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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:09 AM   #1
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Count down clock for New Years

I need to create a count down video for a New Years Eve event. Any ideas of an easy/inexpensive method to do this? Would need to be a couple hours long, perhaps just the countdown clock over some appropriate background.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:19 AM   #2
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How are you wanting to display the countdown? As video on a TV or on a computer monitor.

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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:22 AM   #3
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Good question. I was thinking video but it probably could be a computer instead. The set designer planned for a 17 inch monitor.

If it's video, I'm on a Mac using Premiere.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:27 AM   #4
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Just shoot a digital clock now starting at 10:00 p.m. and cut it after midnight. Then, in editing, make that image float over whatever background you want going on. On New Year's Eve, start it right at 10:00.

Use a digital clock that shows tenths of a second so that there's always a lot of movement.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:30 AM   #5
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The time needs to count down, not up. Was hoping there was some little program/plug-in that would do the trick.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:33 AM   #6
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You could probably do the same thing still. Just get a digital clock that has a countdown feature (like you often see on wristwatches), set it for two hours, and start taping.

There's a brand called Scientific American (I think that's the name) that always has lots of bells and whistles.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 09:45 AM   #7
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You can rent a timecode generator, Fast forward Video http://www.ffv.com/product_specs/timecode.htm and set a custom TC and feed the output to a TV. The size and position of the characters are adjustable. If you need a countdown, you'll need to record the time in forward, starting a zero. Then capture the tape, and put a motion effect on it in Premiere to run backwards.

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Old December 18th, 2002, 03:11 PM   #8
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Trying to do this with video is just asking for synch problems. There are software solutions for this sort of thing http://www.panaga.com/clocks/clocks.htm and make sure your computer is running an NTP (or SNTP) client (such as Automachron) to keep the clock accurate.
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Old December 18th, 2002, 03:51 PM   #9
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someone did a time counter with nixitubes for a pc

yes nixitubes - real cool retro

you will have to do a google search
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Old December 18th, 2002, 04:22 PM   #10
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Robert,

I don't think a Time Code generator will create a sync problem. It's frame accurate. Are your referring to starting the video at the correct time? Someone just needs to start it on time.

Jeff
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Old December 29th, 2002, 05:19 PM   #11
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If you shoot a clock from 10 to 12 as suggested earlier you can
remove the first digit (or shoot from midnight to 2) and then
reverse the video (speed of -100% in premiere)
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Old December 30th, 2002, 07:28 AM   #12
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Thanks for the idea, but in order to avoid a ton of rendering, we opted for a very simple countdown clock on a PC. We were able to fill the screen with it on top of a custom desktop background. Not real fancy, but very low fuss.
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