Tentacle Sync Track E Timecode issues *Solved

I played around with a Tentacle Sync Track E this weekend and looking at bringing it into resolve. It is a single track wav file. When I bring it into Tentacle Sync Studio I can see the File-TC showing the timecode. The Audio-TC shows no timecode found. This is normal when using video files. Also normal when using video files is the ability to sync using timecode because it's written on the second audio track.

However with the Sync E there is no second audio track and I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to have resolve read the timecode so I can sync it to other videos that had Sync E's on them.

Anyone have any ideas?

I wanted to update what I am seeing. When I am in the media page and look in the upper right hand area where you would see the source timecode, I do see the timecode there. When I go to the edit page and look in the source window ( the one on the left hand side) I can also see the timecode there.

However when I drop the audio into a blank timeline and look in the timeline window and select source timecode I cannot see anything except for 00:00:00:00. This is what is preventing me from syncing this longer audio track to multiple shorter videos.

I feel like I am doing something wrong but I have no idea what it is.

The Source Timecode in the Program Viewer is for video tracks only.

You can only sync one clip per track in a timeline. You might try adding each video clip to it's own track for sync, then you can move them all down where you want them.

I think I found the issue. it appears that the Track E timecode is set for 24 hours and the Sync E timecode was set for 12 hours. Right now the timecode showing in Resolve for the Track E is 16:50:23:08 and the Sync E timecode starts at 04:49:00:18

However if I look at the files in the tentacle sync app I see the audio file showing 16:50:23:08 under the File TC slot with nothing in the Audio TC slot, and the video shows 04:49:00:18 in the File TC but shows 17:07:30:01 in the Audio TC.

I need Resolve to allow me to choose where to pull the timecode from, Audio TC or File TC. Or get Tentacle Sync to allow me to move the File TC code in the Track E to the Audio TC slot.

Semi-Solved. I think this was an issue caused with my lack of understand how timecode works in Resolve. I reached out to Tentacle Sync support and their advice was to just select the "Update Timecode from Audio Track" I did that and it worked however now my question is this: If updating from the audio track will work why would I ever buy a Tentacle Sync device?

The tentacle is what puts the timecode in the audio track.

Without the tentacle, the audio would be empty.

When you tell Resolve to update the timecode from the audio track, you're telling it that the audio track contains something more than sound, but an actual timecode signal. Audio tracks don't usually contain timecode.

Timecode sounds kind of like old modems used to sound in the 90's internet. You don't want it in your audio unless the software you're using understands it's in the audio. Resolve knows how to interpret it, but it doesn't detect it automatically, which is why you have to instruct Resolve to interpret the audio track as timecode.

Putting timecode into audio channels is kind of a hack for syncing DSLRs, which don't have the timecode inputs of digital film cameras like RED, ARRI, or URSA. It's a hack that's so widely used though, that Tentacle has built a business around it, and Blackmagic supports it directly in Resolve.

The tentacle is what puts the timecode in the audio track.

Without the tentacle, the audio would be empty.

When you tell Resolve to update the timecode from the audio track, you're telling it that the audio track contains something more than sound, but an actual timecode signal. Audio tracks don't usually contain timecode.

Thank you Jason. I was thinking that it was looking for matching sounds, like a clap or something. But now that I think through the process I was doing this to a single track so that thought doesn't make sense now. Not sure what I was thinking :p

I appreciate your help.

I appreciate your help.

Any time. Honestly, I'm a little jealous. The difference between projects which use tentacles and those that don't is hundreds, possibly thousands of clicks, depending on how well aligning using waveforms works. Aligning using waveforms also requires you to check everything for mismatch.

I have used the Sync E's for the last year and just picked up 2 Track E's to test. This first project seems a bit rougher then I want it to be. Certainly I need to do a bit more testing with the package right now.

It would be great if somebody could do a tutorial for this

The simple solution when using the Track E is go to the 'Media' page, right click on the video files and select 'Update Timecode from Audio Track'.

Once I did that everything sync'ed up with no issues.