Nudge less than one frame to sync multiple video files?

[paulthelefty]

I am trying to sync two video files from a talking head shoot using the clap hands method.  I cannot get the files to sync exactly correctly. Is there any way to slip or nudge less than a frame to get the two files to align properly? I know its a matter of hundredths of seconds, but it is really bothering me that I cannot align it accurately...

This:

Or This:

Thanks,

Paul

[Meg The Dog · Accepted solution]

Slip or nudge a video track at a sub-frame level? No. The frame is the basic unit of video, and video has always be a full frame.

You can detach the audio from the clip and move the audio only portion in thousands of a second accuracy by switching the timeline counter display to Show Audio Time Units. But although the audio will move at much higher precision, the video will still only move in whole frame increments - even with Show Audio Time Units toggled on.

The next time you shoot, the solution is to use cameras the accept an external sync source that they will genlock too. Doing to will have all the cameras commencing frames at the same time.

MtD

[paulthelefty]

Hi Meg and thank you for your quick response... so am I overthinking this? I don't have high end gear that will do external syncing... does it not need to be that accurate? Am I being too picky?

Paul

[Meg The Dog]

Only you can decide if you are happy with the sync, if it were me and I got the two cameras to be within less than a full  frame of each other and that sync held consistently over the duration of the clips - I'd be perfectly fine with it.

MtD