Timecoded Video Notes: Feedback for Your Editor

It usually comes down to one of three things. Start of the count: a cut often starts at 01:00:00:00, while a file with no timecode track of its own is counted from zero — pick the right start in the “Start timecode” field. Frame rate: if the file does not state it, the page measures it during playback, and it is worth checking against the project. Counting method at 29.97 and 59.94: drop-frame or non-drop — a checkbox switches it.

Save the SRT subtitles and place them on a subtitle track in the editing software. Each cue is timed from the start of the file, so the notes land on their frames as long as the video sits at the start of the timeline. For checking by numbers, there is a CSV table with timecode and frame number.

Browsers cannot display some codecs — ProRes, DNxHD, and on some devices HEVC. Export a viewing copy as MP4 with the H.264 codec, keeping the same timecode and frame rate: the frame numbers in your notes will stay correct for the source.

Yes, taking turns: one person saves a notes file and sends it, and the other opens it together with their own copy of the same video — the notes are added to the ones already there. If the video length differs, the page warns that the notes may have been written for another version of the cut.

That is how drop-frame counting is written at 29.97 and 59.94 frames per second: two or four frame numbers are skipped at the start of almost every minute so that the timecode keeps up with the clock. If the file has a timecode track, the counting method is taken from it; otherwise you choose it with the checkbox under the frame rate.