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Offline Timecode Shows Completely Blank — External Device Source Mismatch

Summary

Running Flair offline with an RT-14 as the timecode source, the "Current TC" field shows completely blank — not even 00:00:00:00 — across every rig setup tried, despite the exact same generator, config, output channel, and cable that worked previously on set. The cause was that External Device Setup had the Timecode type set to UDP or TCP rather than matching the actual RT-14 serial source, which blanks "Current TC" entirely rather than showing a frozen/wrong value. Separately, Artnet-capable timecode generators can feed Flair directly, offline, with no RT-14 required at all.

Symptoms

  • "Current TC" field is completely blank — not 00:00:00:00, just empty — and never populates.
  • Occurs specifically running offline (no robot), timecode source is RT-14.
  • Same generator, config, output channel, and cable previously worked fine on an actual shoot.
  • Mouse-over/scroll on the Current TC field makes it disappear and it never reappears.
  • Happens consistently across multiple Flair versions on the same machine.

Community Guidance

[RESOLVED] Check External Device Setup — Timecode Type Must Match the Actual Source

Community — Josh T. — 30 July 2026

"Check your External Device Setup. If the Timecode is set to UDP or TCP the timecode will be blank in 'Current TC.'"

Steps:

  1. Open External Device Setup and check the Timecode source type.
  2. If it's set to UDP or TCP but your actual source is a serial/RT-14 feed, "Current TC" will show completely blank rather than an error — this is easy to misread as a hardware/cable fault.
  3. Set the Timecode type to match your actual source (RT-14/serial), not UDP/TCP.

confidence_score: 0.75

[RESOLVED] Also Check the .ini tcreader Line

Community — Dig — 30 July 2026

"Also check your ini file has the line: *tcreader: Ric"

If Current TC is still blank after fixing the External Device Setup type, confirm *tcreader: Ric is present (and not commented out) in flair.ini.

confidence_score: 0.7

[INFORMATIONAL] Artnet Timecode Generators Don't Need an RT-14 At All

Community — Josh T. — 30 July 2026

"If you have a TC generator that can transmit Artnet you can send that to an offline version of flair. No need for the RT-14."

If your timecode generator supports Artnet output, you can feed Flair directly over the network offline, skipping the RT-14 entirely for previz/testing purposes.

confidence_score: 0.68