TCGEN 1.11 Operating Guide 2/4/91 The TCGen program generates SMPTE time code output through the left or right audio port of any Commodore-Amiga computer. Connect the Amiga audio output to your video deck audio input to record SMPTE time code on a video tape audio track. Use the deck's audio dub mode if you do not want to record over the video. It is strongly suggested that SMPTE time code be recorded only on a video tape's left LINEAR audio track at SP speed. Recording SMPTE time code on either the hi-fi audio track or at a faster speed results in a noisy signal. TCGen also has a window dub generating mode that displays color bars and time code. Record the Amiga video output on your video tape to provide a tape position and color reference. Use the deck's video dub mode if you do not want to record over the audio. Both the time code generation and window dub modes of operation use the computer vertical blanking signal to increment the video frame count. Therefore, if your computer is genlocked to a video source, the time code generated by TCGen will be in synch with the external source. TCGen is not a multi-tasking program. Because of the severe timing requirements for generating SMPTE time code, TCGen must be run by itself. The TCGen screen gadgets are described below: +------+---------------------------------------+-----+-----+ | A | TCGen =============================== | B | | +------+---------------------------------------+-----+-----+ | | | +----------------------------------------------------+ | | | 02:12:13:08 C | | | +----------------------------------------------------+ | | | | +---+--------------------------------------------+---+ | | || | | +---+--------------------------------------------+---+ | | | | +-------------+ +----------------+ +---------------+ | | | F | | G | | H | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+ +----------------+ +---------------+ | | | | +-------------+ +----------------+ +---------------+ | | | I | | J | | K | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+ +----------------+ +---------------+ | | | | +---------+ +----------------+ +-----------+ | | | L | | M | | N | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------+ +----------------+ +-----------+ | | | | +---------------------------------+ +---------------+ | | | O | | P| | | | Generating: No | | /\ | | | | Drop Frame: No | | / \ | | | | Speaker: Right | | \ / | | | | Volume: No | | \/ | | | | | | MC | | | +---------------------------------+ +---------------+ | +----------------------------------------------------------+ A) Window Close. Quit TCGEN. B) Window Depth. Put TCGen window behind other windows currently in the background of bring it to the foreground. C) Tape Position Display & Requester. Displays Current SMPTE Time code and provides a time code data entry requester when clicked. Press the "R" key to reset the counter to zero. D) Time code audio signal incremental volume control. The comma "," key decreases the volume and the period "." key increases the volume. E) Time code audio signal continuous slider volume control. The range is 0 to 64. Moving the slider to the right increases the volume. F) The Generate Jam gadget is used to toggle the SMPTE generator on and off. When the gadget appears as an arrow with a bar to the right of it, generation has stopped. A long arrow without a bar indicates that TCGen is sending out SMPTE time code through the computer audio port. Use the "G" key to perform the same function. G) The Drop Frame gadget toggles between time code generation with or without "SMPTE drop frame" format. MediaPhile programs use non-drop frame mode indicated in the gadget by two frames of film. One strip of film indicates that time code will be generated with the "drop frame" format. Use the "D" key to perform the same function. H) The audio channel output is selected with this gadget. If the gadget appears with the speaker facing your right, SMPTE time code is sent to the Amiga "audio right" port. MediaPhile programs use the left audio channel for infrared control in their default mode so use the right channel for TCGen whenever possible. I) This gadget sets the the window dub background. It can be set to either a black background or color bars. Press the "B" key to perform the same function. J) This gadget toggles the window dub tape position display font size between a large(24 point) and small(17 point) font. Using the smaller point size font gives the processor more time to generate the SMPTE audio signal Read "Notes To TCGen Users" below for more information about timming requirements. The "T" key performs the same function as selecting this gadget. K) This gadget toggles between two different screen modes. The default screen mode is an overscaned, color, hi-res-interlace screen. The alternate screen mode is a non-overscaned, grey, high resolution screen. If you are using an Amiga 500 or 2000 with a 68000 microprocessor, use the alternate non-overscaned screen because it allows the processor more time to draw the window dub and generate time code time code. Read "Notes To TCGen Users" below for more information on timming requirements. You can not change screen modes while SMPTE time code is being generated. The "O" key performs the same function as selecting this gadget. L) Select this gadget to move the window dub to the center of the screen. M) Switch between NTSC and PAL SMPTE time code generation with this gadget. TCGen initially selects the mode of time code generation based on the clock rate of the computer that it is running on. If TCGen is running on a PAL version of the Amiga, it selects the PAL video format of 25 frames per second. If TCGen is running on an NTSC version of the Amiga, it generates SMPTE time code in NTSC format at 30 frames per second. Toggle this gadget to generate PAL format time code from an NTSC version Amiga computer, or to generate NTSC SMPTE time code from a PAL version of the Amiga. These choices cause a red color flash indicating a timing error in the window dub. Read "Notes To TCGen Users" below for more information about the window dub "error" flash. N) This gadget resets the current time code to "00:00:00:00". Press the "R" key to perform the same function as clicking this gadget. O) This is the status display area. It shows a text description of options selected with the gadgets above. P) This gadget run MediaController. Use MediaController to control your device as described in the MediaController manual. TCGen Keyboard Function Keys: KEY FUNCTION B Toggles the window dub screen between a black background and color bars. C Re-centers the window dub on the screen. D Toggles the time code generator between "Drop Frame" and "Non-Drop Frame" mode. G Toggles the time code generator on and off. Use this key to start and stop the window dub counter and audio time code signal. O Toggle between a color high resolution screeen in overscan interlace mode, and four gray tone high resolution screen in non-interlace mode without overscan. This key is ignored while SMPTE time code is generated. R Reset the Time Code Display To Zero. T Toggles the window dub font size between a large (24 point) and small (17 point) size. W Toggle between the window dub screen and the Workbench TCGen screen.Do not use Amiga-N and Amiga-M to switch back-and- forth between the screens. Use the "W" key instead. ,(comma) Decreases the volume of the audio time code signal. .(period) Increases the volume of the audio time code signal. NOTES TO TCGEN USERS Window Dub "Error" Flash: TCGen changes the color of the window dub for an instant if a time error has occurred. Time errors are generated when the computer takes longer than 1 video frame period (1/30th of a second for NTSC, 1/25th of a second for PAL) to generate the SMPTE Time Code and draw the window dub display. The next word of time code data generated and displayed is correctly set and synchronized. However, it does not correspond to the next frame in the sequence of time data. The window dub flashs a red time code on a black background when a time error occurs on the color screen. On the four grey tone screen, the window dub will flash a dark grey time code on a white back ground. Real-Time SMPTE Time Code Generation With Window Dubs: TCGen can generate SMPTE Time Code in real-time while it is displaying the window dub. Slower Amigas that use a 68000 microprocessor can not refresh the overscanned color window dub ever video frame period. A red window dub "error" flash occurs to signal that the computer cannot write and display time code at a constant thirty frame per second rate. Use the the lower resolution, non-overscan, 4 grey-tone window dub to compensate for this. This screen mode requires less processing time. Click on the gadget marked "M" above to toggle between the two window dub display modes. If window dub "error" flashing still occurs, the smaller, 17 point font should be used instead of the larger, 24 point font to reduce processing time requirements still further. Other ways to speed up the refresh of the window dub display include closing all other running programs, including MediaController. These other programs take processing time away from TCGen. Use of an accelerator board, such as Commodore's 2630, together with the SetCPU utility can drastically increase the window dub refresh rate. The SetCPU utility copies the Kickstart ROM to 32-bit fast RAM which increases the speed of all system operations including graphics drawing. The tape position display and requester drawn on the standard TCGen User Interface window can also be used as a window dub display. This screen can be refreshed each video frame period on any Amiga. Placing The Window Dub: TCGen allows the user to choose the position of the window dub. Stop TCGen from generating SMPTE time code and make the window dub screen visible. Press both the left and right mouse buttons. An L-shaped cursor will appear. This cursor marks the bottom-left corner of the window dub display. Drag the mouse while both mouse buttons are held to reposition the cursor. To display the window dub at the current cursor position release either or both of the mouse buttons. The window dub can be re-centered on the screen at any time by either clicking on the Center gadget (gadget L above) or by pressing the "C" key.