Time/Date Stamp On Film Footage - Depositions

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Level 1

40 points

Time/Date Stamp On Film Footage - Depositions

Greetings to all and my apology in advance if this is the wrong place for this post. I use final cut express (not HD) and DVD studio pro (3 I think). I am amature level at both, but know my way around a bit. I use a Canon XL 1S DV camcorder as well. I have a couple of projects (legal depositions) that require a time/date stamp on the footage. With the XL 1S, it seems that you either get a whole lot more information than the time/date stamp or nothing at all. My question is, does any one know if this time/date stamp can be created through FC Express, or DVD studio pro? Or is there an utility out there that can help me. Or is there anyone that is profecient enough with this camcorder that can point me in the right direction in how to make this time/date stamp happen on this model camcorder?

Thanks for reading this post.

Dual 2 gig G5, Imac, Dual G4 panther server, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Jun 13, 2006 7:58 PM

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Answer 1

Jim Cookman

Level 7

23,447 points

Jun 16, 2006 11:28 AM in response to Alone IT guy

Assuming both attorneys are present, simply have one of them (the one that hired you) state the place, date and time. If the other guy doesn't contest it, you're golden. They are both officers of the court, however much of a bozo he or she might be.

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Answer 2

Jun 14, 2006 1:19 AM in response to Alone IT guy

If you want the same Time/Date throughout the film just make a "title" of it, reduce it in size in Motion and drag it to wherever you want on the frame. (It is of course placed on the track above the rest of the video).

Then drag it to stretch it for the full length of the movie.

Ian.

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Answer 3

SteveKir

Level 3

565 points

Jun 14, 2006 2:58 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

I am guessing (I am not a lawyer) but I think that, in a court, a defendant's or prosecutor's barrister would routinely ask how the time stamp was prepared and when the court heard that it was made by you and not automatically by the camera, any evidence based on it would be seen to be unreliable or discounted by the judge or jury.

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jun 14, 2006 4:33 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

The hardest part is going to be getting the date/time stamp display out of the camera. The only way I know is to switch on the display in the camera and in the menus set the display to feed out the video output. But this only goes out the analog output not the FireWire cable. You'd have to connect the camera from the analog outs to a converter or another camera with pass through and capture in DV Converter mode.

To get rid of the excess information in the display edit two copies of the video into the timeline, one on top of the other. Crop the top layer to just show the date/time stamp.

There may be a legal downside to this. Many depositions require the timecode to be time of day and embedded in the tape information. That's of course lost in editing.

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Answer 5

Jun 14, 2006 6:28 AM in response to SteveKir

Hi(Bonjour)!

I'm a former crown's attorney, here in Canada, and the time stamp (hour:minute;seconds, and date) is always printed on tape uppon recording.

This prevent any malversion or manipulation of video evidence and give all content to parties.

Printing time-date after editing does not meet this level of reliability (in Canada).

Michel Boissonneault

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Answer 6

Alone IT guy Author

Level 1

40 points

Jun 14, 2006 7:59 AM in response to Alone IT guy

Thank you all for posting. Last night after posting this question I played around with Live Type and came up with couple of types that were down right cheesey and commical. I did try the analog connection through a canopus converter, but I don't think I know enough about it to make it worth my time. But having been playing with the camcorder non stop now for the last few days, I finally seemed to have pressed the right button and am now able to record with the proper and authentic Time/Date stamp. For all who use the XL 1S model, in order to remove all the SMPTE information from the recorder screen, you need to play with the "EVF Display" button on the side of the camera until you are left with the display information that you want.

Thanks again to all.

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Answer 7

Jun 14, 2006 8:54 AM in response to Alone IT guy

Hi (Bonjour)

Pay attention that EVF display is not for shoting prupose only.

TC is alway part of DV (information on tape), but it's not "printed" on image, like the old Hi8 or VHS format.

With "dosplay time code" menu on many camcorders, you just make this information to appears. But it's not printed on image.

Alas FCE cannot handle this option to display or not TC in canvas.

There is a plugin that allows that (see forum for this question), but i'm not sure about the legal value.

And if you edit the footage, timecode, date and hour will not be continous.

Michel Boissonneault

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Answer 8

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jun 14, 2006 9:00 AM in response to Michel Boissonneault

On most cameras you can set it to output through the analog outs so it will show on a video monitor. Putting that through a converter box allow you to capture. Though that information is in the data stream from the the tape FCE cannot display it unfortunately.

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Answer 9

Jun 14, 2006 9:44 AM in response to Michel Boissonneault

This is the link for Simon and Piero's Timecode Display Filter - though I am not too sure how useful it will be:-

http://homepage.mac.com/heywood_si/i5m/archives/2006/01/

Ian.

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Answer 10

Alone IT guy Author

Level 1

40 points

Jun 14, 2006 10:54 AM in response to Michel Boissonneault

You are absolutely right. All that information is recorded on the tape, but this button allow you to choose what display you want to show. I was able to import a test footage into both FCP Express and iMovie and export as a quick time movie, with the time/date stamp intact. I haven't yet tried to convert that QT file to MPEG2 and burn a dvd, but I don't see why it wouldn't be successful.

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Answer 11

Rob B.

Level 4

1,172 points

Jun 16, 2006 11:21 AM in response to Alone IT guy

Alone,

I don't know where you live but you might want to contact the Forensic (CSI) unit of the local police dept. They do video of crime scenes all the time and the Day date and time is on all the video which is presented in court.

Rob

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