TimeCode Break Issues

Trent_Lucid

Trent_Lucid

Well-known member
I have a quick question?

Why is it that 9 times out of 10 when I am shooting I have at least one timecode break?

I am not removing the tape… and for a while I thought it might be when I turned the camera off and switched from wired to batter powered… however, it does not always do it then either?

Any thoughts?
 
This has been discussed alot on this board and the text below is copied from one of my earlier answers to this question.

You will get breaks in the time code after a powerdown/battery change etc. There's one easy thing you can do to always avoid these breaks. Before every new take (or as soon as the camera has been powered down, you have changed batteries or rewinded to watch the last scene) you press the "rec chk" button (located above the rec button). This will make the camera back up a few seconds, play them back for you so you can see exactly where on tape you are (so you know you start at the right spot), and while doing this the camera will also pick up the old (last recorded) timecode and resume it once hitting the rec-button again.

As long as you do this you should be fine regarding breaks.
Keep in mind though that the camera will always start recording at the current position on tape, which means if you rewind to check a previuously recorded scene you will have to manually go back to where you want to start recording and then hit the "rec chk". If you play back the last scene longer than you recorded it (tape is blank, the time code freezes), you will get a break in the timecode. So make sure the new starting point is always on a previously recorded frame. Thumb rule, always record a minimum of 5 seconds before and after every take.

Also make sure you are using REC-Run and not FREE-Run for the TC. How to setup this can be found in your DVX100 manual.

Good luck!
 
Thank you so much, I had gone through some of the older posts but never really found much on this topic… I guess I just did not go far enough back…


This issue was strange and started after I rented the Camera to a friend of mine… they screwed with all kinds of settings… I had been doing the “rec chk” button trick but that did not seem to help… I will check the REC-Run vs FREE run TC that might be my problem…

Thanks again.
 
..and easy quick visual check to see if you have a break is BEFORE you hit record.. just check to see if there is timecode displayed in the EVF or LCD..unless its a brand new tape at the very beginning, it should NOT read all 0's. if you see the timecode is 0's and not correct. you can actually leave the camera in camera mode, and just hold the selector stick in the rewind position for a sec, and the camera will rewind. you can also play forwrad like that as well and the cam temporarily switches the view from live to whats on the tape when your holding the joystick. I usually just hold it at rewind for one sec, and it will rewind a hair, and pick up the timecode again... then you can continue shooting.
 
Thanks iamloser. I will remember that...

Johan_Lundberg I checked and I was in REC Run mode...

It is strange I have had this camera over a year and it never did this to me before... and every time it breaks it starts at the same time... 01:00:08: (something)

I am shooting again this weekend, we shall see if it keeps doing it.

thanks
 
Take your camera, and let it sit plugged into AC for 24 hours. The internal battery has probably been run down. Most folks don't plug in the camera as most often they use it hand held and on battery, and don't think about the internal battery needing a charge on occasion. The internal battery will not charge unless it is plugged into AC.

Hope that solves the problem.

Best,

Jan
 
The time code preset is changed for the shoot.. and is always an hour setting.... but I have not charged the internal battery... Thank you I would have never thought about that.
 
I personally wouldn't let your friend use the camera again - sounds like he's a Sony user at heart and can't be trusted... :0)
 
DMProductions said:
I personally wouldn't let your friend use the camera again - sounds like he's a Sony user at heart and can't be trusted... :0)
Click to expand...


lol the person I let use it knows nothing about cameras... *smiles* so it was a bit of an issuse just to let him use it...
 
I found this post on another site and it fixed the problem we were having, thanks eveyone for the advice and maybe this will now help someone else...
When you turn off the DVX notice that the tally light doesn't immediately go off. (The red "camera" light doesn't turn off right away.) If you remove the battery before this light goes off you will create a timecode break. The timecode will revert to the last point at which you "correctly" removed the battery. Just make sure this light goes off before removing that battery and you'll be fine. Unfortunately, as this isn't mentioned in the manual, it took a bit of trial and error to figure out this one.
Click to expand...
 
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