On Tue, 28 May 2002, R. Michael O'Bannon, Ph.D. wrote:

>I need to read time code being written to tape by a DV camcorder (Canon
>ZR40), process it with a PIC, and write a sync pulse to one channel of an
>EEG recorder.  Any ideas how I might read the time code, preferably down
>to the frame number?  The goal here is to be know exactly which EEG
>samples were occuring during each frame of the video recording.
>
>The camera has S Video, Lanc, DV and AV outputs.  I know it is writing
>that time code to tape, I just don't know how to get at it.

I will check for you if that camcorder outputs SMPTE on the video. If it
does not, and I think it does not, because none of the consumer level
cameras do, then you need a LANC (Sony L control - that's right, SONY for
the Canon camcorder) standard wired remote control (which you can
implement with a PIC among other things). It reads out down to seconds
normally (not frames) but it is NOT accurate to the frame because there is
skew between the video and the LANC data stream. There is a program called
RM95.EXE that will allow you to play with this. Be SURE not to enter jig
mode.

Peter

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