Hello all,

I will be mastering a program for HD network distribution that needs to be 45 minutes. My question is, do I get the correct length in normal duration or do I need to look at 24 duration.

Thanks

A 45 min 1080/24p is 45 min 1080/60i.

The only thing you need to worry about is the cut to clock scenario. Make sure you are counting the same intervals as they dictate (which should be dictated by the delivery format - ie 1080i).

It is being delivered in 1080p 23.976 on HD cam. So I need to keep track in 24 mode?

Yes, capture, edit and output in 23.976p.

You can open up the timecode window and view two master timecode counts: one in 24fps and the other in 30fps DF for broadcast.

Michael 

 45 Minutes at 23.976 is NOT 45 minutes.  It is the equivelant to 45 Minutes at Non-Drop TC.  To deliver to a network, you need to know what the equivalent time code would be in DROP-Frame TC.  If you don't do this important step, your show will be almost three seconds longer than the NDF timecode indicates.

You need to enable and view the 30 DF Time Code.

Spark

You are correct in the distinction. Is it not moot though for 23.976p (vs 24p)?

Basically 24p = 30p, while 23.976p = 29.97?

No, unfortunately.  It is true that 23.976 is a derivitive of 29.97 (4/5 X 29.97), this does not factor in the Drop-Frame timecode.

Remember that ALL NTSC video runs at 29.97, which includes both Drop and Non-Drop frame timecodes.  The same number of frames are passing by, it's just how we decide to label them as we progress towards the next hour in real time.

In Drop-frame, we decide to skip some of the numbers so that the Timecode matches the clock on the wall.  If we didn't do this, three and a half seconds would be added to every hour.  The 11 O'Clock News would be on at 11:01:20.

On the other hand, NDF timecode is very useful when dealing with 23.976 progressive material as each second lines up perfectly.  1:01:22:00 NDF = 1:01:22:00 @ 23.976.

In summary...  23.976 = 29.97 NDF

PAL does not have this problem.  It runs at exactly 25 fps.