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AatonCode Glossary
Here is a short glossary of terms, equipment and concepts that are a part of the AatonCode chain, in rough order of occurrence:
SMPTE Timecode - Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers industry
standard format for video timecode containing synchronizing data, hour, minute,
second, frame data and 8 groups of users bits.
AatonCode - Aaton's ASCII-based proprietary in-camera timecode system, based on
the real time recording concept originated by Jean-Pierre Beauviala in 1968.
AatonCode, exposed in the camera during filming, carries data which is both
machine and man-readable for its conversion into SMPTE LTC (longitudinal TC
used for audio and video tapes) and SMPTE VITC (see below).
AatonCode specifically contains synchronizing data, hour, minute, second,
frame, year, month, day, production ID, camera ID and camera speed. In
essence, AatonCode on film represents the birth certificate of each image,
which can be carried with the image through all stages of the post-production
chain.
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ppm - parts-per-million - refers to the accuracy of the electronic crystal
inside each timecode capable device on set. The lower the number, the more
accurate over time the device. The more accurate the device, the less timecode
drift will occur over time.
The accuracy of the crystal used in all Aaton cameras and timecode generators,
as well as the crystal used in a growing number of DAT recorders (such as the
HHB with MS1000 timecode module) is rated at 1ppm. This translates to an
accuracy of approximately 0.5 a frame drift or less over 7 hours.
OriginCplus - Optional device on set - small, handholdable Aaton device which
serves as a masterclock, timecode comparator and independent 1ppm timecode
generator; used for foolproof initialization and monitoring of timecode
equipment during production.
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GMT-S - Optional device on set - ultra-small, standalone 1ppm timecode
generator designed to add frame accurate timecode capability to digital audio
recorders, timecode slates, inserters and other less accurate timecode devices
found on set. GMT-S can also be used to record timecode on the control track of
multi-track audio recorders.
In addition, GMT-S can serve to provide camera correlated timecode to PC
laptops running Aaton's ScriptLink software.
ScriptLink - Optional device on set - Aaton's PC based software for laptops
designed to correlate script and slate related information (film title, scene,
take, camera roll, sound roll, camera ID, good/no good take, and two comment
fields) to AatonCode. The ScriptLink laptop, via GMT-S, is initialized with
AatonCode just like cameras and audio recorders, making it free from any
physical link to other equipment on set.
The floppy disk file from ScriptLink is designed to be ingested by Aaton's
Keylink during the telecine session. Keylink will incorporate this information
with other negative and transfer data and incorporate it into its database (see
below).
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Keylink - a computer-based telecine device which reads Keycode and AatonCode
off the film during transfer, burns these codes as windows and/or VITC on the
video images, stores all events related to the transfer in a database, and
automatically syncs the AatonCoded images to their time-correlated sounds.
Keycode - the edgecode printed on the raw stock by the film manufacturer.
Keycode contains a continuous counting base and information related to the
stock itself and allows the editor to conform the original negative to the EDL
(edit decision list).
AatonBase - Aaton designed database assembly format for Keylink system. This
compact monitoring database compiles all the information from the field (via
camera negative as well as ancillary ScriptLink files) and during the transfer
(including Keylink settings and colorist inputs), making it ideal for
diagnostics. Complete transfer event reports are available for the Aaton
hotline engineers to troubleshoot and decipher improper Keylink settings and
operational handling errors.
The AatonBase structure also makes it easy for transfer facilities to export
abstracts to all popular file formats, such as Flex and the Avid-compatible
ATN-2.
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InstaSync - internal Keylink option - gives the Keylink system the ability to
sync audio completely on-the-fly within 2/100th of a second; sync sound will
appear on the very first image of an AatonCode take, or, in non-AatonCode
situations, as soon as the colorist keys the scene/take or digi-slate numbers.
This feature frees sound recordists and telecine colorists from the
inconvenience of the "seven seconds preroll" rule of thumb previously
associated with on-the-fly AatonCode sync transfers. InstaSync totally
eliminates the start-of-take sound voids commonly found in this type of
one-light non-stop transfer. The need for post-telecine syncing is also
eliminated.
VITC - vertical interval timecode - machine-readable film/video data encoded
into the scan lines at the top of a video image, in an area of the frame not
visible to the final viewer. VITC is normally recorded in a block of two
non-adjacent lines of the video signal, with an intervening blank line in
between them. Traditionally, information from VITC line 1 has been repeated in
line 3 to guard against dropout.
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3 Line VITC - Aaton, Avid, Evertz, Lightworks proposal for a new VITC standard
in which 3x the amount of information is recorded in the same area as
traditional VITC. By utilizing the intervening line for information, the 3
Line VITC format contains full video timecode (with user bits) on line 1,
Keycode on line 2, and AatonCode on line 3.
Because the encoding of the first line of 3 Line Vitc adheres to the standard
VITC norm, it can be read by all existing VITC readers.
InDaw - computer-based audio sync station which digitizes field DAT and 1/4"
tapes to hard drive, JAZ and/or CD-ROM. Digitized media can then be ingested
by InstaSync featured Keylink systems to perform instant, on-the-fly audio sync
transfers.
InDaw can also be configured as a standalone sync station and instantly sync
digitized audio to Keylink transferred video images via 3 Line VITC.
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Wave Format - the standard audio file format in the PC digital-audio world,
which can be read by any MAC/OS or WINTEL machine. Wave is the basic file
format Aaton has chosen for InDaw digitization files. A basic Wave file holds
two headers or "chunks" only: one contains the audio data itself and the other,
the description of sample rate, bit rate etc. The format specifications allow
for other chunks to be added, thus making it tailored for professional needs.
For example, the EBU Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) adds a chunk that contains the
sequence description and the date & time of recording.
OMF Format - Avid's Open Media Framework database format. InDaw-recorded JAZ or
CD-ROM disks containing AatonChunks can directly be imported into Avid
Composers where a plug-in internally converts them into OMF files.
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