Copying tape to VHS with BITC?
 

Hello!

Just a quicky about creating a VHS with BITC.

I have recently been given a job at a production company in London as a Production Runner. I've been asked to transfer a digibeta tape to VHS with built in timecode.
We have an Avid Adrenaline system with two tape decks (one MiniDV, one DigiBeta) but I'm not sure we have the cables to use both decks at once.

Do I need to capture the whole tape, then transfer that with the visible timecode to a VHS. Or, if I can use both decks, bypass capturing any data onto the PC and go straight from DigiBeta to VHS?

Before I trouble the editor I was wondering if anyone could help me out.


Cheers

Ben

VHS doesn't capture timecode. So you'll have to capture into AVID. Lay in a timecode 'window'... (Make sure the timecode window matches actual timecode) then capture in VHS. This will allow those watching the VHS to make notes about the edit, by looking at the timecode in the window. They will use these notes to make a 'paper edit' or 'paper cut'... before they make the on line edit.

1- You might be talking about VITC.... vertical interval time code.

I don't think VHS can record VITC.

2- The digibeta deck should be able to add a TC burn on the fly. You need to turn the "character" on (this should be a switch on the deck), and position the TC/character in the right place. Usually you want to put it bottom center, although people doing captioning will want the character top center.

3- You can also take LTC out and record that onto one of the audio tracks. I don't think LTC is appropriate here though.

LTC = longitudinal timecode

Since when are runners expected to be doing the work of an editor or dub house?

Is this some sort of a problem? It's more educational learning how to use the gear than running tapes.

I tried capturing the whole tape to Avid, and laying a timecode effect over the whole thing. Then I was just going to burn that to DVD and copy the DVD to VHS.

It worked at first but to render the whole thing and then export to DVD would have taken 4-5 hours and I didn't have that much time.

I didn't think an Avid Adrenaline system would take so long to render that effect, the whole sequence was 45mins and I assume the timecode box is a relatively simple effect. I was rendering to an external HD though.

Any thoughts, am I overestimating the system specs or should it not take a good 3-4 hours to render timecode onto a 45min sequence?


Nate, I wasn't forced to do this, it was just a suggestion on my part to save the cost of paying someone else.