Syncing To Smpte; Recording A Smpte Stripe (Writing Smpte) - M-Audio Portman 4x4 Manual

Syncing to SMPTE

Recording a SMPTE Stripe (Writing SMPTE)

Before the PORTMAN 4x4/S can be used to synchronize to a
source audio and/or video tape, that tape must be encoded with
SMPTE time code. Sometimes you will be provided with a piece
of source material that already has SMPTE on it. In that case, you
are not required to record another SMPTE stripe and may instead
read the SMPTE as is. If, on the other hand, your source material
has no current time code encoded you will need to record your
own SMPTE time code to one of the tape's tracks. This is com-
monly known as "striping the tape."
To record a SMPTE stripe onto tape, follow these steps:
1. Use the Remote Control software to set the PORTMAN 4x4/S
frame rate to the appropriate SMPTE format, as discussed in
the "About Frame Rates" section of this manual. We recom-
mend you select 30 non-drop for audio, 25 for European (PAL)
video, and, unless you are scoring for commercial release, 30
non-drop for U.S. (NTSC) video.
2. From the Remote Control software, set the SMPTE offset time
to the desired value. SMPTE offset is displayed on a large but-
ton and pressing this button will allow you to adjust the off-
set. If no special offset is required we recommend you use
01:00:00:00 (one hour). Some users want their audio to start
exactly on an even hour boundary -- if that's your desire, set
the offset to something like 00:59:55:00 which will allow 5 sec-
onds of pre-roll before your sequence starts at 01:00:00:00.
3. Optionally, you may now set the "User Bits." User Bits are not
a mandatory requirement and if you don't need to set them,
the PORTMAN 4x4/S will default to standard User Bit set-
tings. User Bits are displayed on the large button to the right
of the offset button and pressing this button will allow you to
adjust the bits.
4. On your tape or video deck, choose the audio channel you
will be striping to. Make sure that the PORTMAN 4x4/S
SMPTE Out is firmly connected to the proper Tape In or Sync
In of your tape deck. When choosing an audio channel on a
multichannel deck, pick one of the end channels (e.g. Channel
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