diff --git a/src/lib/time/digxel.hpp b/src/lib/time/digxel.hpp
index 6ade5c742..7256c0061 100644
--- a/src/lib/time/digxel.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/time/digxel.hpp
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ namespace time {
     struct CountFormatter
       : PrintfFormatter<long, 20>
       {
-        CountFormatter() : PrintfFormatter<long,20>("%04l") { }
+        CountFormatter() : PrintfFormatter<long,20>("%04ld") { }
       };
     
   } //(End) digxel configuration namespace
diff --git a/src/lib/time/timecode.hpp b/src/lib/time/timecode.hpp
index 978b3c503..704db4293 100644
--- a/src/lib/time/timecode.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/time/timecode.hpp
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ namespace time {
     , public CountVal
     {
       
-      string show()     const { return string(show())+"fr"; }
+      string show()     const { return string(CountVal::show())+"fr"; }
       Literal tcID()    const { return "Frame-count"; } 
       TimeValue value() const { return Format::evaluate (*this, *quantiser_); }
       
diff --git a/tests/40components.tests b/tests/40components.tests
index 490730d84..3b451e8a2 100644
--- a/tests/40components.tests
+++ b/tests/40components.tests
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ out: .+Digxel.+SexaFormatter.+--empty--00--\(val=42\)--42
 out: .+Digxel.+SexaFormatter.+--empty--00--\(val=-5\)---5
 out: .+Digxel.+HexaFormatter.+--empty--00--\(val=12\)--0C
 out: .+Digxel.+HexaFormatter.+--empty--00--\(val=111\)--6F
+out: .+Digxel.+CountFormatter.+--empty--0000--\(val=-1234567890\)---1234567890
 return: 0
 END
 
diff --git a/tests/lib/time/digxel-configurations-test.cpp b/tests/lib/time/digxel-configurations-test.cpp
index 185fd06a7..6a226eb23 100644
--- a/tests/lib/time/digxel-configurations-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/lib/time/digxel-configurations-test.cpp
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ namespace test{
           verifyConfiguration<SexaDigit      > (-5);
           verifyConfiguration<HexaDigit      > (0xc);
           verifyConfiguration<HexaDigit      > (0x6f);
+          verifyConfiguration<CountVal       > (-1234567890);
         } 
       
       
diff --git a/tests/lib/time/time-formats-test.cpp b/tests/lib/time/time-formats-test.cpp
index d11e5c3c2..e22c8ce1b 100644
--- a/tests/lib/time/time-formats-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/lib/time/time-formats-test.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 
 #include "lib/test/run.hpp"
+//#include "lib/test/test-helper.hpp"
 #include "lib/time/timecode.hpp"
 #include "lib/util.hpp"
 
@@ -43,9 +44,10 @@ namespace test{
   
   /********************************************************
    * @test verify handling of grid aligned timecode values.
-   *       - creating timecode values
-   *       - some conversions
-   *       - formatting
+   *       - full cycle from parsing to formatting
+   *       - mutating the components of timecode
+   *       - some formatting corner cases
+   *       - formatting in various formats
    */
   class TimeFormats_test : public Test
     {
@@ -56,29 +58,55 @@ namespace test{
           
           TimeValue ref (refval);
           
-          checkBasics (ref);
-          checkComparisons (ref);
-          checkComponentAccess();
+          checkTimecodeUsageCycle (ref);
+          checkFrames ();
+          checkSeconds ();
+          checkHms ();
+          checkSmpte();
+          checkDropFrame();
         } 
       
       
       void
-      checkBasics (TimeValue ref)
+      checkTimecodeUsageCycle (TimeValue ref)
         {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("full usage cycle for a timecode value");
         }
       
       
       void
-      checkComparisons (TimeValue ref)
+      checkFrames ()
         {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("verify frame count time format");
         }
       
       
       void
-      checkComponentAccess()
+      checkSeconds ()
         {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("verify seconds as timecode format");
         }
       
+      
+      void
+      checkHms ()
+        {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("verify hour-minutes-seconds-millis timecode");
+        }
+      
+      
+      void
+      checkSmpte ()
+        {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("verify SMPTE timecode format");
+        }
+      
+      
+      void
+      checkDropFrame ()
+        {
+          UNIMPLEMENTED ("verify especially SMPTE-drop-frame timecode");
+        }
     };
   
   
diff --git a/tests/lib/time/time-quantisation-test.cpp b/tests/lib/time/time-quantisation-test.cpp
index c2f0bfbf5..c1a1a2812 100644
--- a/tests/lib/time/time-quantisation-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/lib/time/time-quantisation-test.cpp
@@ -31,12 +31,12 @@
 #include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/join.hpp>
 #include <iostream>
-//#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstdlib>
 
 using boost::lexical_cast;
 using util::isnil;
 using util::contains;
-//using std::rand;
+using std::rand;
 using std::cout;
 using std::endl;
 
@@ -52,23 +52,36 @@ namespace test{
   
   /********************************************************
    * @test verify handling of quantised time values.
-   *       - creating times and time intervals
-   *       - comparisons
-   *       - time arithmetics
+   *       - the simple usage, just referring to an 
+   *         predefined grid by name
+   *       - explicitly defining an quantiser
+   *       - converting these quantised values into
+   *         various timecode formats
+   *       - error detection
    */
   class TimeQuantisation_test : public Test
     {
+      int
+      random_or_get (Arg arg)
+        {
+          if (isnil(arg))
+            return 1 + (rand() % 10000);
+          else
+            return lexical_cast<int> (arg[1]);
+        }
+      
+      
+      
       virtual void
       run (Arg arg) 
         {
-          long refval= isnil(arg)?  1 : lexical_cast<long> (arg[1]);
-          
-          TimeValue ref (refval);
+          Time ref (random_or_get(arg));
           CHECK (Time(0) < ref);
           
           checkSimpleUsage (ref);
           check_theFullStory (ref);
           checkMultipleGrids (ref);
+          checkGridBinding (ref);
         } 
       
       
@@ -133,12 +146,12 @@ namespace test{
           
           FrameNr palNr (palVal);
           FrameNr ntscNr(ntscVal);
-          CHECK (palNr < ntscNr);
+          CHECK (palNr <= ntscNr);
         }
       
       
       void
-      checkGridLateBinding (TimeValue org)
+      checkGridBinding (TimeValue org)
         {
           // refer to a grid not yet defined
           VERIFY_ERROR (UNKNOWN_GRID, QuTime wired(org, "special_funny_grid"));