Timecode, Striping?
Hi
In order to use batch import into FCP do I need to Stripe the tapes in HV20?
if yes what is the best way to doe this? using FCP? or just recording through the whole tape before begining shooting? If this is a stupid question please say so, I am a total beginer with regard to Video.
Best
Rico
I haven't striped tapes...ever.
When recording, just make sure you start recording at the end of the previous recording. The HV20 has an END SEARCH function; use it, if in doubt.
Ahh yes of course I forgot about the end search thanks Mal, I must say this forum is fantstic, I am finding there is more to this Video bussines than I had first thought, I have a fair bit to learn, my head is spinning with it all at the moment, and I'm still confused
No worries, there's lots of knowledgable people here that can help (from what I've seen so far!
By the way, regarding recording and end search and all that: it's a good practice to record a few seconds LONGER than you'd normally want to. Basically keep recording for two, three, four seconds BEYOND where you think the "good action" has stopped. This will help you in editing, and it also makes it easier to "manually" line up the end of the recording without losing any valuable footage. Hope that made sense....
Another suggestion would be to record about 30 seconds of tape at the beginning with your hand over the lens. This helps two things: 1. Usually, the first 30 seconds of tape are the most susceptible to problems, like warping, etc. (extremely rare nowadays) and 2.) It helps when you want to load footage into an editing program to have some "leader" before your first shot you'd like to import. This also helps your editing software find the start point of the clip you'd like to load.
Thanks gibo
Thats a good tip, I will do as you suggest.
I also asked this question in another post and no one really timecode stripes their tapes, yet I read in a book (Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 Studio Techniques) where he recommends that you always do so with a full pass of recording, before starting on a project. So I'm not sure if I should or not, I know it certainly can't hurt much to do so..
I *think* the concept of stripping timecode onto video died off with analog content. Once we went to digital content with DV cameras a decade ago, that content has timecode built in as it is digital.
HDV carries this situation forward, and you can see this in the displayed timecode as you capture the footage to your application.
Hi, there --
There is an advantage to striping your tape -- on the off chance that you do some field playback and miss the end of the previous shot, you'll have solid time code throughout. I do production professionally and can't tell you how frustrating it is when your tapes have multiple time-code restarts because you missed the end frames of the preceding shot.
That said, I rarely actually do stripe my tapes. This might be a case of "do as I say, not as I do...."
(And yes, in the olden days -- pre digital, that is -- it was essential that you stripe tapes because a break in control track was fatal.)
- Dex
First post!
Remember that the END SEARCH will not work if the tape has left the camera after the last recording, unless it has a memoy chip (MIC).Originally Posted by Mal
I'm not sure if this is true for the HV20 but for most camera's this is a fact. (It puzzled me for over a month why my PD150 couldn't do END SEARCH sometimes).
-M4R4T14M-
Last edited by Maratiam; 2007 June 29th at 04:48. Reason: Some typo's
I have a macbook pro, and a HV20. today, I just started trying to batch capture using the log and capture screen. When I got three clips in, I pressed Batch Capture.
Then I got an error. It said the FCP coulnd't find the timecode.
It also couldn't handle when I tried to go to the in point via the timecode.
I thought about striping my tapes, which lead me to your question.
Anyone have any idea why FCP will show my time code in the log and capture window, it matches exactly with the timecode on my HV20, yet it can't go to it or capture from it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Ken
Striping also wears the heads down on the camera and sometimes degrades the tape so its not always the best thing.
Timecode was the only way to tie in the analogue signal to a point on the tape. Editing was carried out by using the timecode addresses - the picture information being meaningless ia tape to tape edit.
Digital editing is all about scenes and (my) NLE will attempt to split the shots at boundaries, change of scene etc. It doesn't really matter as the NLE will allow boundaries to be put in at any point.
Fast Forward & Rewind Brand New Tapes B4 1st Use
Hello All,
Do any of you fully FF & RW a brand new tape 1st time you use it?
or do you just put a brand new tape in and start shootin video?
In the recording audio industry in the past they suggested to fully FF & RW brand new tapes b4 1st use to "unpack" them.
I wondered if this practice was true in the video indusry as well
thank you in advance for your input/suggestions/opinions
sincerely
joe
For video professionals, they usually "stripe" a tape by recording blank for the whole time once so that there will be a continous timecode recorded to the tape.
I have never done that... maybe I am not a video professional :-)
Last edited by Lunchbox; 2007 November 18th at 15:37.
Taky - don't you mean 'stripe' a tape?
Last edited by Lunchbox; 2007 November 18th at 15:37.
That's what I said.. what you talking about...!?!?
shucks... I should know better than to correct a moderator!
I'm sorry... I keep having the dirty thoughts in my head.. that's why the word strip was typed
I use the Panasonic professional series tapes in my HV20 and in the tiny "instruction" sheet inside the tape case they do mention to FF a little ways in and then Rewind back to the beginning before recording on it the first time.
Striping tapes is something that some people have carried over from the analogue days, but since the timecode is written to tape as the image is recorded, whether already on the tape or not -- unlike with analogue, where timecode was preserved and only the image and audio was altered -- it's not necessarily going to protect against timecode breaks.
The process of fast forwarding through and rewinding back a tape is what's known as 'Fast-winding'.. I've done it in the past, but have not done so in several years. I've never had any issues with timecode or drop outs. (knock on wood I suppose)
It's certainly not something that would be harmful, and in theory could potentially prevent data loss, but I would be much more inclined to use a cheap deck or old camcorder to fast-wind tapes rather than putting extra wear on the transport in the HV20.
Stripeing tape with timecode is a throwback from the analogue days when the timecode was used, in the editing process, to find scenes and to control scene length when tying the raw footage in to an edited tape.
Now, thank heavens, we deal with the actual digital information and the timecode becomes redundant.
every new tape i put in my cam i fast forward and rewind before recording. why? not sure just seems like the right thing to do.
well one of the reasons, if you look into storing your tapes is i have read they say you should take the tapes out once a year and fast forward and rewind them (something to do with having an even tension on the tape and to stop it binding) as well as store them standing up.
as for stripe-ing, tried it once, to much like hard work, never did it again, so far no time code problems!
Actually striping does work and serve a purpose b/c sometimes when you power off a cam or remove a tape for whatever reason you break the timecode. UNless you have those special Sony tapes that cost a ridiculous amount of money ($14-$16/tape) but have that digital data code no matter what, I forget what they were called. Some people like to log and capture. I don't anymore. Timecode breaks prevent time referenced L&C. But depending on your needs, are you working solo or as part of a team that may need to refer to tc? I edit all I shoot so I don't care, but I have striped dv tapes for stuff I've sent out for Beta mastering.
Last edited by TimeKoder13; 2007 November 29th at 03:00.
I don't FF, but I do play them for about 20 seconds before recording. Just in case the start of the tape is damaged.
Sharp Shooter
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