Resolume Arena can sync the play head of a video to external SMPTE timecode. This is an often used technique to synchronize audio, video, lights, pyro and lasers during show moments or DJ intros. Also it's used a lot by VJs touring with a DJ to sync pre-made visuals to a specific track. Resolume Arena can listen to two SMPTE timecode inputs simultaneously, so you can sync both tracks in the mix.
SMPTE timecode is just an audio signal that sounds like 400 pigs screaming. Resolume can interpret this sound and use it as a clock. Every part of it sounds slightly different. Our ears can't hear this, but Resolume can. So when you skip ahead in the SMPTE signal, or play it faster or slower, Resolume knows to update the playhead accordingly.
To connect a SMPTE timecode signal to your computer, all you need is a source of SMPTE timecode and a way to let your computer hear it. Playing an mp3 file with SMPTE on your iPod, connected via mini-jack to the line-in of your computer works well.
Playing it over speakers and using the laptops onboard mic won't work. Don't try it unless you are very stubborn and enjoy failure.
When your computer is connected to a valid SMPTE timecode input, you can let clips run in time with it. Select the incoming SMPTE signal and required framerate for each input via the Audio tab of the Preferences. The Composition tab will now show the current SMPTE timecode for that input.
Which SMPTE timecode framerate is correct depends on the source of your SMPTE timecode signal. Most of the time this will be 25 or 29.97, but it can vary. If you see a jump in the playhead at a regular interval of 1 second, you most likely have the wrong framerate selected.
Note that the framerate you have to match is the framerate of the incoming SMPTE timecode signal, not the clip you are trying to sync to it. Of course, you get the smoothest result if all the framerates are matched.
You can select your clips to run on SMPTE 1 or SMPTE 2 via the Timeline dropdown. A special icon will appear in the layer strip to indicate that this clip is now listening for timecode. You can quickly switch inputs with the buttons in the bottom right.
Note that SMPTE is not available on clips with an audio track.
You can select a starting timecode for a clip via the offset parameter.
The offset is helpful to differentiate between tracks. When doing several timecoded shows on a single night, an often used convention is to let each show start at an offset of 1 hour. So Show 1 will start at 01:00:00:00, Show 2 at 02:00:00:00. This way, you won't accidentally show the wrong show at the wrong time.
The clip has to be active in a layer for it show in the output! The clip trigger itself is not sent via SMPTE.
Optionally you can add an delay compensation in frames to account for any lag that may occur in the signal flow. Light travels faster than sound, so on very big stages the sound will take longer than the video to reach the majority of the crowd. A negative compensation can help with getting things perfectly lip sync again.