TDC-100 FAQ

What devices can the TDC-100 control?

The TDC can control most professional DDRs, from manufacturers such as Abekas, EVS, Grass Valley, Fast Forward, Tektronix, Leitch, 360 Systems, and others. The TDC uses industry-standard '9-pin' RS-422 control, speaking Sony / Odetics protocol. The TDC-100 will also control most VTRs. While the cueing time makes VTRs less suitable for on-air use, this control is often useful for dubbing material to DDRs during pre-production.

What protocol does the TDC-100 use?

To contol the DDRs or VTRs, the TDC uses standard Sony 'P2' vtr protocol, with the Odetics disk extensions. This is commonly referred to as 'Odetics Protocol'. This is the protocol which should be selected in the DDR setup. The Fast Forward Omega does not offer Odetics protocol as a menu selection, but supports all Odetics commands anyway. If the Odetics extensions are not available, the DDR will perform basic play/stop/cue functions, but will not loop or provide clip name listing or recall.

Can I loop another P-bus device from the TDC-100?

Yes. There are two 9-pin female connectors on the rear panel of the frame. One is labeled 'P-BUS IN' and the other 'P-BUS LOOP'. They are simply wired in parallel; either may be used for the switcher connection, with the other connected to another P-BUS device, such as a DVE. Both devices will listen to the PBUS transmissions from the switcher. You must set the device numbers (four in the TDC) to all be unique, if you want independent control of the various devices.

How should the Device Numbers be set in the TDC menus?

There are four menu-settable device number in the TDC, one for each device channel. Normally each of these would be set to a unique number, not conflicting with any other P-BUS device. This allows independent control of each of the four channels from the switcher. It's possible to set two (or more) channels to the same device number; this has the effect of permanently ganging those channels together. This might be desirable in certain situations, but by doing this you're restricting yourself somewhat.

I can't control the TDC from the switcher... what's wrong?

First make sure the TDC is working. Try operating the machines from the TDC panel. If this all works ok, check the interconnection between the switcher P-BUS output and the TDC P-BUS input. This connection should be made with a standard pin-to-pin SMPTE 9-pin cable. If the switcher's P-BUS baud rate can be changed, it should be set to 38.4K. Parity should match that selected in the TDC menu. Make sure that the switcher port being used is configured properly for P-Bus. See if the light in the P-BUS ENABLE button on the TDC blinks when you send a P-BUS command from the switcher. If it does, you can examine the P-BUS data by turning on PBUS DATA DISPLAY (item 30) in the TDC menu. You should see a string something like T0000020 for a trigger or R000003001 for a recall. If you do see similar data, then the TDC is receiving P-BUS commands. Check to make sure you're triggering the proper device numbers.

The "Panel Comms" LED is blinking on the frame. Does this indicate a problem?

No, this is normal as of firmware version 3.0. The blinking indicates normal CPU operation.

Can I keep a loop playing when recalling another register?

As of version 3.0, there are four menu items called 'PRESERVE LOOP', one for each channel. If you turn these on for the channel(s) which are looping, the loops will continue to play until you explicitly stop them, either with a stop trigger or the panel STOP button. As of version 3.2, there is an additional way: if you have a channel looping and recall a new register, the looping channel will not be affected so long as there is no intime for it in the newly-recalled register. This allows loops to continue without using PRESERVE LOOP. In this case, recall of a register with an intime present will cue the channel to the new intime.

How can I get CUEMAN software? Is CUEMAN available for Macs?

You can get the Windows version by clicking <here>.
And yes, at long last it's available for Macs. You can get the native Mac version by clicking <here> .

How can I import CUEMAN data to Excel?

The .td2 files which CUEMAN creates are comma-delimited text files. They can be imported to Excel and other programs. Left to right, the columns are:
Reg# - A In - A Out - B In - B Out - C In - C Out - D In - D Out -Gang Data - Speed - A Clipname - B Clip - C Clip - D Clip

Cueman doesn't work with my Mac running 'Snow Leopard' OS. What's wrong?

If your USB adapter is working, and has the proper driver installed, the problem might be that there are some extra connections to the DB-9 connector on the cable to the TDC-100. Only pins 2, 3 and 5 should be connected. The other connections are handshaking inputs and outputs and can cause problems if inadvertently asserted.

Can I create a CUEMAN list in Excel?

You can create cue lists in Excel and export them so that they can be uploaded using Cue Manager (Cueman) software. The Excel formatting is critical, however. The easiest thing to do is to download a list from a TDC-100, import it to Excel, then edit it. If you don't want to download a file, use this one as a starting point: prototype tdc file.xls. Make sure you enter valid time numbers, using all eight digits. If you want to make your times Non Drop Frame timecode, use colons between the time digits. If you want to make them Drop Frame, use semi-colons. The code type in the list should match the code type of the material on the DDR. If you use clipnames they must be exactly 8 characters.
Once you have the data entered, export the Excel file as a COMMA DELIMITED text file (.csv). You will then have to rename the file, changing the .csv extension to .td2. Once you've done that, you should be able to upload it to the TDC-100 using Cueman. Note that the prototype file linked above contains only the first 100 registers (000-099). If you need more, you'll have to extend it. Be sure that you upload only the registers that the file contains.

When I put the Profile in Odetics mode and try to cue, it goes to a different time code or doesn't cue at all. What's wrong?

The Profile has an idiosyncracy in Odetics mode: it adds the time that the clip starts to the requested cue time, and tries to cue to that sum. Unless the clip starts at 00:00:00:00 this will cause the Profile to cue to some stray time. If that time is non-existent, the Profile will just sit there. The solution is to either re-stripe the clip so that it starts at 00:00:00:00, or to switch the TDC-100 to the 'TIMER' mode (menu selection), which won't exhibit this problem.

Why can't I see all my Profile clips on the TDC?

Assuming that the Profile is in Odetics mode, the reason is probably that the clip names are more than 8 characters long. The Odetics protocol only supports 8 character names, and the Profile developers chose to not report clips with names longer than that at all, rather than truncate them to 8 characters. If the names are 8 characters or fewer, they should all show up.

What 'personality' mode should the Fast Forward Omega be operated in?

For on-air use, I suggest setting the personality to BVW mode. If you run the Omega in 'Native' mode, you must make sure the Omega is also set for 'Playlist' timecode. If this is set incorrectly, it can cause the Omega to cue to the wrong place, or not cue at all. The BVW personality mode makes the DDR look like a 24-hour blacked tape. You can cue to anywhere within the full timecode range, and drop material in at any timecode that makes sense to you. In addition, the Odetics commands required for looping operation are fully supported in BVW mode (unlike some other ddrs), so looping works great.

Does Lance Design rent TDC-100s?

No, generally not. We don't have much of a used or demo inventory, and have had several units lost, so we try to avoid that business. Most of the video rental houses have several TDC-100s in their inventories.