timecode, heads, and packing tape

C

Cheesesailor77

Veteran
ok next questions...

Timecode: I have know idea what this is, why it's important.

Heads: Everyone's very concerned with recording heads. I believe you, but if someone could go into a little detail to both why its so important to keep them clean and free from wear, and how's the best why to do this, I'd appreciate it.

Packing: My film professor told me yesterday that especially with dv tapes its important to fast forward the tape to the end and then rewind it to the beginning to make sure its the right tension. IS this something important, since i figured that was bad for the camera
 
Re: timecode, heads, and packing tape

Timecode is vital for linear editing. For nonlinear editing it's an extremely useful tool, but perhaps a little less vital... if you intend to go back and re-capture your footage you'll find proper timecode indispensable (i.e., if you were doing a low-res offline edit, and then were going to recapture the footage at high-res for an on-line, not that anyone editing DV ever does that anymore...)

Recording heads: replacing heads costs about $800. That's why we try to minimize their use whenever possible! :) And if the heads are dirty, you won't be recording good footage or playing it back -- you'll get dropouts, tape errors, etc.

As far as packing tapes: there may be some truth to it, although I've never bothered and I don't personally know anyone who does; however I've seen the advice passed around on the Internet and it doesn't seem like a bad idea. Packing a tape would hopefully get any loose bits of dust or whatever to flake off and not stick to the tape, which may minimize dropouts when recording, etc.

Most tape manufacturers would probably agree to recommend that you occasionally "re-pack" your shot tapes when storing them, i.e. every year or so go through and fast-forward/rewind your shot tapes. That might help keep the tape from "sticking" to itself and eventually getting ruined.
 
Re: timecode, heads, and packing tape

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

thanks you, you, awesome person!

so if im using i movie or soon FCP, timecode isnt important? Im wondering because id like to pick up another camera to use as a deck, but now I read about how timecode is so important. Any more advice?
 
Re: timecode, heads, and packing tape

Timecode is important. Let me give you a real life example. A month or so ago, we were shooting a seminar (2 cameras) at a local hotel. In the middle of the seminar, a maid comes in and starts to vacuum the area behind us. The speaker wasn't bothered, but my poor blownout ears were.

The camera closest to the speaker barely registered the disruption, but my audio & footage were ruined. Back in the edit suite, we noticed all sorts of coughs, bumping chairs etc. As we played the footage for the first time, we marked the timecode of each of the noises so that we could flatten that audio at a later time. The maid screwup had to be seamlessly removed. We noted the timecode when she came in the room and found a suitable point to cutaway to the other camera track before she started the vacuum from hell. We use Vegas and I'll assume that FCP allows you place/label markers and intercut two tracks.
 
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