Drop frame explanation

[Nerfboy]

When you start a project, you can select Drop frame or non drop frame.

Can someone explain this to me?

[antonsvideo]

When you start a project, you can select Drop frame or non drop frame.

Can someone explain this to me?

it is a setting used by NTSC users, does not apply to Pal

When television was first invented, all timecode was non-drop-frame. This meant that every frame of video had it's own unique timecode label and the timecode value of each frame was exactly one frame larger than the previous frame.

The benefit of timecode was that if you knew the beginning and ending timecode of a program, you could quickly calculate how long the program ran in real-time.

Life was grand... until color television was invented. The problem with color was that it took 0.03 seconds every second to transmit the color information in the signal. While three-one-hundredths of a second doesn't sound like much, over the course of a one-hour show, it added up.

Specifically, it added up to 3.59 seconds (almost a minute and half over an entire day)! Meaning that you could no longer count on timecode to provide accurate timing for a show.

Well, this was intolerable. I mean, if you couldn't count on timecode, what could you count on?

So, a new form of timecode was invented: drop-frame timecode.

[SRsupport]

just to add:
It has nothing to do with dropping a frame of your footage as many people not in to broadcast think. :)
Only the counting is effected

[Nerfboy]

So, I edit in both formats sometimes...

What setting should have for NTSC and what for PAL?

Thanks for the info btw.

[SRsupport]

Pal does not have drop frame.

[GrassValley_MD]

As a general rule...

NTSC - Drop Frame
PAL- Non Drop Frame


Mike