User guide
from third-parties) are pretty expensive (as much or close to your overall system cost!). Without a resolved system,
you cannot maintain lock over longer periods of time to analog tape transports (like cassettes, or even multi-track
machines). The choice about how far to go with resolving your system lies with your needs and budget.
Entering Your Offset
-----------------------------
Pro Tools LE's Session Setup Window has a SMPTE offset entry area ("Session Start"), which allows you to set the
SMPTE start time for your session. (There is also an area that lets you set the frame rate for your incoming time
code.) If you get a tape to work with that contains a new SMPTE start time (a change from when you started your
project), you can enter a new start time. When you do this, you will be prompted to choose if you wish to maintain
the absolute positions of your on-screen regions relative to the time code on your tape (most common), or whether
you wish to keep the position of your regions relative to the start of the session. For example, your session might
start at 01:00:00:00 and you have a region at 2:10.000 (coincides with 01:02:10:00 on your tape). You then
decide to move the Session Start earlier so that you can spot something to a location before 1 hr. Setting the
Session Start to 00:00:00:00 will prompt you to Maintain Time Code (your region will now be at 62:10.000 and will
still line up with your tape) or Maintain Relative Position (your region will still be 2 minutes and 10 seconds from the
start of the session, an hour earlier than the location on your tape).
Incoming Time Code Display
-----------------------------
The Session Setup Window also features an incoming time code display (labelled "Current Time"). This allows you to
see your incoming SMPTE. If the display is rolling, you know you've got time code and you can view where you are
against incoming time code at all times.
Pro Tools LE Time Code Q & A Index | All FAQ Index
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How Do I Work With QuickTime Video if I Don't Have a Time Code Ruler? How Do I Set Up My QuickTime
Movie in the Session?
You can import your QT Movie into Pro Tools LE, and move it to start on a specific Bar|Beat, Minutes/Seconds or
Sample location. Pro Tools LE does not support QuickTime video capture. Instead, you must use a third-party
application (such as Adobe Premiere). The Pro Tools Reference Guide contains several tips about this, but briefly,
you'll want to "conform" your Movie to match the SMPTE frame rate for your session, and make sure you don't have
any "dropped frames." Choose a resolution that won't overly tax your system. If the picture looks great, and you
can't run many tracks, do any mixing, or add effects, you won't be happy...
Once you're set, you can import the QuickTime Movie. Make sure that when you export it from your video
application that you trim the Movie start to a logical (and known) start time. This is common if you have a "window
burn" that shows a time code location on the picture, or a "2 pop" or Academy leader on your video, which allows
you to set up sync easily between sound and picture. Then you can have the Movie start right at a certain Bar|Beat
location, or at an even minute or second boundary by using Grid or Spot.
Am I Missing Anything?
Having a SMPTE Time Code ruler is a nice convenience, but in practice, it doesn't afford greater (or any) accuracy in
placing your QT movie against your audio or MIDI data. In the case of locating your QT Movie in your session, the
only thing that a SMPTE ruler gives you is the ability to exactly match the location of a conformed QT movie's
window against an identical SMPTE reference location in a PT session. On a practical basis, this is not necessary. Cut
your QT Movie on a "normal" frame boundary (like the academy leader count down at the start, or a "two pop" [2
beeps that occur 2 seconds before picture start ]). Or, anywhere you want. Then place the Movie at the point in real
time minutes/seconds or musical time (bars|beats) that you want the picture to start at. That might be at the very
beginning of your session, or a little ways in. Make sure that you place your Movie using Grid or Spot (either
minutes/seconds or bars/beats) so that the Movie's start time is exactly referenced to your working "time scale."
Practically, many people get QT movies delivered to them that do not contain a window burn with time code.
Provided that the movie is captured at high enough quality, you can get 30/60 field performance (conformed) with
a capture card like Miro or Aurora Fuse. In post work, people generally start at even time marks, so you don't have
to worry about having a Movie start at a subframe location.
The Movie as "Master"