Rode Timecode Sync Issues - Failure to Import FCP Timeline - "Invalid Edit with no respective media"

The easiest answer will cost you a little bit of money but will save you all kinds of heartache and time.

Tentacle Sync Studio 149($EU)

https://tentaclesync.com/sync-studio

This software will synchronize any video file that has timecode on an audio track and generate Multicam clips and synchronized clips into an FCP xml. So fast, so easy, works all the time. No rendering or converting.

I recommend anyone shooting with Alpha or FX3 and editing in FCP should have this program. Really, anyone shooting Multicam and/or external audio as well. It just synchronizes everything perfectly. I've done projects with multiple iPhones, DJI Osmos, FX3, FX6, FX9, A7R, Insta360, MixPre all at once and synchronized with UltraSync ones. Drag and drop all the footage from everything into Tentacle Sync Studio, hit export XML, import into FCP, and I have Multicam clips that I can easily cut to using FCPs amazing Multicam editor. Couldn't be any easier.

With updates to FX and Alpha cameras as well as DJI, we now have timecode in and the audio channels are free to be themselves. Either way. TSS can handle it all.

So as long as your frame rates are the same, you should be good to go. Not sure how good the TC generator is on the Rodes. You might experience drift. That's the worst case scenario.

When you export from Resolve to an FCP destination, the UI looks like the attached image. It transcodes each clip as a separate file and also generates an FCPXML file for import to FCP. You do not export a contiguous single-file timeline for import to FCP, nor do you export only an XML to relink to the original files in FCP.

To inspect if clips exported from Resolve have timecode, import several of them back to Resolve as a test. See attached image. If the exported clips do not have readable timecode, it will not be readable in FCP either. In that case it's a Resolve or Rode configuration problem, and you can pursue it with those vendors.

If the exported clips show proper timecode after reimporting them back to Resolve, and if they do not show timecode when exported to FCP, there could be other factors causing that. If so, please report the specifics after following the above steps.

Did you try just importing the clips to FCP and using the Synchronize Clips command? Checking "Use Audio for Synchronization", it should still work, unless that timecode stored as audio breaks things; in which case maybe disabling that channel could work?

Timecode sync on the Sony A1 and A7SIII are supported on the latest camera firmware. Like the FX3, that requires an external Sony VMC-BNCM1 BNC-to-micro USB adapter (for timecode devices using BNC output) or a Micro-USB Timecode to Right Angle 3.5mm TRS Cable (for timecode devices using 3.5mm output -- see Amazon). There are also BNC-to-3.5mm timecode adapter cables.

I believe that is recorded on the A1, A7SIII and FX3 as embedded "file" timecode, not audio LTC timecode.

The Sony mirrorless cameras since the A7SIII actually support embedded "file" timecode without the firmware update, but the only way to initialize the timecode clock is using this procedure:

• Set TC mode to free-run TC. That's in Menu>Shooting Menu>TC/UB>Time Code Run>Free Run.

• Set LCD display to display free-run TC. That is in Menu>Setup Menu>Finder/Monitor>TC/UB Disp. Setting>TC. This lets you observe the TC counting and verify it's as expected. I think those menus are the same on the A1, but you'll have to check.

• To manually sync A7SIII/FX30/A1 TC to another camera or TC clock, while examining the TC counting on the other device, enter a TC value about 30 sec in advance on the A7SIII: Menu>Shooting Menu>TC/UB>Time Code Preset. When the other camera reaches that number, press the OK soft button on the camera. Examine the free-run TC counting on both cameras to verify they are within < 1/2 sec. With a little practice, you get it pretty close.

With the firmware update and above adapter cable, you can use an external timecode device such as Tentacle Sync (or maybe Rode Wireless Pro) to sync the camera TC. That is embedded "file" timecode recorded as metadata, not audio LTC timecode recorded on an audio track.

However -- embedded "file" timecode recorded as Sony MP4 files will not be readable by FCP due to lack of standardization in the MP4 specification about how timecode is stored. To enable FCP to read that timecode requires preprocessing the files with the third-party tool QTChange. You can Google that. This does not transcode the files or alter the video data, so it's very fast.

The moment files are imported to FCP you can immediately check if they contain valid timecode by just passing the skimmer over the files in the Event Browser. If it exists it will show up as non-zero-based clip timecode.

The limitations of the MP4 container format is a key reason why my team mainly uses Sony FX6 cameras, which records using the professional MXF container format. The FX6 and similar cameras also use standardized BNC timecode connectors, so that avoids having special adapters.

Sync-N-Link X from Intelligent Assistance is another option. It's on the AppStore. We use it to create multicams with separately recorded audio. https://youtu.be/cQR5KYG7znU

Let me start by saying that I have never used any of this, so I may be completely off base here.

If you can import the video and audio files into your mac, have you considered going to FCP directly?

I would try importing the files and making a Synchronized clip in FCP.

Wait... that is exactly what the page you linked to suggests...

I find this odd.

Does the video clip recorded in the camera not have any audio at all?

FCP can synchronize based on audio; in fact, that is how synchronized clips are most often created in FCP.

Correction. It could be easier if FCP had this kind of thing built in. But truly, not a big deal to do it externally.