How can I read the timecode that has been captured along with the video? I'm not talking about the timecode filter that can be added to a track, rather I'm wondering how I can view the original timecode from the source tape, while editing?
If you're talking about seeing the timecode in a window on the video, do a search on this Board. There is a free (I think) program that can burn timecode onto the video image.
wonderotter has your answer, if you're really talking about the timecode. For all other information embedded on the tape, you are out of luck. No date and time information, despite dozens of people asking for it for years. No closed captions (VBI 21 info). No white balance, or shutter speed, or any other information that is contained on that tape.
Personally, I think every video editor should consider it their right to be able to get EVERY bit of information stored on the tape. After all, if you own a Sony camera, Sony engineers went out of their way to design a system to capture all this information. This information is amazingly useful. Yet we can neither read, write, nor edit virtually any of this information.
It absolutely kills me, each time I create a DVD, to have to throw out ALL the date and time information on the original tape. Whey can't I designate a "master" track from which the date/time information for the final tape can be taken? I would love to be able to pass that information through to DVD Architect as subtitles so that the person playing the DVD can turn on the subtitle at any point during the playback to see the exact date and time the original clip was taken.