I will get into deeper discussions of Dropframe Timecode (DFTC) and Non-Dropframe Timecode (NDFTC) later, but for now, just think of them as Miles vs. Kilometers. Mmmm kay?
If you drive 10 miles to the store to pick up tapestock the odometer will say one “10”.
But you drive the same 10 miles in your French buddy’s car that uses a metric odometer, it will say “16” kilometers.
NOTE:
1) The distance can be driven by either car (Like DFTC and NDFTC can be played on any machine)
2) The trip to the store takes the exact same amount of time as measured by a stop-watch.
3) Both measuring systems have nothing to do with the ACTUAL trip to the store, but merely measure the trip.
And here’s a tidbit that is totally unrelated, but interesting…
Dropframe timecode uses semi-colons like this: 01;16;22;21
Non-Dropframe timecode uses colons like this: 01:16:22:21
And here’s some more unrelated trivia:
VITC timecode and Linear Timecode call the same frame the same timecode number. VITC and Linear are merely different ways of recording the timecode itself. It’s kind of like having an AIFF file on an Audio CD or a DVD-R. The file is always the same but just recorded differently.
As you can see, I am the king of analogies, lame though they may be.