Also known as DV Time, a DV or MiniDV camcorder starts recording at 00:00:00. The timecode is drop frame for NTSC (minute differences in timing are made to get the film from 30 fps to 29.97 fps). DV Time is carried on the FireWire cable with the video, audio and Device Control. The biggest problem that arises with DV Time is that it resets to zero if the camera operator does not 'hook' to the end of the previously shot footage (there is an unrecorded gap between recordings).

If dealing with a miniDV or DVCAM tape with 'broken' timecode (that is in many parts), either do a clone copy to another DV tape so that the timecode is created continuously for the entire tape, or name each timecode section as a different tape.