This is a modern SMPTE clapperboard with synced TIme Code. Here we’re about 18 and a half seconds into the production. We’re looking at frame #13 of 30 per second in the last column. That frame rate is too fast for the human eye to follow, so Masterclock clocks never show the frames, even though many of our clocks are referenced to the SMPTE frame rate.
Rolling. Speed. Take One. [SNAP] And… Action!
The clapperboard is a staple of Hollywood. In the old days, when movies were shot on film and the sound was captured on tape, a simple snap of the clapperboard and a chalked out note on its face were the ways moviemakers synced sound with picture back in the editing room.
Traditional clapperboards consisted of a wooden slate and a hinged clapstick attached to the top of the slate. Today, smart slates, or digi-slates, are electronic SMPTE Time Code versions with LED numbers (shown above). They mark the hour, minute, second and frame (1-30) of a production so lip-sync editing has never been more precise.
30 Frames per Second
If you ever get a chance to see one of these SMPTE clapperboards in action, you’ll notice the human eye cannot follow the speedy rounds of thirty frames each second. It goes by in a blur. But the camera, shooting each picture at 1/30th of a second sees these frames clearly and in order. Then again, high speed cameras (that project in slow motion) see each number on the clapperboard for several frames before the next one appears. It’s all a matter of your time frame.
For today’s blog we’re interested in SMPTE Time Code as it pertains to the digital clocks and analog clocks produced by Masterclock that rely on Time Code for their sync reference.
SMPTE Time Code
is a set of standards to label individual frames (1 through 30 for each second of video) with a Time Code defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (or SMPTE for short).
Time Codes provide an embedded time reference for editing, synchronization and identification. The invention of Time Code made modern videotape editing possible, and is still in use in today’s digital cameras. Those who buy Masterclock clocks with a Time Code (SMPTE or IRIG) reference generally use them in the broadcast industry where everything is edited by the second and the frame. Others who buy Time Code products may be locked into legacy systems built before the 1990s when NTP (Network Time {Protocol) and GPS satellite reference systems became more available and popular.
NTP is the Latest Thing.
The competing system, NTP (Network Time Protocol) arrived with the Internet and it is growing in popularity. NTP utilizes standard Ethernet wiring to synchronize computers, clocks and other network devices to a NTP reference server, typically ultimately synced to atomic clocks aboard GPS satellites. Besides the increased accuracy, another benefit to NTP is the same wire that carries the signal can also carry the power needed to run the clock, so wiring is simplified. This is called PoE (Power over Ethernet) and it is also becoming more popular.
No matter what your precise synchronization needs are, Masterclock is as close as our website. Let us know if we can help you with your upcoming projects.
Time is important. That’s why we’re in this business.
This blog is brought to you by Masterclock, Inc. We design, build and sell a large catalog of professional-quality digital and analog clocks, master clocks, network clocks, time code clocks, time code generators and other synchronized time devices for precise applications at an affordable price.
If you have any questions about time, GPS, digital clocks or any other subject you’d like to know more about, sent them to us. We’ll be happy to reply directly and post answers.
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