Is there an easy way to add a clock "bug" to a shoot? Is there a device with a simple in/out that works as a passthrough that will add a clock?

Our setup is a bit hard to explain. The short-version, is that it includes 4 cameras that go into a switcher. The switcher, however, doesn't have a way to put a clock up. Some kind of device with a BNC in/out would be swell, but either way, if anyone has any ideas, I'm all eyes.

JR

it sounds like you need a Time Code Generator.

Don

Well, it's not a time-code in that sense that I'm after, just a device that will put a running clock on the screen for the game. One that I can stop/start in sync with the game clock, so the people watching the broadcast will know how much time is left without having to point a camera at the clock every time.

Thanks for the reply though...

Maybe a bit cheesy, but how about a camera pointed at the clock with a picture in picture type deal? You would need a 5th camera and input, or you could use one of your 4 cameras and just do it periodically through the game. I have seen it done this way with the local TV stations.

Ah, sorry-I misread your post.

Yeah I agree-a camera on the game clock PiP'd or have a camera pan to it at the breaks in the action.

Don

Yeah, we've been using the PiP to do that, but the PiP window has only two size settings, one is too big, and the other one is even bigger. That's why I was thinking there was some more elegant solution. I seem to remember that even those old VHS boards had an option for putting a timer on the screen as an overlay, I could be wrong though, been years since I've seen one.

Seems like an overlay would be simple enough, but I guess not :) Thanks for the replies.

JR

If the board has an SDI input you could run a timer from a computer. Most NLEs have a TC generator built in. You would just need an SDI output from the computer into the board.

The above suggestion is what I was going to suggest. Go out from a NLE Editor, and up stream key it in the switcher.

grab a lil app called xnote stopwatch

run it for the duration you need and use Camtasia to capture

change the colour scheme of your clock for a clean Chromakey

voila..

i do this all the time, never had a problem

as for TC generation filters, forget ti, they dont offer teh flexibility if a simple overay, in addition the configuration of said TC could adversaly be affected by the clip or the tracks duration

have a seperate entity for yoru timekeeping (in this case aesthetics) would be alot more flexibility as you can not only intercut your footage and keep the timer going, but u can also allocate specific colour schemes based on the colour scheme of teh actual presentation and or titles themselves

You mean, use this app, capture it, so I have an .avi file of the clock running, then composite it into the footage? (I think that's what you're saying).

This is for a live feed, so compositing isn't going to be possible in this case. We'd still be back at our original problem of having a PiP window that's still too big.

One idea I had was to set the camera to display its timecode and just have a tape pre-striped with a timecode. Then record on the same tape, and have the timecode running on the cam...cut away while the display is cycled back to off.

It will have miliseconds, but it might still be okay.

overlay composite is what im saying

waht are u using for the live feed?

as for stripign timecode, forget it it will reset each time u hit record.. even with TC run or REC run, it wont make a difference, teh TC on tape will only have the TC AT THAT TIME, ditch the prerecorded TC

4 XL2's...BNC into a switcher and XLR into an audio mixer. The switcher has 4 inputs. It has a PiP, but its two sizes are too big and even bigger than that.

From there it goes into a comp with an Osprey Card, which is then used by windows media encoder to push the live stream up to a server. Unless there's something in windows media encoder that I don't know about, I don't see how we can put a clock overlay on.

The software we have (proprietary for controlling the stream and accessing the servers that stream it) has an option for putting an overlay on, but it's static, generated as a .jpg. It's meant for team names, and the score. Even if you adapted that system for a clock, it would have to refresh every second, so it would be on the screen strobing people blind.

That interface is the only way we can control what goes from the Osprey card into Windows Media Encoder.

We'll probably just stick to using our enormous PiP, but I figured I'd see if any of the brains on this board had any suggestions.

JR

Found this device...too spendy for us, but it would do the trick I think.

http://www.horita.com/video.htm#VS-50

JR