Timeline View - Option for Timeline View to Ignore Timezone of Recorded Media?

[moviemaker445]

Hi,

I'm floating an idea which hopefully may find its way into a future release of iMatch.

I find the Timeline an invaluable tool to collect photos & video from many recording devices stored in multiple locations on my iMac. It then allows me to drag an entire day of Media (photos & video) from IMatch to DaVinci Resolve Timeline and, hey presto, they appear in the correct sequence (as long as the File Date Created matches the EXIF Date, thanks to TimeWiz)

One feature of the IMatch Timeline that causes confusion is that Media can appear on my computer in the wrong day from that on which it was recorded. (I'm in Australia GMT+10)

For example, media recorded in Europe (GMT+1) after 15:00 appears on the next day in the Timeline. For media recorded in South America, eg Peru it is even worse. Anything recorded after 09:00 on Day X in Peru appears on Day X+1 in the Timeline on my computer.

I need the Timeline to display media on the day it was recorded to match my personal diary entries.


I found this in the IMatch Help:

"Positioning Files on the Timeline
The position of a file on the timeline is controlled by the global File.DateTime.

If you change the value of the XMP::photoshop\DateCreated\DateCreated tag (named Date Subject Created in the Metadata Panel), IMatch updates File.DateTime and this also changes the position of the file on the timeline."


Would it be possible to add an option in Preferences for the Timeline to ignore the Time Zone data so that the Timeline displays media on the correct day irrespective of where the computer running IMatch is located?

Cheers

[Mario]

The Timeline is based on the global File.DateTime, which is derived from a variety of sources, depending on the file format and timestamp availability (see: How IMatch uses Date and Time Information).

The Timeline uses File.DateTime in in local time to create nodes, because this is what the majority of users expects and because it matches the date and time you see everywhere else in IMatch, e.g. File Windows or the Metadata Panel.

Using the File.DateTime in UTC time stamp or the original time stamp (see the link above) would theoretically be possible. But it would require work, like options for the time line, changing the algorithm to use a different time stamp, updated help etc.

I have moved your request in the feature request board so other users can comment on it and like it.
This will show us if this is an issue several users have.

[rolandgifford]

I think that I achieve this by using option 5 for Time.DateTime mapping and not setting a location in my camera, just setting the time for where I am. My home location is UTC which probably helps.

I'm not interested at all in UTC time or Local time for an image, only the time on a clock when/where I took it

[moviemaker445]

Thanks Mario.

Thank you for your input Roland. I am not a multinational news organisation that needs to coordinate media from all over the world so like you "I'm not interested at all in UTC time or Local time for an image, only the time on a clock when/where I took it"

The only way I have been able to make media appear correctly in the 'Timeline' is to set the time zone offset for everything in my database to GMT+10 (where I live) when it is imported.
This seems to work ok.

Cheers