Apple Final Cut Pro 7 - Manual (Page 319)

Since most timecode breaks happen between the end of one shot and the beginning of
another, they’re pretty easy to avoid if you log your footage one clip at a time. Still, if
Final Cut Pro captures a clip with either type of timecode break, the timecode that
Final Cut Pro captures and writes to that clip’s source file on disk will be incorrect from
the point of the break forward. Since the timecode is incorrect, you will be unable to use
that clip with any Final Cut Pro function that requires accurate timecode, such as batch
capturing, media management with the Media Manager, or EDL export.
Capturing Footage Past Timecode Hour 23
When you capture footage that spans timecode hour 23 and timecode hour 00,
Final Cut Pro handles this timecode transition as a timecode break. If you choose the
Make New Clip option from the “On timecode break” pop-up menu in the General tab
of the User Preferences window, Final Cut Pro creates two clips. The Media Start timecode
of the second clip begins shortly after the pre-roll time specified in the Editing tab of the
User Preferences window has passed. This provides sufficient pre-roll time for the VTR to
recapture the clip later while avoiding the timecode break.
How to Avoid Capturing Clips with Timecode Breaks
The “On timecode break” pop-up menu in the General tab of the User Preferences window
gives you several ways to avoid capturing clips with timecode breaks. It’s important to
set this option to suit the way you intend to capture your clips. You have several options:
• Make New Clip: This is the default option. Video that’s already been captured before
the break in timecode is saved as a single media file, with its Out point set to the frame
occurring immediately before the timecode break. Final Cut Pro then automatically
continues capturing video after the dropped timecode frame as a second media file.
When this option is selected, clips captured after timecode breaks are named with the
original name and the number of the clip. For example, if the first captured clip’s name
is “Cats Playing,” the second clip’s name is set to “Cats Playing-1.”
This is a good option to choose if you are capturing an entire tape. For example, suppose
you are capturing the entire contents of a 60-minute tape that has four timecode breaks.
Instead of restarting the capture every time a timecode break is detected, Final Cut Pro
captures all media from the tape as five clips, skipping over each timecode break and
ensuring that the timecode of all captured media is frame-accurate.
• Abort Capture: If you choose this option, Final Cut Pro stops capture immediately after
a break is detected. All media captured before the timecode break has frame-accurate
timecode and is preserved. The resulting media file is saved and its representative clip
is placed in the Browser.
319 Chapter 20 Advanced Topics in Capturing Tape-Based Media