edit to tape - blacking a tape

This is my first time trying to do this in FCP - so sorry if it sounds moronic and any advice is appreciated.

I tried to black a tape today by using the button in the Edit to Tape window, but I have been unable to set the start TC to 00:58:00;00 - it just starts at zero.

Does anyone know where I can set this? Am I meant to set it on the deck (it's a borrowed deck and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to do that either.)

Furthermore, I consulted the PDF user manual and there was a one-line note :
warning - timecode is sent by RS-422 and is not supported for DV firewire.

I'm using firewire to connect to the mini-DV deck, so this means I can't record timecode?

SO if I figure out how to black the tape just using the deck and then I do the edit to tape onto a prepped tape, it should still start at the correct timecode, right?

thanks!

Yow, so we never stuck this into the FAQ?

Do a forum search and look up "SimpleVideoOut". I can't tell you about it because I don't use it, but somebody like Nick Meyers would be able to walk you through it.

[www.lafcpug.org]


www.derekmok.com

oh thank you. I will give it a shot.

I just tried but I don't have the DSR-11 deck, I have the DSR-45A and the menu is not allowing me to make any changes. I can't change the DV in TC to External, for example. ugh.

anyone else?

The DSR-45 can generate it's own timecode. You'll need to source the black from FCP still, unless you have a black generator.

Get into the Menu by moving the switch to the right of the display to Menu. Then using the white buttons immediately beneath the switch, first scroll down to "TC Make", and set it to "Preset". The white button offset to the right is the set button.

Once that is set to "Preset", scroll back up to the first item in the list, "TC Preset". Now you should be able to reset it to zero by choosing "Reset", and then scroll down on that sub menu once to "Preset". At that point you will be able so change the timecode to begin wherever you please.

Hope this helps!

deb

You might have to change the recording format from "DV" to "DVCAM" in order to use external TC.


-A

AHA! that's my problem.

I'm not going to try this until Monday, but I should then be able to use the Edit to Tape button thing to black it? Or am I better off just loading black into the canvas screen and doing a hard record on the deck?

thank you.

cdenes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or am I better off just loading
> black into the canvas screen and doing a hard
> record on the deck?
>


That's what I do. Actually, I only black the first 30 seconds. Then I switch the timecode on the deck to Regen and I assemble edit at 58;30;00 from bars and tone on my timeline through a minute or so of extra black at the end of the timeline (that's set in the Mastering Settings tab in the Edit to Tape window, if you've never seen it...I don't use the bars & tone from that tab, though. I import them in the Viewer and add them to my timeline. And I think it's labeled "Mastering Settings"....I just powered down my system, so double-checking myself isn't going to happen right now!! If I'm wrong, someone will set us both straight!!)

I'm going to stop babbling now. It's been a loooong day....

Good luck!!

deb

Thank you deb,

do you use an imported bars & tone out of habit or because it is more reliable than the mastering settings tab?

I have only ever done this in Avid and then I do it the way you are describing. but I'm intrigued by the automation FCP offers.

christy

It's a old habit of mine from back in the FCP 2-3 days. An editor that I worked with who had a stronger engineering bent than I do told me that the internally generated bars & tone from the FCP weren't reliable. I used to use a movie file that I carried around with me that he had given me.

I'm not sure when I started using the ones from the generators tab. I've never had an issue with it, but then again, I'm not sending out masters to pass technical inspection when I make them. Lately I've been doing a lot more live event work than broadcast work. Even though those engineers can be pretty discriminating when it comes to the QC of what they put on their 10-20 foot-tall screens, they don't have the innate picky-ness that a broadcast QC engineer has...

I honestly don't know if the reliability of the internally generated bars and tone in FCP is an issue any more. Maybe someone more technical than I might put in their 2¢.

I could be harboring old-school habits that aren't valid any longer...

deb

The PAL ones look fine here Deb - the same on the FCP scopes as on external scopes. Of course I'm not positive about the NTSC ones.

The tone sometimes needs adjusting depending on what format you are exporting to. For eg, here it's -20db for digibeta and -12 for DV.

I add my own countdown though. Much nicer to have your own custom countdown. These I just add at the head of the sequence.

I'm trying to do this now, and though I have managed to set everything on the deck (needed to switch to DVCAM setting) but still when I hit record it starts back at all zeros. I have DV in TC set to internal, deck set to local control...

is it because I'm using a DV and not DVCAM tape?

Christy

ugh. never mind. I just tried it AGAIN while recording on DVCAM setting and it works. (I swear I tried this before and it didn't. whatever.)

so now it is working. thanks so much deb and everyone.

christy