Original Timecodes

Motivation

When storing Camera Material (XDCAM, P2, GoPro, etc.) in a MAM system multiple clips of a camera card or disc are attached to a single item. Although it is quite convenient to have a single entity for the whole disc, the original time code information is lost on this item as the item has its own continuous timeline.

Many user interfaces are able to display the original time codes as present at the camera during recording. Therefore, this information needs to be stored on the item representing the whole disc.

Workflow

Original timecodes are stored in a specialized field group V3_OrigTimecode on time-based metadata. In- and out-point of the timespan refer to the continuous 0-based timeline of the item. The field V3_FirstFrameTimecode of type timeCode denotes the original timecode of the frame at the in-point. The file name of the original clip that contained the timespan before stitching is stored in the string field V3_ClipName.

Example:

<timespan start="100@PAL" end="110@PAL">
   <group>
       <name>V3_OrigTimecode</name>
       <field>
           <name>V3_FirstFrameTimecode </name>
           <value>90000@PAL</value>
       </field>
       <field>
           <name>V3_ClipName</name>
           <value>C001.MXF</value>
       </field>
   </group>
</timespan>

Remark: In VPMS2 original timecode information was stored as a shotlist. This was due to the fact that a VPMS2 shotlist was the existing data structure that most closely matched that original timecode data. In many other aspects it was counter-intuitive and counter-productive to have original timecodes stored as shotlists.