Preface to the third edition

Since the second edition of Timecode: A user's guide was published there have been significant developments in both technology and working practices which have impinged on the way we handle timecode in acquisition and post-production. Timecode generators having an accuracy of better than one frame in ten hours are now available for location work: it is a simple matter to lock our generators to the Global Positioning Satellite system, or to the many terrestrial time standards transmissions available worldwide. There are new videotape formats, and DAT machines have largely replaced analogue recorders as first choice for the acquisition and subsequent editing of sound. Changes both in the structure and nature of what used to be called broadcasting have blurred the line between 'professional' and 'consumer' acquisition and post-production formats and processes. MPEG-2 and IEEE 1394 (Firewire™) look to become firmly established as the transfer standards of the future.

This edition acknowledges these developments and aims to explain, in not too technically complex a manner, not just the details of these changes but also the implications they have for those of us who have the task of managing the accompanying timecode both 'in the field' and later on when editing or sound dubbing (though we should bear in mind that the role of the traditional editing suites is being challenged by suitcase-sized computer systems, with all material stored on hard disk arrays).

Many people have given generous assistance in my research for this edition, and it is impossible to name them all, but special thanks must go to Martin Davidson of Skarda International Communications Ltd, Chris Price of Ambient Recording GmbH and John Rudling of Nagra Kudelski (GB) Ltd for taking the time to reply with unfailing courtesy to my many requests for information. Lastly I should like to thank Margaret Riley, my Publisher, without whose patience and encouragement this edition would probably not have been written.