Reading Date & Time (Code) on MiniDV Video

Question

Reading Date & Time (Code) on MiniDV Video

Is there a way to download my miniDV tapes and retain the Date & Time, so that in Final Cut Pro, I can view this information? As opposed to having to put the tape back into the camera and watch the video to find out what the date and time are that the video was taken?

If this information is already being downloaded, how do I view it within FCP?

Thanks

Note:
I download my MiniDV tapes with the following settings.
-Firewire NTSC
-DV NTSC 48kHz (Sometimes Anamorphic if the situation calls for it)

MAC Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Final Cut Studios 1.5 / FCP 5.1.4 - DVD Studio Pro 4.1.2 - Compressor 2.3.1

Posted on Jan 2, 2011 10:14 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Jan 2, 2011 10:21 PM in response to Event Video Guy

The information is there, but FCP doesn't display it. If you would like it burned into the footage, you can use this:

http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/ClipInfoTitler/

But there are no columns in FCP where you can see this info.

Shane

Reply

Answer 2

Jan 2, 2011 10:32 PM in response to Shane Ross

That's not quite what I'm looking for. I just want to be able to see the information not necessarily burn it to the video.

Such as in the example of watching old home movies. On an old VHS or Hi8 camcorder you can see the date that the video was created. I want to be able to see this information for every different clip.
Kind of like in the canvas, I can choose to look at the "Timecode Overlays". I want to be able to see the Date & time stamp overlays.

Reply

Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Jan 3, 2011 12:55 AM in response to Event Video Guy

I know what you want. It can't be done. It isn't something that FCP displays...but the metadata is there. When you print back to tape, the information is still there. When you bring it into cataloging software like CAT DV...it is there. But FCP doesn't show it...anywhere. Only that plugin that burns it in does. And CatDV.

Shane

Reply

Answer 4

Andy Mees

Level 6

12,610 points

Jan 3, 2011 4:05 AM in response to Shane Ross

Automatic Duck briefly sold an FCP plugin called ProDate DV that would let you view this info but apart from being poorly timed and seemingly immediately discontinued (as DV has all but disappeared for most of us these days) and other than being cheaper, I'm not sure how it would have helped you any more than Assisted Editing's more feature rich ClipTitleInfo app does (although it was simpler as it required no XML round tripping) ... as it is, why not just use something like ClipTitleInfo to make the info you want visible as a title overlay, and then disable it before output? Or drop the very helpful developers a line and see if they'll tweak it for you to add a "Don't Render" option so it will only ever be visible as a Canvas/Viewer preview and never a end product burn-in.

Cheers
Andy

Reply