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Table Of Contents
Any device receiving the timecode and synchronizing or locking to it.
Timecode Formats
The position of any device is most often described using timecode. Timecode represents time
using hours, minutes, seconds, and frames to provide a location for each device. Each frame
represents a visual
lm or video frame.
The following timecode formats are supported:
LTC
Longitudinal timecode or LTC is an analog signal that can be recorded on tape. It should
be used for positional information primarily. It can also be used for speed and phase
information as a last resort if no other clock source is available.
VITC
Vertical interval timecode or VITC is contained within a composite video signal. It is recorded
onto video tape and is physically tied to each video frame.
MTC
MIDI timecode or MTC is identical to LTC except that it is a digital signal transmitted via MIDI.
Timecode Standards
Timecode has several standards. The subject of the various timecode formats can be very
confusing due to the use and misuse of the shorthand names for
specic timecode standards
and frame rates. The timecode format can be divided into 2 variables: frame count and frame
rate.
Frame count (frames per second)
The frame count of timecode denes the standard with which it is labeled. There are 4 timecode
standards:
24 fps Film (F)
This frame count is the traditional count for lm. It is also used for HD video formats
and commonly referred to as 24 p. However, with HD video, the actual frame rate or
speed of the video sync reference is slower, 23.976 frames per second, so timecode
does not
reect the actual real time on the clock for 24 p HD video.
25 fps PAL (P)
This is the broadcast video standard frame count for European (and other PAL
countries) television broadcast.
30 fps non-drop SMPTE (N)
This is the frame count of NTSC broadcast video. However, the actual frame rate or
speed of the video format runs at 29.97 fps. This timecode clock does not run in real
time. It is slightly slower by 0.1 %.
30 fps drop-frame SMPTE (D)
The 30 fps drop-frame count is an adaptation that allows a timecode display running
at 29.97 fps to actually show the clock-on-the-wall-time of the timeline by dropping or
skipping
specic frame numbers in order to catch the clock up to real time.
NOTE
Remember to keep the timecode standard (or frame count) and frame rate (or speed) separate.
Synchronization
Timecode Formats
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