Time of Day timecode synch? Satan or User Error: discuss!

[fgiraffe]

Hi all-

Long time lurker, first time poster...

Tried searching a bit but didn't find anything that answered this, and figured Workflow was the right place to ask.

I have a bunch of tapes shot on three HVX-200s on MiniDV, 24pa mode.

Before shooting, the cameras were synched on time of day, and then all the tapes were shot using Time of Day timecode. I've never shot with the 200, but when I normally hear "Time of Day" the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and not in a good way.

The cameras were started and stopped a lot, and may have been on and off a lot too (not sure, I wasn't at the shoot)

I am having a heck of a time getting these clips captured in FCP. FCP gets lost trying to find the Start/Stop TC for a clip, and reports "End of Tape Reached", when I am still only 10 seconds in to the first clip on a tape.

My evil theory is that while Time of Day timecode synch might work for P2, it sorta aggros FCP when it comes to capturing from tapes. Any truth to this?

Misc facts:
I am not adding any handles when I capture.

My start and stop timecodes for each clip are all a second or two into each clip, I am not up against the edge of the clip.

I am using my sturdy little Sony HC40 to log/cap, this has worked fine for log/cap on many shoots in 24pa from both the DVX100 and HVX200 when they are in free run mode.

Am I hosed? Any suggestions for getting unhosed?

Using FCP 5.1.4, current System and QT.

Any ideas appreciated, thanks in advance!

-Frank

 

[ozduc]

When using TOD timecode the camera op has to be sure to give the editor a good (read 5-10) second pre-roll before any action. In this scenerio you're probably going to have a hard time getting enough pre-roll to log and capture in FCP as it needs at least 4 seconds of readable timecode prior to your inpoint. 5 seconds is preferable.
Also the syncing of the HVX cameras is affected each time a camera is turned off, so therefore when batteries are changed or if one op switched the camera off for some reason, all cameras would need to be re-jammed.

 

[fgiraffe]

Thanks, that explains my problem inside clips. But I am still finding that FCP really bad at searching through Time of Day TC when doing batch captures. It will capture the first clip but then fail to find the rest, even though they are sequential on the tape.

fg

 

[ozduc]

Thanks, that explains my problem inside clips. But I am still finding that FCP really bad at searching through Time of Day TC when doing batch captures. It will capture the first clip but then fail to find the rest, even though they are sequential on the tape.

fg

The problem probably lies in your pre-roll time. Set your in points at least 5 secs later than the break in the timecode and see if that helps.