Aug 04, 2017 04:50 AM
For video editing purposes, how can I input timecode into a field? The format could be either:
H:MM:SS (hours:minutes:seconds)
MM:SS (minutes:seconds)
In the article Supported format specifiers for DATETIME_FORMAT I found “Preset timestamp format”, but that’s a timestamp. My desired format is time duration, similar to a stopwatch.
Thanks!
Solved! Go to Solution.
May 18, 2018 07:59 PM
Aug 05, 2017 05:22 PM
At the moment, you’ll have to accept it as a text entry and perform the necessary conversions and calculations yourself. I’ve put together a quick demonstration of some possible routines to do so here. The Duration field accepts a timestamp in either ‘HH:MM’ or ‘HH:MM:SS’ format; breaks out Hours, Minutes, and Seconds; converts Hours, Minutes, and Seconds to TotalSeconds; extracts GetHours, GetMinutes, and GetSeconds from TotalSeconds; and, finally, returns GetHours, GetMinutes, and GetSeconds to NewDuration in ‘HH:MM:SS’ format. (Alternate formulas are also provided that convert Duration directly to TotalSeconds2 and TotalSeconds directly to NewDuration2.)
The parsing routine will correctly interpret timestamps with either 1- or 2-digit unit sections, in any combination (e.g., ‘HH:MM:SS’, ‘H:MM’, ‘HH:M:SS’, ‘H:M:S’, and so on).
Note: These routines support only to 1-second granularity, but could easily be enhanced to support fractional-second or per-frame timing.
I realize this wasn’t what you were hoping to find, but I hope it’s an acceptable substitute…
Aug 08, 2017 05:46 PM
Wow @W_Vann_Hall, you’ve gone above and beyond! Talk about workaround! To be honest, mildly disappointed that Airtable doesn’t support duration for now. I’ll use your template you’ve created, and possibly just resort to Google Sheets if that becomes too annoying. Thank you!!!
Aug 15, 2017 12:54 PM
Hello I am new to Airtable and really like it so far. I am particularly interested in using it in the world of video/digital asset management. Is there a road map to introduce some kind of time code calculator?
Sep 27, 2017 05:27 PM
I am a new user of Airtable, and this is one of the most important features to me. I signed up for Airtable to keep track of audio/video assets and timecodes. I am sad that it can’t do this yet. I hope you will incorporate it soon so that I don’t have to keep looking for another solution. I like everything else about Airtable I’ve seen so far.
If you will incorporate this feature, can you give us an approximate timeline?
Oct 31, 2017 06:28 PM
Just wanted to add my vote for this feature- I would love to be able to use Airtable for film production, but without timecode support, it’s a no-go :frowning: Otherwise, love this product!
Jan 09, 2018 11:02 AM
Airtable now offers a Duration field type that is available in beta. A duration field can be used for video timecodes measured in seconds or milliseconds, as well as for event lengths in hours and minutes. To sign up for early access to the Duration field type, please visit our beta signup form.
Feb 08, 2018 07:40 AM
Fantastic news @Matt_Bush! I just applied for the Beta program. To clarify, is the timecode format HH:MM:SS:MsMs (hours:minutes:seconds:milliseconds)?
Feb 08, 2018 08:07 AM
@W_Vann_Hall
That’s a great solution!
May 18, 2018 07:59 PM
Duration field type is out of Beta since 2018-02-21! :grinning:
Mar 12, 2019 09:25 PM
What about double digit hours?
Mar 13, 2019 04:45 AM
For durations configured as ‘h:mm
’, anything entered before the colon (’:
’) is considered hours, regardless of the number of digits. (Well, at least for as many digits as I’ve bothered to test; presumably it breaks down at some point. ‘50000:20
’ works out correctly to ‘2083 days 8:20
’, so 5-digit hour values seem to work.
Tossing in a second colon confuses things — that is, for a ‘h:mm
’ duration — but I’ve not quite figured out how. For durations configured for second or sub-second granularity, two-colon entries with multiple-digit hours work fine.
Jan 15, 2020 02:04 AM
Can we have one for true video time code that includes frames as opposed to milliseconds? i.e: hours:minutes:seconds:frames
I imagine you would need to specify frame rate some where in order for time calculations to work properly.
This would be super helpful.
Feb 26, 2020 04:22 PM
Adding timecode support will bring over so many more users. And just for clarity, timecode support means that a cell can be edited to support timecode in a specified frame rate (23.976, 24, 29.97, 30, etc.) so any duration and calculations on timecode yield proper results. A timecode cell needs to be in a HH:MM:SS:FF format under a frame rate system (as noted above). Please bring this functionality!
Dec 16, 2021 12:57 PM
Hi Community,
I’m resurrecting this thread to add another precise request on the subject.
The Duration field type is nice, but it does not auto format the data typed in.
With hundreds of IN and OUT time to log from footage files, I’d love to just have to type the numeral digits without the :
So if I type 123 it logs 1:23, and if I type 10123 it log 1:01:23, for hours:minutes:seconds, etc. as it works for example in premiere or after effects when typing numbers in the timecode field.
That kind of auto-formating for timecode, with various framerates presets, would be wonderful!!
Another linked request that would be useful is to be able to import video files just to grab the metadata, without uploading gigabytes of videos, so its not necessary to type the files name, duration, source, etc. manually!
I’m still searching for something that does what I need. But still thanks for what airtable is already!
Dec 16, 2021 08:19 PM
Excellent suggestions for omitting the colon and metadata import! :clap:t2: :pray:t2:
Dec 17, 2021 12:11 AM
Will a formula solution suffice in the meantime? It just processes the raw text, but it might still save you some time.
IF(
{Timecode Raw},
REGEX_REPLACE(
{Timecode Raw},
REPT("(\\d{2})", (ROUND((LEN({Timecode Raw})) / 2)) - 1) & "$",
LEFT(":$1:$2:$3", 3 * ((ROUND((LEN({Timecode Raw})) / 2)) - 1))
)
)
With the help of an automation that runs a script, it’s possible to translate this into inline formatting. Normally automations that act on data changes don’t wait for the user to finish editing a field, but I’ve come up with a method that actually waits.
I came up with this wait-for-the-user-to-finish-editing setup a couple of months ago, but haven’t had the time yet to document and share it. I’ll probably put some time into it over the holiday break and post a new thread.