Comments on: Time of day into timecode?

Question: Time of day into timecode?

brundlefly — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 23:51:55 -0800

Is there an easy way to translate a time of day ("10:50:13") into video time code?

I'm working with some video logs that were made by someone who jotted down the time of day displayed on the footage rather than the actual timecode. The time of day is not displayed on the footage I'm trying to work with.

Assuming I can synch up the first time of day entry with its corresponding timecode (based on content), is there some way I can extrapolate from there? Translate it? I'm driving myself crazy going back and forth between hours:minutes:seconds and hours:minutes:seconds;frames.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 00:40:13 -0800

Are you simply asking, "how do I turn 10:50:13 into 10:50:13:00?" + "how do I add a set value to that?"
And is your log a dead tree (ROFL) or something more convenient like Excel?

By: cogat

cogat — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:08:52 -0800

Take the time of day in the log, subtract the first time of day. This will give you hours and minutes. Add those hours and minutes to the first timecode. In maths:

TC2 = TC1 + (ToD2-ToD1)

Excel, with cells formatted as times, will do the base-60 arithmetic for you.

By: cogat

cogat — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 02:09:45 -0800

This will give you hours and minutes since the first timecode.

By: MrZero

MrZero — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 07:22:28 -0800

And, in the future, have your camera operator figure out if it is possible to set the timecode to actual time on the camera. This can cause havoc on some editing systems if the tape is not recorded continuously, however.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 09:59:37 -0800

Wonderful. I'm using Excel, so I'll get on that.