burnt in timecode and reel number

[Columbus]

Is it possible to have burnt in timecode and reel number when making quicktime proxies in redalert. For me quickest way to use to work with avid xpress pro on a mac is to import the quicktime proxies straight in to avid. Roughly takes twice the length of the clip time to import on a mac book pro for a low res proxy, so having burnt in timecode and reel number would be really useful, as you still have to modidy timecode and reel number in avid.

[Rob Lohman]

Not in RED ALERT, but you can burn in both with REDCINE. Go to the output tab, select "Add: Reel ID/S-TC" under Burn-in and de-select "Name" (to remove the filename).

[Nick Shaw]

Compressor can do burned in timecode, and will convert the proxys to eg DNxHD much quicker (I suspect) than a 'proper' render in Redcine.

[Mark L. Pederson]

Compressor can do burned in timecode, and will convert the proxys to eg DNxHD much quicker (I suspect) than a 'proper' render in Redcine.

yup. and you can CLUSTER. zoom zoom ....

[Columbus]

At the moment I can batch import a low quality quicktime proxy directly in to avid xpress pro on a mac in one step. 1 sec of footage take 1.6seconds, importing to dv quality for an offline.
Can compressor export from quictime directly to avid's mxf format.
Now if redcine can make quicktime proxies with timecode burn then that would be ideal.
Thanks for any advice.

[Nick Shaw]

It is possible to add a text track to a QuickTime movie which does show the timecode in vision. Virtual VTR does it (http://www.virtualvtr.com/documentation/recordprefs.html). It seems like a good option for Red Alert (and Redcine in future) to have when creating proxys.

Rob… Graeme… ?

Is this something you might consider. Obviously I have no idea how hard it is to implement.

[Nick Shaw]

I just did a test with a (non Redcode, as I don't have Virtual VTR on my Intel Mac) Quicktime and Virtual VTR. Virtual VTR can convert the timecode track in the movie to one which displays burned in. I don't have an Avid here, so can't test whether that would come across on Avid import.

Colm, you might want to download the Virtual VTR demo, and try it out.

Edit: I just put the latest Virtual VTR demo on my Intel Mac. and successfully added a visible timecode track to a Redcode proxy QT. I have attached the file (reference only, so you will need Jim's 4k .R3D) so you can try importing it into Avid. Let me know if it works.

[Columbus]

When I import the clip the burnt in timecode is not visible in avid. How long did it take to burn timecode on that quicktime in virtual vtr.

[Rob Lohman]

I don't see how you can not see a burnt in timecode in Avid, it's burned in. Did you confirm that the movie exported from REDCINE actually has it burned in? (by playing it in QuickTime player)

[Columbus]

Hi Rob
Nick's qucktime was made using virtual vtr not redcine.
Avid doesnt show the timecode at the top of the picture because the timecode text is embedded in the timecode track which avid doesn't recognise when importing quicktimes. From redcine it's all good.
Anyway thanks to meta cheat utility the avid workflow on a mac is fairly straight forward.

[Nick Shaw]

When I import the clip the burnt in timecode is not visible in avid. How long did it take to burn timecode on that quicktime in virtual vtr.

It's instant, as it's not re-creating the video track, just modifying the TC track. Shame it doesn't read in Avid.