View Full Version : GL2 - making timecode backups


Scot Stafford
August 14th, 2003, 11:24 AM
Can you record original time code from one mini-DV tape to another?

I'll be using

- a GL2 (primary camera)
- a Canon z70 (backup camera, portable VTR/monitor, making backup copies)

If I can't do it with this combination, is there an alternative, cheap way to do it?

Thanks,

Scot

Graham Bernard
August 14th, 2003, 02:21 PM
By everything that's Alfred Hitchcock - why? Why? I really don't understand . . . please tell me why? There must be a very good reason . . . . I can't see it just yet.

Timcode gets laid down when I film. Timcode is used by my editing suite to recognise where each frame is .. . . If I want I can "lay" timcode onto a new or used miniDV by setting the camera to record and keeping the lens cap on. I suppose I could then transfer this TC onto another camera's tape - but why would I want to do it? . . . . . . . .Timecode is always new to the tape. It isn't something that needs to be transfered. TC gets transfered when I copy or capture to my edit suite with my captured film. I'm strating to think you need to transfer TC from one camera to another for a reason that helps you work?? Help . . . . I'm really struggling here. I feel I've locked myself into to logic loop and I can't get outta here!!! . . . . . . .

. . . .I'm going to lay down . . . in a darkened room . .. . with a cold compress over my eyes . . . ..

There is something I'm really missing from my last 2 years of struggling to understand DV work . . . .

Grazie

Scot Stafford
August 14th, 2003, 06:06 PM
By "timecode backups" I mean, duplicate copies of a miniDV that have the same timecode information on them as the original.

The reason I want to do this is to have an backup for each tape I shoot. I'll edit compressed video "offline" in FCP, then re-capture at high-res later on. It'll be good to have a backup in case the original tape is damaged, but for the EDL to work, the backup tape must have identical timecode to the original.

That make sense?

I'm a newbie.

Your response was very entertaining.

Graham Bernard
August 14th, 2003, 10:53 PM
Oh!

Ken Tanaka
August 15th, 2003, 12:13 AM
Since the GL2 does not provide SMPTE time code this would be problemmatic to accomplish. The source and target tape drives would have to be perfectly synchronized. Ex: starting the target deck's "Record" function before starting the source deck's play function would place them out of synch. You could try capturing the entire source tape, drop it into a sequence, and then use the Print to Video. But I'm not sure that would work, either.

Graham Bernard
August 15th, 2003, 12:20 AM
Oh!

Scot Stafford
August 15th, 2003, 08:48 AM
Thanks, Ken!

From another board, I heard this referred to as "cloning," i.e., making a copy of both video AND timecode from miniDV to miniDV.

I'm a little disappointed that something so simple (SMTPE has been around for decades, and is included in some very, very simple audio devices) and so necessary (making usable backups of reels) hasn't been made at the prosumer level yet.

Has anyone tried to do this before, with either successful or unsuccessful results?

-S