How are you handling Time Code in FCPX?

Do you use Time Code in FCPX? How do you read it in the Project timeline?

I am probably missing something really obvious here, I don't hear wails of complaint over missing Time Code as each version crops up.

After all, it *IS* still there 'sort of' (skim over it with the Range tool - note the TC appears in the counter window), it *USED* to work (reading timecode with an Effect, not generating it).

I've relied heavily on Time of Day code for all sorts of fast turnaround shoot/edit situations, would love to use CutNotes more for interviews, but that would need access to the Time of Day Time Code on my string-outs and having to use the Range tool won't work for BITC exports.

How are you handling it?

Not an issue for me at all. I use the meta data tools to keep everything at my fingertips.
If I had to send stuff off for transcribing then I'd do the same as I did in FCP 7, make a sequence and export that.
The time code can be read by all good logging software like InqScribe.

Burnt in Timecode is too slow to render, slow to log and just a big pain in the butt.

My only annoyance was Canon not updating the EOS Plugin for FCP X so now I use Magic Bullet Grinder to do the job.

I think most people have migrated to skimming clips in the event browser where timecode and capture time is both available and sortable.

I use the timecode a LOT in the event browser to find and match clips, something we used to do on the timeline.

Maybe I miss understood what you are looking for though

Seanus wrote: My only annoyance was Canon not updating the EOS Plugin for FCP X so now I use Magic Bullet Grinder to do the job.

Not sure if you know this, but if you add a reel name to the card before importing (using something like QTChange) the plugin does see the 5D3 timecode.

What other advantages do you see to MB Grinder?

Yeah I know it works with the Mk III but sadly not the Mk II.

With the BlackMagic Cinema camera coming in at only $2000 I'm doing some testing to see which way I'll go before I upgrade to the Mk III.

I like Grinder because it also allows me to rename the clips, I can add Timecode, make proxies and also transcode to ProRes.

I'm also looking at the BMCC, though waiting until the 4K starts shipping before making and firm decisions.

I looked for Grinder but can't find it anywhere on the website. Is it actually still available?

I believe that MB Grinder functionality has been rolled into their newest product, BulletProof.

That's a pity. Now it costs $200 instead of $50.

I really wish Redgiant would reconsider their pricing model sometime soon.
The days of plugins costing more than the host software are over.

Also, BulletProof isn't quite there with AVCHD (C100, FS700) yet - or has that changed recently?

@Dave_EP, it all comes down to having the facility to read timecode in the Project timelines - so lets say we've been doing a 'Sausage Factory' shoot of corporate interviews or maybe we have 2.5 hours of conference, mixed feed plus for ISOs, and what we want is to provide 'selects' to the client.

In the 'good old days' of FCP7 is to 'string out' our material, chop out the unnecessary stuff to reduce the amount of 'stuff' to view to the minimum. But then we need to identify that - so it's easy: simply string out, read time of day code, and we can identify what's going on because we know what happened minute by minute during that shoot.

Now, we have to string out and generate timecode, but of course it bears no relation to the time of day because whilst we can start at 09:45:00:00 for example, if I chop out an hour of rubbish from 2.5 hours, the timecode I generated no longer reflects the time when it was shot. Therefore people can't just jot down the time when something good gets said as its very difficult to locate that spot without a Time Code Reader in the main editor (with multiple clips knocking around).

I can apply a self-made Time Code Reader if I open a given clip in the event browser in its own timeline, but as soon as this gets edited into the main Project timeline, the TCR reads the Project timecode.

It just seems a little sad that this major part of video metadata that still has lots of uses is absent from FCPX 10.0.9, even more so when it was present in 10.0.3 (ish).

Well, it wasn't so that Apple provided this function in 10.0.3, but that a 3rd Party filter that DID do that in FCPX, stopped working after 10.0.3 because of limitations by Apple.

But you are right, though. I've also written a couple of things about it. A lot of things, timecode-wise, are too limited in FCPX, and still are, 2 years after it's out. Let's hope the big 10.1 update gives a lot of goodies in that regard.

Fill that feedback form out. If enough people do, it'll get done. That's pretty much how the figure what is in popular demand, and influences what gets done first, what gets done later.

Dave_EP wrote: I'm also looking at the BMCC, though waiting until the 4K starts shipping before making and firm decisions.

I looked for Grinder but can't find it anywhere on the website. Is it actually still available?

Maybe next year!

No jokes beside... who still uses Timecode today in a digital age? :silly:

Okay no more jokes...

Honestly, I haven't look at TC of a "clip" in ages. I'm not sure why I would need to. Since I run through my clips and mark significant sections as ranges, keywords, tags, etc. But, I'm sure some other editors need to reference it for various reasons. Right? Maybe?

Ben,

When shooting with multiple cameras and external audio (possibly from several cameras and several audio streams) it's useful to be able to find matching clips based on timecode. It's much faster and more reliable that having FCPX sync the footage itself.

We do this all the time, particularly if there was no chance to slate things. Finding smaller sections of interview clips also becomes much much easier when referencing the time code.

If your material and workflow doesn't benefit from it, fair enough. I know that ours does and certainly the OP does too.

Another thing that would make life a little easier would be to allow for the reel number to be input in to the import dialog instead of having to do it afterwards. Not all cameras record a reel number and if you are importing directly from cards (on set and in a hurry) then FCPX has no folder name to use as the reel.

Reel + Timecode make organisation easier for us. Not everyone needs it, but then there are lots of things in FCPX I don't need and/or use whereas other people use them all the time

So you're using cameras and audio gear that jam sync from a TC generator? Then sync by TC is a breeze in FCPX.

BenB wrote: But, I'm sure some other editors need to reference it for various reasons. Right? Maybe?

Right. Absolutely. Right.

I'm sure there's many of us, not all of us represented here on the boards, who edit conferences, 'reality', docco, all sorts of things where the production crew log 'good stuff' by time of day code. Some cameras just roll, other cameras are on/off all the time.

If we could see ToD TimeCode, we can locate the moment that someone 'remembers', or had been jotted down in somebody's notebook, rather than our carefully picked out moments. ToD helps when there's not just one camera going. Most of my conference stuff have 4 ISOs - I'm not trying to multicam, I'm trying to find the shot on the crowd ISO shot to fix the cut mix.

I didn't want to grind down to specifics, but I'm just wanting to shout out that Time Code is just another form of (valuable) Metadata, and I thought FCPX was supposed to embrace metadata, not hide it.

Ah, TOD TC, THAT could be very useful. I know FCP X reads it, because it breaks up clips captured from tape. TOD, yep, I could see that.