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Closed Captioning
I am receiving closed captioning files from Aberdeen to be inserted in my TV show. I need to know how to make this work. They send a QT mov file zipped in an email. I unzipped it. What I was told was to lay the mov file on top of the video layers, then crop until only the two grey/ blue bars remain showing, render and that should be it. But, it isn’t working.
Some other tidbits. I was told to playback at 720 X486 to allow space for CC. I have set my system to do this.
I must be doing something wrong as this is my first foray into CC. Any suggestions??
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4 Replies
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Call Aberdeen. What’s an Aberdeen?
If they can’t step you through this on the phone, you’re dealing with the wrong company.
Overlaying a movie will not give you closed captions, it will produce open captions or subtitles. CC is switchable and is encoded into Line 21. You will be way ahead to give the captioning service your video and paying them to marry the two together.
Captioning is unbelievably complicated. You can search the forum for hundreds of captioning threads.
See these sites for some help:
https://www.captionmax.com/faqTechProb.php
https://www.ccaption.com/nccwork.shtml
https://www.robson.org/capfaq/I don’t mean to be harsh, but you’re in for a whole bunch of trouble. Please update us on yoru prgress.
bogiesan
This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”
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Maybe this helps. It sounds like you can overlay Line 21 on your timeline/video then output a CC-encoded tape. I’m interested in this workflow. Let us know if you can make it work. Good luck.
https://www.cpcweb.com/Captioning/cap_how_nle_software_works.htm
“Inserting Closed Captions to Video Using an NLE System
CaptionMaker for NLE systems works by putting a 2-D visual representation of the appropriate closed caption commands into a QuickTime or AVI movie. This movie file is then imported into a non-linear computer editing system and put on the editing system time line exactly like other video material. A picture-in-picture effect or a crop effect is then applied to the imported movie to mask off all but the closed caption image lines, and the NLE system is used to merge the imported movie with video program material. The resulting video output from the NLE system is closed captioned. Using this method, no additional encoder is needed to produce closed captioned video.This method requires the NLE system to be able to display a line from the visual picture area into line 21 of the television signal vertical blanking interval (VBI). Video editing hardware from Avid, Media 100, Matrox and Pinnacle Systems, among others, supports this capability.”
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When you say ‘it isn’t working’, what do you mean? Are you trying to view the CC on your production monitor? If so, then you won’t be able to see the CC since most production monitors don’t support this. Overlaying the CC encoding does give you CC; you just have to output your video to a consumer TV which supports CC to view it. We’ve run composite video out of our IO LA to a TV or out of our Beta deck to a TV to view captions. Of course, captioning has to be turned on, on the consumer TV.
Also, your sequence has to be initially set to 720×486 before overlaying your CC QT.
pxlmvr
p.s. Aberdeen is a closed captioning service.
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We’ve used Aberdeen until recently with good results.
We send them our timecoded tape which they use as reference for creation of the captioning. They use their software to create the encoding. The file they provide is a just a black screen with the little encoding lines at the top (these lines can be seen on a production monitor set to overscan). This can be e-mailed as a QT file. You merely overlay this file over your video and crop the bottom to 97, which leaves the few scan lines at the top. When the video is played back, if the video is viewed on a TV which supports CC, (running a BNC to RCA to your TV’s input) then the CC is seen over the video. You then master as usual to Beta.
If you need a DV master, either need to have your service make it or use MacCaption for encoding into the DV vaux data area. This is different than the encoding for analog which is merely a part of your video signal. CC is view during playback through your analog outputs of your DV deck.
A faster way to recieve your files if you don’t need a DV master is to create a QT file of your program and e-mail it to your captioning service. They can then use this to create your captioning; this saves postage.
Hope this helps clarify captioning.
pxlmvr
p.s. We now use Atlantic Coast Communications (ACC). They are cheaper than Aberdeen and provide a more detailed caption. (i.e. references to sound effects, music, singing, etc.)
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