Term: Timecode
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Term: Timecode
- Definition:
Timecode is an annotation of elapsed time along a track in which each frame or field is assigned a unique digital code number from an electronic clock. Timecode is expressed hours:minutes:seconds and frames. A file may carry multiple timecodes which may be continuous or non-continuous, especially if the file is the result of digitization of an analog videotape. Its primary use is synchronization of various data streams but it can also have important uses in search and discovery to mark or find a specific point in the video.
Note that SMPTE 12-1-2014 states that "time code is a combination of the terms " 'time and control code' encompasses all aspects of the time address, flag bits, and binary groups for user-defined data codes, as well as two methods of modulation of the resulting codewords. It is commonly abbreviated to simply �time code� (note that some users spell this �timecode�)."
Timecode may be documented as drop frame or non-drop frame. Drop frame drops 2 frames every minute except on every 10th minute to account for 29.97/s frame rate to allow it to correspond a real-time clock. For video produced in countries that used to transmit NTSC in the analog era, their current video production standards use the fractional frame rates used in the NTSC analog era: 23.98 fps for 24 frame film material, 29.97 and 59.94 fps for video. In the cases of video using these fractional frame rates, the SMPTE timecodes usually used are of the "drop frame" (DF) variety. Frames numbers (not actual frames of video) were omitted/skipped at defined points in the runtime of a video to keep the runtime of the video in sync with the actual runtime of the program. Since timecode is, essentially, a frame counter that shows you the hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, it's will drift from the actual runtime by 4.2 seconds per hour if frame numbers were NOT dropped during length of a program. It is a method for keeping the frame count that is time code from not also accurately representing the run time of a program. In the former PAL & SECAM countries which are based on 25 fps frame rates, timecode is non-drop frame.
Timecode is an essential tool for synchronisation for projects with multiple camera inputs, image tracks, audio tracks and the like. It identifies specific points in the timeline to the most granular level defined. This also faciliatesthe alignment of captions, subtitles, description and transcripts.
- Category:
- Video
- See also: