Is there an established standard format for the head of a show for HDCAM layoff in the US?   I'm having a couple of HDCAM tapes made for distribution to local TV stations around the country.   Since HDCAM layoffs are expensive (on my budget as an independent filmmaker), we're going to cycle the tapes to various stations after the show has been ingested and the tapes returned.   In the past, I've delivered to many different stations and they vary on how they want the bars&tone/slate/black at the head of the tape. 

I'd like to use a "standard" format if possible-one the will be accepted by all broadcasters without having to do a new layoff each time.   Looking over all the specs from various stations, here is the closest I've come to a standard:

      Tape starts at 00:58:00:00

      Bars & Tone from 00:58:30:00 to 00:59:30:00

      Slate from 00:59:40:00 to 00:59:50:00

      Visual and Audio 2 pops at 00:59:58:00

      First Frame of Program at 1:00:00:00

To those more experienced at multi-station delivery, is this a good "standard" to use?

Thanks!

Terry Snyder:

Tape starts at 00:58:00:00

      Bars & Tone from 00:58:30:00 to 00:59:30:00

      Slate from 00:59:40:00 to 00:59:50:00

      Visual and Audio 2 pops at 00:59:58:00

      First Frame of Program at 1:00:00:00

That's pretty much the standard for delivery to most post houses and TV stations, with countdown starting st 59:50:00 and ending at 59:58:05 with the 2 pop. HOWEVER, if the run time of the program is longer than one hour, the leader should start at 9:58:30:00 with program start at 10:00:00:00, to keep durations accurately displayed beyond one hour. Also, obviously, the time code should be drop frame (semi-colons).

Larry Rubin:

Also, obviously, the time code should be drop frame (semi-colons).

If the project in MC is non-drop frame, how do I change it to drop-frame before exporting the file?

With the sequence loaded, right click on the record monitor and choose "Sequence report...", then in the starting TC window, change the colons to semi-colons, then click "Apply Changes", then "Cancel", so you don't generate a report. After that, you may need to go back and tweek some leader elements so they start and end where they're supposed to.

Thanks, Larry.

I'm wondering...  For future projects, would it be better to re-set the camera to shoot in drop frame if it is going to be delivered for broadcast?

Ideally, it would be best for all source material to be drop frame if the delivery is for broadcast, so it wouldn't hurt to set the camera to record drop frame. However, there is no problem mixing drop and non-drop source material on the same timeline, so long as the sequence is set for drop frame. In your project, that can be made the default by using semi-colons in the starting TC window under the "general" category of your user settings.

Thanks, Larry.

These days, switching back and forth between file-based projects for the web and broadcast projects that still go to tape, it can get confusing.  

Is there any advantage to shooting non-drop frame?   On of my cameramen told me there was, but I didn't follow his reasoning.

Two comments.

1.  Every commissioning organization (that means someone who buys programs) will have their own tech specs and formats.  You need to conform to them.  So it is hard to have just one head leader layout.  I do not even try.

2.  It truly does NOT matter whether source footage is NDF or DF.  Avid takes care of it.  It calculates every thing in total frame count, not TC string.  I would not worry about it.  The one time I would request a specific TC type is in multiple camera situations or recording of live events.  There time of day is useful.  And by definition, to get accurate time of day you would need Drop Frame.

A small side note.  I hope you realize that when you switch your project from NDF to DF, the apparent duration will change depending on how you have been viewing it during editing.  I hope this does not cause you any surprises ......

Good luck

Jef

The only real difference between the two is drop frame will be perfectly synchronous with actual clock time, while non-drop frame will eventually drift out of sync with clock time displaying a TRT that will be in error because it is longer than the duration of actual clock time. In drop frame, 2 frames of time code count, NOT ACTUAL PICTURE FRAMES, are dropped at the one minute mark except for minutes :00, :10, :20, :30, :40, and :50.

Is it safe to say at this point that non-drop is an artifact from the days when we had to do calculations with paper and pencil?