Just tried it!

I don't know, I've never used Excel. You mentioned you just tried it, did it work for you?
Thanks Phil,
Randy

No probs!

If you've got Excel and need a hand I can send you an example Spreadsheet.

http://www.sssm.com/tools/tools.html
Use this URL for a software timecode calculator. Has a number of other features as well.
If this url doesn't work, go to www.sssm.com and look under tools

http://www.chienworks.com/software/hmscalc/

This is a little time calculator i wrote many moons ago. You may or may not also need the runtime module vbrun300.dll stored in http://www.chienworks.com/software/ ... just save both files in the same folder and run the hmscalc.exe program.

It has a few quirks:
- if you don't use the colon : key, it assumes entries are seconds
- + and - are done "accountant style", for example, to subtract 3:20:14 from 5:42:06 enter:
                5:42:06 +
                3:20:14 -
(yeah, i know, it's weird. i apologize!)
- if you end up with with a negative result the display will probably be weird and unusable.
- you can use the keyboard instead of the mouse, but press ; for a colon (so you don't have to shift
- final result is usually shown in mmm:ss instead of hh:mm:ss, dunno why.

Anyway, enjoy. :)

Instead of trying to use a program (or a piece of paper), and if time to figure it out is a consideration, you may just want to practice doing it in your head.

A year ago I ran RealTV at work, which went right into UPN, which was live. The problem was that RealTV in Syndication didn't have a format sheet to run the show, all the had were the segment times. And to make it worse, each show ran at a differnt total length! So, I got used to add/subtracting times in my head. I could figure out what the asnwer was to something like this: I am 24:53 minutes:seconds into the show. I have a 2:02 commercial comming up. The last segment is 0:42 seconds (credits, etc.). UPN runs right at the 30:00 mark. How long to I have to make my final transition break? Rounding makes it easy! It's easy to figure out 24:53+2:02 is 26:55. Add in the 0:42. Roung the 0:42 to :40 and 26:55 to 27:00. Then I get 27:40. Take off the 5 seconds added when rounding the 26:55 (27:35) then add in the 2 from the 0:42 (27:37). Now, 30:00 - 27:30 (rounding again) is 2:30. Subtract the 7 seconds and I get 2:23. So, my end break is 2:23. Lucky I have a 3 second station ID to throw in, and whamo! it's done.

Just takes practice. I got it after 2 weeks of running the show, and I could figure it out before anyone else there could even get 2 minute needed.

Edited from my earlier post which was posted a little to hastily, sorry! :-)

I read this and thought, I have to add and subtract timecode all the time, somebody has to have made a calulator for this. So I did a search using Copernic, great program, everyone should get it. Came up a dozen of possibilities. Here are some links, I have not tried any of these.

Free:
http://www.sssm.com/tools/tools.html (Same as GVP's post above).

Trial:
http://www.gdwsoft.com/

Online calculators:
http://www.broadcasttech.net/video/timecode/tc_calc.html
http://www.roscor.com/Tools/tccalc.html

For your Palm handheld computer:
http://www.ilap.com/pheg/hts/index.html
http://www.miguelos.netfirms.com/

For converting one fps to another:
http://www.jam-ind.com/LightGroup/Software/TimeCodeConverter/TimeCodeConverterPage.htm

Shareware:
http://www.frogsoft.com/tc_calc.htm

If you are interested in the Copernic search tool:
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/agent/download.html


Here's an idea SOFO, how about a button in Vegas that brings up a built-in timecode and bit rate calculator?

Brill! WTCC Calculator works like a dream - just copy and pasted values and subrtacted another earlier on - it works!

Thanks Jeff,

Grazie

Wow thanks everyone...lots of options! Sorry it took me so long to get back but I just got back sending my tape out via overnight bus (PHEEW!). I'll check out all of your suggestions tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Randy