Field Notes
From the trenches of timed text.
Format quirks, framerate traps, vendor-specific failures, and the engineering decisions that make frame-accurate tools possible.
Free Online Timecode Converters Compared: Who Gets the Math Right?
We tested six free online timecode converters against verified test cases — drop-frame boundaries, NTSC precision, high framerates, and millisecond round-trips. Here is what we actually found.
Read article →Broadcast Subtitle Formats Explained: SCC, EBU-STL, and Graphics STL
A technical overview of the subtitle formats that actually reach broadcast air — SCC, EBU-STL, and Graphics STL — and how timecode.dev handles all three in the browser.
Read article →Building a Browser-Based Bitmap Subtitle Encoder
How timecode.dev renders bitmap subtitle images (PNG by default, TIF for Scenarist compatibility) entirely in the browser, eliminating expensive desktop tools from the bitmap subtitle workflow.
Read article →IMSC as a Universal Subtitle Interchange Format
Why IMSC/TTML should be your canonical subtitle storage format, and how treating simpler formats as lossy transports protects your assets through every delivery cycle.
Read article →SRT vs VTT vs ASS: Choosing the Right Subtitle Format
A practical comparison of SRT, VTT, and ASS subtitle formats — what each supports, what you lose in conversion, and when format choice actually matters.
Read article →Why Your 29.97 Subtitle Sync Drifts (And How to Fix It)
The math behind 29.97fps subtitle drift, why millisecond-based tools lose sync over long programs, and how frame-number-canonical computation eliminates the problem.
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