no Timecode on DVD?

Where have you been told that DVD's have timecode?

there is no timecode data in DVDs. However, it sounds like the event company is using an industrial player like the Pioneer V7400. If this player is being controlled by or interacting with a third party hardware device [to trigger the DVD player, or presumably in this case, to trigger an external event in relation to the DVD] then you need to author the DVD in a specific way. first off, you probably need to make sure that Time Search/Time Play is not disabled.

you might check out the Museum Technology Source tech note on authoring DVDs for use with their controllers. the basic rules are the same for most third party controllers.

http://www.museumtechnology.com/support-files/pdfs/MTS-21.pdf

-perry

As Perry noted, there is no timecode (either SMPTE or VITC, as is typically known in video editing) on DVDs. You can trigger external events from the Time Search capability, which is simply the counting of frames, but it's still not timecode.

To make this work, in DVD-Spec terminology, you need to author the disc with a "One Sequential_PGCTitle" in order to have that continuous frame count available.

Since you are not playing back audio (but, at least one stream must be present regardless), you do have the advantage of being able to add a traditional SMPTE timecode track as a (mono) channel in that stream, which can then be feed to a timecode reader.

Since you're apparently the one making the DVDs, I don't quite know what the disconnect is between the first disc, which the event guy claims had "timecode", and the second, which doesn't. It's easy to check what's what on each disc. Have you done that?

Ask the event company exactly what kind of device they are using to read whatever timing trigger, and what specific technical requirements that device needs to see coming from the DVD.

- TV

Yes, at least one audio stream must be present regardless if your content has audio. There doesn't need to be anything actually in the audio stream, it just needs to be there.

FCP has a video filter which can READ and display timecode either from the source clip or the sequence timeline, but can not generate the audio pulses. You'll need a real timecode generator to create the correct SMPTE LTC pulses, which can be output as an audio signal. A reliable, moderately priced brand is Horita, but there are others. Many devices also can insert a burned in timecode window.

I would again consult with the event people to see what kind of timecode reader they are using, and if they have any suggestions about generators which have given them the best results in the past. Maybe they have a generator you can borrow.

Depending on the sophistication of the TC generator, you can select a specific start time, jamsync to a specific video reference point, drop/non-drop, frame rates, gen-lock and EBU TC for PAL. You can capture the output, both audio and video (for your reference), into FCP.

Use different TC start times (e.g., 01:00:00:00, 02:00:00:00, 03:00:00:00...)to distingush the DVDs for the event folks.

Your DVD layout is probably fine. If the Menu is indeed in Menu-Space, and the button click to play is what's necessary for the event, then OK. Double-check with them on whether that 's what they want/need, or if First Play should be to the Title. No need to set an end to a Chapter. Chapters end automatically at the start of another Chapter, or at the end of the Title.

Let us know how things turn out.

- TV