Thursday, September 16, 2004
Neil's Random Video Tip #6: Stripe Your Tapes
Posted by Neil Enns in "ARTICLE" @ 11:00 AM
Of all the video tips I've posted so far this is the only one that I kick myself for not doing on our trip every time I fire up Adobe Premiere. I learned this one from the Total Training DVDs for Premiere Pro AFTER we got back.
If you've used a DV camera before you've noticed the little timecode values that run as you record. Here's what you might not have noticed: every time you start recording on a blank spot on the tape the timecode values start again at 00:00:00. This means if you rewind to watch what you just taped, and then fast forward even a frame past the end and leave blank tape, the next time you whack record your timecode for that clip start be zero.
Why does this matter? Because when you're in an editing application like Premiere you no longer have a complete, unbroken, timeline on the tape that you can use to identify clip locations. Want to get the clip at timecode 00:05:00? That could occur three times on the tape!
So, how do you fix this? "Stripe" the tape. Put the tape in your camcorder, leave the lens cap on, press record, and walk away. Let the camcorder record nothing on the tape all the way to the end. Rewind, and you now have a lovely tape ready to use that has a complete, unbroken, timecode sequence stored on it. I now have a stack of striped tapes on my shelf ready to use whenever I need.
If you've used a DV camera before you've noticed the little timecode values that run as you record. Here's what you might not have noticed: every time you start recording on a blank spot on the tape the timecode values start again at 00:00:00. This means if you rewind to watch what you just taped, and then fast forward even a frame past the end and leave blank tape, the next time you whack record your timecode for that clip start be zero.
Why does this matter? Because when you're in an editing application like Premiere you no longer have a complete, unbroken, timeline on the tape that you can use to identify clip locations. Want to get the clip at timecode 00:05:00? That could occur three times on the tape!
So, how do you fix this? "Stripe" the tape. Put the tape in your camcorder, leave the lens cap on, press record, and walk away. Let the camcorder record nothing on the tape all the way to the end. Rewind, and you now have a lovely tape ready to use that has a complete, unbroken, timecode sequence stored on it. I now have a stack of striped tapes on my shelf ready to use whenever I need.
