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Adding timecode to a quicktime movie?

Is there any way to embed the timecode in a quicktime movie?

I have embedded my quicktime movies in my website using iweb, but the time code doesn't display in the player. Is there a way to add the timecode to the movie itself?

THANKS!

MacBook

Posted on Jul 16, 2009 11:07 AM

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3 replies

Aug 30, 2009 12:09 PM in response to Larry LeCover

EDIT - Looks like the forum takes my square-bracket text and formats it as Stikethrough. So, in the example below, the timecode lines that have striketrhough are actually just timecode with a square-bracket at each end. If you email me I'd be happy to send you a sample file.

Larry, I believe Compressor has a really simple Timecode Overlay filter built-in, which will add a burn-in during encoding. It's a fully-rendered burn-in, rather than a running clock in the controller bar, but since you have Compressor installed, this may be the easiest way for you to get what you need.

Bruce, if you have Quicktime Pro, but not Compressor (or any other video editing app with a Timecode burn-in filter) there is a way to get what you need. It's not elegant, or simple, but it does the trick and can give very nice results. Bear with me here, cause this does work.

Basically you want to create a Quicktime Text File (a type of subtitle file for Quicktime) and have one single subtitle for every frame of the movie. Here is an example from the beginning of such a file

{QTtext}
{width:640}
{height:48}
{font:Courier}
{size:24}
{textColor:65535,65535,65535}
{backColor:10000,10000,10000}
{timeStamps:absolute}
{timeScale:24}
{keyedtext:off}
{dropShadow:off}
{justify:center}
[00:00:00.00]
TC*01:00:00:00
[00:00:00.01]
[00:00:00.01]
TC*01:00:00:01
[00:00:00.02]
[00:00:00.02]
TC*01:00:00:02
[00:00:00.03]
[00:00:00.03]
TC*01:00:00:03
[00:00:00.04]
[00:00:00.04]
TC*01:00:00:04
[00:00:00.05]

The header info (everything inside the {} marks) is style, timing and layout metadata, which you will need to edit to meet your needs. Each subtitle is made up of 3 lines:

1 = A Timcode-in point for the text, inside square brackets.
2 = The text you want to appear on screen (in this case "TC*01:00:00:00)
3 = A Timecode-out point (which is exclusive, so it is the first frame where the text is no longer visible)

Create a text file like this (you can use Applescript, Excel, Numbers or similar to automate the process of creating the repeating pattern you need) and save it as a plain text file (.txt).

Drag the .txt file onto the Quicktime 7 Pro icon in your dock (doesn't work in the new Quicktime X) and you will have a playable, frame accurate timecode video. This video can be copied and pasted as a second layer in any Quicktime movie, then flattened and rendered out in any export format supported by your system.

Hope this helps.

Peter

Adding timecode to a quicktime movie?

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