pd150, imovie2 and timecode breaks
 

as a novice pd150 owner, i must apologize in advance for the seemingly obvious question.

that said, thank u in advance for your patience

just shot my first series of talking heads for a client's project

the client wants the material edited in movie2 so she can have access to the rough cut

yesterday, i shot about 75min of material (1 full tape and about 15 mins of 2nd)

being a newbie pd150 owner, i wanted to take a look at the 1st tape and see the results so i can adjust for sunday's next day of shooting

but if i take out the 2nd tape which is still in the camera, won't i break the continous ttmecode?

if the timecode is broken, will that be a transfer issue using imovie2

the work-around is to have a minidv/dvcam player/recorder or use another minidv camera as a playback

unfortunately, those are not options for today.

bottomline: if i break the continuous timecode on the minidv will i incur loading issues in imovie2

any and all real world experience would be appreciated

thanks in advance

be well

rob katz
harvest film

You should always shoot about 10 seconds of 'garbage' after your last shot. That way you can back the tape up into that area and then continue shooting no matter what. Get into that habit and you won't have a broken timecode issue.

When the camera finds timecode already on the tape, it uses it and then continues the progressing timecode forward onto unrecorded areas of the tape, thereby preserving the continuity.

I don't know what iMovie will do with broken timecode. I recommend you post that question in the Mac editing forum to get an answer.

P.S. Let me correct myself and change the word 'garbage' to Room Tone. An invaluable section of recording that you can use to fill in audio that you have to remove in editing for any number of reasons. You will be glad you have it. Just shout, "Room Tone," and everyone should be quiet until you shout, "Clear" or "Cut."

You will not necessarily "break" the timecode if you take the tape out of the camera. If you allow a blank section of tape between where you stopped shooting and started again the timecode will reset, or "break", if you are shooting in DV.

You have two choices - before shooting with a tape that you have taken out of the camera or which you have rewound or otherwise viewed, use the edit/search buttons on the top of the camera to position the tape at the end of where you were last shooting. Back up a frame or two to be sure that you are not leaving a blank spot on the tape.

You can also shoot in DVCAM mode and set the timecode to regenerate if there is a blank spot in the tape.

If you find yourself with a tape with one or more gaps and therefore "broken" timecode the easiest thing to do is just to play the tape out over firewire and record it on a new tape in a deck or even another camera. You will get a clean unbroken timecode on the new tape.

An even easier way Mike (and this works with all Mini DV cams) is to push the 'photo' button on the last take of the day. Or at any time where you suspect that you might possibly loose timecode by removing the non-chipped tape.

Then it's dead easy to insert the tape, wind to the middle of that 7 second still and start the new shooting from there. Ergo: no timecode breaks.

tom.

I agree that photo works, I just prefer to use the garbage section to capture room tone.