routed directly out of the corresponding audio channel of one deck into the" TC in" (usually BNC) on the other deck and be read directly. I have done with with both Panasonic and Sony decks.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows
Inside look at the IoHD
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by Dusty Powers on Apr 10, 2008 at 12:45:35 pm
The only time I had a problem with the TC resetting to 0:0:0:0:0 was when the internal battery was dead. Then when the onboard camera battery change was made the TC would reset to 0's. And if your cameraman was using an AC power supply to shoot the interviews then whenever he powered it down, it would reset TC as well. Try to remember back to the shoot and see if this is a possibility.
Can't help you with the software conversion for TC.
A transcription house or client not understanding how to read TC off an audio track?........ I won't even bother trying to answer that one. I've heared it before.
Re: Varicam timecode problem? by Ken Collins on Apr 17, 2008 at 10:41:10 pm
Check out videotoolshed.com transcription program. This demo reads your wav or mp3 file and can insert the time code into a word doc. You can tell it which channel to read the timecode from and it will mute that channel's audio. It should tell you if your tc is good. Sometimes it has trouble with mp3 files but wav files are pretty consistent.
