The dreaded TOD... workflows?

Can't remember this, but last time it wasn't all peachy... Let's say there was a Time of Day multicam shoot gone bad (lots of start/stops) and there is no option of dubbing onto fresh tapes or even backing up the .mov files...

How would this be approached?

I was thinking that if I have to resort to a capture now, using an uncontrollable device. I can recompress the first 10 seconds of the video per tape with the newly captured timecode, back that up, then if the need arises, and i absolutely need to recapture, I can always resync the newly captured footage with that 10 seconds of video. Basically sync up the audio, then match the timecode from the 10 sec timecode sample and modify the timecode on the new clip to match the old one... Then reconnect the video back, and hopefully it syncs fine on multiclip sequences...

Will that work?



www.strypesinpost.com

Had the same nightmare awhile ago on a 5 camera shoot. No slates, no synch of any flavor, no handclap, nothing other than camera audio to hear what was going on.

We set a timeline, imported each camera on a seperate track, used the audio to help locate where each camera was starting and stopping, and then fine-tuned for synch.

It was a 3 or 4 day puzzle to work out, but once we had it, we then just exported each track individually (i.e. with identical tc's from the timeline), brought them back in, created a multiclip, and started editing.

That help?

Clay

Last time I did a TOD thing, was on 4.5 (which didn't support multicam), so there's no multicam resync issue. I'm hoping it's going to be smooth sailing this time round. I'm just planning contingencies in advance, as TC breaks is always a potential headache in post.

>we then just exported each track individually (i.e. with identical tc's from the timeline),
>brought them back in, created a multiclip, and started editing.

You don't have to export actually... once the clips are synced up at In points, drag them into a browser, "make independent clips", then sync them by In points.

Lemme see:

Option 1: Run Capture Now, deselect 'abort capture on tc break', select 'make new clips on tc break'. Naturally, you can't run batch capture later on, as you need 3-5 seconds for pre-roll. But that may not be an issue, as timecode data from the original clip is captured (and FCP reconnects by timecode?). You just run capture now in a new project for that specific portion of the clip you need, in between both tc breaks. So you'll get that full clip you need. Then rename the clip, and relaunch your original project, then reconnect the offline media.

One issue i'm wondering, is whether i can still run capture now if there are a lot of tc breaks.

Option 2: log and capture. Make sure there is sufficient pre and post roll time. Then run log and capture and capture clip by clip. But this is may take a long time- I'm thinking like maybe 16 tapes per ep. (someone mentioned something about renaming the reel number alphabetically on each tc break, but i can't remember the rationale behind it.. Anyone?)

Option 3: Capture Now as a Non-controllable device. This is probably the last resort if all else fails, as fresh timecode is rewritten, and everything will have to be re-synced manually. Ideally, a back up just in case, but I doubt I'll even have that luxury... So I'm thinking that I'll can export the first 10 seconds of each clip to have the timecode and audio for rematching later on if needed. So if i need to do a recapture, I can re-run capture now as a Non-controllable device, then line up the new clips with the audio from the 10 second timecode sample, modify timecode on the newly captured clip to match the original clips, then reconnect those clips back to the original sequence... And hopefully the clips on multicam sync will also stay in sync.



www.strypesinpost.com

Generally I've found Capture Now to be pretty tolerant of tc breaks, if you're brining in Video only. Thing with Capture Now is that you'll probably lose audio synch. Audio is usually delayed by about half a second here and there , especially on long captures and for some reason almost always in PAL. If Audio is a concern, I wouldn't even consider Capture Now.

>You don't have to export actually... once the clips are synced up at In points, drag them into a browser, "make independent clips", then sync them by In points.<

Good point, we did it that way though because the project was being handed off on an external drive for editing on a different machine. I wanted to give the editor a nice and tidy clean project to work with, so that was the way we handled it.

Clay

What I don't understand here, why it is not possible to make a copy of the(se) tape(s)? This would be the best solution.
So if you only got one tape machine, you could use Apple's WhackedTV to capture. It allows some more settings compared to FCP, but no machine control - it's a capture now with way less app/system overhead. I never had any AV drifting with that app, even on 2 our test runs with SD 8bit. But as always I can't guarantee for that on any other system than mine.
From there you can use Apple's Simple VideoOut (or FCP) to create a new tape with consistent timecode.

Andreas

>Thing with Capture Now is that you'll probably lose audio synch.

This used to happen on FCP 4.5- always a result of bad timecode. Capture Now has been pretty reliable as far as sync is concerned, but I'll probably try to run some tests before hand.. Does it still happen on FCP 6/tiger/leopard?

>What I don't understand here, why it is not possible to make a copy of the(se) tape(s)?

I'm hoping to use the TOD timecode to speed up making multiclips. Rewriting fresh timecode is only a last resort, else, it would defeat the purpose of having TOD for sync. Making back ups of the tapes may not be an option due to time, data back ups of the mov files may not be an option due to drive space (or at least that's usually how houses around here operate).

> Apple's WhackedTV

I'm curious. What other settings?

No worries, guys... I'm not even on the project yet. Just planning out the workflow in advance and trying to sidestep the usual issues with free run TC...



www.strypesinpost.com

Quote
Strypes
I'm curious. What other settings

Just download, try and you'll see

What I still do not understand: what do you want to do? Is it finding a backup strategy. Or is it about finding a way to make multiclip creation easier. In latter case TC breaks with TOD shouldn't be a problem.

Andreas

Some workflow tools for FCP [www.spherico.com]
TitleExchange -- juggle titles within FCS, FCPX and many other apps.
[www.spherico.com]

Yup. I'm trying to get a good back up strategy, also wondering what else may crop up... Though I'm no longer a stranger to surprises anymore... Running Capture Now would probably work. I'm wondering if the method i mentioned for recapturing would be reliable.

Thanks for the confirmation. I'll probably go on capture now. I'll check out Whacked TV later this week.



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