Multi-track and Video - Plea for help

I've been asked to do a multi-track recording sync'd with 3 video cameras. The video system is a Tricaster Extreme 460. My rig is a TC Impact Twin with Win7 64 bit/Reaper 4.61. I did some reading and tested this scenario yesterday. 1) Created a timecode generator track in Reaper routed out of the TC to the Tricaster. The Tricaster showed lock with the LTC from Reaper. 2) Being unsure I also routed the output of the LTC generated track to separate track in Reaper and recorded it thinking I might need a stripe track in Reaper. 3) I did not send clock from my TC to the Tricaster thinking the common LTC was all I needed. 4) I recorded the stereo main outputs from the house as my test audio multi tracks in Reaper. Afterwards the Media Director gave me a single switched version of the .mpg file. I loaded it as a track in Reaper. It plays back fine with video and embedded audio. With snap on I am able to line up the start of the Reaper audio multi-tracks with the embedded audio of the .mpg. Problem - If I play from the start of the .mpg object the multi-track audio stays in sync with the video from start to finish. If I start playback from any other point the audio is out of sync with the video. Am I missing some setting or steps in Reaper? Is there something I need to do to tell Reaper to sync with the LTC track? Or...have I done this all wrong and its' never going to work right? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

First, since the recording's in the bag, you're safe. It syncs up on playback when played from the start. Your problem is likely because of the video playback in Reaper, which is easy to fix by installing VLC (32-bit Reaper->32-bit VLC and 64-bit VLC for 64-bit Reaper). AFter that, get rid of the LTC track or at least mute it. It has nothing to with what you're doing now, which is POST PRODUCTION. Once you get the video playback problem fixed, you should be ok. Check the BLUE link below for a thread on what video formats are most useful when working in Reaper, and you need fast seeking in video. It is also recommended that you decode the audio from the video in to a WAV and use that as a reference instead of the audio from the video file directly inside Reaper. That audio playback of audio in a video file is not 100% reliable, so split that stuff up and pull the fader down on the track with the video file. Pop any questions as you see fit. Plenty of post production folks here.

Thanks a bunch for the response Airon. I installed VLC 64 bit. No difference though. Still the same problem - If I play from the start of the .mpg object the multi-track audio stays in sync with the video from start to finish. If I start playback from any other point the audio is out of sync with the video. I did verify VLC is selected in Reaper video preferences. I also rendered the .mpg to a WAV file in Reaper. I can't help but wonder if my settings in Reaper are off.

Quite frankly, at that level of complexity I really think you should be looking at a full version of Sony Vegas...

Convert the video in to a more useful format. Quicktime PhotoJPEG is recommended, even though it might take one additional round of transcoding if you want to use Handbrake, which can probably read the MPG. The first tool you should try is MPEG Streamclip, which is free. If that won't read the MPG video file, use Handbrake ( ) to convert to an MP4 file(10 MBit or higher), and then load that in to MPEG Streamclip to produce the QUicktime file. Since Vegas is almost useless in audio post production, compared to Reaper, it's worth a bit of hassle to get it working right.

Airon, I took your advice and loaded Streamclip. I discovered that my audio was recorded at 30 fps and the video was recorded at 29.97. I used Streamclip to convert the mpg to Apple PhotoJPEG 30 fps. That did the trick. Now once lined up the .mov file and my WAVs stay in sync at any spot in the time line. Thank you very much for putting me on the right track.

No problem. Glad that worked out for you.