Keep Timecode through transcoding - how?

Question

Keep Timecode through transcoding - how?

Folks, when I try to take my XDCAM footage and transcode it to H.264 or some other type of quicktime, I want the resulting file to keep the timecode from the source. How do I do this? Presently, when I open the resulting file in Quicktime the track starts at zero.

macBook Pro (late 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Mar 3, 2009 9:55 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

hanumang

Level 6

9,250 points

Mar 3, 2009 9:41 PM in response to The TonyTony

TOnyTOny is right, you should be able to see it QT Player so long as you're encoding to .mov.

There is even an option in QT Player's Preferences to set it globally - Show timecode when available. (That's not a feature that requires QT Pro, in case that's a concern.)

But what are you using to transcode? You should be dropping the original file (from your Capture Scratch folder) into Compressor, which maintains the timecode track.

But, since since many firms don't actually play these movies in QT player, I've always been told that it's necessary to burn-in timecode. I take it this firm doesn't require that?

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 3, 2009 12:33 PM in response to Tangier Clarke1

Make sure you using the quicktime wrapper that supports timecode (mov file).
In QT player click on the time indicator and chooses timecode.

That doesn't mean that the transcoding company can do this. Best you check.

o| TOnyTOny |o

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 3, 2009 11:57 AM in response to Shawn Birmingham

We are trying to give our video content to a transcribing company. The XDCAM files are too large to upload to them. We are transcoding down to a smaller file size.

I realize that i could just strip the audio, but the producer I am working with wants the transcription company to have files with the same timecode as the source. Since audio files won't give me that option, I have to keep the video - hence transcoding to the smaller file size/type.

Any suggestions?

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 3, 2009 11:52 AM in response to Tangier Clarke1

Why do you want to keep the timecode? Why do you want to transcode your footage?

Reply