Timecode Striping a Tape with the UVW-1800 BetaSP Deck

Ben Grosser

Former Manager, VMIL

How to stripe a BetaSP tape with bars, black, tone and continuous timecode on the UVW-1800 BetaSP VTR.

Description

In order to use the Vizlab's DDR, or to accurately dump frames to Beta from the Avid, the tape must have continuous timecode. Timecode is the number scheme which specifies which part of the tape is what, and is specified in the format:

00:00:00:00

which stands for hours:minutes:seconds:frames. When you purchase a new beta tape from the Beckman store or another vendor, the tape doesn't have any timecode on it at all. In order to put clean timecode onto the tape, you have to timecode stripe it.

Directions

1. Insert a tape (blank or not) and rewind completely.
2. On the video patch panel, connect 'TSG (Test Signal Generator) out' to 'Beta In'.
3. On the TSG (top device on the left side of the rack), turn the dial to SMPTE Bars (this will provide you with color bars at the start of your tape).
4. On the audio patch panel, connect TSG out to Beta L in (this will provide you with a test tone on the left audio channel).
5. Open the front panel of the Beta deck and select 'composite' input, 'LTC' timecode and 'local'.
6. Press 'TC preset'. The timecode numbers should change to a blinking 00:00:00:00. Press 'set' to set that as the starting timecode. If you wish to start the tape at a timecode other than 00, you can set it with the arrow menu buttons before pressing 'set'.

   NOTE: After you press 'set', the timecode in the display will revert back to whatever random number was there before. Don't worry about it. When you next press record, it will revert back to 00 and start there.

   A common method of laying down bars, tone and timecode is to start your timecode at 00:59:00:00, lay down bars and tone from 00:59:00:00 to 00:59:30:00 and black the rest of the way. Then you would start cutting to tape at 01:00:00:00.

7. Press record (NOT play) to adjust the audio level. You should adjust the left input level so that the bar reaches 0 dB. This provides a reference signal.
8. Now, at the same time, switch the 30/60 sec toggle switch on the TSG to 30 while pressing both Record AND Play on the deck. This will record 30 seconds of bars and tone to your tape and then turn off the tone and switch the video to black for the remainder of the tape.

Voila! You have a blank beta tape with bars, tone and timecode.

Imaging Technology Group
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
405 N. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801

Date Issued: 22 May 1997

Copyright © 1997, Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, All Rights Reserved.